Abstract
Although portable electric devices have become increasingly sophisticated and compact, the amount of energy required for their operation has increased and device performance may be restrained by the energy source in the near future. Small, portable distributed power sources with higher energy density than the conventional battery are required. In this research, we focused on the small glow-ignition engine developed for model airplanes. In order to clarify the combustion process, a miniature pressure sensor was built into the cylinder head, and pressure fluctuation was measured. Analysis was conducted to detect cycle-to-cycle variation. The base engine was a commercial glow-ignition four-stroke engine with a swept volume of 4.89cc. Although the nominal output was 368W, the value measured by this research was much lower.
