Automation of an automobile internal combustion engine bench calibration tests

Introduction (problem statement and relevance). The article presents the work on the automation of an internal combustion engine (ICE) calibration tests results on a motor stand. The relevance of the article is due to the high labor intensity of such tests, the complexity of documentation and decisionmaking based on the results of the work.

Purpose of the study. This work is part of a comprehensive methodology, the purpose of which is to reduce the duration of tests and improve the calibration results quality of the vehicle’s power plant. The entire methodology description as a whole is also given in the publication.

Methodology and research methods. The achievement of this goal is ensured with the help of special systems – INCA-FLOW (test automation) and ASCMO (processing results and optimization), produced by Bosch/ETAS. The approbation of the technique was carried out on a motor stand in the MADI training box in relation to the problem of forming an ignition timing map.

Scientific novelty and results. As a result of the methodology application, a 4.8 times reduction in the motor tests duration takes place if 2 people work in manual mode at the test bench without interruption.

At the same time, the variance of the adequacy of Sad of the torque empirical model Mk turned out to be, on average, 1.5 times less if the model was built according to the automated tests results. The obtained data indicated an improvement in the quality of measurements in the transition to automated test methods.

From a scientific point of view, the most original part of the work is the application of the “Gaussian process” method to build empirical models. This method provides more accurate results than, for example, the traditional method of least squares.

The practical significance of the work lies in the ability to considerably reduce routine actions on a motor stand, and the additional time spent on developing and testing a test scenario (program) is compensated for by the fact that scenario models can be used in the future for other similar tests. The proposed methodology makes it possible to cover a significant part of the internal combustion engine calibration tests. For example, you can apply it if you possess the preliminary information about the test object (basing on which you can draw up an experiment plan) and the engine is to be prepared either for a car road tests or tests under special conditions.

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