The FINANCIAL -- In October, a successful Bosch product celebrates a milestone: the
automotive supplier will manufacture the 250 millionth electronic engine
control unit at its location in Salzgitter.
In modern diesel and gasoline engines, the digital control this unit provides ensures that the right amount of fuel is injected into the cylinder at the right time. Bosch launched the first generation of this engine management system in 1979, in the six-cylinder BMW 732i. Known as Motronic, this system is still the technological basis for all present and future generations of Bosch engine control units. For the first time, Motronic allowed fuel injection to be controlled precisely. In spark-ignition engines, injection was combined with ignition in a digital system. Tried and tested millions of times over, the ME(D)17 engine management system in the spark ignition engine and the EDC17 (electronic diesel control) in the diesel play a decisive part in making these engines not only reliable, but also economical and clean. In 2011, Bosch plans to produce some 25 million engine control units worldwide.
Increasing integration of additional functions
Since 2005, the ME(D)17 and EDC17 have shared a common hardware platform. Their software can be modified to meet individual customer requirements and the demands of various market segments. In the common-rail diesel, the EDC17 precisely adjusts start of injection, injection amount, injection pressure, injection times, and air-fuel mix to requirements. When used in stratified charge operation, the ME(D)17 works together with gasoline direct injection to improve the air-fuel mix, reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by as much as 15 percent. In combination with turbocharging, it allows engines to be downsized, thus re-ducing fuel consumption and emissions further – and this without any loss in engine performance.
Thanks to a powerful chipset with a 32-bit processor, many functions can be integrated into the engine management system. They include charge pressure control for turbochargers, variable camshaft timing control, exhaust -gas treatment systems, speed control via a vehicle speed controller, electronic immobilization, and on-board-diagnosis. At the same time, safety systems such as traction control and the ESP® electronic stability program can intervene in engine management in order to enhance active driving safety. Motronic can also be adapted to alternative fuels. As a bi-fuel control unit, it supports the alternate use of CNG and gasoline in the spark-ignition engine. The FlexFuel add-on allows engines to be run on varying mixtures of gasoline and ethanol – from pure gasoline to pure ethanol.
Future-safe control unit platform
“Today and in the future, Bosch engine control units are designed to further reduce emissions from gasoline and diesel engines,” says Dr. Markus Heyn, the member of the Diesel Systems division executive management responsible for the passenger-car segment. And according to Dr. Rolf Bulander, the president of the Gasoline Systems division, “We are also using this future-safe engine control unit platform to integrate new functions in present and future hybrid vehicles.”
Today, Bosch produces engine control units at ten locations worldwide, including the lead plant in Salzgitter (Germany), Hatvan (Brazil), Juarez (Mexico), and Souzhou (China).
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