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Automotive electronics

Harshan16
Harshan16 10 days ago

Hi there, I'm basically working in a project where we are building a dual fuel injection system. For prototyping we are tapping the injection pulse of a fuel injector of a running engine and reading it via optocoupler and actuating another injector by pulse read by a microcontroller. We used Arduino for first stage of prototype, where the Arduino gets digital input from the optocoupler and adjusts the pulse width and gives out as output in a digital pin, which is connected to a MOSFET's gate pin. The drain and source pin of the MOSFET are connected between the injector's control line. 

But we need a more reliable approach, since the injector we are using is peak and hold diesel injector. Currently we referred few sources and built a circuit, which resembles something like in the image. But is there any better way to read the signal and controlling the injector pulses using a microcontroller? 

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  • acdc90
    acdc90 10 days ago

    Hello, Welcome To the Madness Looks like You will fit right in
    1st can you explain the Dual fuel what 2 fuels are you using and why (cost?)
    In the 90s I had experience with dual fuel and mapping Petrol alternate to LPG or CNG or methane
    If you look in history there was people mixing water into the Carb
    My understanding was not running on Water
    But water was pushing up the compression ratio
    I also helped set up car running petrol but when accelerator over ½ way would ad CNG as well
    Then I have seen farm vehicles with on board water separator (oxygen/hydrogen)
    Will the car original Engine management system detect other fuel Via knock sensor or exhaust O2 and have a hiccup
    since then I have spent time repairing Hartridge and other Diesel injector pump TEST benches
    Do you have the data sheet for the injector is it Delphi Denso or Bosh
    I remember some needed supply voltage up to 180v And pulse width drive
    and some needed 0.3 Bar before injector would work
    Will your fuel through diesel injector DRY out the internal structure, as diesel has lubricants and cleaning properties
    Hope this helps

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  • Harshan16
    Harshan16 10 days ago in reply to acdc90

    Thank you, the fuel we will be using is gasoline or a volatile fuel which injects in manifold and diesel which is injected as usual inside the cylinder. Currently the original engine is diesel engine, we are building a retrofitting kit to reduce diesel consumption and emission. Currently we are analysing the diesel engine for like around 2 months. What we did was, we tapped the control and supply wires of the injector to optocoupler and for the pulse reading to Arduino. we have another injector and pump setup which is outside the engine. This Arduino which gets the injector pulse will mirror or sometimes reduce the high pulse and gives the pulse signals to MOSFET. The MOSFET controls the fuel injector in the low side. The issues we faced were, this approach worked, but 

    1) the injector pump setup which is outside the engine as I said above, has Diesel injectors. These injectors worked and read the engine pulses, but we got wrong fuel measurement during idling of the engine. For 60sec of idle running and tapping the signal and passing to the injector setup, we got 90ml of diesel, which seems to be totally not acceptable, maybe the 2 injectors(engine and setup) were different and the pressure of the engine common rail and our fuel pump are also different.

    2) the injectors in the injector setup got damaged 2 times, due to this we lost 2 injectors.

    3) we controlled the injectors in the injector setup via MOSFET and it's powered by a 12v SMPS. Which provided enough power to actuate the injector. But we did lost 2 injectors 

    4) the Arduino gave pulse to the MOSFET which inturn gave pulsed signals to the injector, which treated it like a saturated injector rather than peak and hold injector.

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  • geralds
    geralds 10 days ago in reply to Harshan16

    A warning for you:

    https://barrgroup.com/software-expert-witness/case-studies/car-unintended-acceleration

    This can happen if you play with things that are too hug for you.

     michaelkellett  has mentioned in this thread this link:

    community.element14.com/.../237959

    "...The indentation style is based on..."... barrgroup.com/.../barr_c_coding_standard_2018.pdf

    Barrgroup is a company that provides services for specialized applications, such as automotive control systems.
    They also act as expert witnesses in court proceedings concerning technical issues.
    Therefore, they also provided expert advice in a case involving a catastrophic traffic accident with a Toyota whose pedal controls malfunctioned.

    Now you can consider what would happen if your development caused such a catastrophe.

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  • geralds
    geralds 9 days ago in reply to Harshan16

    Okay, a lab experiment is fine; you can learn from it.

    One crucial point to consider is that the DC supply voltage must be clean, meaning free of RF interference and excessive voltage spikes.

    In the automotive sector, you must pay attention not only to personal safety (first and foremost!), but also to circuit safety – functional safety.

    This means that protective circuits must be implemented around the active components. This, in turn, means more component AND production effort (PCB routing, enclosure design, and much more).

    The circuit you posted here has practically no protection circuitry, apart from reverse polarity protection and an incorrectly dimensioned inductor filter.

    I previously posted the link to NXP. There you'll find application examples for the automotive sector. NXP is also a specialist in this area.

    The microcontroller you want to use is too small for your application. I would choose a more suitable microcontroller.
    This is where the circuit design begins. You don't just need to control the components; you also need to measure the voltages and currents. Therefore, you need a faster and larger microcontroller (the exact specifications depend on your precise definition).

    I'm explaining this in very simple terms, so first consider what functions and complexity are truly necessary. I'm speaking from experience, recalling my time as an electrical technician working on repairs and maintenance for the railway. Traction control was one of those tasks.

    So, my suggestion is to go back to the drawing board and redraw it.

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  • Harshan16
    Harshan16 10 days ago in reply to geralds

    This is an academic project, I appreciate your answer. That's really helpful. I won't be implementing this in a real running vehicle, it's an experimental setup. 

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  • Harshan16
    Harshan16 10 days ago in reply to geralds

    This is an academic project, I appreciate your answer. That's really helpful. I won't be implementing this in a real running vehicle, it's an experimental setup. 

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  • geralds
    geralds 9 days ago in reply to Harshan16

    Okay, a lab experiment is fine; you can learn from it.

    One crucial point to consider is that the DC supply voltage must be clean, meaning free of RF interference and excessive voltage spikes.

    In the automotive sector, you must pay attention not only to personal safety (first and foremost!), but also to circuit safety – functional safety.

    This means that protective circuits must be implemented around the active components. This, in turn, means more component AND production effort (PCB routing, enclosure design, and much more).

    The circuit you posted here has practically no protection circuitry, apart from reverse polarity protection and an incorrectly dimensioned inductor filter.

    I previously posted the link to NXP. There you'll find application examples for the automotive sector. NXP is also a specialist in this area.

    The microcontroller you want to use is too small for your application. I would choose a more suitable microcontroller.
    This is where the circuit design begins. You don't just need to control the components; you also need to measure the voltages and currents. Therefore, you need a faster and larger microcontroller (the exact specifications depend on your precise definition).

    I'm explaining this in very simple terms, so first consider what functions and complexity are truly necessary. I'm speaking from experience, recalling my time as an electrical technician working on repairs and maintenance for the railway. Traction control was one of those tasks.

    So, my suggestion is to go back to the drawing board and redraw it.

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