AUTOMOBILE ENGINEERING ENGINE SENSORS TEMPERATURE SENSORS A.

COOLANT TEMPERATURE SENSOR 1) Coolant temperature sensors made up thermistor placed inside the tips of threaded plug. 2) Thermisotrs are semiconductor devices whose electrical resistance changed as the temperature changes. 3) The plug screws into the coolant liquid path and is found in the top of the engine block. 4) It is electrically insulated from both the plug and the block. 5) The two thermistor wires are connected to terminals on the top of the plug. 6) There are two types of thermistors viz A. PTC or Positive temperature coefficient B. NTC or Negative temperature coefficient 7) PTC thermistors are devices whose resistance increases as temperature increases 8) NTC thermistors are devices whose resistance decreases as the temperature increases. 9) Depending on the type of thermistor used the changed in temperature causes the resistance of the device to change thereby resulting in the reduction in the voltage across the thermistor. 10)The computer senses these voltages. 11)Computer uses the coolant temperature data to control ignition timining,A/F ratio, exhaust gas recirculation flow, air management and canister purge. B. AIR TEMPERATURE SENSORS 1) It is similar to the coolant temperature sensor. 2) It differs from the coolant temperature sensor in the construction of the mounting plug, since the air temperature sensors must measure air temperature which can be different that the temperature of the metal parts around it. 3) The thermistor must be thermally insulated from the surrounding metal as well as electrically insulated from mounting plug. 4) Computer uses the data from air temperature sensor to adjust both the ignition timing and A/F ration, since the air temperature effect the density of air and therefore the amount of the oxygen in the given volume of air.

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AUTOMOBILE ENGINEERING C. PRESSURE SENSOR 1) There are three types of pressure sensor namely a) Barometric pressure sensor b) Manifold absolute pressure sensor c) Differential pressure sensors 2) All these sensors make the use of a bellow or chamber that changes shapes as the pressure difference between the inside and outside chamber varies. 3) The chamber is sealed at sea level atmospheric pressure and is attached inside a box which is vented to atmosphere. 4) If the box is taken at high altitude where atmospheric pressure decreases than high pressure inside the chamber causes it to expand and vice versa.. 5) The gauge is attached to the moving side of the sealed chamber is used to measure the pressure. 6) The computer uses the data from different pressure sensors to calculate the air flow and control fuel flow, ignition timing and exhaust gas recirculation.

a) Barometric pressure sensor 1) This type of sensor provides the computer with the altitude and atmospheric pressure information. 2) The moving sides of the sealed chamber are connected to a variable resistor or a variable capacitor, which in turn is part of a circuit that generates an electric signal. b) Manifold absolute pressure sensor 1) It is the same device as the barometric pressure sensor except that it measures the manifold pressure instead of atmospheric pressure. 2) The sensor is connected to the intake manifold. c) Differential pressure sensors 1) It measures the pressure difference between the atmosphere and intake manifold pressure. 2) This device vents the chamber to atmosphere and the container box is vented to intake manifold. 3) The movement of the chamber depends on the pressure difference between the atmospheric pressure and intake manifold pressure.

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D. SPEED SENSORS ENGINE SPEED SENSORS 1) Engine and vehicles speed along with other information are used to calculate the correct operating condition for the engine. 2) A ring is mounted at the end of the crankshaft. 3) As the crankshaft turns the individual lobes on the pulse ring pass very close to the crankshaft position sensor pickup. 4) When the lobe sis aligned with the pickup in the magnetic filed generated bu the magnet in the pickup is changed. 5) This changes in the magnetic filed causes the pick up to generate an electric signal, which is sent to the computer. 6) The computer counts these electrical pulses over a given period of time and then calculates the engine speed. 7) The location of these sensors is either at the crankshaft or camshaft. 8) There are two types of the position sensors pick up general use. They are A. Wire coil pick up and B. Hall Effect device. A. WIRE COIL PICK UP a) In the wire coil pick up when the pulse ring is aligned with the pick up the magnetic filed passing through the wire coil collapses and a current is generated in the coil. b) Computer uses this information for calculation of ignition and fuel injection timing. B. THE HALL EFFECT DEVICE. a) The Hall Effect device is a semiconductor element whose resistance changes dramatically in the presence of magnetic fields. b) It works almost like the wire coil pick up. c) The difference is that the computer supplies a current through the Hall Effect device and measure the voltage changes across the device as the magnetic field changes.

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VEHICLE SPEED SENSORS 1) A vehicle speed uses the same type of pickup devices as the engine speed sensors. 2) The vehicle speed sensor is generally connected to the output of the transmission. 3) The output of the speed sensor is electrical pulses in multiples of revolution of the wheels. 4) The signal from the vehicle speed sensors used not only by the engine control computer but also by the cruise control and electronic speedometer.

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AUTOMOBILE ENGINEERING E. Exhaust gas oxygen sensors 1) It is a placed in the exhaust system between the exhaust valve and catalytic converter. 2) It provides information on the amount of free oxygen in the exhaust gases. 3) The sensing elements are a tube of electrolyte material called Zirconium dioxide. 4) This tube is plated on the inside and outside whit a thin coating of the platinum. 5) The outer platinum coating is the positive electrode and inner coating is the negative coating. 6) The outer coating is exposed to the atmospheric air through the opening in the casing walls. 7) When the exhaust gases great the sensors, a voltage is created across the inner and outer electrode. 8) This voltage is sensitive to the presence of free oxygen in the exhaust gases. 9) When there is no free oxygen in the exhaust gases (rich mixture) the voltage will be approximately to 0.9V. 10)When there is large amount of free oxygen (lean mixture)in the exhaust gases ,the voltage output will be below 0.2v. 11)Computer uses the data from EGO sensors to trim A/F ratio.

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F. Knock sensor 1) It is a device that can detect the engine nose created by improper spark timining. 2) It is designed to detect the sounds made by engine knocking. 3) The device mounted on the engine block 4) It is made up of semiconductor crystal material that produces an output voltage when vibrated. 5) The sensor is made to respond only to vibration in the 6 to 8 cycles per second range by suitably shaping the semiconductor crystal. this is the vibration frequency of the knocking process. 6) By having these unique vibration characteristics the knock sensors does not respond to other engine noises. 7) Computer uses this signal to retard the ignition timing until the knock is reduced and then advance it to more suitable positions.

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