The paper presents a non-intrusive, indirect and low-cost methodology for a real time on-board measurement of an automotive turbocharger rotational speed.
In the first part of the paper the feasibility to gather information on the turbocharger speed trend is demonstrated by comparing the time-frequency analysis of the acoustic signal with the direct measurement obtained by an optical sensor facing the compressor blades, mounted in the compressor housing of a spark ignited turbocharged engine.
In the second part of the paper, a real time algorithm, to be implemented in the engine control unit, is proposed. The algorithm is able to tune on the turbocharger revolution frequency and to follow it in order to extract the desired speed information.
The frequency range containing the turbocharger acoustic frequency can be set utilizing a raw estimation of the compressor speed, derived by its characteristic map.
Different tests have been performed on a turbocharged Diesel engine and encouraging results have been achieved, since a satisfactory turbocharger speed reconstruction has been obtained.