What am I: The doctor is in
Digital engine monitors check engine health from the inside
One pass through a machine and the doctor knows what ails you—or could in the future? Well, most of us can’t take that scan because insurance doesn’t cover it, and it usually costs in the thousands of dollars for a one-time check, but for around $2,000, you can do a constant body scan on your airplane’s engine. And that will help ensure a healthy future.
“The modern probe-per-cylinder digital engine monitor is a marvelous tool for keeping tabs on your engine's health and troubleshooting its maladies.” —Mike Busch, Savvy AviationA digital engine monitor is a device that scans and records critical parameters of an aircraft engine in real time. Digital engine monitors track and record exhaust gas temperature and cylinder head temperature for each individual cylinder, and more sophisticated monitors record other engine information such as manifold pressure and fuel flow, and electrical and air data such as voltage and outside air temperature. Access to real-time engine data helps pilots more accurately lean the fuel/air mixture, and precise data from each cylinder enables fuel-saving lean-of-peak operations. Pilots also can detect problems such as overheated cylinder head temperatures before they become more severe. The data may be stored in the device and downloaded to a computer.
The digital engine monitor provides engine diagnostic information, allowing the aircraft owner to identify problems early, analyze and record data, and monitor trends in the engine’s health. And that’s cheap insurance.
The innovators
Engine analyzers have become much more sophisticated since Al Hundere introduced analog exhaust gas temperature instruments to general aviation cockpits in the 1960s.
Electronics International
An engine monitor is only as good as its probes—that’s what Electronics International claims. E.I. has been designing and manufacturing probes for more than 30 years. CEO Ron Roberts has studied, tested, and designed temperature probes since the 1970s. Roberts also developed the OLC-1 connector. The connector increases reliability and reduces installation errors as compared to traditional wire connectors.
Insight Instrument Corp.
Insight Instrument Corporation unveiled the world’s first Graphic Engine Monitor at the 1981 American Bonanza Society convention. According to the company, it triggered a demand for the revolutionary GEM, and Insight rapidly become a standard in engine monitors. Insight offered the first FAA-certified digital engine monitor.
J.P. Instruments
In the 1960s and ’70s, Joseph Polizzotto was a test engineer for Pratt & Whitney. When he purchased and flew his Cessna 172, he was concerned about his aircraft engine’s health, and, working with his uncle Joe Giannelli and now-partner Larry Elbert, the “Scanner” was conceived in 1979. After other pilots saw Polizzotto’s invention on his airplane, they wanted the new technology, too. J.P. Instruments was born. In fact, Polizzoto envisioned the EDM-600 and EDM-700 in the back of his car on his way to the Sun ’n Fun Fly-In, developing some of the first certified engine monitors.
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