Honda LAF sensor...

[Mark Boxsell]

>
>Hi all,
>
>   Before I get to my comment/question, I thought I'd give a little
>background of myself, as this is the first time I've posted to the
>list.  I'm current;y finishing up my Ph.D. research at Michigan
>Tehnological University (in the farthest north of the UP of MI).
>My research is on fuel injection systems...specifically, I've
>been developing and using a fiber-optic based sensor in the intake
>of a Ford 1.9l engine to measure port wall wetting and trying to
>correlate the film readings with engine out emissions, in cylinder
>pressure data, and the effects of changing fuel preparation (through
>injector design and phasing).  (Long winded sentence...can you tell
>I'm working on my Ph.D.? :) )  As a mech. eng., some of the
>electrical playing discussed here is out of my league as far as
>practical applications, but the topics have been very interesting
>so far and hopefully I can learn more.  Is there any good resources
>around for learning how to modify software in factory ECU's?
>
>   On to the reason for this post.  In the Dec. '95 Automotive
>Engineering (SAE monthly mag) there was an article on the Honda
>VTEC-E Civic.  In it, it said that the man. x-mission cars would
>have a linear air fuel (LAF) sensor to handle the 22:1 ratio that
>the engine can operate at.  It didn't say if it was also linear
>on the important end (rich), but if so, it should bode well for
>the price of LAF sensors to come down rapidly.  I can't imagine
>Honda putting an $800-1000 LAF sensor in a Civic.  Does anyone
>know anymore about these?  I've seen a lot of articles on Hondas
>lean burn engines, but I don't remember any technical references
>to their A/F sensors.  Hopefully the end result will be a $100
>LAF you can pick up at a parts store!
>
>   Thanks for listening, and I hope I can learn a lot and contribute
>at least a little to the list.
>
>   Tim Coste
>   tlcoste at mtu.edu
>

Tim,
      See my answer to Philip Barrie. I hope you are right!
In my experience they are refered to as "wide range" sensors rather
than "linear" sensors.

              regards,
                       Mark Boxsell
                       MRB Design