| Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
|---|
| 123406230 | Engine output (e.g., torque, speed, horsepower) or fuel consumption optimization | 39 |
| 20090107458 | DIFFERENTIAL TORQUE OPERATION FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE - A method of operating an internal combustion engine having a plurality of cylinders including at least a first cylinder and a second cylinder, the method comprising firing the first cylinder and the second cylinder in an alternating sequence; during a first mode, adjusting an operating parameter of the engine to produce a first difference between an amount of torque produced by the firing of the first cylinder and an amount of torque produced by the firing of the second cylinder; during a second mode, adjusting the operating parameter of the engine to produce a second difference between an amount of torque produced by the firing of the first cylinder and an amount of torque produced by the firing of the second cylinder; and performing the first mode at a higher engine speed than the second mode; wherein the first difference is greater than the second difference. | 04-30-2009 |
| 20100037858 | CONTROL STRATEGY FOR A HOMOGENEOUS-CHARGE COMPRESSION-IGNITION ENGINE - A method for operating a multi-cylinder spark-ignition direct-injection internal combustion engine responsive to a low load demand includes monitoring an engine state associated with combustion for each cylinder during each combustion cycle during low load operation, determining a combustion stability index for each cylinder based upon the monitored engine state associated with combustion for the respective cylinder, and individually adjusting an initiation of a spark discharge relative to an end of a fuel injection event for each cylinder based upon the combustion stability index determined for the respective cylinder. | 02-18-2010 |
| 20100050985 | INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE CONTROL FOR IMPROVED FUEL EFFICIENCY - A variety of methods and arrangements for improving the fuel efficiency of internal combustion engines are described. Generally, an engine is controlled to operate in a skip fire variable displacement mode. Feedback control is used to dynamically determine the working cycles to be skipped to provide a desired engine output. In some embodiments a substantially optimized amount of air and fuel is delivered to the working chambers during active working cycles so that the fired working chambers can operate at efficiencies close to their optimal efficiency. In some embodiments, the appropriate firing pattern is determined at least in part using predictive adaptive control. By way of example, sigma delta controllers work well for this purpose. In some implementations, the feedback includes feedback indicative of at least one of actual and requested working cycle firings. In some embodiments, the appropriate firings are determined on a firing opportunity by firing opportunity basis. Additionally, in some embodiments, an indicia of the current rotational speed of the engine is used as a clock input for a controller used to selectively cause the skipped working cycles to be skipped. | 03-04-2010 |
| 20100050986 | INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE CONTROL FOR IMPROVED FUEL EFFICIENCY - A variety of methods and arrangements for improving the fuel efficiency of internal combustion engines are described. Generally, an engine is controlled to operate in a skip fire variable displacement mode. Feedback control is used to dynamically determine the working cycles to be skipped to provide a desired engine output. In some embodiments a substantially optimized amount of air and fuel is delivered to the working chambers during active working cycles so that the fired working chambers can operate at efficiencies close to their optimal efficiency. In some embodiments, the appropriate firing pattern is determined at least in part using predictive adaptive control. By way of example, sigma delta controllers work well for this purpose. In some implementations, the feedback includes feedback indicative of at least one of actual and requested working cycle firings. In some embodiments, the appropriate firings are determined on a firing opportunity by firing opportunity basis. Additionally, in some embodiments, an indicia of the current rotational speed of the engine is used as a clock input for a controller used to selectively cause the skipped working cycles to be skipped. | 03-04-2010 |
| 20100108033 | METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE COMBUSTION OF A SPARK-IGNITION ENGINE USING COMBUSTION TIMING CONTROL - A method of controlling the combustion of a spark-ignition engine having application to gasoline engines is disclosed. An engine control system controls actuators so that the values of physical parameters linked with the combustion of a mixture of gas and fuel in a combustion chamber are equal to their setpoint values, to optimize the combustion. A setpoint value is determined for an ignition crank angle of the fuel mixture which is then corrected before the physical parameters reach their setpoint values. A correction to be applied to this ignition angle setpoint value is calculated so that the crank angle CA | 05-06-2010 |
| 20100116248 | CONTROLLER AND CONTROL METHOD FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE - An ECU controls an adjusting mechanism adjusting an output of an engine, such as a throttle valve, a swirl control valve, an ignition plug, an intake valve, and an ACIS (Acoustic Control Induction System) changing the length of an intake manifold, in accordance with a ratio between a maximum value KL(MAX) of load factor and the load factor required of the engine by the driver and by the system mounted on the vehicle at current engine speed NE. | 05-13-2010 |
| 20100175664 | COLD START ENGINE CONTROL DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEMS AND METHODS - An engine control module includes a spark control module, an engine speed module, a residual determination module, and a metric determination module. The spark control module actuates spark plugs based on a commanded spark timing. The engine speed module determines a desired engine speed based on an engine temperature and a period of time an engine is in operation after a cold start. The residual determination module determines a desired spark timing based on the desired engine speed, and determines a residual spark timing based on a difference between the commanded spark timing and the desired spark timing. The metric determination module detects a spark timing fault based on the residual spark timing and a predetermined spark timing range. | 07-15-2010 |
| 20100212632 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING COMBUSTION PHASING IN AN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE - Operating an engine includes monitoring engine crank position, a corresponding engine torque, and an engine operating point. A state of an engine control parameter is adjusted in response to a difference between an identified location of peak torque and a preferred location of peak torque. | 08-26-2010 |
| 20100212633 | Control apparatus for internal combustion engine - In an apparatus for controlling an internal combustion engine mounted on a vehicle, comprising an engine speed detector that detects speed of the engine, an ignition timing calculator that calculates an ignition timing of the engine based on at least the detected engine speed, a load detector that detects load in a compression stroke of the engine, and an ignition controller that controls the ignition timing to be the calculated timing, and controls the ignition timing to be a retarded timing than the calculated timing when the detected load is equal to or greater than a threshold value. With this, it becomes possible to avoid the unnecessary decrease of engine output which adversely affects driving feel of the operator, and effectively prevent the knocking and kickback from occurring. | 08-26-2010 |
| 20100224168 | CONTROL DEVICE OF DIESEL ENGINE AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING DIESEL ENGINE - A control device of a diesel engine, including an acceleration detector including an acceleration sensor, the acceleration sensor being attached to an engine body that defines a combustion chamber, the acceleration detector configured to output a vibration acceleration, an integrator configured to integrate values corresponding to amplitudes of the vibration acceleration from a predetermined integration start timing that is at least before an ignition timing, a comparison unit configured to compare an integration value of the integrator with a predetermined ignition timing judgment level, and a real ignition timing judgment unit configured to judge a real ignition timing on the basis of a reach timing, at which the integration value has reached the ignition timing judgment level. | 09-09-2010 |
| 20100229829 | IGNITION TIMING CONTROL APPARATUS FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE - An ignition timing control apparatus for an internal combustion engine, when determining that recalculations are possible from the time when final ignition timing is calculated normally to final ignition timing, recalculates the correction amount of the ignition timing by feedback control and the final ignition timing. Acccordingly, engine speed at a time closer to actual ignition timing is reflected on the final ignition timing. This configuration prevents overshoot from occurring even when a feedback gain is made greater and thus allows highly-responsive feedback control of the ignition timing thereby suppressing the change in rotation of the engine effectively. When the recalculations are not performed, the final ignition timing based on the correction amount, as normally calculated, is used. Thus, the final ignition timing is maintained at certain accuracy and abnormal ignition such as accidental fire is prevented. | 09-16-2010 |
| 20100236521 | CONTROL SYSTEM FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE - A control system for an internal combustion engine is provided. In the control system, a target intake air amount is calculated according to a target output torque of the engine, and an intake air amount of the engine is controlled according to the target intake air amount. An ignition timing of the engine is controlled. The following steps 1) to 3) are repeatedly executed until a convergence time at which a difference between an estimated output torque and the target output torque becomes equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, after setting an initial value of a temporary target intake air amount, and the target intake air amount is set to the temporary target intake air amount at the convergence time: 1) calculating an estimated retard correction amount which is a retard correction amount of the ignition timing when supplying the temporary target intake air amount of air to the engine; 2) calculating the estimated output torque of the engine according to the temporary target intake air amount and the estimated retard correction amount; and 3) modifying the temporary target intake air amount so that the estimated output torque approaches the target output torque. | 09-23-2010 |
| 20100242908 | ENGINE IGNITION CONTROL APPARATUS - When cranking starts by turning on a starter switch | 09-30-2010 |
| 20100251996 | POWER OUTPUT APPARATUS, HYBRID VEHICLE PROVIDED WITH SAME, AND CONTROL METHOD OF POWER OUTPUT APPARATUS - A power output apparatus that outputs power to a drive shaft includes an internal combustion engine, an exhaust gas control apparatus, an electric motor, a power storage device, a required torque setting portion, a required power setting portion, an allowable discharge electric power setting portion, and a control portion that controls the internal combustion engine and the electric motor such that the internal combustion engine is operated at a preset catalyst warm-up operating point and torque that is based on a set required torque is output to the drive shaft, when a set required power is equal to or less than a set allowable discharge electric power when catalyst warm-up to promote activation of a catalyst needs to be executed. | 10-07-2010 |
| 20100263628 | IGNITION CONTROL APPARATUS FOR GENERAL-PURPOSE ENGINE - In an apparatus for controlling ignition of a general-purpose internal combustion engine in which an ignition signal is produced both in a compression stroke and in an exhaust stroke of a four stroke cycle, one of the ignitions to be conducted based on the produced two ignition signals is cut and an after-ignition-cut engine speed is detected. Then it is discriminated whether each of the two ignition signals was produced in the compression stroke or in the exhaust stroke based on a difference between an average engine speed and the after-ignition-cut engine speed, and the ignition is controlled based on the ignition signal discriminated to be produced in the compression stroke in the two ignition signals, thereby enabling to improve the duration life of an ignition plug, with simple and compact structure. | 10-21-2010 |
| 20110000462 | Method for Operating an Internal Combustion Engine - For operating an internal combustion engine with a combustion chamber delimited by a piston driving a crankshaft in a crankcase, with a device for supplying fuel, an ignition device, and an electronic control unit, wherein a correlation between a power output of the internal combustion engine and a lambda value in the combustion chamber is defined by a power output curve that has a first ascending branch, a maximum, and a second descending branch where the lambda value is smaller than 1, the position of an operating point of the internal combustion engine is determined by adjusting the ignition timing to an adjusted ignition timing and evaluating the engine speed reaction caused by the adjusted ignition timing. The supplied fuel quantity is changed as a function of the determined position of the operating point when the determined position of the operating point is not a desired operating point. | 01-06-2011 |
| 20110005492 | CONTROL SYSTEM FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE - A control system for an internal combustion engine which performs an engine output control so that an output of the engine coincides with a demand output by changing at least one of the intake air flow rate and an ignition timing of the engine. An output reduction control in which the engine output is reduced by changing at least one of the intake air flow rate and the ignition timing, is performed when the demand output decreases. A retard limit of the ignition timing is calculated according to an operating condition of the engine. A retard limit output, which is an output of the engine corresponding to a state where the ignition timing is retarded to the retard limit and the intake air flow rate is maintained at a value immediately before the demand output decreases, is calculated. A retard limit intake air flow rate is calculated when the demand output is less than the retard limit output. The retard limit intake air flow rate is an intake air flow rate at which the engine output is equal to the demand output under the condition where the ignition timing is retarded to the retard limit. The engine output is made to coincide with the demand output by retarding the ignition timing, when the demand output is equal to or greater than the retard limit output. When the demand output is less than the retard limit output, the ignition timing is retarded to the retard limit and the intake air flow rate is controlled so as to coincide with the retard limit intake air flow rate. | 01-13-2011 |
| 20110094475 | SPARK VOLTAGE LIMITING SYSTEM FOR ACTIVE FUEL MANAGEMENT - An engine control system for a vehicle includes a variable displacement module that deactivates N of M cylinders of an engine during a fuel management mode. N is an integer and M is an integer greater than 1. A spark control module generates a spark timing signal for the N cylinders based on a pre-dwell time and a fuel management dwell modifier during the fuel management mode. The spark control module reduces dwell time of the N cylinders during the fuel management mode based on the fuel management dwell modifier. | 04-28-2011 |
| 20110132324 | LINEAR TRANFORMATION ENGINE TORQUE CONTROL SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR INCREASING TORQUE REQUESTS - A method of operating an engine of a vehicle includes generating a first torque request. The method includes generating a second torque request that is greater than and based on the first torque request, increasing a torque output of the engine based on the second torque request at a first rate and during a first period, and increasing the torque output of the engine based on the first torque request at a second rate and during a second period. The first period is distinct from and before the second period, and the first rate is greater than the second rate. | 06-09-2011 |
| 20110132325 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REDUCING PARTICULATE MATTER PRODUCED BY AN ENGINE - A method for reducing particulate matter emitted by an engine is disclosed. In one example, the start of fuel injection timing is adjusted in response to a change in engine operating conditions. In particular, start of injection timing may be advanced and then retarded to promote fuel vaporization. | 06-09-2011 |
| 20110290214 | ENGINE SPEED CONTROL SYSTEMS AND METHODS - An engine control system for an auto-stop/start vehicle, comprising: an actuator control module, a correction determination module, and a spark adjustment module. The actuator control module determines a target spark timing for a first time that is between a second time when engine cranking begins and a third time when a measured engine speed becomes greater than a predetermined engine speed after the second time. The correction determination module determines a spark timing correction for the first time based on a target engine speed and a measured engine speed. The spark adjustment module sets a spark timing for the first time based on the target spark timing and the spark timing correction. | 12-01-2011 |
| 20120138016 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ENGINE CONTROL - Methods and systems are provided for engine torque control. Mutually exclusive airflow adjustments and spark adjustments are used to provide accurate engine torque control when operating near combustion stability limits. Torque offset values and proportional-integral control terms are adjusted responsive to tip-in/tip-out events to improve torque control response times. | 06-07-2012 |
| 20120180759 | TURBOCHARGER BOOST CONTROL SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR GEAR SHIFTS - A method includes: retarding spark timing relative to a predetermined spark timing when an engine torque output reduction is requested for a gear shift; estimating a first torque output of an engine based on N cylinders of the engine being fueled, an engine speed, an air per cylinder (APC), and the predetermined spark timing; estimating a second torque output of the engine based on M cylinders being fueled, the engine speed, the APC, and the spark timing. determining an initial pressure ratio across a turbocharger compressor; determining an adjustment based on M and the first and second torque outputs; generating a desired pressure ratio across the turbocharger compressor based on the adjustment and the initial pressure ratio; and controlling opening of a turbocharger wastegate based on the desired pressure ratio. N is a total number of cylinders of the engine and M is less than or equal to N. | 07-19-2012 |
| 20120234292 | ENGINE IGNITION TIMING SETTING APPARATUS - An ignition timing setting apparatus includes a pulse generator for generating crank pulses corresponding to crank angles, a crank angular speed variation calculating section for calculating a crank angular speed variation based on an interval of the crank pulses, an engine load estimating section for estimating an indicated mean effective pressure from the crank angular speed variation, and an ignition timing determining section having an ignition timing control map for determining an ignition timing advance quantity in accordance with the estimated indicated mean effective pressure and an engine temperature or an engine speed. Such ignition timing setting apparatus sets appropriate ignition timings for avoiding a knocking occurrence load range based on an accurate estimated engine load. | 09-20-2012 |
| 20120304966 | ALTERNATING IGNITION ANGLE BEFORE TDC - The invention relates to methods and means of regulating the speed of a two-stroke combustion engine. An arrangement for alternating an ignition timing relative to a top dead center position is provided. For a given engine speed, the ignition timing may be step-wise adjustable. One or more steps may be used while alternating between two ignition timings. The ignition timing may be adjusted when the engine speed increases above a threshold engine speed. | 12-06-2012 |
| 20130092127 | FIRING FRACTION MANAGEMENT IN SKIP FIRE ENGINE CONTROL - In various described embodiments skip fire control is used to deliver a desired engine output. A controller determines a skip fire firing fraction and (as appropriate) associated engine settings that are suitable for delivering a requested output. In one aspect, the firing fraction is selected from a set of available firing fractions, with the set of available firing fractions varying as a function of engine speed such that more firing fractions are available at higher engine speeds than at lower engine speeds. The controller then direct firings in a skip fire manner that delivers the selected fraction of firings. | 04-18-2013 |
| 20130092128 | FIRING FRACTION MANAGEMENT IN SKIP FIRE ENGINE CONTROL - In various described embodiments skip fire control is used to deliver a desired engine output. A controller determines a skip fire firing fraction and (as appropriate) associated engine settings that are suitable for delivering a requested output. In one aspect, the skip fire controller is arranged to select a base firing fraction that has a repeating firing cycle length that will repeat at least a designated number of times per second at the current engine speed. Such an arrangement can be helpful in reducing the occurrence of undesirable vibrations. | 04-18-2013 |
| 20130112170 | FUEL CONTROL METHOD FOR HANDHELD ENGINE OPERATING MACHINE - A method for making an optimum combustion during engine operating time changes a fuel flow rate of the solenoid valve on the basis of engine rotational speed feedback control during engine idling time at low engine rotational speed and low electric power consumption. During engine idling time of an engine are carried out a rotational speed detecting process, an idle rotation adjusting process of making a rotational speed detected by the rotational speed detecting process equal to an initial value of rotational speed by controlling an ignition timing while comparing the detected rotational speed with the initial value of rotational speed as target value, and a valve opening correction process according to idle ignition timing change (I.I.T.C.) obtained by the idle rotation adjusting process. The valve opening is set to an adjusted valve opening (A.V.O.) plus a correction valve opening (C.V.O.) by the valve opening correction process. | 05-09-2013 |
| 20130213352 | START OF INJECTION TIMING - A method for controlling fuel injection timing into a cylinder of an internal combustion engine having an internal control system based on ignition delay correlation wherein intake manifold pressure and oxygen concentration values are compared to steady state values of manifold pressure and oxygen concentration of a particular indicated torque set-point and engine speed. Comparing intake manifold pressure and oxygen concentration to steady state reference values further comprises experimentally determining exponential factors for intake manifold pressure factor and oxygen concentration factors. A multiplier for intake manifold pressure and oxygen concentration is determined taking into consideration the exponential factors for manifold pressure and oxygen concentration. An equation for correlation ignition delay is used to determine optional SOI timing. | 08-22-2013 |
| 20130276753 | METHOD OF OPERATING AN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE WITH LOW NOx COMBUSTION - An operating mode for an internal combustion engine, in particular a directly injected internal combustion engine having a plurality of combustion chambers, in particular for a directly injected gasoline engine, e.g. for a motor vehicle, having low NO | 10-24-2013 |
| 20140014066 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR CONTROLLING AN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE - A system is disclosed herein for a four-stroke internal combustion engine, the system comprising: at least two cylinders; a fuel direct injection device; a variable valve timing system; an engine controller to control spark ignition and valve timing according to load; wherein, below a lower load threshold, a first cylinder is deactivated, an injection of fuel takes place into a combustion chamber of the first cylinder and an outlet valve of the first cylinder is open during a compression stroke. Fuel injected into the deactivated cylinders may enter the exhaust tract through the open outlet valves and serve as a reducing agent therein. | 01-16-2014 |
| 20150040864 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR IMPROVING ENGINE STARTING - Systems and methods for restarting an engine are presented. In one example, spark timing during engine starting is adjusted in response to engine speed and a second control parameter. The second control parameter may be correlated with crankshaft or rod degradation. Spark may be advanced from minimum spark for best torque when engine speed is greater than desired and when the second control parameter does not provide an indication of engine degradation. | 02-12-2015 |
| 20150040865 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR OPERATING ENGINE SYSTEMS HAVING AN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE DURING MODE SWITCHING - In a method for adapting a torque model for operating an internal combustion engine, which torque model indicates an ignition angle adjustment as a function of an air charge in a cylinder of the internal combustion engine, the torque model is adapted based on a variation of an operating variable of the internal combustion engine caused by a mode switching. | 02-12-2015 |
| 20150047607 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR TORQUE CONTROL - Methods and systems are provided for enabling a smooth transmission shift in a hybrid vehicle configured with a motor hybrid transmission. During an initial part of a transmission upshift, spark timing may be advanced from MBT to expedite torque reduction. Once engine speed has sufficiently reduced, and is within a threshold range of the desired engine speed, spark timing may be retarded until the transmission shift is completed. | 02-19-2015 |
| 20150369203 | IGNITION CONTROL APPARATUS AND IGNITION CONTROL METHOD - An ignition control apparatus ( | 12-24-2015 |
| 20160032884 | FUEL PROPERTY DETERMINATION APPARATUS FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE - A fuel property determination apparatus for an internal combustion engine is applied to an internal combustion engine that is equipped with an ignition plug and an ignition timing controller. An electronic control unit provided in the fuel property determination apparatus executes a determination process of making a determination on a property of a fuel supplied to the internal combustion engine based on an ignition sufficiency ratio, during a predetermined period after startup of the internal combustion engine. The electronic control unit is configured to determine that the property of the fuel is heavy when a determination index value that is obtained by subjecting the ignition sufficiency ratio to a smoothing process is equal to or larger than a predetermined threshold. The electronic control unit is configured to set a smoothing coefficient to a value corresponding to each of a first period, a second period, and a third period. | 02-04-2016 |
| 20160047349 | INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE IGNITION DEVICE - The internal combustion engine ignition device has a core, a coil part that is wound over the core, and a secondary coil that is wound on the outer peripheral side of the coil part. A switching element switches an induced current, which is generated via the rotation of a permanent magnet, of a primary coil on and off. A resistor and a microcomputer are connected to the switching element, and a rotation detection circuit is connected to the microcomputer. The microcomputer drives the switching element so as to rapidly change the current flowing through the primary coil and generate a high voltage in the secondary coil, and generate a spark discharge in a spark plug connected to the secondary coil. In the coil part, one coil is divided by an intermediate tap, forming the primary coil and a charging coil. | 02-18-2016 |
| 20160123253 | CONTROL DEVICE FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE - A target air amount for achieving a requested torque is calculated from the requested torque by using a virtual air-fuel ratio. The virtual air-fuel ratio is changed from a first air-fuel ratio to a second air-fuel ratio in response to a condition for switching an operation mode from an operation by the first air-fuel ratio to an operation by the second air-fuel ratio being satisfied. After the virtual air-fuel ratio is changed from the first air-fuel ratio to the second air-fuel ratio, a target air-fuel ratio is switched from the first air-fuel ratio to the second air-fuel ratio. After the virtual air-fuel ratio is changed from the first air-fuel ratio to the second air-fuel ratio, a target valve timing is switched from a first valve timing to a second valve timing. | 05-05-2016 |
| 20170234254 | SKIP FIRE TRANSITION CONTROL | 08-17-2017 |
