Author Topic: Still at it...MAF conversion V5.0 (previously V3.0)  (Read 12885 times)

bmwman91

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Still at it...MAF conversion V5.0 (previously V3.0)
« Reply #30 on: December 16, 2007, 09:38:28 PM »
Kinda.  I need to write some fancy code to have it process the incoming signal a lot more than it does presently.  This thing is becoming a real PITA, and honestly I am a tad tired of messing with it.  Yes, you lose a few ponies in a few spots on the power-band, but the car drives so nice that I just don't care.  I have put a little over 10k miles on the thing with no complaints.  In fact, the power loss issue only happens if you have the gas 100% opened below ~3200RPM.  If you ease on the throttle you don't even notice.

Here was one of the WOT data logs I took.  The first one here is the raw voltage values.

The signals that matter in this case are the two MDot ones (mass flow rate).  The magenta one is the raw sensor output, and the dark purple one is the post-filtering one that the converter actually processes.  This is then used with the IAT value to generate a density correlation and then compute a final VDot value (volume flow rate).

All may seem well here...the crazy input signal is cut nicely down to a fairly consistent average voltage value.  This is the entire problem, however.  If the sensor's output was linear, I would be a millionaire by now lol.  It is not though, and I am obviously not a millionaire.  To put it simply, the sensor is a lot more sensitive to low flow rates than it is to high flow rates.  As intake pulses pass by the element, the low pressure waves/rarefaction pulses cause a steep drop in voltage whereas the high pressure/compression pulses will cause less of an effect as they increase (confusing, I know).  SO, by averaging the VOLTAGE rather than the actual mass flow value corresponding to the high & low peak values, I am actually taking in a below average voltage for the calculations, and thus getting lean conditions.  To help folks understand better, below is a diagram of what I am talking about (I'd rather have a pic worth 1000 works than type another 1000).


Here's the deal.  As cylinders suck in air, the create a pressure wave over time (short as it may be).  This generates a pulse output from the sensor as it passes the element with a high and a low peak.  The 2 black lines on the drawing bracket in this flow pulse, and you can see that they are extended to show the corresponding voltages.  So, the little filter I put in averages the voltage pulse (green dashed line).  This average voltage is taken into the converter, and when you trace it back to the flow value it represents, it is too low.  What NEEDS to be used is the blue dashed line which corresponds to the actual averaged flow rate.

There really is no cost-effective analog trickery to pre-process the input signal to give me the proper voltage.  I need to remove the pre-filter and have the converter handle the input directly.  I already tried once, but that was before I built the new fast-logger, and when it misbehaved I had no idea why.  I know how to tackle the problem, and theoretically my new software should have, but I need to go out and log the thing to see why it runs horribly lol.

Anyway, here is a plot of the logged data with things put into units you actually care about.


You can see for yourself how the big resonance spots directly correlate to the lean peaks.  I KNOW why it is doing it, and I just need to find time to work more on it.

Step 1: Build MAF Converter
Step 2: ?
Step 3: PROFIT!!!

06/05/2011 - 212,354 miles
Visit HERE for a plethora of 318iS stuff and some other randomness.  Would you say I have a, plethora, of pinatas?

bmwman91

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Still at it...MAF conversion V5.0 (previously V3.0)
« Reply #31 on: January 07, 2008, 05:05:43 PM »
OK, so I finished up the latest firmware for the converter.  100% re-written from the ground, and debugging on the computer looks promising.  I will burn a new chip & run it on the breadboard with a function generator to see how it does this evening if I have time.

Based upon what I have worked out, this should be the cure for the resonance-leaning nonsense.  On top of that, some of the new tricks I figured out along the way have this thing computing flow rates with 4x the precision, and a little faster than before.  All in all, this should be very interesting.  Of course, I expect to run into all sorts of stupid coding errors once I actually have it wired up, but it looks good initially.  I really hope this is it, because an M20 converter is up next so I can start recovering costs!

06/05/2011 - 212,354 miles
Visit HERE for a plethora of 318iS stuff and some other randomness.  Would you say I have a, plethora, of pinatas?

bmwman91

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Still at it...MAF conversion V5.0 (previously V3.0)
« Reply #32 on: January 07, 2008, 05:07:12 PM »
Oh, I also figured out why the software I tried prior to this was not working nicely.  That led me to what I created this time which is completely different lol.

06/05/2011 - 212,354 miles
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bmwman91

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« Reply #33 on: January 10, 2008, 01:20:00 PM »
I got a little prototype made up and tested it with the function generator and O-Scope.  So far so good.  Once it stops raining I will see about testing on the car!

06/05/2011 - 212,354 miles
Visit HERE for a plethora of 318iS stuff and some other randomness.  Would you say I have a, plethora, of pinatas?

haledj

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Still at it...MAF conversion V5.0 (previously V3.0)
« Reply #34 on: January 10, 2008, 03:23:08 PM »
it sounds like the end is in sight!

bmwman91

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Still at it...MAF conversion V5.0 (previously V3.0)
« Reply #35 on: January 11, 2008, 09:31:26 AM »
Indeed!  I got the new firmware in the car and it feels good so far.  At worst, it could be the same as my previous version.  The butt-dyno is so unreliable, I will not comment on whether things have improved much.  However, I am definitely getting good highway mileage again lol.  The old version used some "modified" sensor maps to try to fix the leaning issues.  This one uses unadulterated maps, true to the original sensors.  This leans things back out to normal on the highway.  For a commuter car, this is a good thing lol.

If things dry up a little this weekend, I will get the data logger out and do a few runs on my favorite deserted alley.

06/05/2011 - 212,354 miles
Visit HERE for a plethora of 318iS stuff and some other randomness.  Would you say I have a, plethora, of pinatas?

bmwman91

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« Reply #36 on: January 26, 2008, 12:20:53 PM »
Sorry to be slacking on this guys, life's been busy and the weather has been most uncooperative in letting my usual "testing grounds" dry up enough to safely run tests.  I WILL get the data up as soon as I can.  Thanks.

06/05/2011 - 212,354 miles
Visit HERE for a plethora of 318iS stuff and some other randomness.  Would you say I have a, plethora, of pinatas?

colin86325

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« Reply #37 on: January 29, 2008, 05:49:42 PM »
Are you having tuning problems at any specific rpm band?  If so, you might be able to damp  the resonance downstream of the sensor with some sort of small chamber placed in the intake path.  Just an idea if you aren't able to tune it out w/ your firmware.

bmwman91

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« Reply #38 on: January 30, 2008, 03:39:39 PM »
Quote from: colin86325;41906
Are you having tuning problems at any specific rpm band?  If so, you might be able to damp  the resonance downstream of the sensor with some sort of small chamber placed in the intake path.  Just an idea if you aren't able to tune it out w/ your firmware.


I have definitely considered some resonance chambers as I know exactly which RPM band the problem arises at.  The thing stopping me is the possibility of producing this in small quantities as a kit someday...the tooling for something like that made of plastic would easily be over $10k.  Hand-building one would also drive the conversion kit's price through the roof.

I figure some firmware tweaking will solve it all since it is not an issue with the stock AFM for some reason.

06/05/2011 - 212,354 miles
Visit HERE for a plethora of 318iS stuff and some other randomness.  Would you say I have a, plethora, of pinatas?

1991 E30 M42

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Still at it...MAF conversion V5.0 (previously V3.0)
« Reply #39 on: March 17, 2008, 12:07:56 PM »
Would you be willing to sell kits with everything but the PCB. If so, I would be interested.

OKTAY

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Still at it...MAF conversion V5.0 (previously V3.0)
« Reply #40 on: March 29, 2008, 08:34:09 AM »
Hi bmwman
Is it still raining there?

bmwman91

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« Reply #41 on: March 29, 2008, 10:46:30 AM »
I have to replace my wide band sensor.  These stupid things crap out every 20k miles or so.  For now, I cannot do any logging.  Someday this thing will be to a point I can call "done."

06/05/2011 - 212,354 miles
Visit HERE for a plethora of 318iS stuff and some other randomness.  Would you say I have a, plethora, of pinatas?

bmwman91

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« Reply #42 on: April 10, 2008, 12:27:52 AM »
Well, I actually DO still work on this.  I have come upon some "official" specifications for the sensor I am using, as well as the M44 MAF should I ever try one.  These new sources of data can explain some of the leaning I was seeing when using data I had to gather myself in a poorly calibrated flow tunnel.

So, once I replace my 5th LSU4.2 WBO2 sensor (damn things crap out almost twice a year...not impressed) I should be good to log.  I plan to pop in a chip with the newest firmware at lunch tomorrow and see how things play out with the butt dyno.

I also have some plans in the works for a cheap adapter kit for this.  Thank goodness for cheap plastics thermoforming!  Say hello to a custom air box top!

06/05/2011 - 212,354 miles
Visit HERE for a plethora of 318iS stuff and some other randomness.  Would you say I have a, plethora, of pinatas?