Abstract: With the present method, after calibrating the rotary position transducer employed for direct TDC determination, the pressure curve inside the cylinder and the directly measured TDC timing in various operating states and if necessary different engine-specific parameters are recorded simultaneously, correlated as discrete value pairs and stored as a data set. With one part of the data set a knowledge-based system is trained and varied till the TDC timing output for all operating states and engine types considered agrees with a TDC time previously measured directly, within the desired accuracy. To detect the TDC from the pressure curve inside the cylinder with unkown and possibly different engine types, measured pressure values are put into the knowledge-based system unaltered after training, at whose output the required TDC is given.

Abstract: Direct TDC determinations on internal combustion engines involve much effort and are relatively inaccurate, above all on multicylinder engines. Known TDC determinations from the pressure curve inside the cylinder, using the adiabatic equation of state, call for considerable calculation and yet do not take into account the actual operating conditions of the engine.

Abstract: A circuitry for measuring piezoelectric signals for a piezotransducer/charge amplifier combination with a range capacitor including a voltage divider with a switch element providing a feedback signal to the measuring input of a charge amplifier. The switching element is controlled by a pulse generator for zeroing. The range capacitors charge to a certain class and voltage at the commencement of the measuring. An adjustment of the range of the range capacitor is provided by a second voltage divider.

Abstract: To obtain simultaneous filling of all cavities (K1-K4) in multicavity injection moulds, the mould cavity pressure (p) patterns in all cavities (K1-K4) are detected and the times (t1-t4) measured from the beginning of filling till a suitably chosen reference pressure (pR) is reached for each cavity (K1-K4). By interventions in the individual heating systems of the individual hot runners (5), the temperatures in these are altered to bring the measured times of the individual cavities more in line.