IMES

IMES - INTELLIGENT SENSOR TECHNOLOGY MADE IN GERMANY IMES is a privately owned company founded by Stefan Neumann in 1996. It based in the town of Kaufbeuren, in the picturesque Allgäu region of Bavaria, Southern Germany. IMES specializes in electronic measurement, monitoring and testing of cylinder pressure on engines and compressors, based on its high precision TION thin film pressure sensors. The Company markets its innovative products worldwide, with approximately 90 percent of sales are exported. Accordingly, IMES counts all the world’s major engine manufacturers among its customer base and IMES sensors, electronic pressure indicators and combustion monitoring systems are employed on a wide range of diesel, gas and dual-fuel engines, on ships and locomotives and in power and cogeneration plants and pipeline compressor stations all around the world. In all applications, they allow close tracking of engine condition, detection of harmful knocking and misfiring, and the optimisation of power output, fuel consumption and, importantly, exhaust emissions. With products capable of giving deep insights into the combustion process of diesel, gas and dual-fuel engines, IMES is ideally placed to assist engine manufacturers to gain and maintain emissions compliance, increase power output and reduce the total cost of engine ownership. With their high quality, IMES’ products for use on diesel, gas and dual-fuel engines have gained marine type approvals from all the major Marine Classification Societies. Record Growth The high precision and durability ofd IMES sensors and systems, made in Germany, are in increasing demand worldwide. As a result, the Company enjoyed record sales growth in 2011. The sensor technology company is considered to be a market leader. At the time of writing, we have produced and shipped more than 40.000 sensors worldwide. Currently, IMES has 25 employees in sales, administration, development and production. Venturing into New Markets To maintain its competitive edge and meet customers' demands, IMES is constantly enhancing and further expanding its product range. The latest IMES product introduction is a combustion control module (CCM). It is a smart combustion signal processing device for marine and stationary gas engines. The CCM function is to acquire and process real time data from cylinder pressure sensors on spark ignited and dual fuel gas engines.

Products

GERMAN SENSOR TECHNOLOGY MADE BY IMES

IMES products are characterised by their ideal combination of precision, reliability, robustness, long effective life and outstanding cost-effectiveness.

IMES serves five main segments in the market for industrial, marine and automotive engines:

• Continuous online cylinder pressure measurement for advanced engine monitoring and diagnosis, and as an input for closed-loop control systems on gas, dual-fuel and diesel engines
• Periodic cylinder pressure monitoring by engine operators on propulsion engines, generator sets and compressor sets in ships, power plants and compressor stations
• On-site cylinder pressure measurement for research, development, trouble- shooting and periodic cylinder balancing on large engines
• Electronic compression and cylinder leakage testing in maintenance, overhaul and repair workshops on series-produced engines for cars, commercial vehicles, mobile and stationary equipment, workboats and pleasure craft
• Continuous electronic pressure measurement on reciprocating compressors in engine powered compressor sets.

CYLINDER PRESSURE SENSORS

As one of the most basic values in combustion engine technology, cylinder pressure gives unique insights into both engine performance and engine condition.

Equipping each cylinder of a diesel, gas or dual-fuel engine with an IMES cylinder pressure sensor provides a vital input to electronic control, monitoring and diagnose systems and a fund of information for human analysis.

IMES combustion pressure sensors are characterised by their long term accuracy with minimal signal drift over long periods, combined with their outstanding cost-effectiveness.

Designed for a minimum of 16,000 operating hours, they enable the acquisition of highly accurate, processable data, either during periodic measurements.

LOW PRESSURE SENSOR

Low pressure sensor LPS-01 is a temperature compensated high-temperature sensor to optimise gas exchange on engines to reduce pollutant emission.

A good analysis of pressure condition or pressure drop it is important to be as close to the inlet side as possible to measure on the individual cylinders. An additional challenge results from the different geometry of the intake collector as due to this the cylinders are supplied with air differently. This should be avoided as far as possible.

LPS-01 measures the events at inlet and outlet side. On the basis of the measured data the turbocharger can be adjusted and gas exchange optimised.

CCM COMBUSTION CONTROL MODULE

CCM is a smart combustion signal processing device for marine and stationary gas engines.
The CCM function is to acquire and process in real time data from cylinder pressure sensors
on dual-fuel and spark ignited gas engines. Every combustion cycle will be evaluated on every cylinder
for to calculate key parameters engine builders needs to implement cylinder pressure based control on engines.

CCM is designed as a plug-and play module for IMES CCM Systems.

IPE IMES PERFORMANCE EVALUATION SOFTWARE

The new IPE IMES Performace Evaluation Software designed for  2- and 4-stroke diesel engines loads cylinder pressure data from EPM-XP directly and gives a quick and very reliable view on many operational aspects.

Furthermore it recommends actions to take for optimising engine condition.

Due to easy handling and ISO correction it is a timesaving and reliable system that enables extensive savings by reducing fuel and lube oil consumption as well as engine repairs caused by inadequately adjusted engines.

ELECTRONIC PRESSURE INDICATOR
IMES electronic pressure indicators are designed as compact and lightweight handheld devices for diesel-  and gas engines. They are easy to use and convince with their accuracy and their sophisticated analysing software.
IMES offers five indicator types:

• EPM-XP
• EPM-XP plus
• EPM-XP plus vibro
• EPM-Peak
• EPM-XG plus

EPM-XP ELECTRONIC INDICATOR    

The battery powered, hand-held EPM-XP Electronic Indicator EPM-XP is designed for periodic monitoring of cylinder pressures on large diesel, gas and dual-fuel engines. It provides important measurement data for engine diagnostics and condition monitoring directly at the point of use.

EPM-XP gives immediate read-outs for peak pressure (Pmax) and (Pcomp) from a number of pressure cycles per cylinder.

The acquired data can then be downloaded to a computer where the IMES visualisation and evaluation software is used to calculate IMEP and IPOWER including p/v diagrams. The EPM-XP electronic cylinder pressure indicator is designed for use on 2-stroke engines in the speed range 40 – 300 rpm and 4-stroke engines in the speed range 200 to 1500 rpm.

EPM-XP PLUS ENGINE ANALYSER   

The user-friendly engine analyser EPM-XPplus is a further development of the electronic indicator EPM-XP for advanced combustion pressure measurements.
EPM-XPplus offers the same functions like the electronic indicator plus advanced features to enable an optimised engine performance: Higher battery capacity for more 20 operating hours

• Continuous measurement to analyse actual engine condition by direct data transfer via USB/Ethernet to PC software
• Comprehensive analysing software for ships and powerplant application
• Direct data transfer to IPE (IMES performance evaluation software)
• Vibration sensor for definition of fuel injection timing and valves timing (optional)

All measured data can be downloaded via USB port to a PC where the               EPM-XPplus visualisation software is installed.

EPM-PEAK ELECTRONIC PEAK PRESSURE INDICATOR    

 EPM-Peak is a part of the successful EPM family. As well as our EPM-XP, more than 2,500 units sold, EPM-Peak is a lightweight, battery powered hand held portable device, designed to measure the maximum value of cylinder pressure on 4-stroke diesel engines.

The cylinder pressure will be measured with the EMP-Peak unit including our high temperature cylinder pressure sensor HTT with Thompson adaptor at indicator cock on 4-stroke marine diesel engines.

The EPM-Peak collects 10 consecutive pressure measurements (cycles) and calculates peak pressure and engine speed. The measured data are displayed in numerical format on the LCD screen and stored in memory.

In comparison to conventional mechanical peak pressure meter the EPM-Peak offers an easy handling, the measurements have a higher accuracy, the data Pmax and speed will be displayed exactly on the LCD screen and up to 200 measurements can be stored. It is not necessary to list the measurements directly.

We are pleased to offer EPM-Peak to an excellent price/performance ratio which means to a lower price than the mechanical device.

Optional we also offer a visualisation software to show the Pmax data on PC.

EPM-XG PLUS GAS ENGINE BALANCER 

EPM-XGplus is designed as a compact, lightweight and affordable handheld device, specially tailored to periodic cylinder pressure monitoring and output balancing on the types of gas engines found in North American natural gas pipeline compressor stations. It employs technology well proven on diesel and gas engines in marine propulsion and power generation applications, adapted to two-stroke gas engines with rated speeds from 40 to 500 rpm and four-stroke gas engines with rated speeds from 200 to 1500 rpm.

The EPM-XGplus device offers the accuracy and ease-of-use typical of electronic measuring technology from IMES, plus a scope-of-supply that includes sophisticated analysis software.

As well as immediate readouts of peak cylinder pressure on the EPM-XGplus display, customers can download recorded data to PC running software specially designed by IMES and Morris Control Systems for visualization, analysis and storing of data. Special features include compiling 50-cycle peak pressure histories for each engine cylinder, as well as peak pressure and balancing charts, and the ability to generate engine balance reports in Excel or PDF formats.

CCM - COMBUSTION CONTROL SYSTEM

The CCM is a system which enables in real time data acquisition of cylinder pressure on engines. Data can be recorded from up to 20 cylinders for closed loop control applications and to diagnose malfunctions or to assist in the setting and optimising of engine parmeters e.g. balancing cylinder.
IMES offers CCM systems for diesel and gas engines.

CCM MARINE

CCM Marine is designed for 2- and 4-stroke diesel engines and is available as fixed and portable version.

CCM Gas Engine

CCM Gas Engine is designed for spark ignited gas engine as well as dual fuel engines and is also available as fixed and portable version.

COMPRESSION PRESSURE SENSOR

The compression pressure sensor HTT-05CA® is developed for application on reciprocating machinery and is temperature compensated. It is designed for medium temperature from -55°C to + 200°C and has very good zero offset stability.

The sensor is SGS certified for the use in hazardous areas.

A hydrogen version is in preparation.