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Article in Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part D Journal of Automobile Engineering · April 2006
DOI: 10.1243/09544070JAUTO34
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What is This?
The manuscript was received on 31 January 2005 and was accepted after revision for publication on 28 October 2005.
DOI: 10.1243/09544070JAUTO34
Abstract: Modern diesel common-rail injection systems supply fuel from a high-pressure
vessel. The injection event causes an instantaneous drop in the rail pressure, as the stored
mass is diminished. Pressure variations are also affected by the dynamics of the high-pressure
pump that supplies fuel to the rail to compensate for the emptying process due to the injection.
This paper proposes the possibility of diagnosing the injection process from measurement of
the rail pressure. Different data treatment techniques are explored and evaluated in this paper
to propose an effective method for the diagnosis of common-rail injection systems.
Keywords: diesel engines, common rail, failure detection, injection failure, misfire
JAUTO34 © IMechE 2006 Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering
Since the injection system is critical for emission are controlled by a PC connected to the ECU via a
control, it is necessary to develop algorithms that suitable communication link (ETK port). The rail
check, detect, and correct, if possible, the effects of pressure could be independently controlled. In
its malfunction [12, 13]. The objective of the present addition to the production pressure sensor used by
work is to develop a method for injection diagnosis the ECU for control purposes, the common rail was
in common-rail diesel engines. also instrumented with a research pressure sensor
During the last two decades, several authors have (Kistler 4067A2000 sensor with a 4618A amplifier).
developed algorithms for misfire detection, usually by Injection current and fuel mass flow were also
means of instantaneous crankshaft rotational speed measured for the purpose of locating the injections.
measurement [14–19]; the present work is focused Data were acquired by means of a Yokogawa
on detecting the fault (‘a misfire is happening’) and acquisition system sampling at 100 kHz. A diagram
its possible cause (‘is the injection process correct?’). of the installation is shown in Fig. 1.
For that, the instantaneous measurement of the rail
pressure will be used to reveal whether the injection 2.2 Engine test bench
has taken place.
To emulate real operating conditions, a four-cylinder
As the rail is a high-pressure vessel that supplies
common-rail passenger car engine was used. The
fuel to the injectors, each time an injector opens, the
engine was installed in a dynamic test cell with
rail pressure experiences an instantaneous drop.
an electric dynamometer, as shown in Fig. 2. The
Also, the dynamics of the high-pressure pump that
ECU controlled the injection pressure and the start
supplies fuel to the rail to compensate for the
of injection. Also, the existence and characteristics
emptying process due to the injection will affect
of the pilot injection were determined by the ECU.
the instantaneous rail pressure [20]. A method for
Changes in the engine operating point, defined
isolating the variations due to the injections from
by the engine speed and the accelerator pedal
those due to the fuel supply from the pump is pre-
position, result in the ECU automatically calculating
sented in this paper. The ability to discriminate
and applying new injection settings. To simulate
between different injections in the same cylinder is
injection failures, one of the injectors was completely
also studied. Further, it is shown that it is possible
disconnected in one of the tests.
to diagnose the injection quality on the basis of
measurement of the common-rail instantaneous
pressure obtained with a production pressure sensor.
Finally, the method is shown to be useful even with
small injections (such as pilot injections).
2 EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP
Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering JAUTO34 © IMechE 2006
JAUTO34 © IMechE 2006 Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering
Table 1 Operating conditions for the tests performed in the common-rail test bench (BTDC – before
top dead centre)
Rail pressure Pilot i. timing Main i. timing Pilot i. duration Main i. duration Engine speed
#test [MPa] [° BTDC] [° BTDC] [ms] [ms] [rpm]
1 80 – 0 – 1000 2000
2 80 15 0 250 1000 2000
a
f (k)=k
r 2l
Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering JAUTO34 © IMechE 2006
Fig. 4 Spectra of the rail pressure for the common-rail test bench tests: (a) without pilot injec-
tion; (b) with pilot injection
a single injection is possible, it is not clear that such engine cycle. This situation is rather different from
an strategy can deal with two injections performed real operating conditions, where injections are per-
in a short time period. Problems in the detection formed in all the cylinders (note that the different
are expected, especially when the effect of the injections will be done at different rail pressures,
first injection is small compared with that of the as the number of cylinders and the pump strokes
second. This is the case for a pilot injection just a per cycle are primes between them). Thus, as the
few degrees before the main injection. To study emptying and filling process is a main factor in rail
this phenomenon, a second experiment with two pressure evolution, it is not possible to study the
injections was performed. problem without performing the injection in all of the
Figures 3(b) and 4(b) show the time evolution and cylinders. The next section is devoted to analysing
the spectrum of the pressure signal respectively. In data obtained under realistic operating conditions.
the case of the time domain plot [Fig. 3(b)], a smaller
drop is observed before the pressure drop due to the
4.2 Engine test bench
main injection. The spectral plot of Fig. 4(b) does not
show any appreciable difference between the single Several experiments were run on the engine test bed,
and pilot–main injection cases. Figure 5(b) shows the varying the rail pressure, the engine speed, and the
spectrogram of the signal. In this case, the area with duration of the main injection and pilot injection. A
high-frequency contents is divided into two different condition with no pilot injection was also measured.
parts: a thin black line caused by the pilot injection Finally, to study the effects of a failure in one
and a wider one related to the main injection. Based injector, the engine was run with one of the injectors
on this last figure, it can be observed that, even when disconnected. A summary of the experiments is
the detection of the injection process seems to be presented in Table 2. To illustrate the results, only
possible, discrimination between several injections tests 3, 13, and 15 will be described; these correspond
will not be easily achievable if these injections are to experimental points with pilot injection, with a
very near one another. disconnected injector, and fault free but without pilot
In the tests performed on the common-rail test injection respectively (from here on these cases
bench, only one injector is working. Thus, the will be referred to as a, b, and c). All rail pressure
injection caused a significant drop in the rail pressure measurements were carried out with the production
which is compensated for during the rest of the Bosch sensor.
JAUTO34 © IMechE 2006 Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering
Table 2 Operating conditions for the tests performed on the engine test bench
Rail pressure Pilot i. timing Main i. timing Pilot i. duration Main i. duration Engine speed
#test [MPa] [° BTDC] [° BTDC] [ms] [ms] [rpm]
*One of the injectors was disconnected in order to simulate a severe injection fault.
Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering JAUTO34 © IMechE 2006
5 DETECTION ALGORITHM
JAUTO34 © IMechE 2006 Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering
Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering JAUTO34 © IMechE 2006
JAUTO34 © IMechE 2006 Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering
There is a relationship between the pressure drop 5 Zhang, L. A study of pilot injection in a DI diesel
in the rail and the quantity of fuel injected. Although engine. SAE paper 1999-01-3493, 1999.
this topic has not been studied specifically, it does 6 Benajes, J., Molina, S., and Garcı́a, J. M. Influence
of pre- and post-injection on the performance and
not seem impossible to design fuel mass flowrate pollutant emissions in a HD Diesel engine. SAE
observers from the rail pressure variation. However, paper 2001-01-0526, 2001.
it must be noted that the injector is fitted with a 7 Glenn, R. and Foster, D. E. The effect of split
return line to the low-pressure system; thus, the rail injection on soot and NOx production in an engine-
pressure drop will be affected by the returned fuel fed combustion chamber. SAE paper 932655, 1993.
quantity too, and consequently a correction should 8 Beatrice, C., Belardini, P., Bertoli, C., Lisbona, M. G.,
and Rossi Sebastiano, G. M. Diesel combustion
be used. This issue should also be considered in the
control in common rail engines by new injection
diagnostic process, as minor defects in the injected strategies. Int. J. Engine Res., 2002, 3(1).
fuel quantity can be hidden by the returned fuel 9 Schmidt, M., Kimmich, F., Straky, H., and
quantity effect on the rail pressure. Isermann, R. Combustion supervision by evaluating
The joint use of ideal (non-causal) filtering and the crankshaft speed and acceleration. SAE paper
differentiation of the rail pressure signal seems to be 2000-01-0558. 2000.
the best method for the detection of the injection 10 Ganser, M. A. Common rail injectors for 2000 bar
and beyond. SAE paper 2000-01-0706, 2000.
events from the rail pressure measurement. Further
11 Han, J. S., Wang, T. C., Xie, X. B., Harrington, D. L.,
work must be done to optimize the band-pass Pinson, J., and Miles, P. Dynamics of multiple-
filter and to select the threshold. Also, the extreme injection fuel sprays in a small-bore HSDI Diesel
cases must be explored (least separation between engine. SAE paper 2000-01-1256, 2000.
detectable injections, smallest fuel quantity detect- 12 Directive 98/69/EC of the European Parliament
able, etc.). The STFT method seems most robust for and of the Council of 13 October 1998 relating to
the detection of the main injection. DFT is effective measures to be taken against air pollution by
emissions from motor vehicles and amending
in detecting total lack of injection in one cylinder.
Council Directive 70/220/EEC. L 350/1 Official
The fusion of multiple criteria could be studied for Journal of the European Communities, 1998.
improving overall detection efficiency. 13 System requirements for 2004 and subsequent
model-year passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and
medium-duty vehicles and engines (OBD II), Title
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 13, California Code Regulations, Section 1968.2,
Malfunction and Diagnostic, 2003.
14 Freestone, J. W. and Jenkins, E. G. The diagnosis
This work was partially funded by a PPI-00-02-
of cylinder power faults in a diesel engine by fly-
1808 UPV grant. The authors are grateful for the wheel speed measurement. Proc. IMechE, Part D:
collaboration of the CMT-Motores Térmicos staff, J. Automobile Engineering, 1986, 200(D1), 37–43.
with special thanks to Antonio Peris for carrying out 15 Williams, J. An overview of misfiring cylinder engine
the experimental measurements and to Enrique diagnostic techniques based on crankshaft angular
Moreno for his work on analysing the data. velocity measurements. SAE paper 960039, 1996.
16 Kim, Y. W., Rizzoni, G., Wang, Y. Y., and Samimy, B.
Analysis and processing of shaft angular velocity
signals in rotating machinery for diagnostic appli-
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JAUTO34 © IMechE 2006 Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering