Diesel Quick Start System

In addition to the familiar preheating for improved starting characteristics of a compression-ignition engine, controlled post-heating quickly warms the combustion chamber, thus reducing exhaust gas emissions. A separate µC-controlled heat control unit is installed for activation of the heater plugs. This unit receives information on the time period and duration of the heating process from the engine controller. The heat control unit then activates the heater plugs and reports any possible disruptions to the engine controller using the integrated diagnostics feature. In order to minimise the power consumption during heating, the heater plugs are activated with a PWM signal with a delay.

Heater plugs with integrated pressure sensors are used to monitor the pressure in the combustion chamber. In this case the heat plug is mounted so that it exerts the force applied to the heat plug by the combustion chamber pressure to a measuring diaphragm. The pressure signal is also sent to the engine controller, where it is further processed. This way, for example, the injection period of the main injection can be changed as a corrective measure.