Combustion and Intake/Exhaust Systems Diagnosis Based on Acoustic Emissions of a GDI TC Engine

Due to increasingly stringent emission regulations and the need for more efficient powertrains, engine control systems that have been developed during the recent years have become more and more sophisticated. Obtaining accurate information about the combustion process and about all the subsystems that compose the engine can be considered key to reach the maximum overall performance. Low-cost in-cylinder pressure and turbo speed sensors are being developed, but they still present long-term reliability issues, and represent a considerable part of the entire engine management system cost. Sound emissions represent an extremely rich information source about the operating conditions of all the subsystems that comprise the entire engine. The paper shows how it is possible to extract fundamental information regarding the combustion process (such as knock and misfire), turbo speed, and air path fault at the same time, by performing an appropriate analysis of the engine acoustic emissions acquired from the very same microphone, which can thus be considered as an innovative, multifunction, and low-cost sensor for automotive applications.