Not what I wanted but interesting, Scraped from the net:-
http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=333911
Fuel injector latency and offset
Short story in a nutshell: -
The 'Effective Injection Pulsewidth' is the time that the injector is held open, during which fuel flows at the static flow rate at that condition [F=(dp over injector tip, rated flowrate of injector)]
As the injector driver goes 'on' there is a finite time for the flow to ramp from zero to full, likewise when the driver goes 'off' there is a finite time for the flow to ramp down to next to nothing.
This total time is the latency, confusingly only the initial ramp is referred to as 'the latency' as this is the time between on & full flow with the the ramp down being described as 'lag'.
Long story .....
In the world of programmable ECU's, injector latency, sometimes referred to as offset, is the term that is used that correlates to opening time of the injector. (To an injector design engineer, Opening time is different than offset, as Dave points out. In the SAE spec he references, it defines both, and how to calculate them. In my experience, the ECU manufacturers use this term interchangeably. Latency is really "opening time" = the time elapsed from the start of the logic pulse, to the start of fuel delivery from the injector. In a port injector, this is a function of many design parameters and calibration spring load in the injector used. It's also directly affected by the voltage supplied to the injector by the driver and the operating delta pressure across the injector. Peak and Hold driven injectors are less affected by the battery voltage, compared with saturated drive injectors, but they are still affected.
For example, when I calibrated my 3.8L Porsche club racer with a MOTEC controller, I needed the effective opening time at the dynamic calibration point for a range of battery voltages from 6-16V. I got opening times measured at 1V increments, and used that for programming the look-up table in the ECU.
Dave is correct about closing times being very important in having good linearity. Closing time is not as important to the controller, however, as it primarily impacts the effective duration of injection. (i.e. fuel keeps being delivered after the logic pulse ends) I say it's "not as important" because most ECU's now have so much control authority than they can adjust (lengthen or shorten) the pulse width being commanded of the injector by a large amount, and the effective duration of injection is sort of lost in the noise, as long as it's not excessive. Modern ECU drivers for high impedance injectors employ a zener diode to shunt the flyback current, which allows the magnetic field to collapse very quickly after the drive pulse ends. Assuming reasonable spring loads for most production injectors, most port injectors have closing times in the .4-.7ms range. The important part is that it needs to be CONSISTENT, in which case the ECU's capabilities mask it, making it SEEM unimportant. Opening time, or latency, is more important to the ECU from a timing perspective, to get the fuel shot delivered at the appropriate time. Since most port injectors have opening times in the 1-1.5ms range, this is more critical to overall timing.
Fuel injector latency and offset
This is a value calculated by measuring static and dynamic flow rates or you can also do a linear regression through a series of dynamic flow points such as 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7 ms at 10 ms pulse repetition period (100 Hz). Check out SAE spec J1832 for the standard definition.
If you plot flow on the vertical axis and pulsewidth on the horizontal axis the x-intercept is the offset or dead time in milliseconds. This is a function roughly of both the opening time and the closing time but it's more complicated than that because the flow/lift curve and pintle bounce also contribute. Closing time is very important in getting good linearity to small duration of injection.
my experience in automotive fuel systems has shown that many aftermarket manufacturers don't utilize the standards and don't always use correct terminology. In the case of aftermarket ECU manufacturers, they act like they have never looked at an SAE specification for an injector and create all sorts of differing terms for things that are already well defined. I've run into this before in the case of latency, vs. the correct term, "Injector Opening Time". I've also seen offset misused, which has a very specific mathematical definition per SAE. It is sometimes misapplied when the aftermarket manufacturer really means "Injector Opening Time"
Total dwell seat to seat is defined by SAE as "Effective Duration of Injection". That is equal to (in simple terms) (the duration of the logic pulse applied)-(opening time)+(closing time) typically referred to in ms. So, for a port injector with a 1.25ms opening time, and a 0.50ms closing time, the effective duration of injection for a 3.00 ms injection pulse is 2.25ms. Dwell at full flow isn't really much different. Good port fuel injectors are designed so that the transit times from fully closed to fully open for the armature/ball, or armature/pintle, or just armature in the case of a plate style injector are very fast relative to the logic pulses. These are typically on the order of 50 microseconds or less; the best designs are a lot less.
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