JPH04363641A - Trouble shooting method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable accurate diagnosis without overlooking disorder of an engine by recording a starting engine sound to be compared with a reference engine sound registered previously. CONSTITUTION:A microprocessor 4-1 has a program memory 4-2 to store a program for controlling a system as a whole, a data memory 4-3 to store various pieces of information temporally and a sound wave recognizing section 4-4 which computes and analyzes a signal from a microphone 4-4 for collecting engine sounds connected thereto. A normal initial engine sound of the engine is stored and registered as first reference engine sound and an engine sound at the preceding starting of the engine done as second engine sound. A starting engine sound generated at the starting of the engine is compared with acoustic patterns of the first and second reference engine sounds to diagnose the engine whether it operates normally or abnormally. When the engine is abnormal, diagnosis is performed to determine whether the cause of the abnormality lies in a battery (starter) system or in an alternator system.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fault diagnosis method, and more particularly to a fault diagnosis method for electrical components such as engines.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art As an example of the prior art, a method for diagnosing a failure in a vehicle will be described below. Generally, when determining the condition of a vehicle, the driver turns the key to start the starter, then listens to the sound of the engine (starting engine sound) to determine whether there is a malfunction. For example, if the engine starts well and the starting engine sound is normal, it is determined that both the battery and the starter are normal. If the engine does not start properly and the starting engine makes an abnormal noise, the driver determines that something is wrong and checks to see if it is the starter or the battery. Furthermore, if the car had been running normally until then, but suddenly started making an abnormal noise when starting it, I thought there might be something wrong with the alternator and investigated.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the conventional fault diagnosis method described above, the driver listens to the sound when the engine is started (starting engine sound) and performs the diagnosis by auscultation, so it is difficult for beginners to diagnose the fault. The problem is that it cannot be done. In addition, because diagnosis relies on auscultation, even experienced drivers sometimes miss failures. Another problem was that it was difficult to make delicate judgments during auscultation.

[0004] Therefore, conventional failure diagnosis methods tend to overlook initial failures, which often causes accidents that damage the engine and its surrounding electrical components. There were also other problems, such as the generation of pollution due to engine failure.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a failure diagnosis method that can accurately diagnose engine malfunctions without overlooking them.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In the fault diagnosis method of the present invention, in order to diagnose a fault occurring in an engine and its surrounding electrical components, the initial engine sound, which is a reference for the diagnosis, is first detected.
a first process of storing the acoustic pattern in the storage unit as a reference engine sound; a second process of comparing the acoustic patterns of the starting engine sound and the initial engine sound generated when the engine is started; When the patterns match within a predetermined error, it is determined to be normal and the starting engine sound is stored as a second reference engine sound.In the third process, when the sound patterns in the second process do not match, the starting engine sound and the second reference engine sound are stored. a fourth step of comparing the noise with the reference engine sound of step 2, and when the sound pattern in the fourth step matches within a predetermined error, it is determined that there is an abnormality in the battery or the starter;
If there is a mismatch, it is determined that the alternator is abnormal and an abnormality is displayed.

[0007]

[Operation] In the present invention, the normal initial engine sound of the engine is stored as the first reference engine sound, and the engine sound from the previous engine start is stored as the second engine sound, and the first reference engine sound is stored in the storage unit. Based on the acoustic pattern of the second reference engine sound, it is possible to not only diagnose whether the engine is normal or abnormal, but also determine whether the cause of the abnormality is in the battery (starter) system, if there is an abnormality. Diagnose whether it is in the alternator system. Therefore, it is possible to perform a more accurate and reliable failure diagnosis than conventional diagnosis that relies on auditory senses.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a conventional fault diagnosis method and a fault diagnosis method according to the present invention in comparison. In the conventional failure diagnosis method, auscultation is performed by listening to the sound 5-1 output from the engine 5-7 with the human ear 5-2. In the case of the present invention, the sound 5-1 output from the engine 5-7 is first collected by the microphone 5-4, and then computationally analyzed by the auscultation unit 5-5. The results are output and displayed on the display 5-6. Therefore, failure diagnosis can be performed through the human eye 5-3. In other words, what used to be auscultation in the conventional method is now performed by visual inspection.

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of a system for implementing the fault diagnosis method of the present invention. This system is mainly composed of a microprocessor 4-1 that controls the entire system.

The microprocessor 4-1 includes a program memory 4-2 that stores programs for controlling the entire system, a data memory 4-3 that temporarily stores various information, and a data memory 4-3 that stores programs for controlling the entire system. Collecting microphone 4-
a sound wave recognition unit 4-4 that performs arithmetic analysis on signals from 5; a control signal input/output unit 4-6 that processes control signals from the outside;
An initial engine sound memory 4-10 for storing the initial state of the engine is connected.

The control signal input/output section 4-6 also includes a starter switch 4-7 that determines the timing of engine sound collection.
, an optional check start switch 4-9 for timing the start of the check, and an abnormality display section 2-8 that lights up when there is an abnormality in the engine system electrical components.
are connected.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the standard pattern storage procedure. First, Figure (A) shows a procedure for storing a preset starting engine sound that is common to all engines as a common waveform in the program memory 4-2. A standard pattern corresponding to the engine is input in advance (step 301). This completes the presetting (step 302).

Next, the procedure for storing the reference engine sound as the actual engine sound is shown in FIG. 3(B). For this purpose, initial engine sound is first collected (step 305),
Acoustic pattern with the standard pattern stored in step 302
A comparison is made (step 306). As a result, if the standard pattern and the acoustic pattern of the initial engine sound match within a predetermined error, storage is executed as the initial engine sound (step 307), and the process ends (step 3).
08). If the acoustic pattern is out of alignment in step 306, the engine sound is collected again.

FIG. 2 is a system flowchart showing the entire operation of the fault diagnosis method according to the present invention. To start fault diagnosis, the starter switch 4-7 is turned on (step 201), and the optional check start switch 4-9 is turned on (step 202), so that the starting engine sound is input to the system. (Step 203).

FIG. 6 shows an input waveform input to the system. When a sound wave is detected while the system is in a state of waiting for an input sound wave, the input start end is detected (step 204). Then, the engine sound collection starts state (step 205). Once the input end is detected (step 206), it is collected multiple times to ensure accuracy (step 207).
.

[0016] When the collection is completed, arithmetic analysis of the waveform is performed (
Step 208). Then, judge multiple results (
Step 209), and display the recognition result as normal/abnormal (Step 210). If it is normal, the process ends and the starting engine sound is stored as the second reference previous engine sound (step 211). If there is an abnormality, an abnormality is displayed on the panel (step 212) and the process ends.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing detailed analysis of normality/abnormality in step 210. First, the starting engine sound collected this time is compared with the first reference engine sound collected and stored initially (step 101). If the acoustic patterns of these two engine sounds match within a predetermined error, it is determined to be normal and the starting engine sound is stored as the second reference engine sound (step 102). If the sound patterns do not match, it is determined that there is an abnormality in the engine and its surrounding electrical components, and in this case, a comparison is made with the second engine sound (step 103).

As a result, if the acoustic pattern matches the second reference engine sound, it is determined that there is an abnormality in the battery or the starter (step 104). If they do not match, it is determined that the alternator is abnormal (step 10).
5). As a result, abnormalities in each electrical component are distinguished and abnormalities are displayed on the panel (step 106). Therefore, by looking at this abnormality display, the driver can know in detail which part is abnormal.

Note that FIG. 7 shows an example of an input waveform input to the system. (A) shows a waveform diagram when the engine is operating normally, and (B) shows a waveform diagram when an abnormality is recognized in the engine.

[0020]

[Effects of the Invention] As described above in detail based on the embodiments, according to the present invention, abnormalities in the engine can be visually detected by recording the starting engine sound and comparing it with a reference engine sound registered in advance. This makes it possible to automatically determine the engine status when starting the engine. Therefore, the driver can drive with peace of mind. Furthermore, since defects in electrical components can be detected accurately and in advance, damage to the engine and its surrounding electrical components and occurrence of pollution can be prevented in advance. It goes without saying that the present invention can be widely applied not only to detecting an abnormality in a vehicle engine but also to techniques for detecting sound waves and making various judgments.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing detailed analysis procedures of the failure diagnosis method of the present invention.

[Figure 2] System flowchart showing the overall procedure of the present invention
to.

3A and 3B are diagrams showing a standard pattern storage procedure according to the present invention; FIG. 3A is a flowchart showing a preset starting engine sound common to engines; FIG. 3B is a flowchart showing a procedure for storing a standard pattern;
is a flowchart showing a procedure for storing a reference engine as an actual engine sound.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a system for implementing the failure diagnosis method of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a comparison between a conventional diagnostic method and a diagnostic method according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a waveform diagram showing input waveforms.

FIG. 7 is a waveform diagram showing an example of an input waveform.

[Explanation of symbols]

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A first process of storing an initial engine sound, which is a reference for diagnosis, in a storage unit as a first reference engine sound for diagnosing a failure occurring in the engine and electrical components surrounding the engine; a second step of comparing the acoustic pattern of the starting engine sound generated at the time of startup and the initial engine sound, and determining that the engine is normal when the acoustic pattern in the second step matches within a predetermined error; A third engine that stores the starting engine sound as a second reference engine sound.
a fourth step of comparing the starting engine sound with a second reference engine sound when the sound patterns in the second step do not match; and a fourth step of comparing the sound pattern in the fourth step with a predetermined If they match within the error, it is determined that the battery or starter is abnormal, and if they do not match, the alternator is
A fault diagnosis method characterized by comprising a fifth step of determining that the data is abnormal and displaying the abnormality.