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EE290 Senior design

Team 1
Formula SAE Race Car
Engine Control System
By
Robert Hotaling
Nnamdi Okam
Jason Mangual
Michael McGee
Justin Pribanic
Greg Pineau
Andy Bilmanis

Contacts:
Professor John Ayers: jayers@engr.uconn.edu
Professor Jim Cowart: jscowart@engr.uconn.edu

SAE Collegiate Design Series


http://www.sae.org/students/formula.htm
Table of contents

1. Abstract
2-3. Introduction
4- . Discussion
Design alternatives
References
Appendix
Market Research
Abstract:
The engine control system for the Formula SAE racecar has been designed and is ready
to be implemented. The finished product will offer a high performance engine control system for
a Honda F3 600cc motorcycle engine. The system will provide electronic control of the fuel
injection system, and the primary ignition system. The system will use feedback from the engine
combined with pre-programmed information to deliver metered fuel, and spark firing to the
cylinders at the optimum time for peak engine performance. This system should be competitive
in both performance and price with the current models available as complete units from various
manufacturers. The design will also offer sequential fuel injection without the use of a camshaft
sensor. This will allow better engine control without adding mechanical complexity to the
design.

Project Motivation:
In May 2001, the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) will be hosting an annual
student design competition for colleges and universities across the country. The competition
consists of developing and racing formula style automobiles according to SAE specifications.
The UConn SAE club will have a car entered in this year’s competition.
This joint project, between both the Mechanical and Electrical and Computer Engineering
departments of UConn, is to design and build a race car that requires components from both
disciplines. The components that the Electrical and Computer Engineering department are
responsible for are fuel injection and ignition systems. The reason for designing the fuel injection
system comes from the fact that the OEM carburetor system on the engine will not supply
adequate fuel for hard cornering portions of the competition. The ignition system design is a
logical extension of the fuel injection system design. Since both systems rely on the same
parameters, and the design of an ignition system will allow control of the spark timing, which in
turn leads to greater control of engine performance.
Introduction:
The design approach for the Engine Control System has been largely done using
assumptions, since the engine has not been available for testing here on campus. The data that is
required for the final design and implementation is not readily available. There is some basic
information available through service manuals and similar documents. However, the
manufacturers of engines do not make their engineering information available to the public. For
this reason some of the details of the design will not be known exactly until the engine is on
premises. Nevertheless, there is enough information available to complete the design, aside from
the specific code for the microcontroller, and some scaling of resistor and capacitor values.
The Engine Control System to be implemented by the EE/CE and ME teams is an
electronic fuel injection and electronic ignition system. An electronic fuel injection system
delivers fuel to an engines intake manifold, and an ignition system has to deliver spark to each
cylinder at the correct time. Both of these systems must be controlled so that they will change
with different temperature and load conditions. This is done through the use of various sensors
feedback to a microprocessor and computer code in the microprocessor.
There are many different fuel injection systems in use today in gasoline engines.
Virtually all automobiles today use electronic fuel injection systems to deliver fuel to the
cylinders. Three common types of electronic fuel injection (EFI) systems used today are throttle
body injection (TBI), multi-port fuel injection (MFI) and sequential fuel injection (SFI) systems.
In throttle body injection systems, all of the fuel for the engine is delivered to the same point at
the intake manifold inlet through one large fuel injector, somewhat like a hybrid between fuel
injection and a carburetor.
The most common types of fuel injection systems today are multi-port fuel injection and
sequential fuel injection. These are both systems where the fuel is delivered to each individual
cylinder by using separate fuel injectors for all the cylinders. These injectors are located in the
intake manifold runners in close proximity to each individual cylinder. In multi-port fuel
injection the injectors are actuated in groups (also known as bank firing). In sequential fuel
injection the injectors are actuated individually just before with each cylinder’s combustion
stroke. For sequential fuel injection the engine stroke position must be known. This is usually
accomplished through the use of a camshaft position sensor. If bank firing is used, there is no
need for a camshaft position sensor to give an indication of the engines stroke position.
Sequential Fuel injection offers the lowest exhaust emissions and the most efficient use of fuel,
so it is usually preferred over multi-port fuel injection by automobile manufacturers.
The design of the Engine Control System is described in this document along with the
cost analysis and the various constraints involved with the design. The discussion section begins
with design alternatives and selection considerations. Next comes system overview and the
details of the final design scheme. Finally, the overall limitations of the design project are
discussed. These limitations include budget, time line, and competition rules.

Discussion:
Design Alternatives
A number of different designs were considered before the final control system scheme
was chosen. Initially the fuel injection was going to be accomplished using multi-port injection,
firing all the injectors at once, and the spark would be delivered to pairs of cylinders together in a
waste spark system. This was based on the assumption that the engine to be used was a Honda
F4 engine having an ignition system similar to that of the F3 engine. This would be a system
that has two ignition coils and four cylinders. In this type of system the method of firing the
coils is done using a series configuration of the ignition coils that fires two spark plugs
simultaneously in a scheme known as waste spark. This type of system would also not have a
camshaft position sensor, so the multi-port fuel injection system would be the necessary fuel
delivery scheme.
When the wiring diagrams for the F4 engine became available it was discovered that the
ignition system was a coil on plug system. This system has an individual coil for each cylinder,
making the waste spark system somewhat redundant and inefficient since it is no longer
necessary to fire two ignition coils at once. The F4 system has no camshaft position sensor, so
the engine position with respect to what cylinder is on a power stroke is not readily available.
This system does not lead to an easy design for sequential fuel and ignition control.
A scheme has been devised to obtain the engine’s power stroke position from the voltage
difference found at the paired ignition coils voltage difference. The way that this is done is to
start the engine in a waste spark and multi-port injection mode. Since the only information
available when the engine is started is the overall engine position from the crankshaft position
sensor. This is only half of the information needed for sequential fuel injection. A four-stroke
engine has each cylinder going up and down twice to make a complete cycle. This means that
the engine is on either number one cylinder, or number four cylinder compression stroke when
the crankshaft is at 0°. It is therefore necessary to start the engine in a waste spark mode firing
number one and number four spark plugs simultaneously around 0°, and number two and number
three spark plugs simultaneously around 90°. This also prevents sequential fuel injection since
*****************************************************************************
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Engine Group:

The engines that are used in a Formula SAE car are 4-stroke piston engine with no more
than 610cc of displacement. The majority of the teams use mid-size motorcycle engines because
of their exact match to the SAE rules. However other engines can be used as long as they meet
these displacement and type requirements. The engines are allowed to be supercharged or turbo-
charged. The only other major restriction is the fuel types; SAE allows the use of 94 and 100
octane Sunoco gasoline or M85 (methanol) fuel. These are the major constraints that are put on
the team when designing the drivetrain.
The engine group’s responsibilities are to decide on a suitable powerplant and the controls that
will control it. These controls will be used to reliably run the engine, while also increase its
performance. Some of these controls will be new designs and others will be an improvement or
changes to existing equipment. The major controls that are needed to run the engine is a fuel
injection system and the integration of the existing ignition system to work with the fuel
injection system. These controls will allow the team the ability to tune the engine for particular
missions or conditions.

Powerplant Selection:
With the limitations on the engine displacement, there are no automobile engines that
would meet this constraint. However mid-size motorcycles have engine with a displacement of
600cc and are 4 stroke. The engines in this class are generally used for high performance and
racing applications, which make this type of engine a suitable option for a Formula SAE car.
With the car weights just above that of the motorcycle the engine is coming from they power and
torque are also suitable for this type of application.
Before the engine selection process was to begin, some constraints had to be set. We
wanted to select an engine that has had proven reliability and performance, while maintaining
cost within our budget. Another recommendation that was made early on was that we should
have two motors for this project, one for dynamometer (dyno) testing and one for the FSAE
competition. The reason for two motors is due to the hard stress and extensive wear associated
with dyno testing and tuning. This would also help to reduce the chance of failure in the
competition.
There are a number of motorcycle manufactures that produce the mid-size 600cc high
performance motorcycles. These companies are Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, and Kawasaki.
Through researching these manufactures we found that all of them have been manufacturing
these types of bikes for sometime and have had good success with them in motorsports
competitions. But through contact with Momentum Racing in Fairfield, CT, we learned more
about these manufactures. The engines from Yamaha and Kawasaki have shown evidence of
failure under hard loading in a short period of time. These engines also have a high cost for
repairs and parts. The Suzuki manufacture has had great success in recent months with their new
600GSXR engine in races. However due to its recent development the cost associated with this
was still high, and would not allow for two engines under the budget. The engines produced by
Honda have had very good success and are well respected by racers. The 600cc engines have
been in development for almost 15 years now, with four different generations of engines. The
last generation of engines are known as the F4, which are only two years old. This engine
produces the most horsepower out of all of the Honda motors and is known for is reliability.
However it too is still pricey due to is recent development and availability. For us to afford two
engines for the project we looked at the Honda F3. This motor is also known for its power and
reliability. The F3 and F4 engines are similar but have different dimensions, the power is also
decreased with the F3, but the torque is higher than that in the F4. The F4 engine is rated at 92-
95 Hp and the F3 is rated at 88-90 Hp, these power ratings are from the manufacturer. The
increase of torque over the F4 is due to the shorter piston stroke and this increase was an
important consideration due to that it would help the cars performance due to the driving
conditions. Another note was that some of the components for the F3 and F2 engine were the
same. This was a consideration due to the abundance of F2 engine components from previous
teams.
The decision to use the Honda CBR 600 F3 engine was the most practical option to meet the
driving conditions and budget constraints. The F3 engine is rated at 90 Hp, which is a significant
increase over previous year models and only a 5-7 Hp decrease in power from the F4 model. The
high torque rating from the F3 also would work better for the car performance due to the layout
of the competition. The power output is also comparable to other manufactures engines. The
extra parts from previous teams also were a deciding factor in the choice of engines.

Additional Engine Decisions:


Under the rules from SAE we have the options as far as induction and fuel. For the
induction we can use natural aspiration or forced aspiration. A naturally aspirated induction for
the engine would be a tube or scoop to pull air to the carburetor or fuel injection system. A
forced aspiration set-up would utilize a supercharger or turbo-charger to intake air to the
carburetor or fuel injection system. The benefit if properly tuned to that particular engine is
between a 30 and 40% power increase. From looking at the previous teams at UConn and other
teams, there has been the difficulty of finding a turbo small enough to match the engines
displacement. When forced induction is used the compression ratio needs to be lowered to
handle the extra air mass being delivered. This would require internal engine modifications to
lower the compression, such as different pistons. Another difficulty has been the tuning of the
turbo to produce maximum power. It has been noted by other teams that their vehicles have also
not been able to achieve decent fuel economy when forced induction is used. From looking also
at the power output numbers from the dynamometer from last year’s competition, more
horsepower was created with natural aspiration. Therefore we have decided that we would use a
naturally aspirated system, and avoid the problems of forced induction.
The other decision was as to what fuel type and octane to use. The SAE offers three
choices on fuel; they are Sunoco 94 and 100 octane gasoline and M85 (methanol).
Looking as the pros and cons of gasoline and methanol we were able to select our fuel type.
Methanol is rated at about 118 octane, and has a high energy associated with it than gasoline.
However methanol is corrosive, and can do serious damage to engine components, which leads
to power losses if the components are not replaced. With this side effect, it was clear that
methanol would not be used for this reason. This was also based on a tight budget already. Now
the choice was to what octane level to use. The engine we will be using has a compression ratio
of 12:1. This number is relatively high for a gasoline engine. Therefore to prevent pre-
detonation “knocking”, the higher octane would be used. Generally the higher the compression
ratio the higher the octane level needed to prevent knocking. The 94-octane fuel would be used
for forced induction systems, where the compression ratio is lower for the use of the turbo or
supercharger.

Fuel Injection:
The major component that is needed for the engine is a fuel injection system. The reason
for a fuel injection system is that the stock carburetors for motorcycles are not designed to take
lateral forces. If the stock carburetors were used in our car, as the car made hard turns the lateral
forces in the turn would cause the fuel to spill from the carburetors and the engine would be
starved. The reason that this carburetion system is sufficient in a motorcycle is because when the
bike turns it will lean into the turn and the force from the turn would be transmitted in the
vertical plane of the bike. Therefore the lateral acceleration felt in a four-wheeled car, is a
vertical acceleration on a bike with respect to the position of the engine. The rules for SAE also
require that all fluids such as fuel be contained, therefore the spilling of fuel is illegal.
In the early stages of brainstorming ideas came up to solve this. If the engine was to be
positioned differently in the car, could this fix this problem? However this still posses the same
problem when the car experiences hard accelerations and braking. Another solution was to use
an automotive carburetor, but this would be difficult to find a carburetor that would be sized for
the engines small displacement. The use of a fuel injection system seemed to be the best option.
There are a number of fuel injection manufactures that produce programmable electronic
fuel injection (EFI) systems for this type of application. Some of the companies that
manufacture these types of EFI systems are HALTECH, Edlebrock, and Accel. These systems
tend to cost around $1500. The systems from these companies are complete, with all the wiring
harnesses, sensors, and EFI computer. The computers for these systems just need to be
programmed for engine constraints such as displacement and redline (maximum engine speed)
limits. These EFI systems do have their limitations as far as tuning to maximize performance.
Therefore another consideration was to design our own EFI system, which would be
similar to the aftermarket systems. This approach would allow us to design the EFI computer to
the exact constraints of the F3 engine. This would also allow us to customize the system to our
needs, with features that we want. One of these was the ability to easily set the computer to
either performance or economy mode. In the performance mode we would be able to produce
the most power and this would be used in events when maximum power is needed. The
economy mode would be for events when fuel economy is desired.

Another consideration that needed

EFI Requirements:
The EFI system uses particular constraints to properly control the engine. Therefore
before the computer code can be finished the system needs to know how much fuel is needed,
air/fuel ratio, and injecting timing. Other system configurations need to also be addressed to
proper design the computer to the engine and competition requirements.
The fuel required by the engine can be determined based on the engine's displacement.
An engine is essentially a pump and the displaced mass the pump creates is what the engine
needs to intake. Therefore the first variable that needs to be determined is the mass of the air that
the engine displaces. This can be done using the Ideal Gas Law.
pV=mRT
This law will be used to model one cylinder to determine its requirements; this is due to that each
cylinder will have its own injector.
Before the mass of air can be calculated there are some variables that need to be
determined. These are the pressure in the cylinder on the intake stroke, the volume of one
cylinder, and the temperature of the air within the cylinder. When an engine is at idle the
pressure in the manifold is at about 1/3 atm, and when the engine is at wide-open throttle (WOT)
the pressure increases to 1 atm. So when the engine is running at these conditions the pressure in
the cylinder is at the respective pressure based on the throttle positions. For the cylinder pressure
in this calculation we are assuming that the throttle is wide open, therefore the pressure is 1 atm.
The reason for assuming WOT is that maximum power will be produced around this position of
the throttle.
As far as the cylinder volume, this is done by summing the volume the piston displaces
and the cylinder clearance volume together. The volume the cylinder displaces can be
determined by dividing the total engine displacement by the number of cylinders. In this case
the engine has a total displacement of 599cm3 with 4 cylinders, which make the displaced
volume of one cylinder 149.75cm3. The clearance volume is the volume in the cylinder above
the piston when it is at top dead center (TDC) and the volume of the cylinder head. To determine
this the following equation is used:
CR = (Vdisp + Vclearance) / Vclearance
This can be used, using the compression ratio (CR) and the known displacement of the piston.
For our engine a 12.0:1 compression ratio is listed by manufacture making the clearance volume
equal to 13.623cm3. Using the determined volume the total cylinder volume can be calculated,
this is equal to 163.373cm3.
The temperature determination is a variable that is tough to control in this type of
situation; the weather conditions usually dictate the air temperature. When the engine is
operating at WOT, the temperature of the air in the cylinder can be assumed to be equal to that of
the ambient air. This assumption is due to the fact the air velocity is so great that it does not sit
in the manifold to be heated. Also additional heat shields and cooling ducts can be added to
insure this assumption. The EFI computer will have an air temperature sensor to input the
temperature for the current conditions. For the mass of air determination here, the temperature
will be equal to 70 oF, room temperature. This assumption is based on the temperature when the
injectors will be experimentally tested for verification.
Now that the assumptions for the Ideal Gas Law have been made the mass of air can be
calculated. The units for this will be in metric for easy of use; therefore the constant R will be
equal to 8.314 ______. The mass of air was determined to be equal to 0.006769 kg.
To determine the mass of the fuel, the stoichiometric ratio must be used. The
stoichiometric ratio is also known at the chemically correct ratio, and this is the ratio of air to
fuel. For a gasoline the operation limits are roughly 11:1 (rich) mixture to a 20:1 (lean) mixture.
The stoichiometric ratio for optimum operation and lowest emissions is 14.5:1. At this ratio it is
represented by saying λ = 1. This is what the initial calculations will be based on. However for
fuel economy purposes a ratio 20% lean can be used for fuel mass calculations, this would be
about a 17:1 mix. For maximum performance the fuel mixture would be richened about 10% to
achieve max power, this would be a ratio of 13:1.
Using the stoichiometric ratio it was determined that the mass of fuel needed at λ = 1,
to be equal to 4.6686 E -4 kg. This mass can now be converted to a volume using the specific
weight for gasoline, which is equal to 45.9 lb/ft3. This will need to be converted for metric units.
The volume of fuel needed for one cylinder at stoichiometric conditions is 0.63497cm3. The
change in the volume of fuel compared to stoichiometric ratio can be seen in the graphical
representation below.

Figure ##: Fuel volumes compared to stoichiometric ratios


This is the volume that each injector will discharge every cycle at the appropriate time. The
injection timing will be discussed later.
Pulse Width Determination:
Now that the volumes of fuel have been determined at different stoichiometric ratios, the
pulse widths for the injectors need to be determined so that those volumes can be delivered. Fuel
injectors are voltage dependent and this voltage input is used to open the pintel and allow fuel to
flow by. The duration of the voltage signal is a variable, which controls the volume of fuel
discharged. The fuel pressure is another variable consideration. To determine the pulse width
for the injectors, a test rig was designed to represent the fuel delivery system. This can be seen
in the layout below.

Figure ##: Fuel Injector Test Rig


Using this test rig, a particular pulse width can be produced from the signal generator. This
signal from the generator will be a square wave. This signal will be transmitted through fuel
injector drive chips __________________________________. These chips are specially
designed to control and operate fuel injectors. This will then send the conditioned signal to the
injector. As for the fuel delivery to the injector, this will be done just as it would in an actual car
set-up. The fuel will be delivered from the tank via a high-pressure fuel pump (95-psi max.) to
the injector. The pressure at the injector will be regulated, to control the pressure input. The fuel
pressure regulator is critical to maintain a constant pressure at the injector. This will also allow
us to vary the pressure during the test. Most fuel injection systems operate a fuel pressure of 40
psi. However it is recommended that the fuel pressure should not exceed 60 psi, this
recommendation was made by the fuel injector manufactures due to internal component design
constraints.
As mentioned earlier the duration of the pulse width and the fuel pressure inputted to the
injector have an effect on the volume of fuel discharged. In an automotive application, the fuel
pressure will vary with respect to the manifold pressure. This is because a fuel injector works on
the principle of differential pressure across the injector. And this differential pressure is the
systems operating pressure. In an earlier section it was noted that as throttle position increases
the manifold pressure begins to increase, therefore to maintain a constant differential pressure the
absolute fuel pressure must increase. The fuel regulator will control the absolute fuel pressure
from a vacuum tube from the intake manifold. The diagram below shows the layout of the fuel
rail, fuel regulator and manifold.

Figure ##: Injector differential pressure layout


The differential pressure is governed by Bernoulli’s equation. This can be applied to
determine an absolute fuel pressure based on the desired fuel volume.
P + V2 = constant
ρ 2
The determination of the proper differential fuel pressure is critical, if this is not maintained and
the pulse width is constant it could mean that the engine would be starved for fuel. This
starvation will cause the engine to operate at lean conditions causing power losses and possible
engine damage if the ratio is very lean.
Engine Intake Design:
Since a new fuel injection system will be utilized an intake manifold will be used to
deliver the fuel and air to each of the cylinders. The manifold will consist of a throttle plate,
restrictor, plenum, runners, and fuel rail. The main focus as far as design will be the restrictor,
plenum, and runners, since this is where the majority of tuning will be done. Through the use of
equations these components can be tuned to maximize engine performance. A typical 4-cylinder
intake manifold would look like something like the figure below.

Figure ##: Intake manifold for a 4-cylinder engine


The restrictor is a requirement through the SAE rulebook. This is used to restrict the
engines from making their ultimate power. Restrictors are used in other racing sports to reduce
power and in turn lower speeds. This is more of a safety item, to limit the vehicle from extreme
high speeds. The rules state that a 20mm restriction will be placed on the intake after the throttle
plate. The restrictor does not have to be the normal restrictor plate design, which is a thin plate
(about ¼” thick) with the required bore. This is a restriction anywhere in the intake after the
throttle plate and before the intake valves. Therefore a venturi can be utilized to restrict the
intake system, also with the used of a venturi a considerable amount of the air mass lost when
using a conventional restrictor can be regained. It should be noted that due to the restrictor the
engine would only make good power up to about 9000 rpm. This will also be tested later on the
dyno for verification. The venturi will be designed to minimize the air mass loss. This is done
with the following equation:
The next portion of the intake that needs to be studied is the plenum and intake runners.
These two work together to delever the air to the engine. Inside the intake manifold the air
flowing through can experience pulsations or waves. This occurs due to the air flowing in and
hitting a closed valve then traveling back up the intake runner. This resonants can be used to
help increase performance if the runners and plenum are designed correctly. The runners need to
be a certain length so that as the pulse waves travel away from they engine, they bounce back at
the proper moment the intake valve opens again. This is called a tuned induction or “ramming”
and can result in considerable power improvement of 10–20%. The length of the induction pipe
will influence the engine speed as which maximum benefit is obtained from the pulsating flow.
This can be seen in the following plot of the pipe length versus engine speed. (Stone pg. 310)

Figure ##: Pipe length benefits at particular engine speeds


This plot is only applicable to engines, which have single carburetors or fuel injectors per
cylinder. This is primarily due to the difficulty to design an intake manifold with a single
carburetor or fuel injector, because of the difficulty of optimizing the volumetric efficiency and
the mixture distribution. From the plot it is shown that a shorter pipe is used when engine speeds
increase. In our case the intake will be designed to take advantage of this phenomenon at the
optimum power band, which is
The intake can also be acoustically modeled to study the propagation of these pulsating
waves. A tuned induction system can be considered an organ pipe or Helmholtz resonator. This
is modeled by the Helmholtz equation below.

fH = C / 2π [ A / ( l*V ) ] ½
where C = speed of sound
A = pipe area
L = pipe length
V = resonator volume
The pipe variables are representatives of the intake runners, and the resonator is the plenum. The
other model for the resonates frequency is of the organ pipe, and is represented by the following
equation
fp = C / 4L
L = l + 0.3d
where L = effective length
l = pipe length
d = pipe diameter
Either of these can be used for the determination of the resonate frequencies. This tuning
technique will benefit the volumetric efficiency, and in turn power. However the resonants
frequency will only be good for particular engine speeds. The intake can experience more than
one resonating frequency. Therefore a focus needs to be made to ensure that these resonating
frequencies are present at particular engine speeds, mainly at speed the engine will be run at for
the competition.
Other design considerations are the intake runners from the plenum. From the plenum air
needs to be funneled into each of the intake runners. There is a tendency in intake design to just
connect the two. But at this junction a boundary layer is present. Therefore to help minimize the
boundary layer experienced at the mouth of the runners, the runners are tapered or flared. This
shape is sometimes called a velocity stack. This runner shape at the mouth minimizes the
boundary layer by helping the air to flow more smoothly. With the reduction of the boundary
layer the runner is less prone to choking the flow. These runner shapes at the mouth can be seen
in the following figure.
Figure ##: Runner Shapes at the mouth
As far as the rest of the intake systems components they do not need as much attentions
to maximize the performance. The throttle plate needs to have a matching bore to the front end
of the venturi to minimize airflow losses. The throttle plate also needs to have a linear opening
motion. If this motion is not achieved then, when the engine is run the driver will not be able to
adequately control the engine speed and output. A throttle with non-linear motion will result in
maximum engine speeds with out have fully opening the throttle plate. This is undesirable for
driving conditions.
The fuel rail is the last point of concern for the intake system. The fuel rail will provide
fuel to each of the injectors through a common pipe. The only concern for the fuel rail is
adequate fuel delivery for the injectors. Therefore the volume of the rail needs to be looked at to
ensure under hard accelerations that they rail holds enough fuel to provide the injectors
adequately. However this should not be to big of a concern with a fuel regulator with a quick
time response to meet the need for a higher fuel pressure in the rail. It was also suggested that
mild steel or stainless steel be used for the construction of the fuel rail, instead of aluminum.
This is because after a hot shutdown steel gathers far less heat, which could lead to fuel boiling
in the rail and causing vapor lock. (sdsefi.com/tech)
Background Information
Electronic fuel injection systems are designed to deliver fuel to an internal combustion
engine depending on input provided by a controller. Ignition systems deliver spark to each
cylinder at a specific point in the engine cycle. Both of these systems are operated by a controller
that monitors feedback and changes fuel and spark accordingly.
The most important thing to balance at all times is the ratio of air to fuel, which is about
14.5:1. The air/fuel ratio affects the efficiency of an engine. If the mixture of air and fuel is too
rich, (or contains too much fuel) or too lean (too much air), the engine will not run efficiently.
Therefore, a certain amount of fuel is required as a function of engine speed and load, both of
which need to be measured consistently. This requires a feedback system to adjust the fuel
supply as engine speed changes. The ignition system is controlled similarly to the fuel injection
system. As long as the duration of the primary coil on-time is sufficient, the amount of spark is
determined by the secondary ignition system. The timing of the spark firing is crucial for
efficient engine operation.

Objectives:
The devices to be built by the electrical engineering team for the formula SAE racing car
are a fuel injection control system, and an ignition control system. The fuel injection system
supplies gasoline to the cylinders of an engine through mechanical fuel injector devices. The
amount of fuel supplied depends on the load on the engine, while the frequency at which the fuel
is supplied depends on the engine speed. The fuel supplied generates an explosion with the spark
from the spark plugs. This explosion exerts a force on the pistons and creates an upward and
downward vertical motion, which in turn creates a rotational force on the crankshaft. The
ignition system creates a spark, which is needed for the combustion in the cylinders. The time the
spark is generated is dependent on the engine position while the frequency at which sparks are
generated depends on the speed of the engine.
Methods:
The electrical engineering portion of the Formula SAE race car project involves designing an
ignition control system and a fuel injection control system. These together will be referred to as
the engine control system.
The ignition system is the device, responsible for supplying sufficient voltage to the spark plugs
for combustion to occur. As the name implies, the spark plugs create a spark, which comes in
contact with fuel and subsequently ignites an explosion in the cylinders of the engine. The
explosion creates a force, which is exerted on the pistons and therefore engine motion occurs.
The fuel injection system is the device, which supplies fuel to the cylinders where the spark
occurs. The fuel injectors are mechanical devices, which rely on voltage pulses to operate. The
duration of time that this voltage is applied to the injectors determines the amount of fuel
supplied by the injectors. Also the frequency at which the injector signal is applied determines
the volume of fuel supplied per second. These concerns are discussed in more precise detail.

The type of ignition control system to be designed is called a waste spark ignition system. This is
one which activates the spark on cylinders in pairs (instead of sequentially firing each cylinder)
creating a "waste" spark. This allows half the number of ignition coils to be used in any
particular engine application. The inputs to the ignition control system as a whole are engine
speed, engine position, and engine load. Engine speed is needed because as speed increases the
frequency of the sparks should increase and as speed decreases the frequency of the sparks
should decrease. Engine speed is directly proportional to the frequency of the sparks. Engine
position is required as an input to the ignition control system because the position of the pistons
determines when the spark plugs should fire. These inputs are all inputs to the microcontroller.
Based on the inputs, the microcontroller is programmed appropriately to send the required
outputs to the driver circuits. The driver circuit is placed to act as a switch which provides, and
then inturupts, 12 volts to the primary ignition coil based on the position of the pistons. Then the
transformed (step-up) voltage resides at the secondary coil. The interruption of the voltage
supply at the primary coil causes an inductive discharge at the secondary coil. This amount of
voltage at the secondary coil fires the spark plug. The high voltage at the secondary coil induces
a large transient voltage at the primary coil during the secondary discharge. In order to protect
the microcontroller, and to source enough current to the ignition coil, an insulated gate bipolar
transistor (IGBT) will be placed as the driver circuit for the ignition coil.
Engine speed and engine position are determined by the engines existing crankshaft sensor. This
sensor has a "voltage versus time" graph whose information will be used by the microcontroller
to determine the engine position and speed.
The fuel injection system design overview is shown below.

The inputs to the fuel injection control system are the engine speed, engine load, throttle position
and ambient air temperature. These are the inputs to the microcontroller. The fuel injector is a
mechanical system and is activated by a voltage. The amount of fuel injected and the frequency
of the injections are determined by the pulse duration (or pulse width) and the frequency of the
voltage signal respectively. The pulse duration changes with respect to the load on the engine i.e
with a bigger load, the amount of fuel supplied increases and therefore the pulse width is
increased. As engine speed changes, the frequency changes. Engine speed is directly
proportional to the frequency of the voltage signal from the crankshaft sensor. The
microcontroller is programmed to sense an increase in engine load through the MAP sensor and
sense a change in engine speed through the crank sensor. The controller then drives the fuel
injectors accordingly. The fuel injector drivers will be IC's designed specifically for fuel injector
applications. .

Name Quantity Price ($ - US) Total Price ($ - US)


PIC Microcontroller 4 15.00 60.00
Injector Driver 4 3.00 12.00
Fuel Injectors 4 100.00 400.00
Ignition Coils 4 65.00 260.00
Printed circuit board 1 100.00 100.00
Enclosure (controller) 1 20.00 20.00
Enclosure (ignition driver) 1 20.00 20.00
IGBT Transistor 4 25.00 100.00
Zener Diode 4 1.00 4.00
Heat Sink 5 2.00 10.00
Power Supply Kit 1 12.00 12.00
Ceramic Resonator 4 1.00 4.00
IC Socket 12 3/$0.40 1.60
Misc. 200.00
Grand Total 1203.60
Budget For the Electrical Portion of the Engine Control System.

Timeline
The following is the project timeline for EE290, showing dates and goals to be achieved.
Conclusion:
The engine control system will provide electronic control to the primary ignition system and to
the fuel injection system of the 600cc Honda engine to be used in the upcoming Formula SAE
competition. The project must be implemented and tested by early May 2001. This is the primary
measure of success for this project. A functional engine control system that is completed after
this time will not bring success to the Uconn team at the SAE competition. The design cost
should be within the $1500 or less figure that is the current budget.
Based on the preliminary design, the project can be implemented within budget and before the
Formula SAE Student Competition in May 2001. By the nature of the project, we do not have all
the detailed information available to offer a comprehensive design at this time. We will need to
have the engine on premises in order to determine exactly what our input and output interfaces
will be.
References:

1. Motor Age, http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m3102/n7_v117/20937693/p1/article.jhtml

Appendix:
Market Research
Although there are several commercial fuel injection systems available, none fit our
needs as a complete system. They are either too expensive or do not provide all of the controls
the engine needs. A search of prices was done on www.rancefi.com and www.sdsefi.com. The
most notable models and manufacturers along with the cost and explanation of the problems with
each are summarized in Table 1 below.
Table 1: Various Commercially Available Fuel Injection/Ignition Systems:
Product Manufacturer Cost Description/Comments
74022A - Accel Accel $880.00 The 74022A is a general conversion kit
Closed Loop made to replace a carburetor.
Auto/RV Therefore, it does not include an ignition
Computer and system control.
Harness Kit
EM-3 F Simple Digital $1134 - Provides fuel injection and crank
Systems (SDS) $1300 triggered, distributor-less ignition control
on 4 and 6 cylinder engines.
E6K Haltech $1495 Provides fuel injection and ignition
timing. Includes a one bar manifold air
pressure (MAP) sensor, a 3 wire O2
sensor, a throttle position sensor (TPS),
air and temperature sensors, software
and cables.
According to price, the best low-end solution is the Accel 74022A closed loop injection
controller. This system allows for re-programmability of fuel injection and costs $880, but does
not include ignition control. A more advanced commercially available solution is the Haltech
E6K. This device is programmable and provides multiple feedbacks and more engine control, but
at a much higher price. There are additional solutions at different cost levels between these two
extremes.

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