This Kenyan engineer modernizes classic vehicles with a customized ECU and EFI upgrades

The automotive business’s change from carburetion to gasoline injection was some of the efficient developments of the twentieth century. Digital gasoline injection permits for exact management over an inner combustion engine’s air-fuel combination, which dramatically improves gasoline effectivity and efficiency. However that requires laptop oversight, which is why Kenyan engineer Peter Mbiria developed his personal Arduino-based customized engine management unit (ECU) for upgrading classic vehicles.

Digital gasoline injection conversions — from both carburation or mechanical gasoline injection — aren’t quite common, as a result of they require laptop management and that must be tailor-made to the precise engine. Except for just a few extremely popular fashions that warrant turnkey options, it merely isn’t price upgrading most engines. However Mbiria’s customized ECU makes the method a lot simpler, to the purpose the place it may be worthwhile to transform older engines. The conversion provides them new life, growing financial system and energy.

Mbiria’s Voltarent ECU can work with four-cylinder, six-cylinder, and eight-cylinder engines. After the conversion, it controls the injectors and ignition. A small OLED display screen, mounted by the automobile’s sprint, shows info and the motive force can change modes (financial system, consolation, sport) utilizing a knob. 

These modes, and the injector management basically, are solely potential due to refined algorithms operating on the firmware that Mbiria developed himself. He selected to make use of an Arduino Due board to benefit from the numerous I/O pins, but in addition for the processing energy of the AT91SAM3X8E microcontroller that’s essential to carry out the calculations quick sufficient to maintain up with the engine. Mbiria designed a customized PCB to host the Arduino and supply an interface to the injectors, ignition system, and consumer interface. And with comparatively easy tweaks to the Arduino sketch, Mbiria could make the ECU’s firmware appropriate for no matter automobile he’s engaged on.