Misfire Detection in Automotive Engines Using a Smartphone through Wavelet and Chaos Analysis

Besides the failures that cause accidents, there are the ones responsible for preventing the car’s motion capacity. These failures cause inconveniences to the passengers and expose them to the dangers of the road. Although modern vehicles are equipped with a failure detection system, it does not provide an online approach to the drivers. Third-party devices and skilled labor are necessary to manage the data for failure characterization. One of the most common failures in engines is called misfire, and it happens when the spark is weak or inexistent, compromising the whole set. In this work, two algorithms are compared, based on Wavelet Multiresolution Analysis (WMA) and another using an approach performing signal analysis based on Chaos using the density of maxima (SAC-DM) to identify misfare in a combustion engine of a working automotive vehicle. Experimental tests were carried out in a car to validate the techniques for the engine without failure, with failure in one piston, and with two failed pistons. The results made it possible to obtain the failure diagnosis for 100% of the cases for both WMA and SAC-DM methods, but a shorter time window when using the last one.