Device for controlling an engine or a gearbox

An arrangement for controlling vehicle drive train assemblies having a control device which is arranged remotely from the drive train assembly and which performs the open-loop and closed-loop control algorithms, and a unit which is attached to the drive train assembly, is electrically connected directly to a plurality of sensors, and has an A/D converter for converting analog sensor signals originating from the sensors into digital sensor signals which are then converted into data bus signals by means of a signal converter and fed into a data bus via a data bus transceiver unit for communication via the data bus between the unit and the control device;

• wherein:
• a plurality of control devices are interconnected to one another via a first data bus and are each provided with a uniform data bus transceiver unit to which an assembly data bus is also connected;
• the unit comprises an assembly-specific sensor/actuator interface with a plurality of parallel connections for the sensors and a connection for the assembly data bus;
• a signal converter is provided for converting the digital sensor signals of a plurality of sensors into the data bus signal, whereby the same control device can be used for different assembly variants with different sensors, without hardware modification of its sensor connection;
• the signal converter converts the sensor signals directly into the data bus signals without intermediate connection of a calculating means corresponding to an open-loop/closed-loop control algorithm;
• and
• the sensor/actuator interface accommodates series traffic transmission with a plurality of drive train assembly variants in at least two embodiments which differ in the number of sensor connections provided.