JPH07259626A - Electronic controller of multiple cylinder engine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable engines having the different numbers of cylinders to be controlled by a signal device by converting rotational angle information into rotational angle information of the engine having the specific numbers of cylinders on the basis of cylinder numbers information registered by a cylinder numbers information registering means. CONSTITUTION:In a controller 1 for electronically controlling the ignition timing of an eight-cylinder engine to be loaded to an automobile, rotational signals N to be output from an angle sensor 6 are input into a cylinder numbers discriminating unit 11 for constituting a cylinder number information registering unit 10a and into a cylinder numbers converting unit 20. The pulse number is counted by the cylinder numbers discriminating unit 11 on the basis of the singular point pulse of the rotational signal N, and the cylinder numbers of the engine are discriminated, and the discriminated result is registered into a discrimination flag storing unit 12. On the other hand, the pulse periodic time to be measured by the rotational signal N is converted into the pulse periodic time T90 of the eight-cylinder engine on the basis of the registered cylinder numbers discriminating flag in the cylinder numbers converting unit 20, so as to be output to an engine control unit 30.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic control unit for a multi-cylinder engine which electronically controls fuel injection timing, ignition timing, etc. of the multi-cylinder engine, and more particularly to a one-chip microcomputer as the electronic control unit. Furthermore, the present invention relates to implementation of a device configuration suitable for general-purpose control of engines having different numbers of cylinders.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, most of electronic control devices used for engine control of automobiles include one-chip microcomputers, that is, CPUs, ROMs and RAs.
A microcomputer in which M, an input / output control unit, etc. are integrated in one IC (LSI) chip is used.

By the way, in such a one-chip microcomputer, as its internal ROM,
A so-called mask RO in which programs and data are fixedly written by a mask used in an IC (LSI) manufacturing process.
M is used. Therefore, although the mass productivity and the economical efficiency of the one-chip microcomputer are improved, it is impossible to change the programs and data described (stored) therein, and the versatility of the microcomputer is adversely affected. It is supposed to be done.

Therefore, in recent years, EEPROM (Electrical), which is a non-volatile memory that is electrically rewritable
ly Erasable and Programmable ROM: Electrical
Erasable and programmable ROM) IC
One-chip microcomputers that are also mounted on the chip have been developed.

By mounting such an EEPROM, for example: -By writing various data required for the engine control or the like into the EEPROM, one microcomputer can be shared by many models. become.・ Even if there is a small specification change, it will be possible to quickly respond to this. And so on, the versatility as a one-chip microcomputer can be greatly improved.

[0006]

Generally, when the number of cylinders of the engine to be controlled is different, even if the engine speed is the same, the fuel injection timing and ignition timing are controlled at different timings. Needs to be done.

Further, the number of revolutions of the engine itself is usually a pulse signal generated in synchronization with the rotation of the crankshaft by the same number as the number of the cylinders at each predetermined angular position corresponding to the cylinders. Is calculated based on the pulse cycle of.

Incidentally, the pulse cycle is, for example, a 90 ° CA (crank angle) cycle in an 8-cylinder engine and a 120 ° CA cycle in a 6-cylinder engine. Therefore, not only the program for calculating the engine speed,
All programs for calculating the control amount based on the pulse cycle, such as a program for calculating the ignition timing of the engine based on the calculated number of revolutions, need to be prepared for each cylinder number. .

Although the versatility of the one-chip microcomputer has been improved by mounting the EEPROM in this way, these control programs stored in the mask ROM are the engines to be controlled by them. It largely depends on the number of cylinders. In the end, even the same one-chip microcomputer had to be manufactured and prepared for each of the number of cylinders, such as for an 8-cylinder engine or for a 6-cylinder engine.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is possible to appropriately absorb the difference in the number of cylinders described above, and to universally control an engine having a different number of cylinders with a single device. An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic control unit for a multi-cylinder engine that can achieve the above.

[0011]

In order to achieve such an object, according to the present invention, an angle sensor for detecting rotation angle information of a multi-cylinder engine, and a cylinder number information registration means for registering cylinder number information of the engine are provided. , Angle information conversion means for converting the detected rotation angle information into rotation angle information of an engine having a specific number of cylinders based on the registered cylinder number information, and the identification based on the converted rotation angle information The electronic control unit for the multi-cylinder engine is configured to include control means for executing engine control corresponding to an engine having a number of cylinders.

[0012]

The control means is a control program corresponding to an engine having a specific number of cylinders, for example, for an 8-cylinder engine, which executes engine control by calculating engine speed, ignition timing, fuel injection timing and the like. .

If the control means corresponds to, for example, the 8-cylinder engine, and the registered number-of-cylinders information indicates, for example, 6 cylinders, the angle information conversion means is This is a part for converting the rotation angle information detected as that of 6 cylinders into that of 8 cylinders. That is, the rotation angle information detected by the angle sensor is, for example, a pulse signal generated in the same number as the number of cylinders for each predetermined angular position corresponding to the number of cylinders of the engine to be controlled. Then, in the case of this example, pulse cycle time corresponding to 8 cylinders = pulse cycle time detected as that of 6 cylinders × (9
0 ° CA / 120 ° CA) = pulse cycle time detected as that of 6 cylinders × (3
/ 4), the pulse cycle time detected as that of the above 6 cylinders is converted into a pulse cycle time corresponding to 8 cylinders.

As described above, according to the angle information conversion means, if only the number of cylinders of the control target engine registered in the cylinder number information registration means is known, the rotation angle information detected by the angle sensor is all in a specific cylinder. The rotation angle information corresponding to the number (8 cylinders in the above example) is converted.

Therefore, the control means is provided with only one control program corresponding to an engine having a specific number of cylinders, for example, for an eight-cylinder engine, so that the engine control can be properly performed for the engine having any number of cylinders. Will be able to run.

Further, if the type of engine (type of number of cylinders) that may be a control target is known, the angle information conversion means itself also outputs the rotational angle information detected as the number of cylinders. The procedure can be fixedly set as only one processing program that performs various conversion processing on the rotation angle information of a specific number of cylinders.

Since the angle information conversion means and the control means can be fixedly set as one procedure regardless of the number of cylinders in this way, the number of cylinders is different in one apparatus even as the electronic control device. It becomes possible to control a plurality of types of engines universally.

When the electronic control unit is constructed by using a one-chip microcomputer in which a microcomputer having a CPU, a mask ROM, a RAM, etc. is mounted on one chip, at least the angle information conversion means and The control means can be pre-registered in the mask ROM as a fixed procedure.
In that case, the difference in the number of cylinders can be favorably absorbed through only one one-chip microcomputer, and a plurality of types of engines having different numbers of cylinders can be used.
It becomes possible to control universally through one one-chip microcomputer.

As the cylinder number information registration means,
The angle sensor is one of the multi-cylinder engines to be controlled.
Assuming that pulse signals corresponding to the number of cylinders are output for each rotation based on an arbitrary angle reference, the configuration of A: (a) The number of pulse signals output during the angle reference is counted, and A cylinder number discriminating means for discriminating the number of cylinders of the cylinder engine; and (b) an identification flag storing means for setting a discrimination flag corresponding to each of the discriminated cylinder numbers,
Or an electronic control unit (one-chip microcomputer) including the above-mentioned EEPROM, the configuration of B: (d) Rewritable non-volatile memory (EEPROM)
And (e) a cylinder number discriminating means for discriminating the number of cylinders of the multi-cylinder engine by counting the number of pulse signals output during the angle reference, and (f) respectively corresponding to the discriminated number of cylinders. This can be realized as an identification flag writing unit that writes an identification flag in the rewritable nonvolatile memory.

When this cylinder number information registration means is realized by the above-mentioned configuration A, a mask ROM is used as the cylinder number determination means in (a) above, and an identification flag storage means in (b) above is used. As a result, RAM can be used. In other words, it becomes possible to configure the above-described versatile electronic control device on the minimum necessary scale that does not necessarily require the EEPROM or the like.

On the other hand, when the cylinder number information registration means is realized by the configuration of B, the cylinder number determination processing by the cylinder number determination means of (e) and the identification flag writing means of (f) are performed. The writing process by is to be executed at least once at the time of initialization when the power is turned on or at the time of test operation of the multi-cylinder engine. Therefore, after that, the processing relating to the determination of the number of cylinders and the writing of the identification flag can be omitted, and the processing amount of the electronic control device (one-chip microcomputer) as a whole can be reduced.

In view of such characteristics of using the EEPROM, the cylinder number information registering means further includes: C: (g) Rewritable nonvolatile memory (EEPROM)
And (h) an external device for externally writing the number-of-cylinders information of the engine to be controlled as control data for each multi-cylinder engine to the non-volatile memory.

According to the configuration of C, it is not necessary for the electronic control unit (one-chip microcomputer) to perform the above-described processing for determining the number of cylinders and writing the identification flag. The processing amount of the entire control device is reduced. Further, in this case, the angle sensor only needs to output pulse signals for the number of cylinders per one rotation of the multi-cylinder engine to be controlled, and the angle reference need not be set in the same signal. .

Further, according to the above configuration as the electronic control unit, the number of cylinders of the engine to be controlled is registered in the cylinder number information registration means, and the angle information conversion means is based on the registered number of cylinders. Is to convert the rotation angle information obtained from the angle sensor into the information of the specific number of cylinders. In addition to this device, there are: an angle sensor for detecting the rotation angle information of a multi-cylinder engine, and the detected angle sensor. Cylinder number discriminating means for discriminating the number of cylinders of the multi-cylinder engine based on the rotational angle information, and based on the discriminated number of cylinders, the detected rotational angle information is the rotational angle information of the engine of a specific number of cylinders It is also possible to have a configuration including angle information conversion means for converting into the above, and control means for executing engine control corresponding to the engine of the specific number of cylinders based on the converted rotation angle information. .

According to this structure, the number of cylinders discriminated by the cylinder number discriminating means is directly referred to, and the rotation angle information conversion processing is performed by the angle information converting means. Further, when the electronic control unit is configured using the one-chip microcomputer described above,
As a fixed procedure, the cylinder discriminating means to the control means can be collectively pre-registered in the mask ROM. And, of course, even in this case, the difference in the number of cylinders can be favorably absorbed through only one one-chip microcomputer, and thus it is possible to control a plurality of types of engines having different numbers of cylinders in a general-purpose manner. Like

[0026]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a first embodiment of an electronic control unit for a multi-cylinder engine according to the present invention.

The apparatus of this embodiment has a four-cylinder engine, a six-cylinder engine, and an eight-cylinder engine while installing only a control program for an eight-cylinder engine as an engine control program.
It is configured as a device that can suitably control any of the cylinder engines as its control target.

Further, the apparatus of the embodiment is equipped with a program for calculating the engine speeds as the engine control program, and for controlling the ignition timing based on the calculated engine speeds. And

First, the construction of the apparatus of the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 1 and FIGS.
In the apparatus of this embodiment, the electronic control unit 1 is an apparatus for electronically controlling the ignition timing of an 8-cylinder engine mounted in an automobile or the like, and a one-chip microcomputer 5 is provided therein. .

The electronic control unit 1 also includes a waveform shaping circuit 2, an input / output interface (I / O) 3,
And an external device connection interface (I / F) 4 are provided. Through the waveform shaping circuit 2 and the interfaces 3 and 4, the angle sensor 6, other sensors and actuators 7 and the one-chip microcomputer 5 are provided. Data transfer between the external device 8 and the one-chip microcomputer 5 is realized.

Here, the angle sensor 6 outputs, as the rotation angle information of the multi-cylinder engine to be controlled, a pulse signal for the number of cylinders per one rotation of the engine based on an arbitrary angle reference. It is a sensor that does. In the apparatus of this embodiment, three engines of the above-mentioned four-cylinder engine, six-cylinder engine, and eight-cylinder engine are used as control target engines.
It is assumed that there are various types of engines, and the same angle sensor 6 is configured in the manner shown in FIGS. 2 (a) to 2 (c) for each of the engines.

For example, in the case of the angle sensor 601, which is mounted on a four-cylinder engine, its structure is as shown in FIG. That is, this angle sensor 601
In, the rotating body 61 is a member that rotates in synchronization with the crankshaft of the four-cylinder engine (to be precise, maintaining a 2: 1 relationship). On the circumference of the rotating body 61, four detected bodies 62a made of a magnetic material and arranged at equal angular intervals are provided.
62d and a singularity pulse forming body 63 which is also made of a magnetic material and is arranged in the vicinity of the detected body 62d. Then, the rotational passage of the detected bodies 62a to 62d and the singularity pulse forming body 63 is detected by an electromagnetic pickup sensor 64 fixedly provided in the vicinity thereof. Therefore, this angle sensor 601 (electromagnetic pickup sensor 6
From 4), in synchronization with the rotation angle of the 4-cylinder engine, for each rotation: 180 ° CA corresponding to the detected objects 62a to 62d
Four pulse signals at (crank angle) intervals, and one pulse signal corresponding to the singularity pulse forming body 63 are output in time series.

The configurations of the angle sensor 602 mounted on the 6-cylinder engine and the angle sensor 603 mounted on the 8-cylinder engine are shown in FIGS. 2B and 2C, respectively.

These angle sensors 602 and 603 respectively differ only in the number of the objects 62 to be detected arranged at equal angular intervals according to the number of cylinders of the target engine.
The other basic configuration is the same as that of the angle sensor 601.

Therefore, from the angle sensor 602, 6
For each rotation in synchronization with the rotation angle of the cylinder engine, six pulse signals at 120 ° CA (crank angle) intervals corresponding to the detected bodies 62a to 62f, and a singular point pulse forming body 63 are supported. One pulse signal and a pulse signal are output in time series, and the angle sensor 6
From 03, in synchronization with the rotation angle of the 8-cylinder engine, for each rotation, 8 pulse signals at 90 ° CA (crank angle) intervals corresponding to the detected objects 62a to 62h, and singular point pulse formation One pulse signal corresponding to the body 63 is output in time series.

The time series of pulse signals output from the angle sensor 6 (601 to 603) in this manner is shown in FIG.
Is input to the waveform shaping circuit 2 in the electronic control unit 1 of the apparatus of this embodiment, and the waveform is shaped here into a binary pulse signal train. Then, this waveform shaping signal is taken into the one-chip microcomputer 5 through the input / output interface (I / O) 3.

Further, in the apparatus of this embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the external device 8 is an apparatus composed of a personal computer or the like having a data communication function. Here, in particular, the apparatus of this embodiment is a control target. The control data of the engine to be used is, for example: -Used as a device for transferring data that needs to be changed for each model, such as an ignition timing map and information on energization time to the ignition coil, to the one-chip microcomputer 5 as needed. To be done.

The data that needs to be changed for each model is usually created as data having contents corresponding to the model to be controlled, such as at the time of shipping, and is sent to the one-chip microcomputer 5 through this external device 8. Transferred.

Now, the one-chip microcomputer 5 to which various sensor data such as the above-mentioned waveform shaping signal (hereinafter referred to as the rotation signal N) and the transfer data from the external device 8 are input is also shown in FIG. As shown, CPU 51, ROM 52, RAM 53, EEPRO
M54, and these elements and the above interface 3
The address data bus 55 for electrically connecting 4 and 4 is integrated in one IC (LSI) chip.

The ROM 52 is formed as the mask ROM described above, and its memory structure is shown in FIG.
In the embodiment shown in FIG. That is, FIG.
In the memory structure of the ROM 52 shown in (1), the initialization routine area 521 is an area in which the initialization routine to be executed first when the microcomputer 5 is powered on is set and registered.

Further, in the ROM 52, the cylinder number determination routine area 522 and the cylinder number conversion routine area 523 are provided.
Is an area in which a cylinder number determination routine and a cylinder number conversion routine, which will be described later, are set and registered so that the four-cylinder engine, the six-cylinder engine, and the eight-cylinder engine are commonly controlled.

Further, in the same ROM 52, as the ignition timing control routine 524 for the 8-cylinder engine, the control routine for the ignition timing specialized for the 8-cylinder engine is set and registered here, like the conventional electronic control unit. Area. In addition to the control routine (program) specialized according to the number of cylinders, there is a control routine for the fuel injection timing.

In the ROM 52, the common data area 525 stores the common data, that is, the characteristics of the sensor for detecting the engine water temperature, oil pressure, etc.
This is an area in which data at the time of development of the electronic control device that can be commonly used for the engine to be controlled is set and registered.

On the other hand, the EEPROM 54 is a rewritable non-volatile memory as described above, and in particular, it has a memory structure as shown in FIG. That is, in the memory structure of the EEPROM 54 shown in FIG. 4, the ignition timing map area 541 and the energization time information area 542 are the ignition timing map data and the energization information transferred from the external device 8 as data that needs to be changed for each model described above. This is an area in which time information is written. It is also described above that these data are usually created and transferred as data having contents according to the engine to be controlled, for example, at the time of shipping.

In the EEPROM 54, a CI (n) or CFLAG (n) area 543 shown by a broken line in FIG. 4 is an area in which the cylinder number information CI (n) or the cylinder number identification flag CFLAG (n) is written. In Although,
It is not used in the device of the first embodiment.

The EEPROM 54 is not limited to the data that needs to be changed for each model, but the ROM 52
Of course, the common data to be stored in the above may be stored together. With this configuration,
As described above, even if there is a small-scale specification change, it is possible to quickly cope with this through the data update operation by the external device 8.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the functional structure of the electronic control unit 1 of the apparatus of the first embodiment, and FIGS. 6 to 8 show the respective blocks. FIG. 5 shows an example of the processing procedure in FIG. 5, and the function and operation of the apparatus of the embodiment will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS.

In the device of the first embodiment, the rotation signal N output from the angle sensor 6 (correctly from the waveform shaping circuit 2) is the cylinder number discriminating section 11 which constitutes the cylinder number information registering section 10A. And the cylinder number conversion unit 20.

Here, the number-of-cylinders determination unit 11 determines the number of pulses in the period based on the singular point pulse of the rotation signal N (the pulse output from the electromagnetic pickup sensor 64 corresponding to the singular point pulse forming body 63). Is a part for determining the number of cylinders of the engine actually controlled. Such determination processing by the cylinder number determination unit 11 is executed according to the cylinder number determination routine 100 shown in FIG. The cylinder number determination routine 100 is a routine that is activated by interruption at the falling edge of the rotation signal N, and the cylinder number determination routine area 52 of the ROM 52.
Pre-registration is set to 2.

In the cylinder number discriminating routine 100, the cylinder number discriminating section 11 first discriminates whether or not the rotation signal N is at the reference position (step 110 in FIG. 6). The rotation signal N corresponds to each of the four-cylinder engine, the six-cylinder engine, and the eight-cylinder engine that are controlled by the device of this embodiment, and is shown in FIGS. 7A, 7C, and 7, respectively.
It is output in the mode shown in (e). That is, as described above, if the engine that is actually controlled is a four-cylinder engine, from the angle sensor 6 (601), for each revolution of the engine, Four pulses and one singularity pulse are output (see FIG. 7 (a)), 6
In the case of a cylinder engine, the angle sensor 6 (602) outputs, for each revolution of the engine, 6 pulses at 120 ° CA intervals corresponding to each cylinder and 1 singular point pulse (see FIG. 7 (c)). ))), 8
In the case of a cylinder engine, from the angle sensor 6 (603), for each revolution of the engine: 8 pulses at 90 ° CA intervals corresponding to each cylinder and 1 pulse
One singular point pulse is output (see FIG. 7 (e)).

Therefore, the cylinder number determination unit 11 (1) obtains the time interval each time the routine 100 is interrupted and activated. That is, the pulse period based on the falling edge of the rotation signal N is obtained. (2) A pulse having an abnormally short pulse period is determined to be the singular point pulse, and the next pulse (cylinder) is recognized as the reference position. In this manner, it is determined whether or not the rotation signal N is at the reference position.

As a result, when it is determined that the interrupt pulse is not at the reference position, the pulse counter N
Increment C. That is, NC = NC + 1 (step 111 in FIG. 6). The pulse counter NC
7 corresponds to the rotation signal N of each cylinder number shown in FIG. 7A, FIG. 7C, and FIG.
7 (b), FIG. 7 (d), and FIG. 7 (f), respectively. That is, if the engine to be controlled is a four-cylinder engine, the value of the pulse counter NC at that reference position is "3", and if it is a six-cylinder engine, the pulse counter NC at that reference position. Value becomes "5", and if it is an 8-cylinder engine: -The value of the pulse counter NC at that reference position becomes "7". In this increment operation, the interrupt due to the singularity pulse is ignored.
That is, the pulse counter NC is not incremented by the singularity pulse.

The cylinder number discriminating unit 11 which has incremented the pulse counter NC in this way temporarily exits the cylinder number discriminating routine 100 and waits until an interruption by the same rotation signal N is made next.

On the other hand, when it is determined that the interrupt pulse is at the reference position in the above determination (step 110 in FIG. 6) of whether the rotation signal N is at the reference position, the cylinder number determination unit 11 actually determines The number of cylinders of the engine to be controlled is determined in the following manner.

That is, when the rotation signal N is at the reference position, the value of the pulse counter NC in the four-cylinder engine, the six-cylinder engine, and the eight-cylinder engine controlled by the apparatus of this embodiment is the above-mentioned " It is determined to be any of "3", "5", or "7". Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, the cylinder number determination unit 11 determines (1) if the value of the pulse counter NC is “3”, that the engine to be controlled is a four-cylinder engine, and The four-cylinder flag CFLAG (4) is set in the identification flag storage unit 12 constituting the cylinder number information registration unit 10A (steps 120 and 121 in FIG. 6). (2) If the value of the pulse counter NC is "5", it is determined that the engine to be controlled is a 6-cylinder engine, and the identification flag storage unit 12 forming the same cylinder number information registration unit 10A The 6-cylinder flag CFLAG (6) is set (steps 130 and 131 in FIG. 6). (3) If the value of the pulse counter NC is other than “3” or “5”, it is determined that the engine to be controlled is an 8-cylinder engine, and the identification flag storage that constitutes the cylinder number information registration unit 10A is stored. 8 cylinder flag CF for section 12
LAG (8) is set (step 140 in FIG. 6). In this manner, the number of cylinders of the engine actually controlled is determined, and the determination result is used as the identification flag storage unit 1.
Register in 2. The identification flag storage unit 12 corresponds to the RAM 53 described above in the apparatus of the embodiment.

The cylinder number discriminating unit 11 which has completed the discrimination and registration of the number of cylinders in this way resets the pulse counter NC to "0" (step 150 in FIG. 6) and once exits the cylinder number discrimination routine 100. Then, it waits until the next interruption by the rotation signal N.

On the other hand, in the apparatus of the first embodiment whose functional configuration is shown in FIG. 5, the cylinder number conversion unit 20 to which the rotation signal N similarly output from the angle sensor 6 is added,
Based on the registered cylinder number identification flag CFLAG (n), the measured pulse cycle time of the rotation signal N is set to 8
This is a portion converted into the pulse cycle time T90 of the cylinder engine.

Incidentally, the three types of engines to be controlled by the apparatus of this embodiment have the same number of cylinders at the pulse cycle time of the rotation signal N, even if the number of rotations is the same. It will be different as follows.

For example, if the engine speeds are all 3
Even if it is 000 rpm, -For a 4-cylinder engine that outputs pulses at 180 ° CA intervals: Pulse cycle time = 10 msec-For a 6-cylinder engine that outputs pulses at 120 ° CA intervals: pulse Cycle time = 6.67 msec.-For an 8-cylinder engine that outputs pulses at 90 ° CA intervals: Pulse cycle time = 5 msec.

Normally, Ne = (60 seconds / 360 °) × (C / T) = C / 6T (1) where Ne: Revolution (rpm) T: Pulse Cycle time (msec) C: Pulse generation angle (° CA). That is, the pulse generation angle C
For the engine having the same number of cylinders, the number of revolutions N is measured using the same calculation program in which the pulse cycle time T is measured and is substituted into the equation (1).
e can be obtained. In other words, in the case of engines having different pulse generation angles C, the engine speed Ne of those engines cannot be accurately obtained unless a dedicated arithmetic program using the different pulse generation angles C is used.

Also, when the ignition time is obtained from the ignition timing obtained based on the rotational speed Ne, the measured pulse cycle time T is divided by the pulse generation angle C to obtain a rotation of 1 ° CA. It is necessary to find the time required.
Then, ignition time = ignition timing × time required for rotation of 1 ° CA (2) However, the ignition time is obtained in a manner such that time required for rotation of 1 ° CA = T / C. Therefore, also in this case, for the engines having different pulse generation angles C, a dedicated arithmetic program using the different pulse generation angles C is required.

As described above, in the calculation using the pulse cycle time T of the rotation signal N, usually, a separate calculation program having information on each corresponding pulse generation angle C is required.

However, this means that even if the pulse cycle time T of the rotation signal N can be converted into the pulse cycle time T of the engine having a certain number of cylinders, each calculation program using the same pulse cycle time T. At the same time, it means that it becomes possible to share only one program specialized for the engine of this specific number of cylinders.

Therefore, in the device of this embodiment, the cylinder number conversion unit 20 converts all the pulse cycles of these engines into the pulse cycle time T90 of an 8-cylinder engine. Such conversion processing by the cylinder number conversion unit 20 is executed according to the cylinder number conversion routine 200 shown in FIG. This cylinder number conversion routine 200 is also a routine that is activated as a synchronization routine of the rotation signal N, for example, in synchronization with a rising edge or a falling edge of the rotation signal N, or at an appropriate timing between each pulse. The routine 200 for converting the number of cylinders is based on the RO
Preregistration is set in the cylinder number conversion routine area 523 of M52.

In the cylinder number conversion routine 200, the cylinder number conversion unit 20 firstly determines the identification flag storage unit 1 described above.
No. 2 cylinder identification flag CFLAG (n)
, The number of cylinders among four cylinders, six cylinders, and eight cylinders is determined. And based on that judgment,
In the following mode, the pulse cycle time of the input rotation signal N is converted into the pulse cycle time T90 of the 8-cylinder engine. (1) Registered cylinder number identification flag CFLAG
When (n) is CFLAG (4), that is, when the engine to be controlled is a 4-cylinder engine (step 210 in FIG. 8), T90 = detected pulse cycle time T180 × ( 90 ° CA / 180 ° CA) = (ZP-ZO) x (1/2) (3) However, ZP: current pulse fall time ZO: previous pulse fall time The pulse cycle time T180 detected as a thing is converted into the pulse cycle time T90 corresponding to eight cylinders (step 211 in FIG. 8). In this case, the pulse cycle time T180, the current pulse fall time ZP, and the previous pulse fall time ZO are
This is as shown in FIG. (2) The registered cylinder number identification flag CFLAG (n) is CFLAG
(6) That is, when the engine to be controlled is a 6-cylinder engine (step 220 in FIG. 8), the cylinder number conversion unit 20 calculates: T90 = pulse cycle time T120 detected × (90 ° CA / 120) CA) = (ZP−ZO) × (3/4) (4) where ZP is the current pulse fall time, ZO is the previous pulse fall time, etc. The pulse cycle time T120 is converted into the pulse cycle time T90 corresponding to eight cylinders (step 221 in FIG. 8). In this case, the pulse cycle time T120, the current pulse falling time ZP, and the previous pulse falling time ZO are
This is as shown in FIG. (3) The registered cylinder number identification flag CFLAG (n) is the above CFLAG.
(4) or other than CFLAG (6), that is, when the engine to be controlled is an 8-cylinder engine (step 220 in FIG. 8), the cylinder number conversion unit 20 calculates: T90 = detected pulse cycle time T90 = ZP-ZO (5) where ZP: current pulse falling time ZO: previous pulse falling time, etc., and the pulse cycle time T90 detected as that of the eight cylinders is unchanged, and the current pulse falling time is It is calculated from the difference between the time ZP and the previous pulse falling time ZO (step 230 in FIG. 8). In this case, the pulse cycle time T90 and the current pulse fall time Z
P and the previous pulse falling time ZO are as shown in FIG. The pulse cycle time T90 corresponding to eight cylinders thus converted or obtained by the cylinder number conversion unit 20 is finally the engine control for eight cylinders in the device of the first embodiment whose functional configuration is shown in FIG. Given to part 30.

The 8-cylinder engine control unit 30 is a portion in which the above-described calculation processing of the rotational speed and the calculation processing of the ignition timing and the ignition time are fixedly set in a form specialized for the 8-cylinder engine. Is. Such calculation processing by the 8-cylinder engine control unit 30 is executed as a rotation speed calculation subroutine 300 and an ignition timing calculation subroutine 400 which are also shown in FIG. These subroutines (engine control routines) are pre-registered in the 8-cylinder engine control routine area 524 of the ROM 52.

In the eight-cylinder engine control unit 30, as the rotational speed calculation subroutine 300, the pulse cycle time T given as the pulse cycle time T90 corresponding to the above eight cylinders is substituted into the above equation (1) to perform control. The rotational speed Ne of the target engine is calculated. The value of the rotation speed Ne thus obtained is temporarily stored in the RAM 53 which constitutes the data memory of the apparatus of the embodiment. Needless to say, in the case of the eight-cylinder engine control unit 30, the pulse generation angle C in the above equation (1) is fixedly set to 90 ° CA.

The eight-cylinder engine control unit 30 then
As the ignition timing calculation subroutine 400, the ignition timing and the ignition time are calculated in the procedure shown in FIG. 9, for example. That is, in the ignition timing calculation subroutine 400 shown in FIG. 9, the eight-cylinder engine control unit 30 is used.
First, the rotation speed Ne stored in the RAM 53 is
Is read (step 410 in FIG. 9),
The ignition timing is map-calculated based on the value (step 420 in FIG. 9).

The ignition timing map used for this map calculation corresponds to the engine that is actually controlled, and is previously written and registered in the ignition timing map area 541 of the EEPROM 54 through the external device 8. Further, the map contents are in the form schematically shown in FIG. For example, in the case of an 8-cylinder engine, if the rotation speed Ne is "3000 rpm", the map is such that a value of about "18 ° CA" is selected as the ignition timing. The relationship between the rotation speed Ne and the ignition timing may of course be registered as a table.

The eight-cylinder engine control unit 30 which has obtained the ignition timing in this way further calculates the ignition time from the obtained ignition timing based on the equation (2) (step 43 in FIG. 9).
0), the calculated value is temporarily stored in the RAM 53 (step 440 in FIG. 9), and the subroutine 400 is ended.

The calculated ignition time value temporarily stored in the RAM 53 is, for example, the above-described cylinder number determination routine 100.
7 (a), 7 (c) and 7 (e) in a routine that is activated by a falling edge of the rotation signal N.
A timer is set as the ignition time ts in the manner indicated by broken lines in FIG. It is well known that the time ts set by the timer in this manner is given to the ignition circuit or the like as a value for controlling the energization start timing or the energization cutoff timing for the ignition coil (not shown).

As described above, according to the apparatus of the first embodiment, the cylinder number discriminating unit 11 automatically discriminates the number of cylinders of the engine actually controlled, and the cylinder number conversion is performed. Through the unit 20, the difference in the number of cylinders of the engine to be controlled is well absorbed.

Therefore, as the engine control unit, the above 8
By fixedly setting only one control unit specialized for a specific number of cylinders such as the cylinder engine control unit 30 in the mask ROM, an engine having a different number of cylinders can be used universally and properly. Be able to control.

Next, FIG. 11 shows a second embodiment of the electronic control unit for a multi-cylinder engine according to the present invention. FIG. 11 shows the device of the second embodiment of FIG.
The functional configuration inside the electronic control unit is shown in a block form in a manner corresponding to. Note that this FIG.
In the above, the same elements as the elements shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 5 described above are denoted by the same reference numerals respectively, and redundant description of those elements will be omitted.

Now, the apparatus of this second embodiment is similar to that of FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, the external device 8 and the EEPROM 54 constitute a cylinder number information registration unit 10B.

That is, in the device of the second embodiment,
The number of cylinders of the engine that is actually the control target is the cylinder number information C
I (n) is written only once to the CI (n) area 543 (FIG. 4) of the EEPROM 54 through the external device 8. By the way, if the engine to be controlled is a 4-cylinder engine, CI (4) is written as the cylinder number information CI (n), and if it is a 6-cylinder engine, the CI number is CI (n) as the cylinder number information CI (n).
(6) is written, and if it is an 8-cylinder engine, CI (8) is written as the same cylinder number information CI (n).

In the case of the device of the second embodiment, the cylinder number conversion unit 20 refers to the cylinder number information CI (n) written in the EEPROM 54, and measures the pulse measured based on the rotation signal N. The cycle time T is converted into the pulse cycle time T90 of the 8-cylinder engine. This conversion process itself is the same as the cylinder number conversion routine 2 shown in FIG.
It is based on 00.

Therefore, also in the device of the second embodiment, as in the device of the first embodiment, the engine control unit is specialized for a specific number of cylinders such as the 8-cylinder engine control unit 30. By fixedly setting only one control unit in the mask ROM, it becomes possible to appropriately and universally control engines having different numbers of cylinders.

Moreover, in the device of the second embodiment, the cylinder number information CI is transmitted only once through the external device 8.
After writing (n), the above-mentioned first
It is no longer necessary to perform the processing related to the determination of the number of cylinders and the writing of the identification flag as in the apparatus of the embodiment. Therefore, the processing amount of the electronic control device 1 as a whole is reduced.

In the case of the apparatus of the second embodiment, the angle sensor 6 may output pulse signals corresponding to the number of cylinders per revolution of the multi-cylinder engine to be controlled. It is not necessary to set the singular point pulse (angle reference) to N. That is, in the device of the second embodiment, it is not necessary to dispose the singularity pulse forming body 63 (FIG. 2) for the angle sensor 6.

FIG. 12 shows a third embodiment of the electronic control unit for a multi-cylinder engine according to the present invention. This FIG. 12 also shows the functional structure inside the electronic control unit of the apparatus of the third embodiment in a block form in a manner corresponding to FIG. And this Figure 12
Also in FIG. 5, the same elements as the elements shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 5 described above are denoted by the same reference numerals, and duplicate description of these elements will be omitted.

In the device of the third embodiment, the number of cylinders of the engine to be controlled which is automatically discriminated by the cylinder number discriminating unit 11 is EEPR as the discrimination flag CFLAF (n).
It is adapted to be written in the OM 54. The identification flag CFLAF (n) is stored in the identification flag writing unit 13
Through the C of the EEPROM 54 at least once.
The data is written in the FLAG (n) area 543 (FIG. 4). That is, in the case of the device of the third embodiment, the cylinder number discriminating unit 11, the identification flag writing unit 13, and E
The EPROM 54 constitutes a cylinder number information registration unit 10C.

Also in the case of the device of the third embodiment, the cylinder number conversion section 20 refers to the cylinder number identification flag CFLAG (n) written in the EEPROM 54 and measures based on the rotation signal N. Pulse period time T
Is converted into the pulse cycle time T90 of the 8-cylinder engine. This conversion process is also based on the cylinder number conversion routine 200 shown in FIG.

Therefore, even in the device of the third embodiment, as in the device of the first embodiment and the device of the second embodiment, the engine control unit such as the 8-cylinder engine control unit 30 is specified. By fixedly setting only one control unit specialized for the number of cylinders in the mask ROM, it becomes possible to appropriately and universally control engines having different numbers of cylinders.

Moreover, in the device of the third embodiment, the cylinder number identification flag CFLAG (n) is written by the identification flag writing unit 13 only once, for example, when the electronic control unit is powered on. It may be executed at least once through the initialization routine to be executed and the test operation of the engine to be controlled. For this reason, also with the device of the third embodiment, it is possible to omit the subsequent processes relating to the determination of the number of cylinders and the writing of the identification flag, and it is possible to reduce the overall processing amount of the electronic control device. become.

Further, FIG. 13 shows a fourth embodiment of the electronic control unit for a multi-cylinder engine according to the present invention. This FIG. 13 also shows the functional structure inside the electronic control unit of the apparatus of the fourth embodiment in a block form in a manner corresponding to FIG. In FIG. 13 as well, the same elements as those shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 5 are designated by the same reference numerals, and duplicate description of those elements will be omitted.

In the device of the fourth embodiment, the cylinder number C (n) of the control target engine judged by the cylinder number judging unit 11 is directly provided without providing the cylinder number information registering unit. It is designed to be input to the conversion unit 20.

FIG. 14 shows a processing procedure for determining the number of cylinders and converting the number of cylinders by the apparatus of the fourth embodiment. That is, the rotation signal synchronization routine 50 is shown in FIG.
As indicated by 0, in the device of the fourth embodiment, first, in synchronization with, for example, the falling edge of the rotation signal N, it is determined whether or not the rotation signal N is the reference position (FIG. 14, step 510). ). When it is determined that the position is not the reference position, the pulse counter NC is incremented as described above (step 511 in FIG. 14). On the other hand, when it is determined that it is the reference position, the number of cylinders C (n) of the control target engine is determined and the number of cylinders is converted in the following manner. (1) If the content of the pulse counter NC is "3", the control target engine is a four-cylinder engine, that is, C (n) =
It is determined that it is C (4) (step 520 in FIG. 14),
Based on the above equation (3), the detected pulse cycle time (T180) is set to the pulse cycle time T90 of the 8-cylinder engine.
(Step 521 in FIG. 14). (2) If the content of the pulse counter NC is “5”, the control target engine is a 6-cylinder engine, that is, C (n) =
It is determined that it is C (6) (step 530 in FIG. 14),
Based on the above equation (4), the detected pulse cycle time (T120) is set to the pulse cycle time T90 of the 8-cylinder engine.
(Step 531 in FIG. 14). (3) The content of the pulse counter NC is “3” or “5”
Otherwise, it is determined that the engine to be controlled is an 8-cylinder engine, that is, C (n) = C (8) (step 530 in FIG. 14), and the pulse cycle time T90 is calculated based on the above equation (5). The difference is calculated (step 540 in FIG. 14). (4) After obtaining the pulse cycle time T90 in this way, the pulse counter NC is reset to "0" (FIG. 14).
Step 550).

The pulse cycle time T9 corresponding to the eight cylinders thus converted or obtained by the cylinder number conversion unit 20.
0 is given to the 8-cylinder engine control unit 30, and here, for example, the rotation speed calculation subroutine 300 and the ignition timing calculation subroutine 400 are executed.
~ The same as in the case of the device of the third embodiment.

As described above, also in the device of the fourth embodiment, as in the devices of the first to third embodiments, a specific number of cylinders such as the 8-cylinder engine control unit 30 is used as the engine control unit. Only one control unit specialized for
By fixedly setting the inside, it becomes possible to control the engines having different numbers of cylinders universally and appropriately.

Moreover, in the case of the device of the fourth embodiment, the number of cylinders discriminated by the cylinder number discriminating unit 11 is directly input to the cylinder number converting unit 20 without passing through any other storage means, and the number of cylinders is determined. It is ready for conversion processing.
Therefore, although the amount of processing to be executed at one time by the electronic control unit is expanded, all of the cylinder number determination unit 11, the cylinder number conversion unit 20, and the 8-cylinder engine control unit 30 are fixed procedures. , Can be collectively registered in the mask ROM 52. Even in that case, the versatility of the electronic control device is not impaired.

In each of the devices of the above embodiments, 4
Although the case where three types of engines of cylinders, six cylinders, and eight cylinders are controlled is shown, it goes without saying that the electronic control device according to the present invention can be similarly applied to other multi-cylinder engines. Nor.

Although only the control program for the 8-cylinder engine is installed as the engine control program, the selection thereof is also arbitrary. In short, 6 for 4 cylinders
Whether it is for a cylinder or for other multi-cylinders, it may be provided with an angle information conversion means for converting, for example, the pulse cycle time of the input rotation signal according to the specific number of selected cylinders. .

In the above-mentioned embodiments, the electronic control unit for a multi-cylinder engine is an electronic control unit for controlling the ignition timing of these engines. However, other electronic control units may be used as fuel for these engines. There is also a device for controlling the injection timing. The present invention can be applied to all control devices including a device that controls the fuel injection timing, such as a process in which handling of engine rotation angle information is specialized depending on the number of cylinders. It is possible to realize generalization regardless of the number.

In particular, in the device of the first embodiment and the devices of the third and fourth embodiments, the angle sensor 6
In order to form a singular point in the rotation signal N output from the: The configuration that is added is adopted,
The angle sensor configuration for forming such a singularity is also optional. In addition, for example, instead of separately providing the singularity pulse forming body 63,
It is also possible to appropriately adopt a configuration in which only one of the detection objects 62 is formed to have a narrow width or a wide width, and the one detection object has a different shape from all the other detection objects. it can.

In this specification, the term "angle sensor" means all of the sensors that can obtain the rotation angle information in synchronization with the output shaft of the engine. Specifically, the angle sensor is made of the above-mentioned magnetic material. Including an electromagnetic pickup sensor that detects the rotational passage of a detection object, a magnetoresistive element sensor,
A Hall sensor, an optical sensor, etc. are all included. As the detected body, a member having a material or shape capable of inducing a pulse with respect to the used sensor is used.

In this specification, the EEPROM means all electrically rewritable non-volatile memories, specifically, EAROM (Electrically Alterab).
le ROM: Electrically Alterable ROM) or F
EEPROM (Flash Electrical Erasable and Progra
mmable ROM: Flash, electrical, erasable, and programmable ROM) are all included.

[0098]

As described above, according to the present invention, (a) the control device is equipped with only the control program for the engine having the specific number of cylinders. (B) The number of cylinders is registered for each engine to be controlled, and the rotation angle information of the engine detected by the angle sensor is stored as the number of cylinders of the engine having the specific number of cylinders according to the registered number of cylinders. Convert to rotation angle information. (C) The converted rotation angle information is given to the control program of the engine of the specific number of cylinders. Therefore, as an electronic control device for a multi-cylinder engine, this single device can control a plurality of types of engines having different numbers of cylinders in a general-purpose manner.

When a one-chip microcomputer is used for the electronic control unit, at least the program for converting the rotation angle information (angle information conversion means) and the engine control program (control means) are used as a fixed procedure. It can be pre-registered in ROM. Even in this case, the versatility of the device is not impaired.

Further, according to the present invention, (a) the control device is equipped with only the control program for the engine of the specific number of cylinders. (B ') The number of cylinders of each engine to be controlled is determined, and the rotation angle information of the engine detected by the angle sensor is used as the engine of the specific number of cylinders according to the determined number of cylinders. Convert to the rotation angle information of. (C) The converted rotation angle information is given to the control program of the engine of the specific number of cylinders. I also say that. Even with such a configuration, as an electronic control device for a multi-cylinder engine, a single device can be used to control a plurality of types of engines having different numbers of cylinders in a general-purpose manner.

When a one-chip microcomputer is used in the electronic control unit, a program for discriminating the number of cylinders (cylinder number discriminating means) to the engine control program (control means) are fixed procedures. Can be collectively pre-registered in the mask ROM. Of course, even in this case, the versatility of the device is not impaired.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a device configuration of a first embodiment of an electronic control device for a multi-cylinder engine according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of the angle sensor shown in FIG. 1 for each engine having the number of applicable cylinders.

3 is a schematic diagram schematically showing a memory structure of the ROM (mask ROM) shown in FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram schematically showing a memory structure of the EEPROM shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram mainly showing a functional configuration inside the electronic control unit of the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a procedure for determining the number of cylinders of a control target engine by the apparatus of the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a timing chart showing a manner of determining the number of cylinders of a control target engine by the apparatus of the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a cylinder number conversion procedure by the device of the first embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an ignition timing calculation procedure by the device of the first embodiment.

10 is a graph showing an example of an ignition timing map written in the EEPROM shown in FIG.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram mainly showing a functional configuration inside the electronic control device of the second embodiment of the electronic control device for a multi-cylinder engine according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram mainly showing a functional configuration inside the electronic control unit of the third example of the electronic control unit of the multi-cylinder engine according to the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram mainly showing a functional configuration inside the electronic control unit of the fourth example of the electronic control unit of the multi-cylinder engine according to the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a procedure for determining the number of cylinders of a control target engine and a cylinder number conversion procedure by the apparatus of the fourth embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Electronic control device, 2 ... Waveform shaping circuit, 3 ... Input / output interface, 4 ... External device connection interface, 5
… One-chip microcomputer, 51… CPU, 5
2 ... ROM (mask ROM), 53 ... RAM, 54 ... E
EPROM, 55 ... Address data bus, 6 (601 to
603) ... Angle sensor, 61 ... Rotating body, 62 (62a ...
62h) ... Object to be detected, 63 ... Singular point pulse former, 64
... Electromagnetic pickup sensor, 7 ... Other sensors and actuators, 8 ... External device, 10A, 10B, 10C
... cylinder number information registration section, 11 ... cylinder number determination section, 12 ... identification flag storage section, 13 ... identification flag writing section, 20 ... cylinder number conversion section, 30 ... 8-cylinder engine control section.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An angle sensor for detecting rotation angle information of a multi-cylinder engine, cylinder number information registration means for registering cylinder number information of the engine, and the detection based on the registered cylinder number information. Angle information conversion means for converting the rotation angle information into rotation angle information of an engine of a specific number of cylinders, and control means for executing engine control corresponding to the engine of the specific number of cylinders based on the converted rotation angle information. And an electronic control unit for a multi-cylinder engine, which comprises: 2. The angle sensor outputs a pulse signal corresponding to the number of cylinders per revolution of a multi-cylinder engine to be controlled, based on an arbitrary angle reference. The means counts the number of pulse signals output during the angle reference to determine the number of cylinders of the multi-cylinder engine, and the identification flag corresponding to each of the determined number of cylinders. An electronic control unit for a multi-cylinder engine according to claim 1, further comprising: 3. The cylinder number information registration means is a rewritable non-volatile memory and the cylinder number information of the engine to be controlled as control data for each multi-cylinder engine is externally stored in the rewritable non-volatile memory. An electronic control unit for a multi-cylinder engine according to claim 1, further comprising an external device for writing. 4. The angle sensor outputs pulse signals corresponding to the number of cylinders per revolution of a multi-cylinder engine to be controlled based on an arbitrary angle reference. The means is a rewritable non-volatile memory, a cylinder number determining means for determining the number of cylinders of the multi-cylinder engine by counting the number of pulse signals output during the angle reference, and the number of cylinders to be determined. The electronic control unit for a multi-cylinder engine according to claim 1, further comprising: identification flag writing means for writing the corresponding identification flag into the rewritable nonvolatile memory. 5. The electronic control device for a multi-cylinder engine according to claim 1, wherein the electronic control device has a microcomputer having a CPU, a mask ROM, a RAM, etc., mounted on one chip. A multi-cylinder engine characterized by comprising a one-chip microcomputer, wherein at least the angle information conversion means and the control means are registered in the mask ROM as a fixed procedure. Electronic control unit. 6. An angle sensor for detecting rotational angle information of a multi-cylinder engine, a cylinder number discriminating means for discriminating the number of cylinders of the multi-cylinder engine on the basis of the detected rotational angle information, and a cylinder to be discriminated. Angle information conversion means for converting the detected rotation angle information into rotation angle information of an engine having a specific number of cylinders based on the number, and corresponding to the engine having the specific number of cylinders based on the converted rotation angle information. An electronic control unit for a multi-cylinder engine, comprising: a control unit that executes the engine control described above. 7. The electronic control unit for a multi-cylinder engine according to claim 6, wherein the electronic control unit is a one-chip microcomputer in which a microcomputer having a CPU, a mask ROM, a RAM and the like is mounted on one chip. The cylinder number discriminating means, the angle information converting means, and the control means are the mask ROM as a fixed procedure.
An electronic control unit for a multi-cylinder engine, characterized in that it is registered in.