Camshaft Position Sensor: Description and Operation

Camshaft Position / Crank Angle Sensor:

PURPOSE

The Camshaft Position sensor, monitors engine speed and piston position.

OPERATION

The unit has a rotor plate and a wave forming circuit. The rotor plate has 360 slits for 1° signals and 6 slits for 120° signals. Photo diodes and light emitting diodes (LED's) are used for the wave forming circuit.

When the rotor passes between the photo diodes and LED's the slits in the rotor plate cut the light being transmitted to the photo diode from the LED. This generates pulses which are changed into ON/OFF signals by the wave forming circuit. The Engine Control Module (ECM) interprets these signals to calculate engine rpm and cylinder position.