On October 9th, with a great team effort, seven Pico employees moved from James House into the new buildings in Chester Road. Less than three months after the lease was signed. By the end of the working day on the Friday workstations were in place for all of those who previously worked in the windowless ground floor areas of James House. Job done. Desks, IT equipment, shelving, stock, plant ... it was all moved across. Of course this all took place only after the new home was made Pico-ready.

Our telephone numbers and postal address remain the same. If you're visiting us, please continue to sign in at James House.

BMW Valvetronic evaluation

By Steve Smith

Following a major overhaul of a BMW 114i N13 engine,  I saw a great opportunity to measure the control signals to the Valvetronic unit (responsible for adjusting the inlet valve lift) which utilizes a 3-phase DC brushless motor.

Valvetronic (VT) reduces fuel consumption, improves engine efficiency and reduces exhaust emissions. It allows the throttle plate to remain in a fixed position under a variety of engine operating conditions wihle the air intake is controlled by varying intake valve lift! With the VT actuator disconnected, the engine can run as normal, utilizing the throttle plate for conventional air intake control with a fixed (maximum) valve lift.

We have a number of PicoScope captures that reveal the operation of a Valvetronic motor assembly and its effects on intake manifold pressure.
 

PicoScope NVH episode 5: NVH TIme Domain

Steve Smith and Frank Massey discuss typical customer complaints that require a different diagnostic approach: cue "Time Domain".
 

 

We are releasing another batch of new Guided test videos: 
                   

Maths is cool - Part 10
By Ben Martins

I finally got to revisit the Sherpa Van to determine why we experience a fluctuation in dwell angle of approximately 10° during the transition from idle to higher engine speeds.

Case Study: Camshaft Sensor Error