Motor vehicle magagement and control system including solenoid actuated fuel injection timing control

A management and control system for a motor vehicle, comprising:

• electronic vehicle control means for controlling operations of the vehicle and an engine mounted within said vehicle, including
• means for receiving a timing event signal representing the injection of fuel into a specific cylinder of said engine from a fuel injection pump,
• means for receiving an engine position signal representing a predetermined position of a piston of said specific cylinder relative to Top Dead Center (TDC) occurring after the detection of said timing event signal,
• means for calculating engine timing as a function of the time difference between said engine position signal and said timing event signal,
• means for calculating engine angular velocity as a function of the frequency of said engine position signals,
• means for receiving a fuel quantity signal representing the amount of fuel being injected into the cylinders of said engine,
• means for determining a desired engine timing as a function of said engine angular velocity and said received fuel quantity signal,
• means for calculating the difference between said desired engine timing and said calculated engine timing,
• means for developing a timing advance/retard signal proportional to said calculated difference for advancing or retarding the engine timing to reduce the difference between said desired and calculated engine timings to zero,
• means for receiving an oil pressure signal representing the amount of engine oil pressure in said engine,
• means for receiving a coolant level signal representing the amount of engine coolant in said engine,
• means for receiving a coolant temperature signal representing the temperature of said engine coolant,
• means for comparing said oil pressure, coolant level and coolant temperature signals with stored signal values indicating engine malfunction, generating an alarm signal warning an operator of possible engine damage at a first level of malfunction, and generating an engine shutdown signal for stopping operation of said engine at a second level of malfunction,
• means for receiving a signal proportional to vehicle road speed and calculating the road speed of said vehicle,
• means for storing a maximum vehicle road speed,
• means for storing minimum and maximum engine speeds,
• means for comparing said calculated road speed and engine angular velocity with said stored road and engine speeds,
• means for developing a fuel quantity request signal for controlling the amount of fuel supplied to said engine to keep said road and engine speeds within said stored ranges,
• means for calculating the deceleration rate of said vehicle,
• means for receiving a service brake signal representing application of vehicle service brakes,
• means for comparing said deceleration rate with said fuel quantity signal in the absence of said service brake signal and disengaging a cruise control function when the rate of deceleration exceeds a first value when fueling, and when the rate of deceleration exceeds a second value higher than said first value when not fueling,
• means for calculating a ratio of engine speed-to-road speed,
• means for storing a minimum engine speed-to road speed ratio, and
• means for comparing said calculated ratio with said stored ratio, determining that the transmission of said vehicle has jumped out of gear when said calculated ratio is less than said stored ratio, and overriding said fuel quantity request signal, when said road speed is higher than said stored maximum road speed;
• electronic fuel injection control means for controlling the injection of fuel into the cylinders of said engine, including
• means for receiving an accelerator pedal position signal representing the position of an accelerator pedal of said vehicle indicating the road speed desired by an operator,
• means for receiving an engine speed signal representing the angular velocity of said engine,
• means for receiving a fuel rack position signal representing the position of a fuel rack on a fuel injection pump of said engine,
• means for receiving said fuel quantity request signal from said electronic vehicle control means, and
• means for developing a fuel rack actuation signal for controlling the position of said fuel rack to adjust the amount of fuel being injected into said cylinders, in response to the values of said accelerator pedal position signal, engine speed signal, fuel rack position signal, and fuel quantity request signal;
• fuel injection timing means responsive to said timing advance/retard signal for modifying the timing of fuel injection into said cylinders relative to piston position from TDC;
• and
• a serial data communication line interconnecting said electronic vehicle control means and said electronic fuel injection control means for transmitting digital data therebetween.