Patent ID: 6411096
Filing Date: 2002-06-25
Classification: F02P

Abstract:
In an analysis apparatus of the type for analyzing the operation of a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine having an ignition coil with primary and secondary windings, wherein the apparatus includes waveform acquisition circuitry including primary and secondary pickup leads for respectively acquiring primary and secondary analog input waveform signals from primary and secondary coil windings and generating waveform data representative of such analog waveform signals, a memory for storing the waveform data, a user input device for inputting cylinder identifications, a display device having a display screen for displaying the waveform data, and a control processor coupled to the waveform acquisition circuitry and the memory and the input device and the display device, the improvement comprising:a computer routine executed by the processor to permit use of a single pickup lead of the apparatus for analyzing ignition waveforms of direct ignition engines wherein each cylinder has its own ignition coil said computer routine comprising: (a) a first portion, for establishing in the memory, cylinder buffers respectively dedicated to the cylinders of the engine under test; (b) a second portion responsive to user input of an identification of a cylinder to which the pickup lead is connected for storing waveform data acquired from that cylinder by the single pickup lead in the cylinder buffer dedicated to that cylinder; and (c) a third portion for displaying on the display screen waveform data from any cylinder buffers in which such data has been stored.