Method for the injector-individual adaption of the injection time of motor vehicles

1. A method for determining injection times for a plurality of injectors in a motor vehicle, comprising:

prior to the vehicle going on the road:

performing testing to generate complete characteristic fields for at least one of the injectors, each complete characteristic field defining an injection time-mass flow relationship for a complete range of mass flows for the at least one injector;

adapting the complete characteristic fields using an injector individual correction (IIC) method to generate IIC-adapted complete characteristic fields for the at least one injector; and

storing the IIC-adapted complete characteristic fields in a memory of the motor vehicle; and

while the vehicle is on the road:

performing minimum fuel mass adaption (MFMA) measurements according to an MFMA method to determine MFMA-measuring points, the MFMA measurements covering only a low-mass-flow subset of the complete range of mass flows;

comparing the determined MFMA measuring points in the low-mass-flow subset of mass flows to respective points of the stored IIC-adapted complete characteristic fields for at least on injector;

based on the comparisons, adjusting the stored IIC-adapted complete characteristic fields and storing the adjusted complete characteristic fields in the vehicle memory; and

determining injection times based on the stored adjusted complete characteristic fields.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein, in the IIC method, the characteristic fields are measured for individual injectors with mass flow measurement technology and an average characteristic field for the plurality of injectors is computed and adapted to generate IIC-adapted average complete characteristic fields for the plurality of injectors, and

wherein the determined MFMA measuring points in the low-mass-flow subset of mass flows are compared to respective points of the stored IIC-adapted average complete characteristic fields for the plurality of injectors.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the characteristic field deviations of an injector from the average characteristic field are measured at a few measuring points and extrapolated for a complete characteristic field.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the IIC method is carried out on an injector test bed.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein, in the MFMA method, associated mass flows are determined and used as retrospective measurement points for the IIC method.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein, in the MFMA method, small injections are carried out in push mode and the associated mass flow is calculated from changes in the engine speed resulting from the small injections.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the MFMA method is carried out during the entire operating life of the motor vehicle.

8. A method for determining injection times for a plurality of injectors in a motor vehicle, comprising:

prior to driving of the vehicle:

performing testing to generate complete injection characteristic fields for at least one of the injectors, each complete characteristic field defining an injection time-mass flow relationship for a complete range of mass flows;

adapting the complete injection characteristic fields using an injector individual correction (IIC) method to generate IIC-adapted complete injection characteristic fields for the at least one injector; and

storing the IIC-adapted complete injection characteristic fields in a memory of the motor vehicle; and

while the vehicle is driving:

performing minimum fuel mass adaption (MFMA) measurements according to an MFMA method to determine MFMA-measuring points, the MFMA measurements covering only a low-mass-flow subset of the complete range of mass flows;

comparing the determined MFMA measuring points in the low-mass-flow subset of mass flows to respective points of the stored IIC-adapted complete injection characteristic fields for the at least one injector;

based on the comparisons, adjusting the stored IIC-adapted complete injection characteristic fields and storing the adjusted complete characteristic fields in the vehicle memory; and

determining injection times based on the stored adjusted complete injection characteristic fields.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein, in the IIC method, the characteristic fields are measured for individual injectors with mass flow measurement technology and an average characteristic field for the plurality of injectors is computed and adapted to generate IIC-adapted average complete characteristic fields for the plurality of injectors, and

wherein the determined MFMA measuring points in the low-mass-flow subset of mass flows are compared to respective points of the stored IIC-adapted average complete characteristic fields for the plurality of injectors.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the injection characteristic field deviations of an injector from the average characteristic field are measured at a few measuring points and extrapolated for a complete characteristic field.

11. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the IIC method is carried out on an injector test bed.

12. The method according to claim 8 , wherein, in the MFMA method, associated mass flows are determined and used as retrospective measurement points for the IIC method.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein, in the MFMA method, small injections are carried out in push mode and the associated mass flow is calculated from changes in the engine speed resulting from the small injections.

14. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the MFMA method is carried out during the entire operating life of the motor vehicle.