M274 Engine Hot Test Controller

NI Powertrain Controls Group Application of cRIO ECS to Production Hot Test

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The Challenge

• Take control of a new production 4-cylinder GDI engine for purposes of assembly line hot test

• Supplied with a crate engine in San Antonio• No access to production ECU or fueling

calibrations• 8 weeks to get engine running for Nissan visit• Provide TCP/IP interface to KUKA XCT,

communicating all relevant controls and indicators

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cRIO ECS Solution

• M274 engine controller was the first use of PCG ECS software on a cRIO target, using the high performance cRIO-9082 controller. Layered approach of LabVIEW RT and FPGA software for engine control

applications• Hardware Layer: RT / FPGA devices drivers for modular I/O• Engine Layer: RT software connecting I/O channels to control algorithms• Control Layer: Collection of engine control algorithms independent of Hardware

and Engine layers

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San Antonio Engine Installation

• The M274 engine was installed on a portable engine start-stand for drag-racing engine builds.

• Start-stand allowed us to quickly setup cooling, fuel and basic electrical systems.

• The prototype cRIO ECS was mounted on a panel next to the engine.

• A custom exhaust system was fabricated with oxygen sensor ports

• Customized pulley and belt arranged for missing A/C and alternator

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San Antonio Engine Installation

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Reverse Engineering Process

• Our line of work often involves reverse-engineering of electro-mechanical systems in order to operate them for research projects

• We rang-out the ECU connectors and compared against the provided simplified schematic

• ECU connectors were removed and replaced with Circular Plastic Connectors (CPC)

• Brief datasheets and pinouts were provided for sensors and actuators

• Engine manual with some sensor calibrations was provided

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Reverse Engineering Process

• Highlights: Engine-synchronous fuel-pump pulse timing

was manipulated around the 720 degree cycle until finding the “sweet spot” range which affects pressure.

Fuel pump pulse-width table was calibrated based on pressure setpoint and estimated flow rate

Cam signals monitored while experimentally identifying VVT travel and default positions

Various valves were energized while running engine to determine open/closed states

Fuel Pump Pulse Current

Piezo Injector Current/Voltage(Charge Phase)

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NI Compact RIO Generic System Diagram

Ethernet

FPGART Processor

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User-defined I/O configuration

FPGA-based “driver” code for modules (ie EPT)

Engine control software and

calibration points

User Interface Link:

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LabVIEW FPGA and Modular I/O

NI 9751 Direct Injector Driver Module

NI 9752 Automotive AD Combo Module

NI 9753 Differential Digital I/O Module

NI 9754 Engine-Synchronous TTL Output Module

NI 9757 O2 Sensor Module

NI 9758 Port Fuel Injector Driver Module

NI 9759 Electronic Throttle Driver Module

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FPGA-Based Engine Position Tracking• Tracks angular position of crankshaft to a nominal 0.1 degrees• Supports most common trigger patterns in the industry

• N-M (example: 60-2)• Plus 1 (example: 6+1)• Encoder (example 360 count optical encoder)• Chrysler 36-4

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LabVIEW RT Control Algorithms

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Calibration

• Software Calibration Management (SCM) Toolkit (previously known as CalVIEW) was used to instrument the RT application for parameter interface and calibration

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Communications

• LabVIEW-based TCP/IP functions were added to communicate all relevant controls and indicators with KUKA XCT test cell supervisor software

• XCT supervises the test cell and engine control setpoints

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Conclusion

• A successful steady-state setpoint engine controller was prototyped quickly using NI Powertrain Controls cRIO ECS Platform

• Modular C-Series I/O was implemented to select exactly the I/O types required by the target engine

• LabVIEW RT and LabVIEW FPGA were used to provide real-time algorithm processing and microsecond control of I/O processes

• The LabVIEW RT and FPGA software can be ported to other RT/FPGA targets

• TCP/IP interface to KUKA XCT was implemented, however, a variety of communications protocols can be implemented via NI hardware and software (RS232/485, CAN, LIN, etc)

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