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Detection of engine valve faults by vibration signals measured on the cylinder

head

Article  in  Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part D Journal of Automobile Engineering · April 2006
DOI: 10.1243/09544070JAUTO90

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 379

Detection of engine valve faults by vibration signals

measured on the cylinder head
Shiyuan Liu1*, Fengshou Gu2, and A Ball2
1School of Mechanical Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People’s
Republic of China
2School of Engineering, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

The manuscript was received on 9 May 2005 and was accepted after revision for publication on 10 November 2005.

DOI: 10.1243/09544070JAUTO90

Abstract: This technical note proposes a simple technique for the detection of incipient
engine valve faults by vibration signals measured on the cylinder head. The characteristics of
the vibration signal are analysed, indicating that its time domain and frequency domain
characteristics are both useful for engine diagnosis while the cycle-by-cycle variation seems a
disadvantage. A simple diagnostic technique named partial sampling and feature averaging
(PSFA) has been presented. Only a specific part of the vibration signal corresponding to a
particular impact force within each operating cycle is sampled and analysed, and then the
diagnostic features are extracted from each part but averaged among many cycles. Identification
of abnormal valve clearance just requires a partial sampling of the vibration signal extracted
during the period of valve closing, and detection of gas leakage from valves needs a partial
sampling signal corresponding to the period of in-cylinder combustion. The experimental
results show that the proposed technique is feasible, effective and simple in implementation.

Keywords: internal combustion engine, condition monitoring, fault diagnosis, vibration,

valve clearance, valve leakage

1 INTRODUCTION Although a few methods have been proposed for valve

The valvetrain system in an internal combustion
engine plays a significant role in the combustion
process, but it is one of the components most
likely to suffer from faults such as abnormal valve
clearance and gas leakage from valves [1]. It is of
great importance to detect and cope with such faults
in an early stage so that engine maintenance costs
can be reduced and performance and reliability
increased. Non-intrusive techniques requiring mini-
mal installation and not impinging upon the engine
operation are especially desirable. A typical non-
intrusive technique is by analysing the vibration or
acoustic signals [2, 3]. Unfortunately, very little work
has addressed the problem of detecting abnormal
valve clearance by vibration or acoustic monitoring.
* Corresponding author: School of Mechanical Science and
Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology,
Wuhan, Hubei, 430074, People’s Republic of China. email:
shyliu@mail.hust.edu.cn
leakage detection, they tend to involve complex com-
putations such as three-dimensional spectra or
the Wigner–Ville distribution [4, 5]. Therefore, this
technical note intends to analyse the time domain, the
frequency domain, and the cycle-by-cycle variation
characteristics of the vibration signal measured on
the engine cylinder head, and then present a simple
diagnostic technique named partial sampling and
feature averaging (PSFA) for the detection of both
abnormal valve clearance and valve leakage.
2 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CYLINDER HEAD
VIBRATION SIGNAL
2.1 Model of the cylinder head system
There are five main impact forces acting upon
the engine cylinder head: the inlet valve opening, the
inlet valve closing, the exhaust valve opening, the
exhaust valve closing, and the in-cylinder combustion

JAUTO90 © IMechE 2006 Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering
380 Shiyuan Liu, Fengshou Gu, and A Ball
pressure. Theoretical description and solution of the
transfer function of the cylinder head system are
difficult because of its complex structure. Several
research studies have shown that the frequency
response properties of the inside and outside surfaces
of the cylinder head are very similar, and the above
five excitations can be treated as linearly independent
of one another [2, 6]. This simplification results in a
model of the cylinder head system, shown in Fig. 1,
in which the output and the inputs satisfy
a(t)= f (t)1h + f (t)1h (t)+p(t)1h (t)
evc evc ivc ivc g
+ f (t)1h + f (t)1h (t)+n(t)
evo evo ivo ivo
where a(t) is the responsive vibration signal on
the cylinder head, p(t) is the gas pressure inside the
cylinder, f (t), f (t), f (t), and f (t) are the
evc ivc evo ivo
impacting forces due to the exhaust valve closing
(EVC), the inlet valve closing (IVC), the exhaust valve
opening (EVO), and the inlet valve opening (IVO)
respectively, h (t), h (t), h (t), h (t), and h (t)
g evc ivc evo
are the corresponding impulse response functions
transferring the impact forces to the vibration signal,
and n(t) is the noise signal.
Fig. 1 Model of the cylinder head system in internal
combustion engines
Fig. 2 Waveforms of vibration signals measured on the cylinder head of the test engine
Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering
As far as a multicylinder engine is concerned, the
responsive vibration signal on the cylinder head
should be the summary of those of all cylinders
according to the firing order.
2.2 Time domain characteristic of the cylinder
head vibration signal
The time domain characteristic of the cylinder head
vibration signal refers to its characteristic appearing
in the time domain, such as the acting time and the
(1) acting intensity of each response to a different
impact force.
According to the fundamentals of internal com-
bustion engines [1], the waveform of the cylinder
head vibration signal has a close relation with the
injection timing and the valve timing. For a single-
cylinder engine, the response to one impact force can
be distinguished from responses to other impacts,
and consequently can be easily separated from others
ivo
in the time domain. However, for a multicylinder
engine, although the responses generated by adjacent
cylinders are weakened substantially by the longer
transfer path, they usually should not be neglected.
This is one of the basic characteristics of the cylinder
head vibration signal, which indicates the importance
of timing information in the time domain.
Taking a model 4135 diesel engine as an example,
Fig. 2 shows waveforms of the vibration signals by
simultaneous measurement on the head surfaces
of cylinders 1 and 2. The engine has two cylinder
head blocks and each cylinder head block is shared
by two cylinders. An accelerometer was used to
measure the vibration signal for each cylinder, and
its positioning is shown in Fig. 3. The signals were
sampled in equal time intervals with a sampling
frequency of 50 kHz for each channel, and hence
JAUTO90 © IMechE 2006
 Detection of engine valve faults by vibration signals 381

Fig. 3 Positioning of the accelerometers on the cylinder head of the test engine

an operating cycle lasted about 80 ms when the
engine ran at a speed of 1500 r/min. A trigger signal
generated at top dead centre (TDC) of cylinder 1 was
used to initiate each sampling.
The specifications of the model 4135 diesel engine
are shown in Table 1. Combining the timing diagrams
more clearly shown in Fig. 4 with the engine speed
and sampling frequency, it is easy to distinguish each
response from others in Fig. 2. If there is any engine
fault, the acting time and the acting intensity of
the corresponding response will change, and some
features for fault diagnosis can be obtained.
2.3 Frequency domain characteristic of the
cylinder head vibration signal
The frequency domain characteristic of the cylinder
head vibration signal refers to its characteristic
appearing in the frequency domain, such as the
spectrum of each response to a different impact
force.
As shown in Fig. 1, the in-cylinder combustion
pressure, the inlet valve closing, and the exhaust
valve closing are the most important excitation
sources acting upon the cylinder head. Figure 5

Table 1 Specification of the test engine

Engine type 8.6 l, four-cylinder, four-stroke, direct injection diesel
Manufacturer Shanghai Diesel Works, model 4135D
Bore×stroke 135 mm×150 mm
Maximum power output 123.6 kW at 1500 r/min
Maximum torque 582 N m at 1200 r/min
Compression ratio 17 : 1
Firing order 1–3–4–2 (from timing cover)
Inlet valve opening (IVO) angle 20±6° before TDC
Inlet valve closing (IVC) angle 48±6° after BDC
Exhaust valve opening (EVO) angle 48±6° before BDC
Exhaust valve closing (EVC) angle 20±6° after TDC
Fuel injection angle 26–29° before TDC

Fig. 4 Valve timing and injection timing diagrams of the test engine

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382 Shiyuan Liu, Fengshou Gu, and A Ball

Fig. 5 Power spectra of the responsive vibration signals due to different impact forces: (a) period
of exhaust valve closing; (b) period of inlet valve closing; (c) period of in-cylinder
combustion process

shows power spectra of the responses to these three
impact forces. The vibration signals were measured
on the model 4135D diesel engine in healthy con-
dition (1500 r/min, 30 kW). As depicted clearly, the
responses generated by the inlet and exhaust valve
closing are similar. These two responses focus their
energy in a frequency band of more than 6 kHz,
while the combustion pressure response concentrates
its energy in a frequency band of less than 5 kHz.
These results demonstrate that the inlet and exhaust
valve closing are high-frequency impact forces, while
the in-cylinder combustion pressure is a low- to
medium-frequency impact. Thus, they can be
separated from each other in the frequency domain.
If any engine fault occurs, the intensity or energy
within these feature frequency bands will change,
and consequently some diagnostic features can be
extracted.
2.4 Cycle-by-cycle variation characteristic of the
cylinder head vibration signal
The above characteristics in the time and frequency
domains are both described within an operating
cycle. However, there is another type of characteristic
of the cylinder head vibration signal, which is called
cyclic variation or cycle-by-cycle variation. It refers to
the signal variation appearing among different cycles
when the engine runs under a steady operating
condition. Such cyclic variation can be measured by
the acting time, the power spectrum, the acting
intensity, etc.
Table 2 shows some statistical results from 40
samples of signals on the model 4135D diesel engine
under a steady operating condition (1500 r/min,
30 kW). As a simple example, the peak value and
its corresponding time of the sampled signal are
selected to present the intensity variation and the
time variation. It is clear that the variation in the
vibration signal among different cycles cannot be
neglected, which seems a disadvantage for the
engine diagnosis.
A typical method for extracting the desired periodic
components from a compound periodic signal mixed
with noise is time domain averaging (TDA) for
several samples [7]. As shown in Fig. 6, however,
TDA is not suitable for the cylinder head vibration
signal because the cycle-by-cycle variation makes
the useful high-frequency components counteract
among different cycles.
3 A SIMPLE TECHNIQUE FOR THE DETECTION
OF VALVE FAULTS
A simple technique for engine diagnosis has been
proposed by analysis of the above characteristics
of cylinder head vibration signal, which is named

Table 2 Cycle-by-cycle variation in the cylinder head vibration signal

Variation range of Variation range of the Variation range of the
Period the peak (m/s2) corresponding time (ms) corresponding crank angle (deg)

Exhaust valve closing 835–1357 0.46 4.14

Inlet valve closing 752–1179 0.52 4.68
Combustion pressure 946–1638 0.68 6.12

Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering JAUTO90 © IMechE 2006
 Detection of engine valve faults by vibration signals
Fig. 6 Effect of TDA on the cylinder head vibration signal (1500 r/min, 30 kW): (a) waveform of
a single sample; (b) waveform of TDA for 40 samples
partial sampling and feature averaging (PSFA). Firstly,
only a specific part of the vibration signal corre-
sponding to an particular impact force within each
operating cycle is sampled, which can be treated as
a windowed or truncated time sampling from the
whole signal during one cycle. Then, the partial
sampling signal is analysed in the time domain or
in the frequency domain so that some diagnostic
features are extracted. Finally, the diagnostic features
from each partial sampling signal are averaged
among many cycles
N
H= ∑ H (2)
n
n=1
where H is the final diagnostic feature over N cycles,
H (n=1, 2, … , N) is the diagnostic feature from the
n
partial sampling signal of the nth cycle, and N is the
number of cycles to be averaged.
This simple technique requires trigger signals to
start and finish each partial sampling. A specific
circuit has been developed to achieve this purpose.
A pulse generated at TDC of cylinder 1 is input into
the circuit and is used as the absolute reference
signal. The circuit then outputs the trigger signal to
start a desired partial sampling with a time delay, T ,
d
related to the reference signal. As the circuit can also
measure engine speed automatically, T is calculated
d
once the information on the injection and valve
timing is input by the user. The duration in crank
angle for each partial sampling is determined by the
number of points for each sampling, along with the
sampling frequency and engine speed
M the engine manifold in a form of sound, which
Dh=6n DT=6n (3)
f
s cylinder head and lead to a high-frequency vibration.
where Dh is the duration in degrees crank angle (CA)
for each partial sampling, DT is the corresponding
time duration (s), n is the engine speed (r/min), M
is the number of points for the partial sampling,
and f is the sampling frequency (Hz). The sampling
s
JAUTO90 © IMechE 2006
383
frequency should satisfy the sampling theorem, i.e.
should be more than twice the analysing frequency.
For example, if the analysing frequency of the cylinder
head vibration signal is 12 kHz, then the sampling
frequency should be greater than 24 kHz. The
number of points for the partial sampling should be
carefully selected so that only the part of the signal
that corresponds to the particular impact force is
sampled and separated from others in the time
domain.
According to the fundamentals of internal com-
bustion engines [1], if the valve clearance becomes
greater, the closing time will advance while the
closing velocity and acceleration will increase. This
will lead to an increased impact force upon the
valve seat of the cylinder head. In contrast, the
impact force upon the valve set will decrease if
the valve clearance becomes smaller. Therefore, using
the above proposed PSFA technique, the abnormal
valve clearance can be identified by extracting
some features in the time domain (such as the peak
value and its corresponding crank angle, the valley
value and its corresponding crank angle, and the
mean effective value) or in the frequency domain
(such as the total power spectrum) just from a partial
sampling of the cylinder head vibration signal during
the period of valve closing.
It is known from acoustic principles [8] that the
gas leakage from valves appears as a kind of block jet,
which is generated by high-temperature and high-
pressure gases spraying into a limited space through
a very small hole. The jet spreads out through
can transfer its energy to the surface of the engine
Therefore, the valve leakage can be detected by
analysing the high-frequency components of the part
of the cylinder head vibration signal that is sampled
only during the period of in-cylinder combustion.
This is because, during the combustion process, the
Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering
384 Shiyuan Liu, Fengshou Gu, and A Ball

pressure difference between the inner and outer
cylinder is the largest. Since the response to the
in-cylinder combustion pressure concentrates its
energy mainly in the low- to middle-frequency band,
there is no conflict between these two kinds of
response.
4 EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION
The experiments were carried out on the model
4135D diesel engine with the specifications shown
in Table 1. The measured waveforms and the calcu-
lated power spectra under different valve clearances
are depicted in Fig. 7. The inlet valve clearance of
cylinder 1 was set to 0.15, 0.3, 0.6, 0.9, 1.2, and
1.5 mm. The exhaust valve clearance of cylinder 1
and the inlet and exhaust valve clearances of the
other cylinders were all set to be normal (0.3 mm).
The signals were sampled with a sampling frequency
of 50 kHz, and a pulse signal generated at 30° after
bottom dead centre (BDC) of cylinder 1 was used to
trigger each partial sampling. The number of points
for each partial sampling was 512, which corre-
sponded to 10.24 ms or 92.2° CA when the engine
ran at a speed of 1500 r/min.
As shown clearly in Fig. 7, as the valve clear-
ance becomes greater, the commencement of the
responsive vibration signal due to the valve closing
advances, and both the amplitude in the time
domain and the power spectrum in the frequency
domain increase. Table 3 presents some features
extracted from 40 cycles of sampled signals by the
proposed PSFA technique. It can be seen that, as

Fig. 7 Waveforms and power spectra of the cylinder head vibration signals under different
valve clearances (1500 r/min, 30 kW): (a) 0.15 mm; (b) 0.3 mm; (c) 0.6 mm; (d) 0.9 mm;
(e) 1.2 mm; (f) 1.5 mm

Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering JAUTO90 © IMechE 2006
 Detection of engine valve faults by vibration signals 385

Table 3 Diagnostic features under different valve clearances (40-sample averaging)

Valve Crank angle Crank angle
clearance Peak value corresponding to Valley value corresponding to Mean effective Total power
(mm) (m/s2) peak (deg after BDC) (m/s2) valley (deg after BDC) value (m/s2) spectrum (m2/s4)

0.15 882.3 53.5 −769.2 54.2 175.9 316.9

0.3 1682.1 50.2 −1541.3 51.9 311.3 992.5
0.6 2194.5 46.3 −2041.0 47.9 347.5 1233.0
0.9 2515.4 43.9 −2525.5 45.5 398.4 1620.2
1.2 2960.6 41.0 −3269.0 42.1 483.7 2398.1
1.5 3504.4 40.5 −3734.4 41.6 630.1 4059.6

expected, all these features are capable of reflecting
the valve clearance in different sizes, and hence they
can be used to detect abnormal valve clearance.
The measured waveforms and the calculated
power spectra under different valve leakages are
depicted in Fig. 8. Again, the signals were sampled
with a sampling frequency of 50 kHz, but a pulse
signal generated at 30° before TDC of cylinder 1 was
used to trigger each partial sampling. The number
of points for each partial sampling was 512, which
corresponded to 10.24 ms or 92.2° CA when the
engine ran at a speed of 1500 r/min.

Fig. 8 Waveforms and power spectra of the cylinder head vibration signals under different gas
leakages (1500 r/min, 30 kW): (a) no leakage; (b) slight leakage from inlet valve; (c) severe
leakage from inlet valve; (d) slight leakage from exhaust valve; (e) severe leakage from
exhaust valve; (f) severe leakage from both inlet and exhaust valves

JAUTO90 © IMechE 2006 Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering
386 Shiyuan Liu, Fengshou Gu, and A Ball

Table 4 Diagnostic features under different valve leakages (40-sample averaging)

Crank angle Proportion of
corresponding Total power High-frequency high-frequency
Extent of Peak value to peak Mean effective spectrum power spectrum power spectrum
gas leakage (m/s2) (deg after BDC) value (m/s2) (m2/s4) (m2/s4) (%)

No leakage 786.6 5.88 254.9 382.8 66.1 17.3

Slight leakage from 814.0 5.52 267.5 475.0 127.9 26.9
inlet valve
Severe leakage from 806.3 5.75 282.6 558.7 179.6 32.2
inlet valve
Slight leakage from 854.3 5.44 266.1 480.4 142.0 29.6
exhaust valve
Slight leakage from 869.1 5.41 297.2 573.8 218.8 38.1
exhaust valve
Severe leakage from 932.9 4.83 339.9 690.1 295.8 42.9
both inlet and
exhaust valves

Table 4 presents some features extracted from
40 cycles of sampled signals by the proposed PSFA
technique. As shown in Fig. 8, neither the amplitude
in the time domain nor the total power spectrum in
the frequency domain has any noticeable change
when valve leakage occurs. However, from Table 4,
the power spectrum in the high-frequency band
(6–12 kHz) and its proportion to the total power
spectrum increase as the valve leakage becomes
severer. These two features, especially the dimension-
less proportion, are adequate to detect the extent of
valve leakage.
4. In order to detect gas leakage from valves, the
proportion of high-frequency components of the
cylinder head vibration signal measured just
during the period of in-cylinder combustion is the
most important.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial
support provided by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (Grant 50205009 and 50405033).

5 CONCLUSIONS
1. The in-cylinder combustion pressure, the inlet
valve closing, and the exhaust valve closing are
the most important excitation sources acting
upon the cylinder head. Their responses in the
cylinder head vibration signal can be separated
from each other both in the time domain and in
the frequency domain.
2. The proposed partial sampling and feature
averaging technique for engine diagnosis is
simple in implementation and can take advantage
of the time domain and frequency domain charac-
teristics of the cylinder head vibration signal
and weaken the influence of its cycle-by-cycle
variation.
3. In order to identify abnormal valve clearance,
several features in the time and frequency
domains, such as the peak value and its corre-
sponding crank angle, the valley value and its
corresponding crank angle, the mean effective
value, and the total power spectrum, can be
extracted just from a partial sampling of the
cylinder head vibration signal corresponding to
the period of valve closing.
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