Patents Examined by Carl C Staubach
  • Patent number: 11976605
    Abstract: A method for managing an engine for which segment tasks are initiated at a moment referred to as “segment”, in order to determine setpoint values which must be available before a predetermined angular time, having the following steps: a) executing a segment task; b) determining the difference between the angular starting time for application of the setpoints and the position corresponding to the availability of the setpoint values; c) comparing the difference determined in step b) with a lower difference value and a greater difference value; and d) modifying the segment if the difference determined in step b) is not between the lower and greater difference values, the position of the segment being advanced if the difference determined in b) is less than the lower difference value and the position of the segment being delayed if the difference determined in b) is greater than the greater difference value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2024
    Assignee: VITESCO TECHNOLOGIES GMBH
    Inventors: Jonathan Lorre, Stéphane Eloy
  • Patent number: 11965473
    Abstract: An internal combustion engine includes a port injection valve, a direct injection valve, and a forced-induction device. A ratio of an amount of fuel injected from the port injection valve with respect to a total amount of fuel supplied for one fuel combustion in the cylinder is defined as a port injection ratio. The internal combustion engine is controlled such that, in a case in which a condition is satisfied that the forced-induction device is in an operation of performing forced induction and the internal combustion engine is in an engine operation region in which a valve overlap period is greater than zero, the port injection ratio is set to be small and a start timing of fuel injection from the port injection valve is delayed as compared with a case in which the condition is not satisfied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2023
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masanao Idogawa, Rihito Kaneko, Motohiro Sugimoto, Takahiro Uchida
  • Patent number: 11965471
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for controlling a vehicle are disclosed. The method comprises acquiring an acceleration of a front wheel and a rear wheel, determining that the front wheel is passing a bump of a road in response to determining that the acceleration of the front wheel is outside an acceleration range and fluctuates in the range wider than the acceleration range within a first maximum time period, determining that the rear wheel is passing the bump in response to determining that the acceleration of the rear wheel is outside the acceleration range and fluctuates in the range wider than the acceleration range within a second maximum time period, and in response to determining that the front wheel has passed the bump and the rear wheel is passing the bump, controlling a drive unit of the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: HYUNDAI MOBIS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yung Sik Choi, Kyoung Jun Yoon
  • Patent number: 11959545
    Abstract: A vehicle control device includes a processor and memory. The memory stores relation-defining data for defining a relation between a state of a vehicle and an action variable that is a variable relating to operations of a transmission installed in the vehicle. The processor is configured to execute acquisition processing, operation processing, reward calculation processing, updating processing, counting processing, and limiting processing. The processor is configured to output the relation-defining data updated so that an expected income is increased when the transmission is operated following the relation-defining data, based on an updating map.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hideaki Bunazawa, Atsushi Tabata, Koichi Okuda, Ken Imamura, Kota Fujii, Keita Sasaki
  • Patent number: 11951972
    Abstract: Methods and a system are provided for shaping a torque profile for a motor of a hybrid vehicle. In one example, the method includes during a vehicle launch, an off condition of an engine, and upon receiving an engine start request, predicting a time of engine engagement, predicting a driver requested torque at the engine engagement; and reducing the driver requested torque until the predicted time of engine engagement based on the predicted driver requested torque at the engine engagement. The predicting of at least one of the time of engine engagement and the driver requested torque at the engine engagement may be based on a current position of an accelerator pedal and a driver profile. The method may further include controlling motor torque profile based on the reduced driver request torque.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2024
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Joshua Nicholas DeWalt, Fazal Urrahman Syed, Sassan Farahmand, Minku Lee, Justin Panhans, Andrew Burt
  • Patent number: 11939930
    Abstract: The vehicle controller controls a vehicle. The vehicle includes a transmission and an internal combustion engine that has a variable valve actuation device. The vehicle controller includes an execution device. The execution device executes first and second gear ratio adjustment processes and first and second intake VVT adjustment processes. The first intake VVT adjustment process includes adjusting the intake valve timing such that the internal combustion engine is operated in an Atkinson cycle. The second intake VVT adjustment process includes setting the intake valve timing such that the closing timing of the intake valve is more advanced than in a case in which the first intake VVT adjustment process is executed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2023
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Koji Okamura, Kazuki Tsuruoka, Hitoshi Matsunaga
  • Patent number: 11939981
    Abstract: A rotary disc valve is used in a fluid delivery system to control flow of fluid between multiple ports of a valve housing. The valve housing may include a valve body and a lid that closes an open end of the valve body. In addition, the valve may include a diverter and seal assembly that are disposed in the valve housing. The diverter is configured to rotate about a rotational axis and to control fluid flow through the valve housing. The seal assembly provides a dynamic seal that is fluid tight within a plane that is perpendicular to the rotational axis. The diverter, the valve body and the seal assembly cooperate to define a fluid passageway that is coaxial with the rotational axis and passes through the seal assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Assignees: Robert Bosch LLC, Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventor: Thomas Chapman
  • Patent number: 11939927
    Abstract: The solution of the invention is an internal combustion engine with oxygen concentrating equipment (80) wherein the air taken in the cylinder space (15) during the intake stroke and pushed out by the piston (5) during the charging stroke charges one or more cells (41A-41Z, 51A-51Z) of the oxygen concentrating equipment (80) and after separating most of the nitrogen in the cells (41A-41Z, 51A-51Z), the oxygen rich air is injected into the cylinder space (15) through a compressor (33) at the beginning of the expansion stroke by an injector (11). The fuel is also introduced into the cylinder space (15) at the beginning of the expansion stroke by a fuel injector (19). The ignition may be spark ignition, self-ignition or their combination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Inventors: Stephen Karpaty, Istvan Karpaty
  • Patent number: 11932072
    Abstract: A suspension control system including a suspension control unit, an unsprung mass accelerometer positioned at each wheel of the vehicle, and a global positioning system. The suspension control unit determines if a road irregularity, such as a bump or pothole, is approaching based on vehicle location data, provides pre-emptive road event classification information for the approaching road irregularity, and sets both a threshold based suspension pre-setting and a threshold based pre-trigger based on the pre-emptive road event classification information. The suspension control unit monitors the unsprung mass acceleration data, calculates a slope value for the unsprung mass acceleration data, and activates a suspension control action if the unsprung mass acceleration data exceeds the threshold based pre-trigger and the slope value exceeds a maximum slope value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: DRIV Automotive Inc.
    Inventors: Kylian Praet, Miguel Dhaens
  • Patent number: 11913412
    Abstract: A poppet-type EGR valve includes: a housing that includes a flow passage; a valve seat; a valve body allowed to be seated on the valve seat; a valve shaft on which the valve body is provided at one end section thereof; and a drive unit reciprocally driving the valve shaft. The flow passage has an inlet and an outlet and includes a bent passage portion that is bent downstream from the valve seat in a direction perpendicular to the direction toward the inlet. The bent passage portion includes at least one of a section in which the passage area is constant and a section in which the passage area increases toward the downstream direction, and does not include a section in which the passage area decreases toward the downstream direction. In the section in which the passage area increases toward the downstream direction, the passage area changes gradually.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2024
    Assignee: AISAN KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Naoya Suzuki, Koichi Sugihara
  • Patent number: 11904988
    Abstract: A watercraft includes a hull, an engine to generate power to propel the hull, an engine speed sensor to detect the rotation speed of the engine, and an ON/OFF sensor to be turned on and off according to a vertical acceleration of the hull. The watercraft further includes a controller configured or programmed to determine, based on at least one of a detection value of the ON/OFF sensor and a detection value of the engine speed sensor, whether or not a water surface is smooth.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Assignee: YAMAHA HATSUDOKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Hirofumi Amma
  • Patent number: 11891963
    Abstract: A method of controlling an engine is provided, which includes the steps of, during motoring of the engine, injecting, by an injector, fuel for analysis into a cylinder at a specific timing after an intake valve of the cylinder of the engine is closed, outputting to a controller, by an in-cylinder pressure sensor, a signal corresponding to a pressure inside the cylinder at least at a timing when a specific crank angle period has passed from the fuel injection timing, and determining, by the controller, a property of the fuel injected by the injector, by comparing a pressure value measured by the in-cylinder pressure sensor with a reference pressure value inside the cylinder measured at a timing when the specific crank angle period has passed after a standard fuel is injected into the cylinder at the specific timing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2024
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshihisa Nou, Fumihiko Saito
  • Patent number: 11891961
    Abstract: Operating a gaseous fuel engine system includes controlling at least one of a delivery location, a delivery timing, or in situ mixing of a gaseous fuel with air, based on at least one engine system parameter upon the basis of which a blowby amount of a gaseous fuel to a crankcase varies. Crankcase accumulation of the gaseous fuel is maintained below a flammability limit. Related apparatus and control logic is also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2024
    Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: Jaswinder Singh, Eric Lee Schroeder, Adam Joseph Clute, Aaron Scott Ness
  • Patent number: 11873771
    Abstract: A variable pitch propeller assembly operatively coupled with an engine and methods for controlling the pitch of a plurality of propeller blades thereof is provided. In one example aspect, the variable pitch propeller assembly includes features for combining overspeed, feathering, and reverse functionality in a single secondary control valve. The secondary control valve is operable to selectively allow a controlled amount of hydraulic fluid to flow to or from a pitch actuation assembly such that the pitch of the propeller blades can be adjusted to operate the variable pitch propeller assembly in one of a constant speed mode, a feather mode, and a reverse mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2024
    Assignees: GE AVIO S.R.L., GE AVIATION CZECH S.R.O.
    Inventors: Giuseppe Cervelli, Simone Castellani, Miriam Manzoni, Giuseppe Bellocchio, Vojtech Jirasek
  • Patent number: 11876379
    Abstract: A method including: mechanically driving a generator with an internal combustion engine, creating a generator rotary speed corresponding to a generator frequency, control of the internal combustion engine such that the generator frequency is in a tolerance range, wherein a grid frequency is within the tolerance range, detecting a phase angle difference between a current and/or a voltage generated by the generator and a grid current and/or a grid voltage, synchronizing the voltage and/or the current with the grid voltage and/or the grid current to reduce as phase angle difference (??), and electrically connecting the generator to a power supply grid, wherein at least one temporary change in an ignition timing of at least one cylinder unit of the internal combustion engine is performed to reduce the phase angle difference (??).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2024
    Assignee: Innio Jenbacher GmbH & Co OG
    Inventors: Georg Arnold, Simon Schmidt, Tobias Triendl, Andreas Birgel
  • Patent number: 11852112
    Abstract: A fuel injector for a common rail fuel system includes an energizer section, an injector section, and control section axially disposed along an injector axis. To control and injection event, the control section includes a control orifice manifold that has a plurality of control orifices and control passages to distribute high pressure fuel with the injector assembly. To prevent plugging of the control orifices and passages, an internal filter element with a plurality of filtration orifices is located in proximity to the control orifice manifold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: Benjamin R. Tower, Daniel R. Ibrahim
  • Patent number: 11846245
    Abstract: A method for a model-based open-loop and closed-loop control of an internal combustion engine includes the steps of: determining, via a combustion model, injection system setpoint values for controlling injection system actuators, according to a setpoint torque; adapting, during an operation of the internal combustion engine, the combustion model according to a model value, the model value being calculated from a first Gaussian process model for representing a base grid and a second Gaussian process model for representing adaptation data points; determining, by an optimizer, a minimized measure of quality by changing the injection system setpoint values within a prediction horizon, and, in an event that the minimized measure of quality is found, the injection system setpoint values are set as critical for adjusting an operating point of the internal combustion engine; and monitoring the model value in respect of a monotony which is predefined.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2023
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce Solutions GmbH
    Inventors: Daniel Bergmann, Knut Graichen, Karsten Harder, Jens Niemeyer, Jörg Remele
  • Patent number: 11835005
    Abstract: A fuel injection controller for a vessel engine to drive a propulsion apparatus mounted in a vessel is configured or programmed to execute functions of an effective opening area calculator to calculate an effective opening area of a throttle valve based on a throttle opening degree of the vessel engine, a filter value calculator to determine a first-order lag filter value of the effective opening area, a correction value calculator to determine a ratio of the effective opening area to the first-order lag filter value as a correction value, a predictive suction pressure calculator to determine predictive suction pressure by multiplying an average value of suction pressure detected at a suction passage by the correction value determined by the correction value calculator, a fuel injection amount calculator to calculate a fuel injection amount based on the predictive suction pressure, and a fuel injection driver to drive a fuel injector based on the fuel injection amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2023
    Assignee: YAMAHA HATSUDOKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Hiroki Sato
  • Patent number: 11835002
    Abstract: Various methods and systems are provided for using only hydrogen as fuel in a duel fuel engine. In one example, a method may include direct injecting only hydrogen as fuel to one or more engine cylinders and compression igniting the injected hydrogen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2023
    Assignee: TRANSPORTATION IP HOLDINGS, LLC
    Inventors: Adam Edgar Klingbeil, Eric Dillen, Thomas Michael Lavertu
  • Patent number: 11828246
    Abstract: An internal combustion engine system includes an internal combustion engine including an in-cylinder injection valve and a fuel pressure adjustment mechanism, and a control device that executes fuel injection control at a time of automatic restart of the internal combustion engine that is automatically stopped, by controlling the in-cylinder injection valve and the fuel pressure adjustment mechanism, in which the control device includes a first controller that executes the compression stroke injection a first number of times after an automatic restart request is made and control the pressure of the fuel to a predetermined value, and a second controller that executes the intake stroke injection a second number of times after the compression stroke injection is executed the first number of times and make the pressure of the fuel lower than the predetermined value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Takahiro Yoshida, Takehiro Komatsu