Turbocharger Electronic Valve Control

Thread Starter

Sinaan.O

Joined Jun 17, 2022
22
Hi,
I have seen that the H bridge method is used to drive the valves required to use the turbocharger feature in the engines, why do they prefer this? There is no DC motor, they open and close an electromechanical pressure control valve at a certain rate? What could be the reason for doing this with the H-Bridge IC?
 

Ya’akov

Joined Jan 27, 2019
8,522
Welcome to AAC.

An H-Bridge is about polarity reversal. Anything that needs to switch between positive and negative voltages can benefit from an H-Bridge. Motors are the usual case, but they aren't the exclusive application.
 

LowQCab

Joined Nov 6, 2012
3,581
I've never seen this done with an H-Bridge,
usually it's done with a PWM Scheme to vary the amount of
Manifold-Boost-Pressure delivered to the pneumatic Exhaust-Waste-Gate-Valve
to limit the maximum amount of Boost-Pressure generated by the Turbocharger.

Maybe it's just a nomenclature mix-up ?
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Thread Starter

Sinaan.O

Joined Jun 17, 2022
22
For example, in the description of the product below, it says that it uses the H-Bridge structure, I remember reading it in a few places. But I couldn't find any document about how to use this structure while driving Electromechanical valves. For example, if I want to drive valves such as wastegate and overboost in the turbocharger structure with H-Bridge, can you suggest a resource on how I can do it? If it cannot be driven with H-Bridge, a resource on how to drive with PWM would be very helpful.


1690372327105.png

1690372234929.png
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
12,298
This device used the https://www.nxp.com/docs/en/data-sheet/MC33932.pdf
https://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/threads/pic32mk-mc-qei-example.150351/post-1538575

These types of h-bridge modules are designed to drive highly inductive loads. Electromechanical valves can be operated in closed-loop mode like motors.

3 Applications •
Electronic throttle control (ETC) •
Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) •
Turbo flap control •
Industrial and medical pumps •
Stepper motor control •
Dual motor drive

Numerous protection and operational features (speed, torque, direction, dynamic breaking, PWM control, and closed-loop control) make the 33932 a very attractive, cost effective solution for controlling a broad range of small DC motors.

https://www.ijert.org/designing-of-automotive-engine-electronic-throttle-control-valve
 

Thread Starter

Sinaan.O

Joined Jun 17, 2022
22
Thank you, the document and the link were helpful, do you have any resource suggestions about what other methods are used to drive such electromechanical valves used in turbocharge ?
 

LowQCab

Joined Nov 6, 2012
3,581
The very new to the scene, all Electronic, Wastegate-Valve-Actuators,
are totally proprietary designs, and offer very sophisticated and complex features and operation.

Are You just asking for general interest ?
It's not practical to build your own version.
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Thread Starter

Sinaan.O

Joined Jun 17, 2022
22
The very new to the scene, all Electronic, Wastegate-Valve-Actuators,
are totally proprietary designs, and offer very sophisticated and complex features and operation.

Are You just asking for general interest ?
It's not practical to build your own version.
.
.
.
Yes, it caught my interest while I was reading on different subjects and I wanted to know the details of these structures, I am only asking for general interest as I have seen different situations.
 

LowQCab

Joined Nov 6, 2012
3,581
A fully Electronic Actuator can respond much faster than the old Pneumatic and Spring Actuators,
but they are brutally expensive,
and require a great deal of Engine-Tuning experience to
set them up in a manner that actually creates a noticeable improvement in Engine performance.

The actual Engine-Response improvement is sometimes debatable,
but in Racing-Environments,
even very slight improvements can make You faster than the other guy.
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nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
12,298
Thank you, the document and the link were helpful, do you have any resource suggestions about what other methods are used to drive such electromechanical valves used in turbocharge ?
It's not that complex if you've had the proper EE experience building and programming controllers for high precision motor control systems. It's not a field where you can hack even simplistic control systems without the proper theoretical background IMO. Driving the valve is only I/O, the easy part.
 
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