Device for determining the position of a crankshaft in relation to the cylinder

Claim 1

An arrangement for determining in relation to an operating cycle of individual cylinders the position of a crankshaft of a four-cycle engine with an even number n of cylinders for releasing at the correct time an engine activating process, comprising: a first signal generator rotating with said crankshaft; a second signal generator rotating with a camshaft, each signal generator comprising a toothed generator disk secured to the respective shaft rotating with the respective signal generator shaft for generating pulses in relation to angular position for providing said generators with signal marks; stationary signal receivers associated with said generator disks; a pulse-processing stage connected to said receivers and associating each position of the crankshaft with said cylinders; said first signal generator rotating with said crankshaft having evenly-graduated signal marks into n/2 equal crankshaft sections, an identification mark identifying an upper cylinder dead center and being differentiable from said signal marks, said identification mark being associated with each crankshaft section; said second signal generator rotating with said camshaft having a circumference divided into equal camshaft sections that are definitely associated with said crankshaft sections and have equal signal-mark graduations that differ from each other; the identification marks on said crankshaft sections being different when the number of crankshaft and camshaft sections is equal and can be identical when the number is unequal; a pulse-processing stage synchronized by the pulses from said identification marks and associating the position of the crankshaft with said cylinders by comparing instantaneous pulses of both the crankshaft and camshaft sections, said pulse-processing stage associating the position of the crankshaft with said cylinders also dependent on a difference between pulses from particular associated identification marks when the number of said crankshaft and camshaft sections is equal.