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Master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin magister) is a second-cycle academic degree awarded by universities upon completion of a course of study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.[1] A master's degree normally requires previous study at bachelor's level, either as a separate degree or as part of an integrated course. Within the area studied, master's graduates are expected to possess advanced knowledge of a specialized body of theoretical and applied topics; high order skills in analysis, critical evaluation, or professional application; and the ability to solve complex problems and think rigorously and independently.
Masters degrees are commonly titled using the form 'Master of ...', where either a faculty (typically Arts or Science) or a field (Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Business Administration, etc.) is specified. The two most common titles of master's degrees are the Master of Arts (MA/M.A./A.M) and Master of Science (MSc/M.S./S.M.) degrees; which normally consist of a mixture of research and taught material.[2][3] Integrated master's degrees and postgraduate master's degrees oriented towards professional practice are often more specifically named for their field of study ("tagged degrees"), including, for example, the Master of Business Administration, Master of Divinity, Master of Engineering and Master of Physics. A few titles are more general, for example Master of Philosophy (MPhil), used (in the same manner as Doctor of Philosophy) to indicate degrees with a large research component,[4] Master of Studies (MSt)/Master of Advanced Study (MASt)/Master of Advanced Studies (M.A.S.), and Professional Master's (MProf).
The form "Master in ..." is also sometimes used, particularly where a faculty title is used for an integrated master's in addition to its use in a traditional postgraduate master's, e.g. Master in Science (MSci) and Master in Arts (MArts). This form is also sometimes used with other integrated master's degrees,[5] and occasionally for postgraduate master's degrees (e.g. Master's in Accounting).[6]
Some universities use Latin degree names; because of the flexibility of syntax in Latin, the Master of Arts and Master of Science degrees may be known in these institutions as Magister artium and Magister scientiæ or reversed from the English order to Artium magister and Scientiæ magister. Examples of the reversed usage include Harvard University, the University of Chicago and MIT, leading to the abbreviations A.M. and S.M. for these degrees. The forms "Master of ..." and "Master in ..." are indistinguishable in Latin, thus MSci is "Master of Natural Sciences" at the University of Cambridge.
In the UK, stops (periods) are not used in degree abbreviations.[7][8] In the US, The Gregg Reference Manual recommends placing periods in degrees (e.g. B.S., Ph.D.), however The Chicago Manual of Style recommends writing degrees without periods (e.g. BS, PhD).[9]
Master of Science is generally abbreviated M.S. or MS in countries following United States usage and MSc in countries following British usage, where MS would refer to the degree of Master of Surgery.
In Australia, some extended master's degrees use the title "doctor": Juris doctor and Doctors of Medical Practice, Physiotherapy, Dentistry, Optometry and Veterinary Practice. Despite their titles these are still master's degree and may not be referred to as doctoral degrees, nor may graduates use the title "doctor".[10]
- Postgraduate/graduate master's degrees (MA/M.A./A.M., MSc/M.S., MBA/M.B.A., MSt, LLM/LL.M., etc.) are the traditional formal form of master's degree, where the student already holds an undergraduate (bachelor's) degree on entry. Courses normally last one year in the UK and two years in the US.[2][3]
- Integrated master's degrees (MChem, MEng, MMath, MPharm, MPhys, MPsych, MSci, etc.) are UK degrees that combine an undergraduate bachelor's degree course with an extra year at master's level (i.e a total of four years in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and five years in Scotland). A 2011 survey of UK Higher Education Institutes found that 64% offered integrated master's course, mostly in STEM disciplines, with the most common degrees being MEng, MSci and MChem. 82% of respondents conferred only a master's degree for the course, while 9% conferred a bachelor's degree at the end of the bachelor's-level stage and a master's degree at the end of the course and a further 9% conferred both bachelor's and master's degrees at the end of the course.[11][12]
- Non-master's level master's degrees The ancient universities of the UK and Ireland have traditionally awarded MAs in a different manner to that usual today. The Scottish MA is a bachelor's-level qualification offered by the ancient universities of Scotland. The Oxbridge MA is not an academic qualification; it is granted without further examination to those who have gained a BA from Oxford or Cambridge Universities in England,[11] and the MA of Trinity College Dublin in Ireland is granted to its graduates in a similar manner.[13]
The UK Quality Assurance Agency defines three categories of Master's degrees:[14]
- Research master's degrees are primarily research based, although may contain taught elements, particularly on research methods. Examples are the MPhil (always a research degree, often linked to a doctoral programme), MLitt (usually, but not always a research degree) and Master's by Research. They aim to prepare students fit research careers. Care should be taken not to confuse the Master by Research (MbyRes, MRes or ResM), which is a research degree in a specific subject, with the Master of Research (MRes), which is a taught degree concentrating on research methods.[15]
- Specialised or advanced study master's degrees are primarily taught degrees, although commonly at leasta third of the course is devoted to a research project assessed by dissertation. These may be stand-alone master's courses, leading to, e.g., MSc, MA or MRes degrees, or integrated master's degrees.
- Professional or practice master's degrees are designed to prepare students for a particular professional career and are primarily taught, although they may include work placements and independent study projects. Some may require professional experience for entry. Examples include MBA, MDiv, LLM and MSW as well as some integrated master's degrees. The name of the degree normally includes the subject name.
The United States Department of Education classifies master's degree as research or professional. Research master's degrees in the US, e.g. M.A./A.M. or M.S., require the completion of taught courses and examinations in a major and one or more minor subjects, and (normally) a research thesis. Professional master's degrees may be structured like research master's (e.g. M.E./M.Eng.) or may concentrate on a specific discipline (e.g. M.B.A.), and often substitute a project for the thesis.[3]
The Australian Qualifications Framework classifies master's degrees as research, coursework or extended. Research master's degrees typically take one to two years, and two thirds of their content consists of research, research training and independent study. Coursework master's degrees typically also last one to two years, and consist mainly of structured learning with some independent research and project work or practice-related learning. Extended master's degrees typically take three to four years and contain significant practice-related learning that must be developed in collaboration with relevant professional, statutory or regulatory bodies.[16]
In Ireland, master's degrees may be either Taught or Research. Taught master's degrees are normally one to two year courses, rated at 60 - 120 ECTS credits, while research master's degrees are normally two year courses, either rated at 120 ECTS credits or not credit rated.[17]
There are a range of pathways to the degree, with entry based on evidence of a capacity to undertake higher degree studies in the proposed field. A dissertation may or may not be required, depending on the program. In general, the structure and duration of a program of study leading to a master's degree will differ by country and by university.
Stand-alone master's programs in the US are normally two years in length. In some fields/programs, work on a doctorate begins immediately after the bachelor's degree, but a master's may be granted along the way as a intermediate qualification if the student petitions for it.[3] Some universities offer evening options so that students can work during the day and earn a master's degree in the evenings.[18]
In the UK, postgraduate master's degrees may be either "research" or "taught", with taught degrees being further subdivided into "specialist or advanced study" or "professional or practice" (see above). Taught degrees (of both forms) typically take a full calendar year (i.e. three semesters, 12 months), although some may be completed within an academic year (i.e. two semesters, 8 months), while research degrees often take either a full calendar year or two academic years.[2] The UK integrated master's degree is combined with a bachelor's degree for a four (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) or five (Scotland) academic year total period - one academic year longer than a normal bachelor's degree.[11]
In Australia, master's degrees, master's degrees vary from 1 year for a "research" or "coursework" master's following on from an Australian honours degree in a related field, with an extra six months if following on straight from an ordinary bachelor's degree and another extra six months if following on from a degree in a different field, to four years for an "extended" master's degree.[16]
In the Overarching Framework of Qualifications for the European Higher Education Area defined as part of the Bologna process, a "second cycle" (i.e. master's degree) programme is typically 90–120 ECTS credits, with a minimum requirement of at least 60 ECTS credits at second-cycle level.[19] The definition of ECTS credits is that "60 ECTS credits are allocated to the learning outcomes and associated workload of a full-time academic year or its equivalent",[20] thus European master's degrees should last for between one calendar year and two academic years, with at least one academic year of study at master's level. The Framework for Higher Education Qualification (FHEQ) in England Wales and Northern Ireland level 7 qualifications and the Framework for Qualification of Higher Education Institutes in Scotland (FQHEIS) level 11 qualifications (postgraduate and integrated master's degrees, with the exception of MAs from the ancient universities of Scotland and Oxbridge MAs) have been certified as meeting this requirement.[21][22]
Irish master's degrees are 1 - 2 years (60 - 120 ECTS credits) for taught degrees and 2 years (not credit rated) for research degrees. These have also been certified as compatible with the FQ-EHEA.[23]
Admission to a master's degrees normally requires successful completion of study at bachelor's degree level either (for postgraduate degrees) as a stand-alone degree or (for integrated degrees) as part of an integrated scheme of study. In countries where the bachelor's degree with honours is the standard undergraduate degree, this is often the normal entry qualification.[14][24] In addition, students will normally have to write a personal statement and, in the arts and humanities, will often have to submit a portfolio of work.[25]
In the UK, students will normally need to have a 2:1 for a taught master's course, and possibly higher for a research master's.[26] Graduate schools in the US may require students to take one or more standardised tests, such as the GRE, GMAT or LSAT.[27]
Comparable European degrees[edit]
In some European countries, a magister is a first degree and may be considered equivalent to a modern (standardized) master's degree (e.g., the German, Austrian and Polish university Diplom/Magister, or the similar five-year Diploma awarded in several subjects in Greek, Spanish, Portuguese, and other universities and polytechnics).[clarification needed]
Under the Bologna Process, countries in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) are moving to a three cycle (bachelor's - master's - doctorate) system of degrees. Two thirds of EHEA countries have standardised on 120 ECTS credits for their second-cycle (master's) degrees, but 90 ECTS credits is the main form in Cyprus, Ireland and Scotland and 60-75 credits in Montenegro, Serbia and Spain.[28] The combined length of the first and second cycle varies from "3 + 1" years (240 ECTS credits), through "3 + 2" or "4 + 1" years (300 ECTS credits), to "4 + 2" years (360 ECTS credits). As of 2015, 31 EHEA countries have integrated programmes that combine the first and second cycle and lead to a second-cycle qualification (e.g. the UK integrated master's degree), particularly in STEM subjects and subjects allied to medicine. These typically have a duration of 300 – 360 ECTS credits (five to six years), with the integrated master's degrees in England, Wales and Northern Ireland being the shortest at 240 ECTS credits (four years).[29]
- In Denmark there are two forms of master's degree. The Master's Degree or candidatus is a FQ-EHEA second-cycle qualification worth 120 ECTS credits. These degrees are research-based and offered through universities. The second form is the Master Degree (no possessive) within the adult further education system, which is worth 60 ECTS credits and is taught part-time.[30] The candidatus degree is abbreviated cand. and upon completion of, for instance, an engineering master's degree, a person becomes cand.polyt. (polytechnical). Similar abbreviations, inspired by Latin, apply to a large number of fields, e.g.: sociology (cand.scient.soc), economics (cand.merc., cand.polit. or cand.oecon), law (cand.jur), humanities (cand.mag) etc. Use of a cand. title requires a master's degree. Holders of a cand. degree are also entitled to use M.Sc. or M.A. titles, depending on the field of study. In Finland and Sweden, the title of kand. equates to a bachelor's degree.
- In France, the master's degree (diplôme de master) takes two years and is worth 120 ECTS credits.[31] The French master's degree is the combination of two individual years : the master 1 (M1) and master 2 (M2), following the Bologna Process. Depending on the goal of the student (a doctorate or a professional career) the master 2 can also be called a "Master Recherche" (research master) and a "Master Professionnel" (professional master), each with different requirements. To obtain a national diploma for the master 2 requires a minimum of one year of study after the master 1.
A French "diplôme d'Ingénieur" is also the equivalent of a master's degree, provided the diploma is recognised by the Commission des titres d'ingénieur, as are qualifications recognised at Level I of the répertoire national des certifications professionnelles (national register of professional certificates).[32][33]
- In Italy the master's degree is equivalent to the two-year Laurea magistrale, which can be earned after a Laurea (a three-year undergraduate degree, equivalent to a bachelor's degree). In particular fields, namely law, pharmacy and medicine, this distinction is not made. University courses are therefore single and last five to six years, after which the master's degree is awarded (in this case referred to as Laurea magistrale a ciclo unico). The old Laurea degree (Vecchio Ordinamento, Old Regulations), which was the only awarded in Italy before the Bologna process, is equivalent[34] to the current Laurea Magistrale.
- In the Netherlands the titles ingenieur (ir.), meester (mr.) and doctorandus (drs.) may be rendered, if obtained in the Netherlands from a university, after the application of the Bologna process, as: MSc instead of ir., LL.M. instead of mr. and MA or MSc instead of drs.[35] This is because a single program that led to these degree was in effect before 2002, which comprised the same course load as the bachelor and master programs put together. Those who had already started the program could, upon completing it, bear the appropriate title (MSc, LL.M. or MA), but alternatively still use the old-style title (ir., mr. or drs.), corresponding to their field of study. Since these graduates do not have a separate bachelor's degree (which is in fact – in retrospect – incorporated into the program), the master's degree is their first academic degree. Bearers of foreign master's degree are able to use the titles ir., mr. and drs. only after obtaining a permission to bear such titles from the Dienst Uitvoering Onderwijs. Those who received their mr., ir. or drs. title after the application of the Bologna process have the option of signing as A. Jansen, M.A. or A. Jansen, M.Sc., depending on the field in which the degree was obtained, since the ir., mr. and drs. titles are similar to a master's degree, and the shortcut MA or M.Sc. may officially be used in order to render such title as an international title.[36][37][38][39]
- In Switzerland, the old Licence or Diplom (4 to 5 years in duration) is considered equivalent to the master's degree.[40]
- In Slovenia and Croatia, during the pre-Bologna process education, all Academic degrees were awarded after a minimum of four years of university studies and a successful defence of a written thesis are considered equivalent to the master's degree.[citation needed]
- In Baltic countries there is a two-year education program that offers a chance to gain a master's degree in interdisciplinary issues. The system offers an education in different areas, such as humanities, environmental and social issues, whilst paying specific consideration to the Baltic Sea area. It is a joint-degree program, which is part of a team effort with four universities. There is the University of Tartu in Estonia, the University of Turku in Finland, Vytautas Magnus University in Lithuania and the University of Latvia. The educational programs are very good; allowing students to be mobile within the system, for example one semester may be taken in a confederate school without paying additional membership or tuition fees. Subsequently after passing the qualifications provided, people may procure teaching qualifications and continue their scholastic research around doctoral studies, or carry on studying within their career in the private or public sector. Graduates of the program, within the Baltic Sea area are also given the chance to continue onwards with their studies within the postgraduate system if they have studied the social sciences or humanities field.
- In Greece, the metaptychiako which literally translates as post-degree (...programme or title), lasts normally from one to, more often, two years, and can be studied after a, at least, four-years undergraduate ptychio, which means degree.
- In Russia master (магистр) degree can be obtained after a 2-year master course (магистратура) which is available after a 4-year bachelor or a 5-year specialist course. A graduate may choose a master course completely different from his/her previous one. During these 2 years master students attend specialized lectures in chosen profile, choose a faculty advisor and prepare their master thesis which is eventually defended before certifying commission consisting mostly of professors.
- In the United Kingdom, first degrees in medicine, dentistry and veterinary science are considered equivalent to master's degrees despite, for historical reasons, often having the titles of bachelor's degrees.[11]
South America[edit]
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In Brazil, after a regular graduation (after acquiring a bachelor's degree), students have the option to continue their academic career through a master's course (a.k.a. stricto sensu post-graduation) or specialization (a.k.a. lato sensu post-graduation) degrees.
At the master's degree ("mestrado", in Portuguese, also referred as "pós-graduação stricto sensu") there are 2–3 years of full-time graduate-level studies. Usually focused on academic research, the master's degree (on any specific knowledge area) requires the development of a thesis, presented (and defended) to a board of Ph.D. after the period of research. Differently, the "specialization" degree (also referred as "pós-graduação lato-sensu"), also comprehends a 1–2 years studies, but do not require a new thesis to be purposed and defended, being usually attended by professionals looking for a complimentary formation on a different knowledge area than their original graduation.
In addition, a great part of Brazilian universities offers a M.B.A. (Master of Business Administration) degree. Those, nevertheless, are not the equivalent of US M.B.A. degree though, as it does not formally certifies the student/professional with a master's degree (stricto-sensu) but a post-graduation degree instead. A regular post-graduation course has to comply with a minimum of 360 class-hours, while a M.B.A. degree has to comply with a minimum of 400 class-hours. Master's degree (stricto sensu) does not requires minimum class-hours, but it's practically impossible to finish it before 1.5 year due the workload and research required; an average time for the degree is 2.5 years[citation needed].
Specialization (lato sensu) and M.B.A. degrees can be also offered as distance education courses, while the master's degree (stricto-sensu) requires physical attendance.
Often serves as additional qualification for those seeking a differential on the job market, or for those who want to pursue a Ph.D. It corresponds to the European (Bologna Process) 2nd Cycle or the North American master's.
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Hong Kong[edit]
M.Arch., M.L.A., M.U.D., M.A., M.Sc., M.Soc.Sc., M.S.W., M.Eng., LL.M. Hong Kong requires one or two years of full-time coursework to achieve a master's degree.
For part-time study, two or three years of study are normally required to achieve a postgraduate degree.
M.Phil. As in the United Kingdom, M.Phil. or Master of Philosophy is a research degree awarded for the completion of a thesis, and is a shorter version of the Ph.D.
In Pakistani education system, there are two different master's degree programmes[citation needed]:
- 2 years master's programmes: these are mostly Master of Arts (M.A.) leading to M.Phil.;
- 4 years master's programmes: these are mostly Master of Science (M.S.) leading to Ph.D.
Both M.A. and M.S. are offered in all major subjects.
In the Indian system, a master's degree is a postgraduate degree following a Bachelor's degree and preceding a Doctorate, usually requiring two years to complete. The available degrees include:
- Master of Arts (M.A.);
- Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.);
- Master of Computer Applications (M.C.A.);
- Master of Computer Management (M.C.M.);
- Master of Design (M.Des.);
- Master of Engineering (M.Eng.);
- Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.);
- Master of Science (M.Sc.);
- Master of Science in Information Technology (M.Sc.I.T.);
- Master of Technology (M.Tech.);
- Master of Statistics (M.Stat.);
- Master of Laws (LL.M.);
- Master of Commerce (M.Com.).
- Master in Business Studies (M.B.S)
- M.A., M.Sc., M.B.A.: postgraduate studies in Israel require the completion of a bachelor's degree and is dependent upon this title's grades. There exists also a direct track to a doctorate degree for graduate students, which lasts four to five years. Taking this route, the students must prepare a preliminary research paper during their first year, they then have to pass an exam after which they are automatically awarded a master's degree.
- M.Eng.: It is given by the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. Comparing to the M.Sc., it is a non-thesis track.[41]
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In Nepal, after bachelor's degree about to at least three or four years with full-time study in college and university with an entrance test for those people who want to study further can study in master and further Ph.D. and Doctorate degree. All Doctoral and Ph.D. or third cycle degree are based on research and experience oriented and result based. Master of Engineering (M.Eng.), Master of Education (M.Ed.), Master of Arts (M.A.) and all law and medicine related courses are studied after completion of successful bachelor towards doctoral degree. M.B.B.S. is only a medical degree with six and half years of study resulting medical doctor and need to finish its study o 4 years of period joining after master degree with minimum education with 15 or 16 years of university bachelor's degree education. The most professional and internationalised program in Nepal are:
- Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.);
- Master of Computer Applications (M.C.A.);
- Master of Engineering (M.Eng.);
- Master of Science (M.Sc.);
- Master of Science in Information Technology (M.Sc.I.T.);
- Master of Business Studies ( M.B.S.);
- Master of Education (M.Ed);
- Master of Arts (M.A.);
- Master of Agriculture (M.Sc. Ag.);
- Master of Laws (LL.M.);
- Master of Management (M.M.).
In Taiwan, bachelor's degrees are about four years (with honors) and there is an entrance examination required for people who want to study in master and Ph.D. degrees. The courses offered for master and PhD normally are research-based.
The most foreign-friendly programs in Taipei, Taiwan are at:
- National Taiwan University College of Management – Global M.B.A. (M.B.A. in Finance, Accounting, Management, International Business and Information Management);
- National ChengChi University – I.M.B.A.
Programs are entirely in English and tuition is less than would be paid in North America, with as little as US$5000 for an M.B.A.[citation needed]
As an incentive to increase the number of foreign students, the government of Taiwan and universities have made extra efforts to provide a range of quality scholarships available.[citation needed] These are university-specific scholarships ranging from tuition waivers, up to NT$20,000 per month. The government offers the Taiwan Scholarship ranging from NT$20,000–30,000 per month for two years. (US$18,000–24,000 for a two-year program)
See also[edit]
- Associate's degree
- Bachelor's degree
- British degree abbreviations
- Diploma mill
- Doctorate
- Educational specialist
- Engineer's degree
- Euromaster
- European Joint Master degree in Economics
- Graduate school
- Licentiate
- List of master's degrees
- Magister (degree)
- Master of Advanced Studies
- Master of Arts (Oxbridge and Dublin)
- Master of Arts (Scotland)
- Master of Engineering
- Master of Laws
- Master of Science
- Master's degree in Europe
- Master's degree in North America
- Master's degree non-Euroamerican
- Professional degree
- Professional Science Master's degree
- Terminal degree
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text:
|Publication number
|Publication type
|Application number
|Publication date
|Jun 25, 1996
|Filing date
|Apr 5, 1995
|Priority date
|Apr 5, 1995
|Fee status
|Also published as
|Publication number
|John V. James, Kenneth A. Marko, James M. Dosdall
|Original Assignee
|Ford Motor Company
|Export Citation
|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Patent Citations (19), Referenced by (33), Classifications (12), Legal Events (5)
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
This application is related to copending application Ser. No. (94-0356), entitled "Adaptive Correction of Torsional and Wheel Profile Position Errors for Misfire Detection", filed concurrently herewith and which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The present invention relates generally to on-board diagnostic monitors for internal combustion engines such as misfire detectors, and more specifically to on-board adjustment of correction factors used by the diagnostic monitor.
One way to detect misfires in internal combustion engines is to measure crankshaft speed and observe fluctuations in speed. Detection of deviations in crankshaft velocities (as manifested by abnormal acceleration values) from expected normal crankshaft velocities is an indication of misfire. Deviations in acceleration are determined over nominally equal successive intervals of crankshaft rotation, referred to as "Profile-Ignition-Pick-Up intervals" (PIP intervals). A PIP signal is a digital signal received from a sensor, which detects specified positions of rotation of a crankshaft mounted wheel during engine rotation. PIP intervals are also known as combustion intervals, which are equal in length (but not necessarily phase) to the angular rotation between top dead centers of adjacent cylinders in the firing order.
Ideally, during normal operation, an engine will produce a series of PIP transition signals whose periods are inversely related to the average crankshaft velocity during a substantial portion of the power stroke for each of the cylinders in the engine. The crankshaft velocity will either remain constant (zero acceleration), increase (positive acceleration) or decrease (negative acceleration) depending on whether the engine is operating at steady state, accelerating or decelerating, respectively. For example, if a normal engine is operating under steady-state operation (no acceleration), then acceleration values of near zero are expected over successive PIP intervals. However, if a particular cylinder in an engine produces a sufficiently negative value during steady-state operation, then this occurrence will be interpreted as a misfire condition, since a zero value is expected as an output for all cylinders in a normal engine during steady state operation.
Accordingly, misfire detectors typically look for individual cylinders yielding acceleration values different from the local norm of all cylinders, where the local norm depends upon the operating condition (i.e., steady state, acceleration, or deceleration, etc.). The problem is that individual cylinders in normal engines tend to yield values of velocity that differ slightly from the local norm of all cylinders in a systematic manner according to cylinder number. In a normally operating engine, this systematic variation will interfere with the misfire detection system's ability to detect abnormal behavior due to misfire.
There are at least two sources of such cylinder-specific-irregularities. The first is discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,117,681 to Dosdall et al., incorporated herein by reference. Dosdall et al. deals with systematic irregularity arising from PIP spacing of the wheel. If the wheel which serves as the position encoder on the crankshaft is even slightly irregular in PIP-interval spacing (e.g., a few tenths of a degree difference), then a normal engine operating at constant true PIP-to-PIP velocity (steady state) will appear to be experiencing subtle velocity changes (hence, non-zero acceleration values). The velocity changes will appear to coincide with the particular cylinders associated with the irregular PIP intervals. Although the degree of impact that a given wheel error has on the acceleration calculation is strongly rpm-dependent, the error itself is fixed, and so it can be empirically determined at any operating condition, even deceleration.
Dosdall et al. prefer to employ defueled coast down when sensing encoder errors. The reason is to avoid uneven acceleration due to firing events during data collection, since with no fuel, all cylinders are unpowered. Application of the process specified in Dosdall et al to coast down data yields a set of values which indicates the actual PlP-interval spacings of the wheel relative to the nominal values (i.e., assumed equal spacing). There are only n/2 unique correction values derived in this manner, since crankshaft mounted wheels typically have half as many PlP-intervals as engine cylinders (n). Each individual correction value is used twice per engine cycle.
The second problem, discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,537, issued to James and incorporated herein by reference, is that even under normal operating conditions the crankshaft will produce different amounts of speed-up and slow-down because of the non-rigid (torsional) behavior of the crankshaft. Since the crankshaft is not rigid, it produces subtle, but reproducible oscillations (due to crankshaft flexing) in the PIP signal (systematic "noise"). This noise tends to camouflage true misfires and can cause an erroneous indication of one or more cylinders as having misfired even when engine operation is in fact normal. For example, cylinders at the front of a crankshaft might affect the speed of the crankshaft at the measuring point slightly differently than cylinders at the rear. The effects of crankshaft-torsional-flexing can occur when the power is cut-off (as in the Dosdall et al. patent), because inertial torques produce uneven motions (acceleration). In general, the effects of such torsional variations on the calculated acceleration values are most pronounced at higher engine speeds as manifested in typical engine data.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,537 discloses a method for removing the effects of torsional oscillations by applying correction factors to velocity measurements and using the corrected velocities (or accelerations) for misfire detection. Correction factors for each of the n PIP intervals of an engine cycle are generated for each of a multitude of engine operating conditions. Each set of n generated correction factors is stored in a table (a "look-up table" located in a memory unit) and has a corresponding unique address location. This table is determined empirically in the calibration of the engine type by a test engine. The correction factors are generated while the test engine is rotated at a fixed steady state operating point with combustion, where the operating point is typically a particular speed and load. The table is loaded in memory units of production vehicles. During operation, measured operational parameters from the engine (e.g., a particular speed and load) are used as an address to retrieve correction factors stored in the look-up table.
Although a test engine characterizes the expected torsional oscillations for a particular engine design reasonably well, production engines of that same design may exhibit individual variation and may also experience changes as the engines wear with use. Therefore, the effectiveness of a predetermined look-up table may be reduced over time unless it is adjusted or adapted for the changes.
Adaptation of correction factors for inaccuracies in the placement of position markers on a crankshaft position sensor is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,237,862 issued to Mangrulkar et al. Adaptive correction methods, however, must overcome several difficulties. The basis of adaptation is that the correction factors should be derived during a time when misfire or other malfunction is not present. Thus any adaptive learning of correction factors must be disabled under conditions of misfire. However, detection of a misfire depends upon the capability of the correction which itself depends upon the ability to detect a misfire, leading to a circular problem that adaptation cannot be achieved until adaptation is achieved. In addition, if updating of the learned correction factor is cutoff during conditions of misfire and if engine conditions are changing during that same period, the latest available correction factors may become inaccurate. Furthermore, it is possible that the adaptive correction may adapt to a gradual onset of power loss in a cylinder and thus become incapable of detecting an actual power loss that has reached the required threshold.
The present invention provides on-board adjustment of correction factors used by an engine diagnostic monitor, wherein the adjustment is not subject to the disadvantages described above. A correction factor originally obtained from a test engine is dynamically modified on-board a production engine in response to the detection of a time when it is safe to perform the adaptation.
More specifically, the invention provides a method for detecting malfunctions in an internal combustion engine. An engine variable is measured. A selected diagnostic variable is determined in response to the measured variable and a correction factor, wherein the correction factor reduces the effects of a known source of error in determining the selected diagnostic variable. A diagnostic classification is produced in response to the selected diagnostic variable and a diagnostic threshold set in accordance with a first false alarm rate. A malfunction signal is generated in response to the diagnostic classification. A safe adaptation classification is produced in response to the selected diagnostic variable and an adaptation threshold set in accordance with a second false alarm rate higher than the first false alarm rate. The correction factor is adapted by assigning a new value to the correction factor that tends to modify the determination of the selected diagnostic variable toward a predetermined value when the safe adaptation classification corresponds to an absence of a malfunction.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example position sensing and velocity measuring system employed by the present invention.
FIG. 2 illustrates an alternative embodiment of a position sensing and velocity measuring system employed by the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating the procedural steps used by a processor to obtain correction factors (Ck), according to the present invention.
FIG. 4A graphically depicts two revolutions of a position encoder during one complete cycle of an example six-cylinder engine, according to the present invention.
FIG. 4B illustrates PIP intervals arranged linearly along a time line over an entire engine cycle as shown in FIG. 4A.
FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating how the torsional correction factors are deployed in a production vehicle having an internal combustion engine.
FIG. 6A shows a misfire detection signal calculated without any type of correction to the velocities.
FIG. 6B shows the same misfire detection signal of FIG. 6A with some improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio after applying wheel-profile correction factors to the velocities.
FIG. 6C shows the same misfire detection signal of FIGS. 6A-6B, but applying correction factors to compensate for torsional fluctuations according to the present invention, which provides much greater improvement resulting in the more distinguishable misfire signal.
FIG. 7 is a plot showing uncorrected deviation acceleration for individual cylinder events with and without actual misfire being deliberately introduced.
FIG. 8 is a plot showing deviation acceleration after applying the base correction factors to the data in FIG. 7.
FIG. 9 is a plot showing deviation acceleration after applying lowpass filtering to the data in FIG. 7.
FIG. 10 is a flow chart illustrating a method for on-board adjustment of correction factors.
FIG. 11 shows a portion of a table of correction factors stored in memory.
The present invention employs similar sensing apparatus as those used in U.S. Pat. No. 5,117,681 to Dosdall et al., incorporated herein by reference. A brief overview of these sensing devices is provided below.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example position sensing and velocity measuring system employed by the present invention. The engine rotation position sensing system of FIG. 1 includes a rotor 100 including vanes 101, 102, and 103 which rotate with a crankshaft 104 (a three-vane rotor from a 6-cylinder engine is shown in this example). The vanes 101-103 pass between a hall effect sensor 105 and a permanent magnet 106 to generate a profile ignition pulse (PIP) signal 107 as the crankshaft 104 rotates. Vanes 101-103 are typically arranged to generate a rising edge in the PIP signal 10� before top dead center (in the preferred embodiment, falling edges 70� before and 50� after top dead center for a six cylinder engine) of each respective cylinder.
The rising edge in the PIP signal actually indicates the approach to top dead center of two engine cylinders, one of which is approaching a power stroke and one of which is approaching an intake stroke since it takes two full crankshaft rotations to complete an engine cycle.
A cylinder identification (CID) sensor 107 is connected to a camshaft 108 for identifying which of the two cylinders is actually on its power stroke. Since camshaft 108 rotates once for every two rotations of crankshaft 104, a CID signal is preferably generated having a rising edge corresponding to the power stroke of cylinder No. 1.
A timer 120 receives the PIP signal and the CID signal and measures elapsed time between predetermined engine position locations as determined by the CID and PIP signals (preferably between falling edges of PIP). The elapsed time ΔTi for each velocity measuring interval is output from timer 120 to a velocity calculator 121 where the assumed angular spacing Δθ0 is divided by time ΔTi to provide the velocity value Vi.
In the preferred embodiment, timer 120 and velocity calculator 121 are parts of firm/software in a processor system ("Processor") 140. Timer 120 and velocity calculator may also be implemented as hardware. A memory device 122 is coupled to processor 140 via a bi-directional bus 123.
An alternative embodiment of position sensing apparatus is shown in FIG. 2. A multi-toothed wheel 202 is mounted on an engine for rotation with the crankshaft. A plurality of teeth 204 are disposed along the periphery of wheel 202 at a predetermined angular spacing. A sensor 206 is disposed in a fixed location closely spaced to teeth 204 for sensing when each tooth passes sensor 206.
In the preferred embodiment, a missing tooth location 208 is provided on wheel 202 to establish an absolute location reference, e.g., at 90� before top dead center of cylinder No. 1.
Sensor 206 is connected to timer 120 and velocity calculator 121 as described with reference to FIG. 1. However, since the velocity measuring intervals in this embodiment are longer than the spacing of teeth 204, an interval former 210 is disposed between timer 120 and velocity calculator 121 in order to provide the sum of the measured time periods for the consecutive teeth which are included in the particular velocity interval to be measured. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, timer 120, velocity calculator 121 and interval former 210 may preferably be implemented in the programmed processor 140.
According to the present invention, compensations (correction factors) are made for systematic irregularities arising from true velocity fluctuations of crankshaft mounted wheels 100, 202 due to the dynamics of the individual cylinders producing torque at differing locations on a flexible crankshaft 104. FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating the procedural steps used by processor 140 to obtain correction factors (Ck).
Referring to FIG. 3, in step 302 the engine is rotated at a fixed steady state condition. "Steady state" means that the engine is rotated at a particular speed and load during powered operating conditions, where speed is in Revolutions-Per-Minute (RPM) and load is a percentage of full air charge, which is nominally proportional to torque. For example, it may first be desired to measure the response of the engine at 2000 RPM with a load of 0.50 (where the load is measured as a scale from 0-to-1 of the maximum air charge that the engine is capable of taking-in to create torque). The number of load and speed points selected for generating the look-up table is dependent upon accuracy required of the system and the engine being characterized. Speed and load are the two most important factors that effect torsional effects in the crankshaft 104. However, it is contemplated to employ operational parameters other than speed and load (e.g., spark advance and Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR), which are typically found to effect engine torque, and hence, the degree of torsional flexing of the crankshaft 104.
In step 304, a unique set of correction factors, one for each cylinder, is determined for each unique steady state operating point (particular speed and load) from data collected over N complete cycles of a normally operating engine. These correction factors are denoted C(k): where k=1 to n, and where n is the number of cylinders in the engine. For purposes of implementation, it is convenient to number cylinders by their position in the engine firing sequence, rather than by cylinder number designation. Thus, C1 is the correction factor at a given operating condition for cylinder 1, C2 is the corresponding factor for the next cylinder in firing order, and so forth.
The correction factor for the kth cylinder is based on the average ratio of each PIP-interval velocity (denoted Vi) associated with cylinder k, to the average velocity (denoted Wi) over an entire engine cycle substantially centered on the PIP interval. This relationship is graphically depicted in FIG. 4A, which represents two revolutions of a position encoder during one complete cycle 402 of an example six-cylinder engine (where a PIP interval is denoted 404). The six measurement intervals are designated i-3, i-2, i-1, i, i+1, i+2, where a single estimate of the correction factor for interval i is to be determined. The two velocities calculated for each i are the average velocity (Vi) over the PIP interval 404 (length 120�) and the average velocity (Wi) over the entire engine cycle 402 (length 720� or calculated over a plurality of engine cycles 402).
These intervals are also illustrated in FIG. 4B, showing the PIP intervals 404 arranged linearly along a time line. The ratio of Wi over Vi during steady-state operation is a measure of the correction factor for the particular cylinder during the ith interval. This measurement must be repeated for many subsequent intervals at the same operating condition, in order to provide repeated measurements of the correction factors for each of the PIP intervals comprising an engine cycle 402. As shown in FIG. 4B, each PIP interval 404 can be measured by its corresponding change in time Δti and each entire engine cycle 402 can be measured by its change in time denoted Δsi.
Averaging the results separately for each of n cylinders is performed for data collected over N-cycles according to equation (1.0) to obtain the correction factors: ##EQU1## where the restriction of i values in the summation to elements of set Sk merely indicates the intervals which are associated with cylinder k. For example, a data set which begins with cylinder 1 would yield a set S1 ={i:i=1,7,13,19, . . .}, for a six-cylinder engine. The i values for calculating correction factor C2 would be the set S2 ={i:i=2,8,14,20 . . . }, and so forth. It should be noted that ##EQU2##
Substituting these expressions into equation (1.0) yields an alternate but equivalent equation for Ck as shown in equation (1.1): ##EQU3##
Next, in step 306, processor 140 stores correction factors obtained in step 304, in memory 122 as part of a "table of correction factors" also referred to as the "look-up table." The correction factor for each Ck (where k=1 to n) is written into memory 122 at an address which corresponds to the particular speed and load that the engine is operating. Memory 122 is preferably implemented using random-access memory (RAM), but may be any type of memory used with processors such as DRAM, SRAM, etc.
In step 308, an operational parameter (such as speed and/or load), which affects crankshaft torque, is modified to obtain additional correction factors. Steps 304, 306 and 308 are then repeated until the look-up table is complete, which is shown as the "YES" path of decisional step 310. Typically, the more correction factors that are generated and stored in memory 122, the more accurate will be the resulting system.
Once these correction factors are determined for each of a multitude of engine operating conditions, an adjustment to the correction factors stored in memory 122 is necessary to remove the contribution attributable to irregularities in the wheel interval spacings on the encoder wheel 100, 202 of the test engine as described in the Dosdall et al patent. Thus, each of the correction values in the table must be divided by the appropriate wheel correction fraction as described in the Dosdall et al. patent. The reason that the effect of wheel irregularity on the correction factors must be removed is to ensure that only the effects of torsional fluctuations of the crankshaft remain in the table of correction factors 122. This is necessary since the subtle irregularities in encoder wheels 100, 202 may vary from instance-to-instance in production, and can in fact be determined on an individual engine basis by a single coast-down test described in the Dosdall et al. patent.
In contrast, the pattern of torsional fluctuation at each speed and load is mostly a function of the engine design, and can be characterized in a table of correction factors in memory 122 having calibrated correction values.
Thus, the table of correction factors 122 is determined empirically in the calibration of the engine type by a test engine (or through simulation, if sufficiently sophisticated). Once the look-up table in memory 122 is complete, it can be implemented in production vehicles. This look-up table of memory 122 allows corrections factors Ck to be determined for each engine operating condition. For instance, if the engine were operating at 2000 RPM at a load of 0.25, these two operating parameters would be used as an index (or address) (via bus 123 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2) to the look-up table of memory 122 (the load input to bus 123 is not shown in FIGS. 1 and 2). The output, via bus 123, of the look-up table would be the correction factors Ck corresponding to the operating conditions of 2000 RPM at a load of 0.25. Interpolation can be used to estimate each of n correction factors from the nearest adjacent points in the look-up table of memory 122, if the operational parameters do not exactly match the indexed value in the look-up table of memory 122.
Deployed in production vehicles, the table of torsional correction factors are utilized in conjunction with the set of correction factors for the wheel to obtain corrected velocity measurements V'i of an engine. FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating how the torsional correction factors are deployed in a production vehicle having an internal combustion engine.
Referring to FIG. 5, in step 502, the engine is rotated at a particular speed and load according to driving conditions typically encountered by a production vehicle in day-to-day use. In step 504, each new speed and load of the engine is measured as described above. In step 506, the speed and load values are employed as an input to memory 122 via bus 123 to retrieve a corresponding correction factor(s) from memory 122. It is not necessary to retrieve new correction factors every PIP interval, however, the system is generally more accurate if the correction factors are updated in a timely fashion. In step 508, the on-board computer (processor 140) calculates the set of n torsional correction factors appropriate for that operating condition by performing a two-dimensional interpolation from the values in the table of correction factors nearest to the current operating point (referred to as Ck *, k=1 to n, where * implies the interpolated results from the table).
Then, in step 510, the correction factor Ck * obtained in step 508 from memory 122 is employed by the processor 140 to obtain the corrected velocity Vi. Equation (1.2) shows one possible expression to calculate the corrected velocity:
V'i =Ck *Bk Vi (eq. 1.2)
where: Vi is the uncorrected velocity for the ith interval, Bk is the wheel profile correction factor (as described in the Dosdall et al. patent), and Ck * is the current value of the torsional correction factor, and k is the cylinder number associated with the ith interval. Many alternative functions can be devised to obtain the corrected velocity. For example, after the wheel correction factors Bk are determined in a particular engine, a new table of values Ck '=Ck Bk can be formed and used in place of the table of Ck, thus combining these two correction factors into one table, thereby eliminating one extra multiplication at each subsequent velocity determination.
Likewise, other mathematical variants can be employed to derive correction factors from engine data. For example, an alternative method of deriving the Ck is to perform a least squares fit of the corrected PlP-interval velocities to the cycle-average velocities. In other words, choose the Ck so as to minimize an error defined in equation (1.3) as: ##EQU4## Well known techniques for setting ##EQU5## equal to zero yield the alternative formula for Ck as follows in equation 1.4: ##EQU6## In fact, it can be shown that equation (1.0) is equivalent to a least squares fit of the relative velocity differences, with the error defined by equation 1.5: ##EQU7##
Applying the methodology of the present invention yields an effective system for removing systematic irregularities caused by torsional flexing in the crankshaft 104. The effectiveness of the present invention is illustrated by the example depicted in FIGS. 6A-6C, which show traces of Deviation Acceleration (DACCEL) determined from the PIP interval times of a six-cylinder engine operating at about 4000 rpm at light load. DACCEL is a fundamental detection parameter (sometimes referred to as "accel. deviation") (described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,095,742 to James et al., 5,044,194 to James et al., 5,044,195 to James et al., and 5,109,645 to James et al.) closely related to the acceleration of the crankshaft as manifest by changes in the PIP-interval velocities Vi.
FIG. 6A shows DACCEL calculated without any type of correction to Vi. The regular occurrences of misfire induced throughout the data file are only marginally visible above the noise at this engine speed and load. Occurrences of misfire may be determined from the K-COIL signal 602 (shown below the DACCEL trace in FIGS. 6A-6C), which records instances of intentional misfire creation (shown as a vertical spike 604).
FIG. 6B shows some improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio over the same points after applying wheel-profile correction factors to the velocities, as described in the Dosdall et al. patent. Correction for profile errors yields only a modest improvement in signal quality in this case, because the wheel on the engine used to generate this data was already fairly accurate. However, applying correction factors to compensate for torsional fluctuations as described above provides much greater improvement, resulting in the more distinguishable misfire signal as shown in FIG. 6C according to the present invention.
Tests at other speed and load points yield similar improvements, but with slightly different correction parameters on account of the differing torsional effects. As explained above, a look-up table in memory 122 can be created to allow interpolation of the proper correction at each speed and load point, while the engine rotates.
Alternative forms of compensation for wheel irregularities or torsional effects exist which can be shown to be mathematically equivalent to the multiplicative corrections explained above. For instance, acceleration values calculated from uncorrected velocities can be modified by additive corrections, Dk as in equation (2.0):
Ai =Ai +Dk (eq. 2.0)
where, to a very good approximation, these corrections are related to the multiplicative correction factors according to equation (2.1): ##EQU8## where the Δθ0 is the angular spacing between points on the encoder wheel. Even though these corrections to acceleration are additive, not multiplicative, equation (2.1) shows that the Dk values have a strong dependence on engine speed, through the term Vi 2, even if factors Ck are independent of speed (as in the case of wheel profile correction). As a result, it is preferred to apply correction in the calculation of velocity instead of acceleration. However, either method will accomplish the task of correction for effects which diminish the signal quality of misfire detection by crankshaft speed fluctuations.
In order to make dynamic adjustments to the torsional correction table on-board each individual engine during in-use driving conditions requires knowledge whether data is gathered from a normally operating (non-misfiring) engine, which is a difficult determination to make under uncontrolled field conditions. Nevertheless, applicants have invented a technique to gradually adapt the table of correction factors while avoiding the concerns with respect to on-board learning discussed earlier. In particular, the invention uses a set of base values for the correction factors that are derived from a test engine and adapts these values very slowly since it is only necessary to track changes resulting from aging of the engine and not changes in speed, load, or other conditions of the engine during adaptation. Since adaptation can proceed very slowly, it is possible to be very selective in accepting data for interpolating new correction factor values. Therefore, adaptation is ceased whenever misfire or abnormal operation is even remotely suspected. The suspension of adaptation, however, does not preclude selection or interpolation of new correction factor values from the table as engine speed and load change, thus retaining the ability to detect misfire under all conditions.
In addition to the classification of cylinder events according to whether or not they represent a misfire, the present invention further performs a classification of cylinder events according to whether a safe adaptation time exists or not. Although the method of determining these two classifications may be similar, they are different in at least the important respect that the method for determining the safe adaptation classification has a higher acceptable false alarm rate (i.e., is more likely to call an event as a misfire or other malfunction).
Referring to FIG. 7, data from steady state operation of an 8-cylinder engine at moderately high speed (4500 rpm) at low load is shown with DACCEL values from normal firings represented as dots and DACCEL values from intentionally introduced misfire events represented as small circles. Values of DACCEL for each successive firing event is shown during periods of 1) no misfire, 2) misfire introduced at a rate of 1 in 9 events, and 3) misfire introduced at a rate of 1 in 8 events, as indicated. The data in FIG. 7 does not include compensation for torsional oscillations.
Under the engine conditions corresponding to FIG. 7, the two groups of cylinder events (i.e., normal and misfiring) are not sufficiently distinct from each other to reliably distinguish between them using a threshold (i.e., you cannot draw a horizontal line that completely separates the two groups). Setting the threshold to a level where it would detect nearly all occurrences of misfires would also yield to many false alarms (i.e., false declarations of misfire when a normal firing actually occurred). During vehicle use, the false alarm rate of a misfire detector must be kept very low in order to avoid false indication of engine problems (such as illumination of a malfunction indicator light connected to processor 140 in FIG. 1).
FIG. 8 shows the results of torsional correction applied to the data of FIG. 7. The improved quality of this signal permits reliable misfire detection.
The data of FIG. 7 and the torsional correction shown in FIG. 8 correspond to a test engine prior to significant aging of the engine as discussed above. In order to always maintain near-optimum torsional correction at each engine operating point, however, the table of correction factors should be monitored and/or modified by an on-board strategy as needed throughout an engine's lifetime. Since modification of table values should only be made utilizing data from normal (i.e., non-misfiring) engine operation, it is necessary to know when to permit table modifications even if the distinction between normal and abnormal operation is as ambiguous as shown in FIG. 7. Although it might appear that such periods of normal engine operation could be identified using the torsionally corrected data of FIG. 8, such a solution would incur the problem mentioned earlier of inadvertently adapting to gradual power losses.
The present invention provides a method for classifying cylinder events according to a safe adaptation time wherein it is possible to distinguish between times of normal operation and times of malfunction or misfire. The method does not rely on use of the correction factors in making the safe adaptation classification, so that it is not possible to learn a malfunction as normal operation. Since it is possible to adapt the correction factor values at a very slow pace, the method need only identify some occasional periods of normal operation. Nevertheless, the determination of normalcy should be made with very high reliability. Although the method for determining a safe adaptation time must be highly reliable in detecting normalcy, it is acceptable to have a relatively high false alarm rate (thereby incorrectly calling some cylinder events as misfires) since more than adequate amounts of data will still be available to perform adaptation.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a digital lowpass filter is applied to the acceleration values of FIG. 7 thereby producing the filtered DACCEL data shown in FIG. 9. The reduced bandwidth of the acceleration data provided by lowpass filtering reduces noise in the signal (whether from random events or synchronous events such as result from torsional fluctuations). Although the amplitude of the DACCEL signal is reduced by filtering and the difference between misfires and adjacent normal events is blurred, the difference between periods of engine operation with misfire present and periods of engine operation with no misfire is much more evident. Thus, it is a relatively straight forward task to set a DACCEL threshold that can easily identify periods when no misfire is occurring.
The lowpass filtering of acceleration data prior to comparison with a threshold has been used in some prior art misfire detection systems. However, there maybe some instances where such a system is inadequate for purposes of misfire detection. Because of the reduced bandwidth in the acceleration data, normal (i.e., non-misfiring) events that are adjacent to actual misfires are subject to signal distortion that increases their apparent partial power losses and might cause them to be erroneously declared as misfires. To avoid that problem, it is possible to assume that only single misfires occur and to count consecutive indications of misfire as only a single misfire. When real misfires occur in close proximity, however, they would be under counted. Furthermore, filtering causes uncertainty in making cylinder identification for a misfire event even where the misfires are widely spaced.
In detecting normal operation for purposes of enabling table adaptation, such shortcomings of the filtering method are not relevant. In producing a safe adaptation classification of the data, it is not necessary to determine accurately if misfire is above or below a certain rate, nor to identify cylinder number of any particular misfire. The safe adaptation classification function needs only to determine if the data is sufficiently normal to allow adjustment of torsional correction factors with new data. Any indication of abnormal behavior or misfire is sufficient cause to temporarily suspend table adaptation. Thus, after a safe adaptation classification indicates that it is not safe to adapt, further attempts to make a safe adaptation classification maybe suspended for a predetermined time or number of engine cycles.
When the filtered DACCEL signal of FIG. 9 indicates that it is safe to modify the table values, a new value for the correction factor at the current operating point of the engine is derived using the unfiltered crankshaft data. The overall method of the preferred embodiment is shown in FIG. 10. During engine operation, several engine operating variables such as PIP interval, RPM, and load are measured in step 702. A correction factor value is retrieved in step 703 according to the table indexes such as RPM and load. A diagnostic variable such as DACCEL is calculated in step 704. A diagnostic classification is determined in step 705. In a misfire detector, diagnostic classifications call each event as a misfire, no misfire, or no test (i.e., not able to distinguish a misfire) as described in the previously mentioned patents.
In step 706, a check is made to determine whether the diagnostic classification of step 705 represented a malfunction (e.g., a misfire). If yes, then the rate of malfunction or misfires is accumulated in step 707. Any corrective action or indication of a malfunction condition is performed as necessary if the accumulated rate of misfire exceeds a predetermined rate. Then, a return is made to step 702 to measure further variables.
If step 706 determined that either no malfunction was present or a no test condition was present, a safe adaptation classification is determined in step 708. In the preferred embodiment, the filtered DACCEL data shown in FIG. 9 is judged against a criterion such as comparison with a threshold that distinguishes between periods of engine operation that are normal and periods that possibly include misfire events. A check is made in step 709 to determine whether the safe adaptation classification represents a safe adaptation time. If not, a return is made to step 702 to measure further engine variables. If yes, then a new value of a correction factor is adapted in step 710. The actual new value is derived by determining the correction factor value that would modify the calculated diagnostic variable (DACCEL) to a predetermined value indicative of normalcy (e.g., zero). Using that result, the existing correction factor value is incrementally modified by a fraction of the difference.
Lowpass filtering of DACCEL data can be obtained using an explicit filter, such as a digital filter, or an implicit filter, such as would be obtained by lengthening the velocity measurement intervals (e.g., combining several PIP intervals prior to calculating velocity). It should be noted that although filtered DACCEL data is used to determine a safe adaptation time in step 708, only unfiltered data is used in determining the actual correction in step 710 and in detecting misfires in steps 704 and 705.
Since the preferred embodiment uses a combined correction factor table (i.e., where the original correction factor values stored in a particular vehicle embody the torsional correction factors from the test engine multiplied by the wheel profile correction factors for the individual engine in the particular vehicle), it is not necessary to explicitly account for wheel profile correction in the adaptation. In other embodiments where wheel profile correction factors are maintained and applied to the velocity data separately, it is necessary to remove them from the newly adapted correction factor values prior to adjusting the values stored in the torsional correction table.
Since the new correction factor data from in-use operation is not constrained to match the particular speed and load points used to index the lookup table, a method is needed to weight the adjustments made to individual table entries which are closest to the actual speed and load point at which the new data was acquired. Speed and load points actually indexed in the table will be referred to as reference operating points while the speed and load points at which new data is obtained will be referred to as measured operating points. In the equations below, subscripts indicating cylinder number will be omitted to avoid confusion, but it is to be understood that the process must be repeated for each cylinder.
FIG. 11 shows a portion of a table of correction factors indexed by speed (RPM) and load (percent air charge of maximum). Correction factors are provided at the reference operating points that are directly indexed by the speed and load values in the table. Correction factor values for points intermediate the indexed values are interpolated during correction for misfire detection. Each correction factor value in the table is denoted C. The four nearest points in the table surrounding a current measured operating point (x,y) are designated (x0, y0), (x1, y0), (x0, y1) and (x1, y1) and the corresponding correction factor values are designated C00, C10, C01 and C11, respectively. A linear two-dimensional interpolation equation can be written using the above notation as:
C(x,y)=(1-α)(1-β)C00 +α(1-β)C10 +(1-α)βC01 +αβC11
where α=(x-x0)/(x1 -x0) and where β=(y-y0)/(y1 -y0). Since x falls between x0 and x1, and y falls between y0 and y1, both α and β range between 0 and 1. If the point (x,y) happens to coincide with one of the four corner points, the "interpolated" value given by this equation reduces to precisely the indexed table value at that point, as expected.
Since the newly adapted value of C determined at the measured operating point (x,y) is typically different from the value predicted by interpolation from the table (this difference being denoted by δC), the preferred embodiment modifies the four neighboring table values accordingly. In other words, the corrections needed to adjust C00, C10, C01, and C11 are calculated so that the interpolated value agrees with the measured value. If the adjustments are denoted by δC00, δC10, δC01, and δC11, they must satisfy the interpolation equation to achieve the following result:
δC=(1-α)(1-β)δC00 +α(1-β)δC10 +(1-α)βδC01 +αβδC11
However, this single constraint is not sufficient to uniquely define the four δC's. Infinitely many combinations exist which satisfy this equation to correct the interpolated value in a manner to agree with the measured value. To obtain a unique solution for these four unknowns requires an additional set of constraints chosen on the basis of reasonable behavior. For example, a very logical and sufficient constraint is to require that each of the four adjustments vary inversely with respect to both the x and y distance between the measured operating point and the reference operating point. In other words, if the point of measurements (x,y) lies closer to one corner point than the others, than the adjustment to that reference point's correction factor should be proportionately greater than the others. This condition is mathematically described as:
αβδC00 =(1-α)βδC10 =α(1-β)δC01 =(1-α)(1-β)δC11
This condition leads to the following unique solution set: ##EQU9##
The preceding formulas were found based on the need to define an appropriate set of adjustments to bring the value interpolated from the table into agreement with the newly measured value. In fact, the table value should be modified by only a small fraction of these amounts so as to nudge the interpolated value slightly in the direction of the measured value. This requires addition of a single calibratable parameter λ which serves as a weighting fraction to control the overall rate of adaptation of the table to the newly incoming data. Thus, the four table values encompassing the current measured operating point are adjusted as follows:
C00 =C00 +λδC00
C10 =C10 +λδC10
C01 =C01 +λδC01
C11 =C11 +λδC11
Although λ may be calibrated to any value between 0 and 1, it is typically very small (i.e., much less than 1), corresponding to a very slow rate of adaptation. Each of the above equations represents an exponentially weighted moving average of the incoming data with a very long time constant.
In an alternate embodiment, the amount of computation can be reduced by adjusting only the single closest reference point in the table to the newly incoming data.
While preferred embodiments of the invention have been shown and described herein, it will be understood that such embodiments are provided by way of example only. Numerous variations, changes, and substitutions will occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. Accordingly, it is intended that the appended claims cover all such variations as fall within the spirit and scope of the invention.
|Cited Patent
|Filing date
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|Jun 21, 1989
|Aug 20, 1991
|Motorola, Inc.
|Bounded synchronous angle counter
|Aug 24, 1990
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|Ford Motor Company
|Misfire detection in an internal combustion engine
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|Crankshaft direction of rotation detecting apparatus
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|Feb 18, 1992
|Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
|Determining device for determining a failure in an engine cylinder
|Oct 1, 1990
|Jun 2, 1992
|Ford Motor Company
|Correction of systematic position-sensing errors in internal combustion engines
|Jun 22, 1992
|Aug 24, 1993
|Ford Motor Company
|Adaptive method of cylinder misfire detection in an internal combustion engine
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|Nippondenso Co., Ltd.
|Apparatus for detecting misfire in internal combustion engines for vehicles
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|Engine misfire, knock of roughness detection method and apparatus
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|Apparatus for detecting misfire in internal combustion engine
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|Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
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|Jul 26, 1994
|Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
|Misfiring detecting method and apparatus
|Aug 21, 1992
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|Chrysler Corporation
|Single sensor misfire detection apparatus and method for an internal combustion engine
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|Caterpillar Inc.
|Method for diagnosing an engine using computer based models
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|Jan 3, 1995
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|System and method to compensate for torsional disturbances in measured crankshaft velocities for engine misfire detection
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|Mar 7, 1995
|Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
|Method for recognizing abnormal combustions in the cylinder of an internal-combustion engine
|Sep 10, 1993
|May 16, 1995
|Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
|Combustion state-detecting system for internal combustion engines
|Title not available
|Citing Patent
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|Mar 22, 1996
|Sep 23, 1997
|Unisia Jecs Corporation
|Apparatus and method for recognizing misfire occurrence in multi-cylinder internal combustion engine
|Feb 16, 1995
|Dec 9, 1997
|Robert Bosch Gmbh
|Adaption device for transmitter wheel of combustion engine
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|Motorola Inc.
|Detrending engine positional data for rotating position encoders
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|Process for deriving predictive model of crankshaft rotation of a combustion engine
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|Method and system for determining an absolute power loss condition in an internal combustion engine
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|Method and apparatus for generating and identifying misfires
|Oct 26, 1999
|Apr 24, 2001
|Jeremy Williams
|Cylinder torque estimation using crankshaft angular response measurements
|Sep 4, 1998
|Oct 23, 2001
|Method for detecting an abnormal disturbance of an internal combustion engine torque
|Dec 9, 1999
|Sep 23, 2003
|Robert Bosch Gmbh
|Method for evaluating signals with the aid of a timer and an overrun counter
|May 15, 2003
|Jan 25, 2005
|Visteon Global Technologies, Inc.
|Misfire detection system and method of median filtering
|Aug 18, 2005
|Jan 23, 2007
|Ford Global Technologies, Llc
|Engine position correction
|Sep 11, 2007
|Jan 20, 2009
|Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
|Misfire detecting apparatus for internal combustion engine
|Nov 10, 2009
|Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
|Angular speed detecting apparatus for crankshaft of internal combustion engine
|Aug 2, 2011
|Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.
|Method and apparatus for three dimensional calibration of an on-board diagnostics system
|Jun 22, 2011
|Apr 10, 2012
|Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.
|Method and apparatus for three dimensional calibration of an on-board diagnostics system
|Oct 30, 2012
|GM Global Technology Operations LLC
|Wobble compensation of an encoder speed signal for an electric motor
|May 15, 2003
|Nov 18, 2004
|Miller Gary P.
|Misfire detection system and method of median filtering
|Dec 6, 2006
|May 17, 2007
|Karamanos John C
|Method for transporting a piping structure
|Sep 7, 2007
|May 1, 2008
|Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
|Angular speed detecting apparatus for crankshaft of internal combustion engine
|Sep 11, 2007
|May 1, 2008
|Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
|Misfire detecting apparatus for internal combustion engine
|Oct 1, 2008
|Apr 1, 2010
|Tracey Timothy D
|Method and apparatus for three dimensional calibration of an on-board diagnostics system
|Jul 12, 2012
|GM Global Technology Operations LLC
|Wobble compensation of an encoder speed signal for an electric motor
|Oct 25, 2007
|Dec 2, 2009
|Angular speed detecting apparatus for crankshaft of internal combustion engine
|Oct 23, 2007
|Jun 9, 2010
|Misfire detecting apparatus for internal combustion engine
|Aug 8, 1997
|Feb 11, 1998
|Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
|Apparatus and method for detecting misfires in internal combustion engine
|Aug 30, 2007
|May 7, 2008
|HONDA MOTOR CO., Ltd.
|Angular speed detecting apparatus for crankshaft of internal combustion engine
|Aug 30, 2007
|May 7, 2008
|HONDA MOTOR CO., Ltd.
|Misfire detecting apparatus for internal combustion engine
|Sep 4, 1996
|May 29, 1997
|Motorola Inc.
|Detrending engine positional data for rotating position encoders
|Feb 16, 2001
|Oct 18, 2001
|Robert Bosch Gmbh
|Method for compensating the rotational shapelessness during detection of the revolutions per minute
|Feb 16, 2001
|Jun 6, 2002
|Bosch Gmbh Robert
|Method for compensating the rotational shapelessness during detection of the revolutions per minute
|U.S. Classification
|73/114.05, 701/110
|International Classification
|Cooperative Classification
|European Classification
|Oct 6, 1995
Owner name: FORD MOTOR COMPANY, MICHIGAN
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:JAMES, JOHN VICTOR;MARKO, KENNETH ANDREW;DOSDALL, JAMES MICHAEL;REEL/FRAME:007660/0596
Effective date: 19950330
|Oct 27, 1999
|Fee payment
Year of fee payment: 4
|Jan 8, 2001
Owner name: FORD GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC. A MICHIGAN CORPORAT
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:FORD MOTOR COMPANY, A DELAWARE CORPORATION;REEL/FRAME:011467/0001
Effective date: 19970301
|Dec 18, 2003
|Fee payment
Year of fee payment: 8
|Sep 14, 2007
|Fee payment
Year of fee payment: 12

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Jackson County Christian Men's Fellowship plans to meet at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Driftwood Christian Church, 5564 S. State Road 135, Vallonia.
Refreshments will follow the meeting. Scholarship applications are due in February.
For information or directions to the church, call Harold Snider at 812-522-6664.
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Something I've been wondering for a long time:
If you open the calendar on a wp7 phone (I don't know if this is the case on wp8 too) and switch to month view the days on which you have appointments booked will show some text. This text is too small/my phone screen too low resolution to be seen clearly, even in landscape mode where it is at its largest. My question is this:
What does the text say? It doesn't seem to be related to the event I have in my calendar because the same event across two different days will display different text. It may just be my eyes but some of the lines of text appear to read "Help from Seattle". Is this some kind of easter egg, or something? Or are my eyes just playing tricks on me?


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Favstar gets even better if you sign in.
I'm not fat, I'm harder to kidnap.
Genius by birth, evil by nature and human by chance. Hard to get, but worth the effort... See for yourself -- http://t.co/FrjalYWqFz
Like @Elifcello's tweets? Send them a Favstar Pro Membership to show you care.Gift them Pro!
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product details-Tab
For Moms to Travel in Style
The Kaira Diaper Tote is ideal for moms on the go. Eleven roomy compartments allow for plenty of space for moms to travel in style, staying organized all the while. A multitude of perfectly placed pockets topped off with easy magnetic closures, this well stocked tote is a sleek, mobile organization station. Everything you need in a diaper tote, right down to the head turning style. Includes our signature pocket design, which includes two pen and pencil pockets, two large pockets for sunglasses, cell phones or other accessories. There's a zippered pocket to stow your valuables in, a pair of PEVA lined bottle pockets, one on each side, a zippered pocket for your wallet and other valuables and an uber convenient key fob, and two extra large pockets for stowing diapers, toys, wipes and other got to haves. Sunglasses and cell phones no longer need to compete for the big pocket. This bag's got two one for each. It's also loaded with a changing pad, a handy little pacifier pouch, We've topped the whole thing off with exterior front and back pockets with magnetic closures to make opening and closing a snap.
Made in China
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text:
The LORD OF THE RINGS Sword ID Test
Their result for The LORD OF THE RINGS Sword ID Test ...
You scored 31% Sword Recognition!
Too Easy
The Favorite Color Test
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They scored 31% on Sword Lore, higher than 18% of your peers.
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Try My Other Tests: Too Easy The Favorite Color Test a href="http://www.okcupid.com/tes... Read more
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William Peace University Professors Duncan And Holder Named Associate Deans Of Academic AffairsBy William Peace University on February 26, 2013 1:13 pm
Four-Year Baccalaureate University Professors Of English And Communication
To Execute New Goals And Priorities For The Institution
RALEIGH, N.C. – William Peace University (http://www.peace.edu), a private four-year university located in downtown Raleigh, has announced that Charles S. Duncan, Ph.D., professor of English, and Teresa L. Holder, Ph.D., CPLP, professor of communication, have been named associate deans of academic affairs. Having served the institution since 1998, both Dr. Duncan and Dr. Holder will work under the leadership of Dr. Ann Denlinger '64, vice president for academic affairs, to create and execute institutional goals, priorities and policies, as well as implement and assess an innovative curriculum for the university and its faculty to incorporate.
A tenured educator at William Peace University since 2001, Duncan has served as a faculty moderator and chair of the Faculty Executive Council for William Peace University. Honored by the institution with the McCormick Distinguished Teaching Award and the Stockard Research Award, Duncan has been instrumental in the university's academic growth throughout his career, much of which came from his involvement in revising the teaching approach to first-year English composition. Alongside the entire English department, Duncan modified the English curriculum and incorporated an enhanced focus on writing education across all four years of student learning.
Throughout her 15-year career with the institution, Holder has served in a variety of capacities, including the communication's department coordinator and division chair for organizational studies. Over the years, she has led diverse groups of full-time and part-time faculty members across 10 academic departments. Additionally, Holder served as a member of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) steering committee during William Peace University's re-accreditation process, and was the self-study editor who collaborated closely with committees and individuals to produce the final 270-page accreditation report.
"Having been with our institution for more than 15 years, Charles and Teresa have both played integral parts in the development that has taken place on our campus and the improvements that have been made to our curricula as a whole," said Debra M. Townsley, Ph.D., president of William Peace University. "We are devoted to academic excellence, and Charles and Teresa are prime examples of that commitment – professors who go beyond teaching and actively seek ways to enhance the learning experience for all students."
"Both Dr. Holder and Dr. Duncan have established themselves as faculty leaders," said Denlinger. "We look forward to seeing the results of their leadership throughout our university in the form of even higher levels of student academic success."
William Peace University is located in the heart of Raleigh, North Carolina. It was founded in 1857 as Peace Institute, offering education for boys and girls in primary grades and to women from high school to college. Peace, an all-women's college, became a four-year baccalaureate college and graduated its first bachelor's students in August of 1996. Exclusively an all-women's institution for its first 152 years, Peace began offering coeducational evening courses through the William Peace School of Professional Studies in 2009. In 2011, Peace College transitioned to William Peace University and welcomed its first coeducational class to its day program in fall 2012. Its mission is to prepare students for careers in the organizations of tomorrow. On average, more than 90 percent of the university's graduates are placed in jobs or graduate school within one year of graduation. For more information, please visit http://www.peace.edu.


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Rev Roy Bourgeois sits in police car in a police car after being detained in Rome, Monday, Oct. 17, 2011. A U.S. Catholic priest Roy Bourgeois who supports ordination for women was detained by police after marching to the Vatican to press the Holy See to lift its ban on women priests. The Rev. Roy Bourgeois and two supporters were taken away Monday in a police car after their group marched down the main boulevard leading to the Vatican and chanted outside St. Peter's Square "What do we want? Women priests!". (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)


text:
For this problem, you will design and implement 2 classes and then write a driver function to test these classes. The first will be a C++ class for an abstract data type color with a public enumeration type colorType that has the color values shown in Listing 10.8. Your abstract data type should have an attribute for storing a single value of type colortype and member functions for reading (readColor) and writing (writeColor) a color value as well as setting and accessing it. The function readColor should read a color as a string and store the corresponding color value in the value attribute of a type color object. The function writeColor should display as a string the value stored in the value attribute of a type color object (see Figure 7.5). Modify class circle and the driver function in Listing 10.9 to include and use this class. You�ll need to remove the declaration for color in class circle. Test your modified driver function with the new color and circle classes.
The second class will be to design and implement a rectangle class similar to class circle. Be sure to incorporate the new color class you have written and tested in the first part of the programming exercise. Write a client program that asks the user to enter a shape name (circle or rectangle) and then asks the user for the necessary data for an object of that class. The program should create the object and display all its attributes.
The circle class .h and .cpp files as well as the original driver function will be supplied. You are to provide the .h and .cpp files for the new color class and the modified driver function as well as the .h and .cpp files for the rectangle class and the client program that uses all three classes


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