Gars crown jewels part 2

[Sanity Challenged]

Gars first summary - usefull for figuring out where he is going with 
ION.
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>    garfield at pilgrimhouse.com ==> First ION Report & Short EGOR Update
>From diy_efi-owner  Mon May 18 19:35:52 1998
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>To: diy_efi at efi332.eng.ohio-state.edu
>Subject: First ION Report & Short EGOR Update
>Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 16:36:44 -0700
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>
>Hey Maties.
>
>Been tryna get this done and out for almost a week now. Toooo busy.
>Retirement can be very demanding, especially on the uptake.
>
>First on EGOR, since that one is short. Am awaiting arrival of some
>small bits of test equipment I promised I'd send Frank along with EGOR
>to keep him company. Soon as that arrives, off he goes. Also, another
>list member who has a dyno and an ECM O2 meter (around $6K) has kindly
>offered to do some comparison runs with EGOR, so we'll probably send 
the
>ole E'bean along there on it's return trip home from Frank's, assuming
>all goes well with the NTK comparison.
>
>Now about ION. As promised, here's an encapsulation of what I've found
>from rummaging thru the patents so far. The purpose of these blurbs is
>to try to keep everyone, that's interested in following along or
>contributing, on roughly the same page and terminology. That way, when
>anyone finds something germain, they don't have to start from the
>beginning every time.
>
>So on to the patents:
>
>There are schemes presented for doing ion detect on EVERY kind of IGN
>system, including dizzified, wasteFired, and obviously 
DI/coil-per-plug.
>All the methods I see in the patents for applying ion detect to dizzies
>requires HV diodes in one form or another (basically to remove the
>dizzy's rotor/cap air gap from the circuit while measuring the
>ionization current; they can do this because the spark polarity is
>OPPOSITE the ionization measurement bias voltage). This is also true of
>some of the implementations even for DI. Since these HV diodes 
currently
>available are actually a stack of several/many junctions, they're not 
as
>failure prone as one might think, but still, a design that does away
>with ANY requirement for HV protection/diodes is a plus.
>
>Such is the Saab design. Other patents where no HV diodes are required
>either do something very similar to Saab, or else just simply reference
>Saab's patent. There are so many trick things in that Saab design, that
>I can't help but think the guy(s) that did that design was just dead
>brilliant! It requires NO HV diodes. It uses Schottky diodes for their
>low forward drop, to protect parts of the circuit, AND at the same 
time,
>makes use of these same Schottky's low Vbr to implement the equivalent
>of a transorb in the reverse direction! Poof, all with one diode. Very
>clever. To detect ion current levels, instead of using a fixed 
reference
>comparison level, it uses the OTHER ion detect circuit that's idle to
>establish a comparator reference level for the one that IS active, and
>visa versa. Amazing. In one case it uses a Schottky to also allow the
>spark current to charge a capacitor to the voltage to be used to 
measure
>the ionization current, sorta like pumping up a trickle charging
>circuit, and then uses the Vbr of the SAME Schottky in the reverse
>direction to limit the max level that the capacitor charges to! Lots of
>cool tricks like this, that took some time to figure out, but were well
>worth the effort. So much for circuit wizardry.
>
>Instead of publishing what would essentially be a COPY of the patent
>with values and explanation, instead, when ION is released, I'll be
>posting a text discussion which references the numbered circuit 
elements
>in the patent itself, like any good research paper would. The patents
>are ready made drawings we can use for discussion, since the actual 
REAL
>circuit is almost exactly the same. Also keeps within the spirit of
>"research" follow-thru, in that you're implementing their stuff
>essentially to study and improve if possible. NOT for commercial
>exploitation. Here, I don't even have to worry about someone exploiting
>my own work, like EGOR's "commercial no-no caveat". If you use ION for
>commercial exploitation, you'll be in direct breach of Saab's patent.
>Not my worry. Heh.
>
>The other thing I wanted to pass along is the important "second order
>effects" of applying this fixed DC voltage bias across the spark plug,
>in order to detect/measure ion current. The very first Saab patent
>(4,648,367, filed Dec '85, granted March '87, a DECADE ago!) speaks of
>using 400V bias to measure ionization current. The NEXT patent
>(4,862,093, filed Aug. '88, granted Aug. '89) right on it's heels and
>only a year before it was first deployed in the field (well, three 
years
>isn't much time in research circles, heh) mentions a "problem" with
>leaving this bias on the plugs all the time, namely SOOT! Yes, soot.
>Seems that as they played with the thang in the lab, they discovered
>that this constant bias (can you say "static electricity"?) was
>attracting the minute carbon particles in the exploded gas/air charge,
>and depositing this on the plugs!! NOT good. Heh.
>
>So the next patent "discloses" two new "inventive methods". One is that
>the voltage of the bias is REDUCED to 80V. The other is that the bias 
is
>NOT applied to the plugs until the engine is up and running, and the
>plugs are cleaned thereby. Then the 80V is switched in to start the ion
>detection process, and determine which of the two cylinders are firing,
>and thereby providing "cam sensor" info and allowing fully sequential
>IGN and EFI. It is further disclosed that while 80V is sufficient to
>detect "normal" IGN explosions or not, 400V is much better for 
detecting
>marginal and abnormal things like a "sooty" or fouled plug, or
>pre-ignition, or detonation. Further, the observation is made that 
since
>detonation is associated with warm engine conditions, that the 400V
>measurement bias on the plugs may be applied, once the engine is warmed
>up thoroughly and self-cleaning the plugs, and therefore isn't subject
>to sooting up the plugs, as before. I think this last disclosure
>indicates that the latter implementations of Saab's Ion Detection
>circuitry ('93 and beyond, for which we have NO disclosure) switch
>between NO bias, 80V bias just after startup to provide commutation, 
and
>then once the engine is warm, switching to 400V bias to improve the
>measurement accuracy of these ionization events, in order to detect
>knock.
>
>That's it. NO fancy filtering, except maybe inside the ECU when reading
>the raw ION current signal via an A/D for knock detection, and
>fire/misfire detection is done outside the ECU, simply with a blanking
>window around the time the plug fires, followed by a simple
>"self-referencing" comparison level (which I mentioned earlier) for
>detecting fire/no-fire on the plug. After that, I believe the detection
>voltage is raised to 400V, and the raw ionization signal is then 
scanned
>directly by the ECU to look for any anomalies.
>
>In my next installment/progress report, I'll mention the size of these
>"detection" and "scanning" windows in crank degrees (quite interesting,
>AND of interest to any ION afficianados who wanna put such scanning in
>the knock detection algorithm of their custom ECU's), which is ALSO
>disclosed in those Saab patents. I am completely convinced now that the
>reason why Saab so far is the ONLY mfg. to deploy this technology isn't
>because they've got the tech sown up with their patents, but simply
>because they've done their homework, and are MILES ahead of the rest.
>
>The other thing I am even MORE convinced is that there is NOTHING
>standing in the way of us bloaks using/playing with/researching this
>tech to our own benefit and the "advancement of the stateOdeOit"
>sotaspeak. I hate to say it, but the circuitry for ION is indeed even
>simpler than EGOR. I had SOOO hoped to upstage that rascal. Oh well. 
One
>thing we CAN say is that EGOR is totally eclipsed by ION's "beauty and
>simplicity", and even I can say that without prideNprejudice, since 
it's
>really them SAAB guys that have given ION her beauty, not I. I am 
simply
>the amanuensis. But a privilege to serve her that way, nonetheless!
>
>Gar
>
>P.S. Key SAAB patent number is 4,862,093. If you read carefully,
>everything is there. You don't even need ME. Sniffle. But, if I can 
save
>you some time by being your guide, I am happy to do so with circuit
>commentaries, parts values, and explanations. Kinda like one of them
>tour guides. B)...More to come; stay tuned.
>
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>    John S. Gwynne <jsg at coulomb.eng.ohio-state.edu>
>


Habeneros - not just for breakfast anymore!!
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