Recognizing Significant Components of Electrical Waveforms of Actuators Operated by Vehicle Controllers

Abstract

This work discusses the proposition of the identification of electrical waveforms resulting from the executive systems’ operation, controlled by the vehicle electronic modules. This proposition results from the fact that the electric current powering the actuator has two functions: to supply and to control. Observation of such waveforms enables the ongoing control as well as the diagnostics of the state of the executive elements. This work focused on the fundamentals of the method implementation in the vehicle controller. The algorithm for detecting the model values of the waveform has been developed and described, allowing for an efficient control of the system. The algorithm, after being used in the memory of the control module and having the measuring subassemblies (gauging the voltage and electric current) added, will enable the automatic detection of the essential values. The developed code, after the optimization, can support the control performed by the ECU, which is damage-orientated. The paper presents examples of the operation of a computational program developed on the basis of the adopted algorithm. Tests were performed on an electromagnetic valve—fuel injector—of a spark-ignition engine for different cases of its operation. The effectiveness of the program was demonstrated when detecting changes occurring in the current signals of fuel injectors corresponding to different engine speeds (time of 4 and 8 ms) and different loads (pressure of 0.2 and 0.4 MPa).