New control for industrial engines - controls

Ford Power Products has developed a new electronic control designed to maximize the performance of its spark-ignited industrial engines. The Ford Ignition Performance Module (IPM) is now available oil dry fuel versions of its 6.8 L, V-10 engine and will be available oil the 5.4 L, V-8 engine in the future, the Dear-born, Mich.-headquartered company said.

"The Ford Ignition Performance Module sets a new standard for industrial-control modules." said Paul Moore, director of operations and sales, Ford Power Products. "It others vastly improved performance to customers for our larger engines."

The IPM is well-suited to areas where dry fuels make sense, such as indoor or stationary applications, and it offers many of the same benefits as the Ford Engine Performance Module (EPM) does for gasoline and dual-fuel engines, according to Jeff Elmore, FPP's manager, electronic controls. The EPM was introduced in 2002.

"The IPM offers several distinct advantages over our previous controls," Elmore added. "First, it has much better diagnostic capabilities, using either a handheld data device or a laptop computer.


"Second, engine applications that require precise speed control will benefit from the IPM's infinitely variable governing. And third, closed-loop fuel control allows the IPM to monitor and control the fuel mixture, so if you're running on a fuel mixture that's too rich or too lean, the IPM will make adjustments that in the end will lead to fuel savings," Elmore said.

The Ford IPM is CAN-bus capable and offers isochronous speed control (within 50 rpm), along with droop speed control. Electronic throttle control is based on variable voltage input commands with minimum and maximum governing. Throttle response time is fully configurable, the company said.

Speed settings are tamperproof and the system allows (or automatic power limiting or shutdown in cases of excessive engine temperatures.

The system has adaptive learn features, along with custom-configurable outputs for engine-based auxiliary controls based on customer requirements. It also provides cold start capabilities in temperatures down to -20[degrees]F, FPP said.

The IPM system incorporates enhanced diagnostic capabilities, including software diagnostics that provide snapshot data of fualts and a "flight recorder" that provides data covering eight seconds before and two seconds after a time. The system can also graph real-time engine data and record running engine data to a file.

The Ford IPM is housed in a thin, watertight case that allows mounting in virtually any configuration and is backed by a two year/2000-hour warranty. When the IPM is used in a generator, the warranty is two years with no hour limit.