A fibre-optic heterodyne interferometry system was
developed to obtain the temperature histories of an unburned
mixture with high temporal resolution non-intrusively. In laser
interferometry, the effective optical path length of the test
beam changes with the gas density and corresponding changes of
the refractive index. Therefore, the temperature history of an
unburned gas can be determined from the pressure and phase
shift of the heterodyne signal. A polarization-preserving fibre
is used to deliver the test beam to and from the test section,
to improve the feasibility of the system as a sensor probe. The
temperature of the unburned mixture in the end-gas region of a
constant-volume combustion chamber and in an engine cylinder was
measured during flame propagation. The accuracy of the
measurements and the feasibility of this system are discussed.
The measurement accuracy of our system was sufficient to be
applied to temperature history measurement of an unburned gas
compressed by flame propagation in a constant-volume combustion
chamber. The uncertainty of this method is within ±10 K.
The resolution of the temperature measurement is approximately
0.5 K, and is dependent on both the sampling clock speed of the
A/D converter and the length of the test section. This
fibre-optic heterodyne interferometry system can also be used
for other applications that require a transient temperature with
a fast response time.