Patents Examined by Linsday Low
  • Patent number: 9611806
    Abstract: A piston for an internal combustion engine includes a piston body forming a crown portion and a skirt portion. The skirt portion includes a bore that receives a pin for connecting the piston to a connecting rod, and the crown portion forms a bowl surrounded by a flat crown surface having an annular shape and disposed along a plane. The bowl and the flat crown surface meet along a circular edge surrounding a rim of the bowl. The piston further includes an annular protrusion disposed within the bowl adjacent the rim. The annular protrusion has a generally convex shape in cross section created by an upper, inwardly extending surface and a lower, inwardly extending surface that meet along a convex apex. The piston further includes an airfoil surface formed in the flat crown surface. The airfoil surface has a convex shape and extends annularly around the rim of the bowl.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2017
    Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: James A. Subatch, Jr., Matthew I. Rowan, Scott P. Coulier, Ashutosh Katari, Nikhil O. Lulla, James C. Weber, Steven C. Zoz
  • Patent number: 9593638
    Abstract: Various methods are provided for characterizing fuel injector operation. In one embodiment, a method of characterizing fuel injector operation comprises determining a flow error of a single fuel injector of two or more fuel injectors positioned in a first fuel rail by comparing a sum of each of a plurality of injector commands for the single injector to a fuel amount pumped into the first fuel rail, the fuel amount being predetermined.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Ross Dykstra Pursifull