catool 0.9.4 should hopefully be released Q2 2008. If you have any bug reports or feature requests please let me know ().

Confirmed fixes/features are:

• Determine cylinder number from channel name during import
• Fix IFile channel type
• Fixes to TLA calculation
• Implement 98% MFB
• Implement Burn duration calculation (0-2, 0-5, 0-10, 0-90, 2-90, 5-90, 10-90%)
• Implement Net and Pumping IMEP calculation
• Thrifted IVO and EVC cam timing parameters
• Speed improvements

catool version 0.9.3 has finally been released. Changes include:

• Multithreading capable using the pthreads library (Windows and UNIX)
• Fixes to heat release and IMEP calculation
• Fixes for big-endian and 64-bit architectures
• General bug fixes and speed improvements

The download page is here.

catool can be used to convert raw combustion data in AVL I-File format for later analysis in The MathWorks' MATLAB.

The following configuration file will load an AVL I-File (avl_ifile.001) and output a MATLAB file (avl_ifile.mat).

catool can perform the relative to absolute pressure correction using the polytropic indices and crank angle range specified in the AVL I-File. To do this uncomment the three lines (channel-offset, analyse and run-analysis).

input-file-type AVL_IFILE

input-file avl_ifile.001
load-channels all

CAT configuration files are human-readable ASCII with the suggested file extension of .ccf.

Parameter: analyse analysis_type

Configures which analysis routines are to be performed. The special types of 'all' and 'none' are available. Preceding the cycle type with a '-' will prevent that analysis from being performed. For example:

analyse all -WIEBE_A -WIEBE_M

will perform all analysis except the Wiebe a and m parameter calculations.

Valid analysis types are:

BURN_ANGLE_1
BURN_ANGLE_2
BURN_ANGLE_5
BURN_ANGLE_10
BURN_ANGLE_20
BURN_ANGLE_25

A range of software for the design and development of automotive powertrain systems, including a low-cost internal combustion analyzer for engine analysis.

CAT is a command line tool for the analysis of recorded internal combustion engine pressure data.  Data can be imported using AVL I-File or CSV format. The software provides absolute pressure correction and four-stroke TDC correction.

Absolute pressure correction can be carried out using a number of methods:

Brown, B. R., "Combustion Data Acquisition and Analysis," M.Eng. Automotive Engineering Thesis, Loughborough University, 2001. [1.21MB]