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All Models - PWM Tutorial - All MY

PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) is a method used to control power output by switching the battery voltage on and off at a frequency between 90-150 Hz. The microprocessor varies the on/off time ratio to control power level - a higher PWM percentage means the output is on for a longer period of time. PWM is commonly used in automotive applications to control lighting, O2 sensor heaters, and fan motors by adjusting the duty cycle to regulate temperature, speed, or light intensity based on power demand.

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CH MUBASHER MAQSOOD ALAM
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85 views2 pages

All Models - PWM Tutorial - All MY

PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) is a method used to control power output by switching the battery voltage on and off at a frequency between 90-150 Hz. The microprocessor varies the on/off time ratio to control power level - a higher PWM percentage means the output is on for a longer period of time. PWM is commonly used in automotive applications to control lighting, O2 sensor heaters, and fan motors by adjusting the duty cycle to regulate temperature, speed, or light intensity based on power demand.

Uploaded by

CH MUBASHER MAQSOOD ALAM
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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General Information

PWM stands for Pulse Width Modulation. PWM is used as a method of controling power on an
output driver of an electronic control module. It can be use to control power to any number of
devices. In the automotive industry, examples include, but are not limiteds to, incandescant
lighting, O2 sensor heaters, trailer brake control output and fan motors.

How PWM Works


Rather that controlling the voltage level of the output, a PWM output switches the battery voltage
on and off at a given frequency. This is typically between 90 and 150 Hz. The resultant output will
look like a square wave. The microprocessor varys the on time vs the off time. So, if a lower power
output is required, the on time will get less and the off time will get proportinally greater.
Conversely, as more power is required the off time will get less and the on time will get
proportionally greater. The output is expressed in a percentage of on time versus off time. A 95%
PWM would mean that the output is on 95% of the time and off 5% of the time. Due to hardware
constraints, most PWM drivers can not operate at 0 or 100 percent. Typical operation is between
2% to 98%.
Figure 1 shows an example of what a PWM output would look like on an oscilloscope. A 50% PWM
is on half of the time and off half of the time. It gives the appearance of a classis square wave signal.
The area under the curve (shown in light blue) is mathematically proportional to the power going
to the device. The higher the PWM percentage, the more blue there is, the more power there is.
Voltage
Vbat

0V
Time
25 % PWM
Voltage
Vbat

0V
Time
50 % PWM
Voltage
Vbat

0V
75 % PWM Time
Figure 1

Pulse Width Modulation (PWM)


FCA US LLC - Body Builder Instruction All Rights Reserved
10/4/2019 Page 1 of 2
Usages
PWM can be usaed to control temperature on the O2 sensor heaters for gasoline engines. If the
temperatiure is too low, the ECM increases the PWM percentage applying more powe to the heater
element. If the temperature is too high, the ECM decreases the PWM percentage to lower the temperature.

PWM can also be used to control the speed of a fan motor. The principle is the same. The higher the desired
fan speed, the higher the PWM percentage.

The most common use of PWM on Ram vehicles is for lighting control of incandescant bulbs. LED lamps will
not be PWM controlled as most LEDs can not tollerate lower PWM percentages. Once the percentage gets
to around 90% or below, LEDs will start to flicker and eventually quit workig all togheather.

All incandescant bulbs on the exterior of Ram vehicles are PWM controlled. The PWM percentage is scaled
to the system voltage to maintain consistant power to the bulb. As system voltage goes up, PWM
percerntage decreases, maintaining consistant power. This greatly extends bulb life and reduces light
intensity fluctuation.

Figure 2 is an example of the voltage and PWM values typically seen in Ram lighting circuits. With the engine
off, the battery voltage will be in the area of 13 volts and the PWM percentage will be 95 to 98 percent.
Once the engine is started, the alternator will start charging and the battery voitage will work it’s way up to
14.2 to 14.5 volts depending on ambient temperature. At these voltages, the PWM perentage will be down
around 85%. If the area uder the curves in figure 2 were analyzed they would be nearly the same. In this
case, the blue areas were analyzed in the native drawing tool. The area under the 95% curve was 247 mm2.
The area under the 85% curve was 246.5 mm2. That’s about 0.2% difference in power output.

Voltage
13.0 V

247 mm2 247 mm2

0V
95 % PWM Time

Voltage
14.5 V

246.5 mm2 246.5 mm2

0V
Time
85 % PWM
Figure 2

Pulse Width Modulation (PWM)


FCA US LLC - Body Builder Instruction All Rights Reserved
10/4/2019 Page 2 of 2

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