ENGINE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR GASOLINE

ENGINES

1
 The engine management system

❑ The engine management system ensures that the driver request is

implemented; for example, it converts the acceleration/deceleration
requests into a corresponding engine output.

❑ During its evolution electronic engine control progressively increases

the number of engine subsystems it manages and kind of tasks it
performs. This development is necessary to provide the needed accuracy
and adaptability in order to:
❑ minimise exhaust emissions and fuel consumption
❑ provide optimal driveability for all operating condition,
❑ minimise evaporative emission (gasoline engines) and
❑ provide system diagnosis when malfunctions occur.

❑ In order to meet these objectives the control system has been

organised in different functions. Each function manages a specific engine
activity and is in charge to accomplish some definite target. The engine
operating conditions are supervised by a finite state machine that defines
the engine states and manages the transition between these states.
 The engine management system
❑ Exhaust Emissions
The engine exhaust consists of products from the combustion of the air and fuel mixture. Under perfect
combustion conditions the hydrocarbons would combine in a thermal reaction with oxygen in the air to form
carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O). Unfortunately perfect combustion does not occur and in addition to
CO2 and water, carbon monoxide (CO), oxides of nitrogen (NOX) and hydrocarbon (HC) occur in the
exhaust as a result of combustion reaction. The level of pollution, in terms of HC, CO, NOX and, for diesel
engines, particulates emitted in a vehicle’s exhaust, is regulated by law.

❑ Fuel consumption
A lot of different factors are working in partnership to make of central importance fuel economy:
➢ The need of a better and more rational use of energetic resources to reach a sustainable growth
➢ The fuel price increase and its market consequence
➢ the legislation requirements

The electronic engine control system provides the fuel metering and ignition timing precision required to
minimise fuel consumption.

❑ Driveability
Another requirement of the electronic engine control system is to provide acceptable driveability under
all operating conditions. No stalls, hesitations or other objectionable roughness should occur under
vehicle operation. Driveability is influenced by almost every operation of the control system and, unlike
exhaust emissions or fuel economy, is not easily measured.
 The engine management system

❑ Evaporative Emissions (Gasoline engine only)

Hydrocarbon (HC) emissions in the form of fuel vapours escaping from the vehicle are closely regulated.
The prime source of these emissions is the fuel tank. Due to ambient heating of the fuel and the return of
unused hot fuel from the engine, fuel vapours are generated in the tank. The evaporative emission control
system (EECS) is used to control the evaporative HC emissions. The fuel vapours are rotated to the
intake manifold via the EECS and they are burned in the combustion process. The quantity of fuel vapours
delivered to the intake manifold must be metered such that exhaust emissions and driveability are not
adversely effected. The metering is provide by a purge control whose function is controlled by the
electronic control unit.

❑ System Diagnostics
The purpose of system diagnostics is to provide a warning to the driver when the control system
determines a malfunction of a component or a system and to assist the service technician in identify
and correct the failure. To the driver the engine may appear to be operating correctly, but excessive
amounts of pollutants may be emitted. The ECU determines a malfunction has occurred when a sensor
signal, received during normal engine operation or during a system test, indicates there is a problem. For
critical operations such as fuel metering and ignition control, if a required sensor input is faulty, a substitute
value may be used by the ECU so that the engine will continue to operate.
Starting from 2001 (Euro3) the European On Bord Diagnosis (EOBD) statutes require that, when a failure
occur in a system critical for exhaust emissions, the malfunctioning indicator lamp (MIL), visible to the
driver, must be illumined. Information on the failure is stored in the ECU. A service technician can retrieve
the information on the failure on the ECU and correct the problem.
 System layout

From and towards other vehicle system’s control

ECU

SENSORS ACTUATORS

The engine control system includes:

❑ sensors for the detection of the engine operating modes
❑ electronic control unit (ECU) which elaborates the signal values supplied by the
sensor, according to defined control strategies and algorithms, and defines the actions to
be delivered to the actuators
❑ actuators which have the task to actuate the defined commands
 The key sensors

❑ Load sensor (Mass Flowmeters) –The closed-loop control circuit in air-mass meter
can monitor flow variations in the millisecond range.

❑ Oxygen sensor – The fuel metering system of spark ignition engine employs the
exhaust-gas residual-oxygen content as measured by the lambda oxygen sensor to
regulate very precisely the air/fuel mixture for combustion to the value lambda = 1
(stoichiometric combustion).

❑ Engine speed sensor – Generally a Magnetic Speed Sensor detects when ring gear
teeth, or other ferrous projections, pass the tip of the sensor. Electrical impulses are
produced by the sensor’s internal coil and sent to the speed control unit. The signal from the
magnetic speed sensor, teeth per second (Hz.), is directly proportional to engine speed.
 The key actuators

❑ Gasoline injector – The fuel injector essentially consist of a valve housing with
solenoid coil and electric connections, a valve seat with spray- orifice disk and a
moving valve needle with solenoid armature. When the coil is de-energized, the spring
and the force resulting from the fuel pressure press the valve needle against the valve seat
to seal the fuel supply system from the intake manifold. When the coil is energized, it
generates a magnetic field which pulls in the armature and lifts the valve needle off of its
seat to allow fuel to flow through the fuel injector.

❑ The ignition coil – It is a energy-charged high-voltage source similar to a

transformer. Energy is supplied by the vehicle electrical system during the dwell period or
charging time. At the moment of ignition, which at the same time is the end of the charging
time, the energy is then transferred with the required high voltage and sparking energy to
the spark plug. The ignition coil comprises two coils that are magnetically linked by an iron
core.
 The key actuators
ECU Fuel rail

Servo throttle body

Knock sensor
Injector
Pressure regulator

The gasoline engine

control system

The gasoline injector

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Motronic Components
(gasoline management system)

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 The control strategies

The modern gasoline engine management system integrates both engine and
ignition control: the microprocessor continuously monitors the engine and vehicle
parameters measured by the sensors and calculates in real time:

❑ the torque requested by the driver through the accelerator pedal,

❑ the necessary fresh air charge to be introduced into the cylinders by actuating
a proper throttle angle,
❑ the corresponding fuel delivery amount to guarantee a stoichiometric mixture
ratio by actuating a definite opening time of the injectors
❑ the adequate ignition timing (ignition angle in respect to the TDC) by
interrupting the primary winding of the ignition coil

In the ECU there are loaded two necessary information packages:

❑ the control strategies for every engine operation mode, that are engineered
according to the target,
❑ and the calibration data, mapped vs engine load and speed, temperatures,
and others parameters, that are specific value for any engine –vehicle application.
 The control strategies

❑ Knock control (Gasoline Engines)

Engine knock occurs when the ignition timing is advanced too far the operating condition
and causes, during the flames propagation, uncontrolled spontaneously combustion in the
end-gas that can lead to engine damage, depending on the severity and frequency.
Unfortunately, the ignition timing for optimisation of torque, fuel economy and
exhaust emissions is in close proximity to the ignition timing that results in engine
knock. As the ignition timing that results in engine knock depends from a lot of factors,
such as air/fuel ratio, fuel quality, engine load, and variation in compression ratio, is not
possible to put in the ignition timing table values that are safe with respect to the knock
without penalise the engine performance. To avoid this, knock sensor (one or more) is
installed on the engine block to detect knocking. Knock sensors are usually
acceleration sensors that provide an electric signal, proportional to the engine
vibration, to the electronic control unit. From this signal, the ECU control algorithm
determines which cylinder or cylinders are knocking. Ignition time is retarded for those
cylinder until the knock is no longer detected. The ignition timing is then advanced again
until knocking is detected
 Normal and Abnormal Combustion
• Octane rating of gasoline is the measure of antiknock properties. Engine
knock (called detonation, spark knock, or ping) is a metallic noise an engine
makes, usually during acceleration, from abnormal or uncontrolled
combustion in the cylinder.
Normal combustion is a smooth, controlled burning of the air–fuel mixture.

Normal combustion occurs smoothly and progresses across the combustion

chamber from the point of ignition.
 Normal and Abnormal Combustion
Speed of the flame front depends on air–fuel ratio, combustion chamber design, and
temperature.

During periods of spark knock (detonation), combustion speed increases by up to

10 times, causing increased temperatures and pressures, which can damage
pistons, gaskets, and cylinder heads.
Detonation is a secondary ignition of the air–fuel mixture. It is also called spark knock or pinging.
Normal and Abnormal Combustion
 Octane Rating

• One of the first additives used in gasoline was tetraethyl lead (TEL). TEL was
added in the early 1920s to reduce the tendency to knock. It was often called ethyl
or high-test gasoline.

• The antiknock standard or basis of comparison was the knock-resistant hydrocarbon

isooctane, chemically called trimethylpentane (C8H18), also known as 2-2-4
trimethylpentane.

• If the tested gasoline has the same

antiknock characteristics as isooctane, it
was rated as 100-octane gasoline. If only
85% of the antiknock properties, it was
rated as 85 octane.
•

Octane rating is only a comparison test.

 Antiknock Index
• Two methods used to rate gasoline for antiknock properties (octane rating) are the
research method and the motor method. Each uses a special cooperative fuel
research (CFR) single-cylinder engine.

The research method and the motor method vary as to temperature of air, spark
advance, and other parameters. The research method typically results in readings
that are 6 to 10 points higher than those of the motor method.

The octane rating posted on pumps in the United States is the average of the two
methods and is referred to as (R + M)/2, meaning for the fuel in the previous
example, the rating posted would be:

The pump octane is called the antiknock index (AKI).

• The posted octane rating on gasoline pumps is the rating achieved by the
average of the research and the motor methods.
 Octane Improvers

• When gasoline companies, under federal EPA regulations, removed tetraethyl lead
from gasoline, other methods were developed to help maintain the antiknock
properties of gasoline.
Octane improvers (enhancers) can be grouped into three broad
categories:
1. Aromatic hydrocarbons
(hydrocarbons containing the
benzene ring) such as xylene
and toluene
2. Alcohols such as ethanol
(ethyl alcohol), methanol
(methyl alcohol), and tertiary
butyl alcohol (TBA)
3. Metallic compounds such as
methylcyclopentadienyl
manganese tricarbonyl
(MMT)
 MOTRONIC - Torque Guided Engine Management Systems
Fuel Injection Concepts for S.I. Engines
Port Fuel Injection Gasoline Direct Injection

Mixture transport over the Mixture transport by charge

intake stroke motion and piston geometry

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