Souped-up Volvo gets in-dash mods based on LabVIEW for ARM

[Rick_K]

A long-time NI veteran, Greg Crouch, and his son worked together to create an analog circuit to increase the boost pressure of the stock turbo on the son's 2002 Volvo S60 by adjusting the PWM signal sent to Boost Controller Solenoid Valve. They were careful to create a circuit that would "trick" the ECU into thinking that nothing was different. The analog circuit intercepts the PWM signal going to the boost controller and adjusts the duty cycle based on a potentiometer mounted in the dash. With the ability to adjust the boost pressure inside the car for on-the-spot performance, Greg's son needed a gauge to show the status of the boost pressure as he adjusts the knob. The achieve this, they got a packaged pressure sensor from Freescale, hooked it up to an ARM board, and used LabVIEW to read the pressure sensor and output the data to an LCD screen they mounted next to the adjustment knob.

Check out the full document which includes a zero-to-sixty video of the LCD in action and a full description of the implementation from analog circuit to ARM-board LCD gauge.

Hobby Project - Using LabVIEW ARM and Multisim to a Build a LCD Turbo Boost Gauge