A Low-Cost EFI Engine Dynamometer Part 1 - Design and Construction

The purpose of this project is to design and fabricate an electronic fuel injection (EFI) engine dynamometer using standard, low-cost components.Energy conversion devices are a main component in any mechanical or electrical engineering department.Energy conversion devices such as internal combustion engines usually require expensive dynamometers to accomplish performance testing.A 5 hp internal combustion engine was modified to run with a Megasquirt programmable EFI system.The engine is coupled to a centrifugal water pump provides the basis of the system.The ideal work produced by the pump can be calculated knowing the pressure drop across the pump and the water flow rate.These two measurements can be performed rather easily with inexpensive equipment.This equipment can be used in upper and lower level engineering courses.The total cost of this test apparatus is less than $2000.Similar commercial systems such as these would cost well over $20,000.This lab equipment was designed to be used by the engineering students in courses ranging from the freshman introductory class through senior level courses. NomenclatureC = electrical capacitance h = u + pv = enthalpy H = head in feet HP = horsepower ke = kinetic energy per unit mass "Proceedings of the 2005 Midwest Section Conference of the American Society for Engineering Education" m = mass flow rate pe = potential energy per unit mass p = pressure P = pressure differential in psi Q = heat transfer rate Q f = flow rate in gpm R = electrical resistance u = internal energy per unit mass v = specific volume V = volumetric flowrate W = mechanical work rate done by the control volume = R*C = time constant