Ford Motor Company Limited

Michael G Fodor

Davorin David Hrovat

Minh N Tran

Jahanbakhsh Asgari

An electronic controller for automatically adjusting the position of a throttle valve in either a single valve or a series valve throttle mechanism. A primary controller (20) produces an output signal (18) suitable for directly operating the single throttle valve in a 'drive by wire' throttle system. When used to position a valve (32) in a two-valve series throttle system, the other valve (34) being directly controlled by the accelerator pedal, a signal translation unit (30) is employed to modify the output signal (18) from the primary controller in response to the current setting of the accelerator-controlled valve (34) and values indicating the current air flow rate (Q.sub.1) and the intake manifold pressure (P.sub.m). The primary controller (20) and the signal translation unit are implemented using a conventional electronic engine control processor, with the signal translation being performed by table lookup operations (51-54).

Electronic control system for single and series throttle valves

A vehicle traction controller controls vehicle traction and directional stability by determining the rotational velocity of the vehicle. The rotational velocity of the vehicle is measured and compared to a predefined range. If the rotational velocity is outside of the predefined range, then a wheel torque value, which is indicative of a braking force to be applied independently of driver initated braking, is generated for each wheel which is on a side of the vehicle as determined by the rotational velocity. The wheel torque value is compared to a range of values, which is based on road surface friction, and altered if the wheel torque value is outside of the range of values. Wheel spin and skid control is employed to reduce wheel spin and skid.

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Taylor, MI, United States of America

Michael G Fodor