IOWA CITY CAR ELECTRONICS

Car Electronics At Mobile Auto Truck Repair Iowa City

Car Electronics Service near Iowa City IA: Nowadays automobiles cannot run without electronics in it. There are different levels of advantages from a driver’s perspective. First and foremost is the safety. Example., Airbags, anti-lock braking, etc.

Next comes the maintenance, there are on board diagnostics systems which help to intimate the owner/driver about the physical condition of most of the parts.

Additional information about the surroundings and assisting the driver there are advanced driver assistance systems in modern cars are available. Not only will they wake you when you are feeling sleepy, it will also help you to control the Heat Ventilation inside the car.

Automotive electronics are electronic systems used in vehicles, including engine management, ignition, radio, carputers, telematics, in-car entertainment systems, and others. Ignition, engine and transmission electronics are also found in trucks, motorcycles, off-road vehicles, and other internal combustion powered machinery such as forklifts, tractors and excavators. Related elements for control of relevant electrical systems are also found on hybrid vehicles and electric cars.

Electronic systems have become an increasingly large component of the cost of an automobile, from only around 1% of its value to around 30%. Modern electric cars rely on power electronics for the main propulsion motor control, as well as managing the battery system. Future autonomous cars will rely on powerful computer systems, an array of sensors, networking, and satellite navigation, all of which will require electronics.

Necessity is the mother of invention. If you peep into the history, you would realize that cars were originally made of only mechanical parts, but today electronics constitute a major part. Be it the engine, the dashboard or any other part, the use of electronics can be found. But, why was electronics used in cars? Definitely, to make them more efficient, simple and perform better.

The overall trend

Automotive is one of the fastest growing sectors in Iowa City IA. There is a constantly growing requirement for environment protection. Also, the end users are demanding greater fuel efficiency, security and safety. This has greatly contributed to the rapid development of the technology that can be employed in the automobiles. Cars, which used to be only mechanical, now contain more than 1000 electronic components most of which happen to be sensors and microcontrollers.

What all is going digital?

Car Electronics Service near Iowa City IA: That’s the question we started off with. Of course, we began with the basic stuff like the music system and the digital clock before we started working in-depth on this story. But, then as the information started pouring in, we were left wondering whether there was anything left (in a car) where electronics is not playing a significant role.

The engine. The engine is the heart of a car. The circuit that automates how much fuel should enter the engine is governed by the electronic control unit (ECU). The ECU consists of sensors and microcontrollers, which govern the flow of fuel into the engine. It decides the amount of fuel to be injected inside the engine with the help of the pressure sensor, throttle position sensor, oxygen sensor, fuel injector and many other components. The main aim of using the ECU is to increase the fuel efficiency of a car.

The transmission. Typically, there are two types of transmission used in cars manual and automatic, also referred to as manual gearing or automatic gearing. Electronics plays a more significant role in automatic-transmission cars. Herein, the automatic transmission of a car is controlled by the transmission control unit (TCU). The TCU collects information from the sensors attached to the vehicle. It further uses the data to do gear shifting at the right time, which helps to increase the car’s performance and efficiency.

Multiple sensors are involved in this setup. The common ones include:

1. Vehicle speed sensor. It sends different frequencies to the TCU to determine the rotational speed of the engine. This input from the sensor lets the TCU decide when the gear change should take place.
2. Throttle position sensor. This sensor is connected to the gear shaft, and informs the TCU about the current gear that’s been engaged by the driver (or automatically).
3. Turbine speed sensor. It provides real-time information on how the air intake system is functioning at a given time.
4. Transmission fluid temperature sensor. It measures the temperature of oil, fuel, water or engine coolant and provides a signal to the powertrain control module.

The brakes. Anti-lock brake systems (ABS) are becoming increasingly popular in cars. These have two main advantages: they let you stop faster and they let you steer even while you have applied the brakes. The ABS has four major parts, namely, speed sensors, controllers, valves and pump. The first two are assisted by electronics.

Automotive electronics are specially-designed electronics intended for use in automobiles. Automotive electronics can be subjected to, and are therefore rated at, more extreme temperature ranges than commercial (i.e. normal) electronics.

Most electrical devices are manufactured in several temperature grades with each manufacturer defining its own temperature ratings. Therefore, designers and engineers must pay close attention to the actual specifications on product datasheets. The list below is an example of temperature ratings/grades. Note that the automotive grade is second only to the military grade (in terms of extreme temperature ratings):

• Commercial: 0°C to 85°C
• Industrial: -40°C to 100°C
• Automotive: -40°C to 125°C
• Military: -55°C to 125°C

Now you may ask, why not just use the military grade in all applications? And there’s one simple answer: cost. You can be assured that as the temperature rating of device increases, so does its cost — sometimes significantly.

However, aside from a special temperature rating, devices that carry the term automotive electronics are those devices that have either been designed for or have been adapted for use in automobile applications. Categories of this include carputers, telematics, and infotainment systems.

A carputer (a combination of the words car and computer) is really nothing more than a customized PC designed to operate in a car with one or more of the following added features:

• Compact size
• Low-power requirement
• Customized components
• Video-capable (DVD)
• Music-capable (MP3)
• Bluetooth-capable
• USB-capable
• Wi-Fi-capable
• GPS navigation

The first use of a computer in a car was for engine control. It was called the ECU computer, or the Engine Control Unit. The year was when the first ECU appeared in a Volkswagen to perform one specific function: EFI (electronic fuel injection)

Telematics (a combination of the words telecommunications and informatics) is, in a broad sense, any integrated use of telecommunications utilizing information and communication technologies it is the technology of sending, receiving, and storing information relating to cars via telecommunication devices. The following list includes examples of communications that either use or otherwise take advantage of telematics:

• Vehicle/trailer tracking
• Wireless vehicle safety communications
• Emergency warning system for vehicles
• Intelligent vehicle technologies
• Car-sharing technologies
• Satellite navigation
• Road safety

Infotainment (a combination of the words information and entertainment) systems also referred to as in-car entertainment (ICE) and in-vehicle infotainment (IVI)is a collection of hardware and software in automobiles that provides audio and video content in a combination of information and entertainment. It can be argued that infotainment systems was the catalyst for transforming an ordinary car into a smart car, that is, one that can provide excellent entertainment facilities (such as ear seat entertainment) as well as provide technologies capable of driver-assistance, including assisting a driver while parking a car, alerting the driver on a congested traffic route and suggest an alternative path, and providing internet connectivity inside a car

Infotainment is one of the key megatrends fueling the pervasiveness of microelectronics in cars. It’s becoming clear that drivers want to be “connected” and easily access their personal content anywhere, anytime, and on all of their devices. And today’s automotive electronics provide the means for converting the car into yet another connected device. A ‘connected’ car is also more comfortable, safer, and energy efficient, having early access to important information such as weather reports, traffic jams, or road accidents.