ASSISTED AND CONVENTIONAL DIESEL ENGINES DEVELOPMENT

THE ABILITY TO DIAGNOSE AND CONTROL THE COMBUSTION PROCESS IN DIESEL ENGINES IS RECOGNIZED TO BE AN IMPORTANT ADVANTAGE. ENGINE EFFICIENCY, PERFORMANCE, SMOKE EMISSIONS, NOISE, VEHICLE SERVICEABILITY COULD ALL BE IMPACTED FAVORABLY. ENGINE CYLINDER PRESSURE IS MOST SENSITIVE TO COMBUSTION CHARACTERISTICS. MAJOR HURDLES TO THE USE OF CYLINDER PRESSURE FOR CONTROL AND DIAGNOSTICS HAVE BEEN: 1. THE LACK OF SENSORS CAPABLE OF SURVIVING IN THE HRSH ENGINE ENVIRONMENT (OUTSIDE THE R&D APPLICATIONS), AND 2. THE LACK OF EFFECTIVE ACTUATORS SUCH AS ELECTRONICALLY CONTROLLED INJECTORS. MAJOR PROGRESS IS BEING MADE IN BOTH THESE AREAS. IN THIS RESEARCH EFFORT, OPTIMA PROPOSES TO DEVELOP A MICROPROCESSOR BASED ALGORITHM TO USE ENGINE CYLINDER PRESSURE DATA AS A CONTROL PARAMETER TO OPTIMIZE VARIOUS ENGINE FUNCTIONS AND CHARACTERISTICS.