COMPUTERS AND LOGIC CIRCUITS

Deal i ng wi th computer s can seem

over whel mi ng for those who ar e
accustomed to wor ki ng wi th mechani cal
systems. Si nce we cannot actual l y see
what i s goi ng on i nsi de the computer or
the system i t contr ol s, computer s may not
be as easy to under stand as mechani cal
components such as tr ansmi ssi ons and
engi nes. However , computer s ar e not as
compl i cated as they mi ght sound. Thi s
chapter wi l l hel p demysti fy computer s.
The computer s found on a vehi cl e ar e
r eal l y no di ffer ent than any other
computer encounter ed i n ever yday l i fe.
Vehi cl e computer s r el y on data fr om
some type of i nput devi ce and then fol l ow
the i nstr ucti ons i n thei r pr ogr ams to
deter mi ne the r equi r ed output. The i nput
devi ce may be a keyboard or a cool ant
temper atur e sensor ,
and the output may be vi deo di spl ay or a
fuel i njector . The pr ogr am the computer
fol l ows may be for wor d pr ocessi ng or for
contr ol l i ng fuel meter i ng and engi ne
ti mi ng.
Computer s can pr ocess a gr eat deal of
data ver y qui ckl y and accur atel y, maki ng
them ver y useful for sever al jobs
i ncl udi ng contr ol l i ng many of the
systems on an automobi l e. Thi s chapter
expl ai ns how a computer functi ons,
star ti ng wi th the i nputs and outputs, the
computer 's centr al pr ocessi ng uni t (CPU)
and memor y, and l ogi c gates and thei r
symbol s.
Under standi ng how computer s wor k i s
essenti al because most vehi cl es have
some type of computer . Knowi ng how
computer s oper ate and fi t together wi th
var i ous sensor s and actuator s wi l l
i ncr ease your abi l i ty to di agnose and
r epai r pr obl ems.
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Thi s chapter i s di vi ded i nto the fol l owi ng
secti ons:
Analog and Digital I nputs
Analog and Digital Outputs
Signals, including.
Analog and digital wave forms
AI D converters
D/A converters
Microprocessor
Random Access Memory (RAM)
Read-Only Memory (ROM)
Programmable Read-Only Memory
(PROM)
Logic Circuits
I NPUTS
As demonstr ated i n the pr evi ous chapter ,
the ECU, as wel l as any other automobi l e
computer , depends on sensor s to moni tor
var i ous system functi ons and r epor t thei r
status back to the computer . Once the
computer r ecei ves the data fr om the
sensor s, i t anal yzes i t agai nst pr e-
pr ogr ammed standar ds and acts
accor di ngl y.
One pr obl em wi th many of these i nputs i s
that they do not speak the same l anguage
as the computer . The computer onl y
under stands di gi tal si gnal s or on/off
si gnal s. A r esi sti ve type sensor pr ovi des
the computer
wi th a var i abl e vol tage, known as an
anal og si gnal . Some sensor s, l i ke the
swi tch type sensor s, do pr ovi de a di gi tal
si gnal for the computer . I n thi s case, the
computer can i nter pr et the si gnal
because i t i s ei ther on or i t i s off-nothi ng
i n-between.
Because computer s must have di gi tal
i nputs to use the data r ecei ved, al l anal og
si gnal s must be conver ted to di gi tal . How
computer s i nter pr et the anal og si gnal s
wi th an A/D conver ter wi l l be cover ed
l ater.
OUTPUTS
Computer output to most actuator s i s
di gi tal . The si gnal tel l s the actuator to
ei ther tur n on for a speci fi ed l ength of
ti me or shut off. Stepper motor s, r el ays
and sol enoi ds have onl y two modes of
oper ati on: on or off.
Agai n, when actuator s r equi r e a var i abl e
vol tage, such as the speed contr ol for a
bl ower motor for ai r condi ti oni ng, the
computer needs another i nter pr eter . I n
thi s case, the i nter pr eter i s a D/A
conver ter , whi ch wi l l be cover ed l ater .
SI GNALS
As expl ai ned pr evi ousl y, the two types of
si gnal s ar e anal og and di gi tal . The
vol tage of these si gnal s may change
sl owl y or ver y qui ckl y dependi ng on the
sensor and what i t moni tor s. When
si gnal s ar e expr essed as wave for ms on
an osci l l oscope, the anal og si gnal shows
up as a fl owi ng l i ne wi th cur ved peaks
and val l eys, i ndi cati ng var i abl e r i ses and
dr ops i n vol tage. The di gi tal si gnal has
ver ti cal r i ses and dr ops, and a hor i zontal
l i ne wi th shar p cor ner s. The top
hor i zontal l i nes i ndi cate when the vol tage
i s hi gh or on and the bottom hor i zontal
l i nes i ndi cate when the vol tage i s l ow or
off.
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When usi ng a vol tmeter to measur e
di gi tal or anal og si gnal s that change ver y
qui ckl y, such as speed sensor or RPM
si gnal s, i t i s i mpor tant to r emember that
the meter r eadi ng i s not a tr ue
r epr esentati on of the si gnal . A vol tmeter
di spl ays the aver age r eadi ng of the
si gnal . For exampl e, wi th a di gi tal si gnal
the vol tmeter wi l l di spl ay the average
between zero vol ts (off) and the vol tage
when the ci r cui t was on. The computer
l ooks for "on" si gnal s, not vol tage. The
vol tmeter , however , i s l ooki ng for vol tage,
not whether a si gnal comes thr ough. A
vol tmeter may show that the vol tage i s
wi thi n speci fi cati ons even i f a pul se i s
mi ssi ng. That mi ssi ng si gnal coul d
r epr esent the cause of an engi ne pr obl em.
You mi ght not know i t by the vol tmeter ,
causi ng you to assume i ncor r ectl y the
pr obl em i s el sewher e and waste ti me
sear chi ng.
So i f you suspect the probl em i s i n a
cer tai n ci r cui t, but the vol tmeter does not
show i t, consi der usi ng an osci l l oscope
for a mor e accur ate r eadi ng. At the ver y
l east, you shoul d be awar e of thi s
vol tmeter l i mi tati on wi th di gi tal si gnal s.
When deal i ng wi th computer si gnal s i t i s
al so i mpor tant to r emember that ther e i s
a di ffer ence between the si gnal sour ce
and the sour ce of the vol tage on the si gnal
wi r e. Thi s i s especi al l y i mpor tant when a
sensor i nput goes to mor e than one
computer , such as a speed sensor si gnal ,
or i f the si gnal i s fr om one computer to
another . One computer may suppl y the
vol tage to the sensor whi ch toggl es the
vol tage to gr ound, and the other computer
may just moni tor the si gnal . I f a wi r e i s
di sconnected fr om the computer that
suppl i es vol tage to the sensor , the si gnal
i s l ost to both computers. Do not mi stake
thi s for a defecti ve computer .
Anal og si gnal s al so have l i mi tati ons i n
that thei r i nputs are not usabl e by the
computer unti l tr ansl ated i nto di gi tal
si gnal s. The A/D conver ter handl es that
tr ansl ati on.
Thi s takes us br i efl y back to computer
l anguage. Di gi tal on/off can be
r epr esented by the bi nar y number i ng
system of 0 (off) and 1 (on). Any deci mal
number (1, 2, 3, etc.) can be r epr esented
usi ng O's and 1's so the computer
under stands. The sever al thousand
tr ansi stor s i nsi de the computer 's
mi cr opr ocessor can swi tch on and off i n
combi nati ons that equal any bi nar y
number i n a mi cr osecond.
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The A/D conver ter changes the anal og
si gnal to thi s bi nar y l anguage by taki ng
sampl es of the anal og si gnal at a
fr equency known as the sampl i ng r ate.
The conver ter measur es the wave and
assi gns a di gi tal val ue to i t. The hi gher
the sampl i ng r ate, the cl oser the di gi tal
si gnal comes to r epr esenti ng the anal og
one. I n most cases each sampl e i s di vi ded
i nto ei ght bi ts. Each bi t i s assi gned ei ther
a "0" or a "1". These ei ght bi ts ar e cal l ed a
wor d. As i l l ustr ated (bel ow), whenever
the A/D conver ter sampl es the si gnal , i t
assi gns a bi nar y number to the vol tage at
that poi nt (whi ch the computer r eads as a
ser i es of "ONs" and "OFFs"), and sl i ces
up the wave l i ke a l oaf of bread.
Wi th the si gnal converted to ei ght-bi t
wor ds, the computer can use the data
fr om the sensor . The computer then
sends out i nstr ucti ons i n the for m of a
di gi tal si gnal to an actuator . I n most
cases thi s wor ks because most actuator s
ar e sol enoi ds or stepper motor s whi ch
oper ate on di gi tal commands.
Ther e ar e, however , some components
such as bl ower motor s or the power
steeri ng pump motor on the 1991 MR2,
that requi re vari abl e vol tage to operate
motor s at var i abl e speeds. I n such cases,
the computer uses a D/A conver ter to
change the di gi tal si gnal to anal og. The
pr i nci pl es of D/A conver ter oper ati on ar e
the same as the A/D conver ter . The
pul ses of vol tage comi ng fr om the
computer ar e conver ted to var i abl e
vol tage.
THE MICROPROCESSOR
The mi cr opr ocessor i s the hear t of the
computer . I t i s al so cal l ed the centr al
pr ocessi ng uni t (CPU). Agai n, keep i n
mi nd that the CPU does not per for m
compl i cated oper ati ons. I nstead, i t
per for ms thousands of si mpl e oper ati ons
i ncredi bl y fast. To keep al l of the
oper ati ons the CPU per for ms fr om
becomi ng entangl ed, i t executes them i n
or der , paced by a cl ock.
The CPU can be di vi ded i nto three
secti ons: the contr ol secti on, the
ar i thmeti c and l ogi c secti on, and the
r egi ster secti on.
The contr ol secti on contr ol s the
computer 's basi c oper ati ons. I t i s
pr ogr ammed wi th i nstr ucti ons fr om a
memor y to handl e these chi ef oper ati ons:
Sending data from one part of the computer to
another
Data input and output to and from the computer
Arithmetic calculations
Halting computer operations
J umping to another instruction during the
running of a program
The ar i thmeti c and l ogi c secti on car r i es
out the actual pr ocessi ng of data, whi ch
consi sts of ar i thmeti c oper ati ons and
l ogi cal oper ati ons.
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The r egi ster secti on tempor ar i l y stor es
data or pr ogr ams unti l they ar e sent to
the ar i thmeti c and l ogi c secti on or the
contr ol secti on
COMPUTER MEMORY
Computer s have thei r own fi l i ng system,
known as "memor y," whi ch i s the
i nter nal ci r cui tr y wher e pr ogr ams and
data ar e stor ed. Computer memor y i s
di vi ded i nto separ ate addr esses to whi ch
data i s sent y the CPU. The CPU then
knows wher e to fi nd that data when i t i s
needed. Computer s use thei r mai n
memor i es for l ar ge amounts of data or
pr ogr am i nfor mati on. Ther e ar e two
ki nds of memor y: r andom access
memor y (RAM) and r ead-onl y memor y
(ROM).
RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY (RAM)
RAM i s memor y whi ch the computer can
both r ead fr om and wr i te to. Thi s i s
wher e the computer stor es data r ecei ved
fr ont sensor s, such as engi ne RPM or
cool ant temper atur e. RAM wor ks l i ke
thousands of toggl e swi tches whi ch can
be ei ther on or off to r epr esent 0's and 1's.
Thi s i s how the data i s stor ed i n RAM.
The swi tches wor k l i ke spr i ng l oaded
swi tches, ther efor e they must be hel d i n
the on" posi ti on el ectr i cal l y. I f power i s
l ost, ever ythi ng stor ed i n RAM i s l ost.
I n most of the computer s used on
Toyotas, the RAM i s di vi ded i nto two
secti ons. One secti on r ecei ves i ts power
fr om the i gni ti on swi tch. Thi s i s wher e
data about oper ati ng condi ti ons, such as
vehi cl e speed and cool ant temper atur e, i s
stor ed. The other secti on, cal l ed Keep
Al i ve Memor y, i s power ed di r ectl y by the
batter y. I nfor mati on such as di agnosti c
codes i s stor ed i n Keep Al i ve Memor y so
that i t i s retai ned after the i gni ti on i s off.
Thi s i s why a fuse or battery cabl e has to
be r emoved to cl ear di agnosti c codes.
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READ-ONLY MEMORY (ROM)
Thi s i s wher e the basi c oper ati ng
i nstr ucti ons for the computer ar e l ocated.
The i nstr ucti ons ar e bui l t i nto the chi p
when i t i s manufactur ed and cannot be
changed. The computer can onl y r ead the
i nfor mati on l ocated i n ROM and cannot
wri te to i t or use i t to store data. Si nce the
i nfor mati on i n ROM i s bui l t i n dur i ng
manufactur e, i t i s not l ost when power i s
r emoved.
PROGRAMMABLE READ-ONLY
MEMORY (PROM)
A PROM i s l i ke a ROM except i t can be
pr ogr ammed or have i nfor mati on wr i tten
to i t once. Thi s i s done before i t i s
i nstal l ed i n the computer . The computer
can onl y r ead fr om the PROM and cannot
wri te to i t. The PROM contai ns the
speci fi c pr ogr am i nstr ucti ons for the
computer , such as the ti mi ng advance
cur ve for a par ti cul ar engi ne or the shi ft
poi nts for an automati c tr ansmi ssi on.
Ther e ar e other types of pr ogr ammabl e
ROM bei ng used, such as er asabl e
pr ogr ammabl e r ead onl y memor y
(EPROM) whi ch can be er ased by
ul tr avi ol et l i ght and r epr ogr ammed.
Another type i s el ectr oni cal l y er asabl e
pr ogr ammabl e r ead onl y memor y
(EEPROM) whi ch can be er ased
el ectr oni cal l y and r epr ogr ammed. Thi s i s
al l done outsi de of the computer by the
manufactur er .
NON-VOLATILE MEMORY
Some computer s use a type of RAM that
i s non-vol ati l e, meani ng that i t r etai ns i ts
memor y when the power i s r emoved.
Thi s type of memory can onl y be erased by
goi ng thr ough a speci fi c pr ocedur e. Thi s
i s the type of memory used to store code 41
i n the SRS ai r bag system on Cel i ca and
Supr a.
LOGIC CIRCUITS
As computer s and sol i d state contr ol
modul es become mor e pr eval ent on
automobi l es, some of the l ogi c gate
symbol s that r epr esent thei r
i nter nal ci r cui ts wi l l show up mor e often.
I t i s necessar y to know not onl y what the
l ogi c symbol s stand for , but to under stand
the basi c oper ati on of the ci r cui ts they
r epr esent when you anal yze wi r i ng
di agr ams dur i ng tr oubl eshooti ng.
Ther efor e, you shoul d know a l i ttl e about
l ogi c ci r cui ts and the symbol s used to
r epr esent them. A l ogi c gate symbol i s
si mpl y a shor thand way of r epr esenti ng
an el ectr oni c ci r cui t that oper ates i n a
cer tai n way. Under standi ng the l ogi c
symbol s can make under standi ng the
oper ati on of a ci r cui t much qui cker and
easi er than i f the ci r cui t wer e
r epr esented by showi ng al l the
tr ansi stor s, di odes and r esi stor s. The
l ogi c symbol s shown i n di agr ams i n the
EWD and New Car Featur e book show
what pi n vol tages must be pr esent for an
el ectr oni c contr ol l er to functi on pr oper l y.
Agai n, anythi ng connected wi th a
computer i s based on the di gi tal on/off
l anguage. The same hol ds tr ue for l ogi c
ci r cui ts, whi ch ar e made up of
tr ansi stor s combi ned i n uni ts cal l ed
"gates." These gates pr ocess two or mor e
si gnal s l ogi cal l y. I n essence, they ar e
swi tches. Dependi ng on the i nput vol tage,
the gate or swi tch wi l l be ei ther on or off.
The fi rst thi ng to l earn about the di fferent
gates i s thei r symbol s. Once you know the
symbol s and how each gate wor ks,
di agnosi ng a computer r el ated pr obl em
wi l l be easi er .
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Taken wi th per mi ssi on fr om the
Toyota Advanced El ectr i cal Cour se#672
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COMPUTERS AND LOGIC CIRCUITS

ASSIGNMENT NAME:
1. Expl ai n both the purpose and di fferent types of i nputs used by the computer.
2. Name the type of output si gnal most often used by the computer.
3. Name the components that are typi cal l y used as output devi ces.
4. Expl ai n the di fference between Anal og and Di gi tal Si gnal s.
5. Expl ai n both the purpose and compl ete name of an A/D converter.
6. Draw both an Anal og and Di gi tal si gnal .
7. Expl ai n the bi nary numberi ng system and why i t i s used.
8. Expl ai n the functi on of the Mi croprocessor.
9. Descri be the purpose of the RAM (Random Access Memory)
10. Descri be the purpose of the ROM (Read Onl y Memory)
11. Descri be the purpose of the PROM (Programmabl e Read Onl y Memory)
12. Expl ai n the basi c functi on and l i st the truth tabl e of an AND l ogi c gate ci rcui t.
13. Draw the equi val ent mechani cal ci rcui t of an AND l ogi c gate ci rcui t.
14. Expl ai n the basi c functi on and l i st the truth tabl e of an OR l ogi c gate ci rcui t.
15. Draw the equi val ent mechani cal ci rcui t of an OR l ogi c gate ci rcui t.
16. Descri be the basi c functi on and l i st the truth tabl e of a NOT l ogi c gate ci rcui t.
17. Descri be the basi c functi on and l i st the truth tabl e of a NAND l ogi c gate ci rcui t.
18. Descri be the basi c functi on and l i st the truth tabl e of a NOR l ogi c gate ci rcui t.
19. Descri be are the two basi c components of a FLI P-FLOP l ogi c gate ci rcui t.