DIY_EFI Digest        Thursday, August 12 1999        Volume 04 : Number 464



In this issue:

	Re: Designing Engine Management

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Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 04:33:50 +1000
From: Phil Lamovie <injec@xxx.au>
Subject: Re: Designing Engine Management

Hi All,

James MacKenzie wrote:

> engine is fully managed from a laptop computer <

Seems like everyone is designing an engine management system
today !


It would be great if some of you would get together and pick a
common
platform. Makes it much easier to help  a group of you and the
open source
nature should help you attract others.

On the other hand sometime it does sound like "I have learnt to
write
so now I'm going to write a book about lion taming."

It's probably best to spend your first year or so  investigating
engine design
issues then you will be in a position to asses current technology
and
methodology of engine management.

The care and feeding of an engine is a technology neutral issue.
You can't design a carby without having a reasonable grasp of the
physics
of IC engines and the chemistry of combustion.

Same goes for writing code for an embedded engine management
application.

The most common pitfalls are not coming to terms with writing
"real time"
applications and how very "real time"  the engine management game
is.

There is a quite a difference between the operating systems used
for
real time applications and "some time applications"

Have a look at a simple Motorola 68hc11 and see if you can
duplicate it's
functions in the operating system you are hoping to use.

If you can good. If not then the laptop is out.

I can't emphasize strongly enough the need to come to terms with
the
IC engine (the client) before you choose a solution
(platform/software)

Motorola offer vast amounts of knowledge in the interface/circuit
design area
that would be a good start.

then...

> Does anyone have a good document or website which describes
basics /
> details of the engine management system including the fuel
maps?

On the Engine Management side things are a lot more difficult.
Those
who know how it all works will seldom tell you as it's often
proprietary
information. Like asking M$ for their source code. Most people
work it out
from friends and mail lists and backwards engineering a couple of
factory
units. The problem is understanding the reasoning behind the
decisions.

Why do Delco/Delphi have 309 sets of tables in their ECU. What is
bloatware
and what is really required ? What is the second pressure sensor
in the Honda for ?

Let us know what you find out ? Can a 300mHz 32 bit wintel run an
engine ?


 Regards

 Phil Lamovie

 injec@xxx.au

     cogito ergo zoom

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End of DIY_EFI Digest V4 #464
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