Abstract: A servo-assisted butterfly valve for an internal combustion engine comprising a valve seat, a butterfly body engaging the valve seat, a shaft on which the butterfly body is keyed, an electric actuator coupled to the shaft, an elastic member which is adapted to exert a torque on the shaft which tends to rotate the butterfly body towards a limp-home position and an abutment body which comprises an eccentric member which forms an abutment surface for an abutment member of the elastic body in order to stop, in the desired limp-home position, the rotation of the butterfly body caused by the elastic body in the absence of action by the electric actuator.

Abstract: A control method for an electromagnetic actuator for the control of a valve of an engine from an abutment condition, in which an actuator body actuating the valve and disposed to move between two electromagnets is maintained in abutment against a first excited electromagnet and against the action of at least one elastic body; in order to bring the actuator body into abutment against a second electromagnet, the first electromagnet is de-excited and the second electromagnet is then excited by means of excitation parameters, which are determined as a function of the measurement of the mean value of the disturbance force acting on the valve during the stage of de-excitation of the first electromagnet.

Abstract: The injector has a cylindrical body, which houses an injection nozzle regulated by an injection valve provided with a moveable pin, a fuel supply channel, an injection chamber communicating with the fuel supply channel housing a lower portion of the pin and delimited at the bottom by a valve seat for the injection valve, a control chamber communicating with the fuel supply channel and housing an upper portion of the pin, and a control valve, which is of the poppet type and is actuated by an electromagnetic actuator in order to move between a closed position and an open position, in which it puts the control chamber in communication with a low-pressure fuel exhaust passage.

Abstract: An electronically controlled butterfly valve comprising a valve body, a valve seat formed in the valve body, a butterfly disc adapted to engage the valve seat, a shaft on which the butterfly disc is keyed, an electric motor coupled to the shaft by means of a gear transmission having a final gear keyed on the shaft, a spiral return spring adapted to rotate the butterfly disc towards the closed position, and an opposing spring adapted to rotate the butterfly disc towards a limp-home position defined by an abutment body against the action of the return spring; the opposing spring is a flat leaf spring and is mounted on a moving member which is mounted coaxially and idly on the shaft and has a projection adapted to engage in abutment against the abutment body, an end of the opposing spring being free and ending in a projection which is disposed so as to be superimposed on the trajectory followed by a member rigid with the final gear.

Abstract: Fuel injection system of the common rail type provided with a high-pressure pump, which supplies fuel to a common channel that in turn supplies a series of injectors, and with a control unit, which is capable of keeping the pressure of the fuel within the common channel, moment by moment, equal to a desired value that generally varies over time; the control unit is coupled to a device for regulating the flow rate of the high-pressure pump in order to control the flow rate of the high-pressure pump so as to supply the common channel, moment by moment, with the amount of fuel required in order to have the desired value for pressure inside said common channel.

Abstract: A production method for a butterfly valve which comprises a valve seat engaged by a butterfly body keyed on a shaft in order to rotate under the action of an electric actuator coupled to this shaft by means of a geared transmission which ends in a final gear keyed on this shaft, the shaft being coupled to a position sensor provided with a rotor rigid with the shaft and a stator disposed to face the rotor, this method comprising the stages of disposing the shaft and the rotor of the position sensor in a mould, injecting plastic material into this mould in order to fill the mould and producing, by moulding, the butterfly body keyed on the shaft and the final gear keyed on the shaft and incorporating the rotor of the position sensor.

Abstract: A control method for an electric pump adapted to supply pressurised operating fluid to actuators of an automatic transmission in order to cause the opening/closing of the clutch and the selection and engagement of the gears, in which the stage of supply of a voltage to the motor of the electric pump is carried out in order to cause the electric pump to rotate. The method comprises the stage of regulating the supply voltage as a function of actual operating conditions monitored in the vehicle using the automatic transmission.

Abstract: A dual clutch transmission unit for a motor vehicle is adapted to transmit the movement to an automatic gear change provided with two ranks of gears; the transmission unit has a rotary movement input member adapted to be driven in rotation by the engine of the motor vehicle and two output shafts which are adapted to be rigidly connected to respective input shafts of the gear change and bear respective clutch devices which are adapted to receive the movement from the rotary member and are each associated with a relative rank of gears of the gear change; one of the clutch devices is disengaged and the other is engaged in sequence by an actuator device provided with a single actuator and a movement sleeve coaxial with one another.

Abstract: A butterfly valve for an internal combustion engine; a valve body houses a valve seat engaged by a butterfly body keyed on a shaft in order to rotate between an open position and a closed position under the action of an electric actuator coupled to the shaft by means of a cascade of gears; the electric actuator has a cylindrical body which is bounded at the location of tits base by a metal plate electrically connected to the valve body and provided with a pair of through holes through which two electrical conductors pass and supply electricity to the electric actuator; two respective bushings are interposed between the conductors and the holes of the plate, each of which is disposed electrically in contact both with the metal plate and with the respective electrical conductor and is made from partially conducting material having a specific resistance of between 103 and 106 Ohm·cm.

Abstract: A method for the performance of the gear disengagement in a servo-controlled manual gear change, according to which an oscillation is generated with respect to the angular speed of a primary shaft of the gear change by abruptly opening the relative clutch and the disengagement of the gear is performed around the maximum amplitude of an oscillation half-wave, when this oscillation has caused the angular speed of the primary shaft to be relatively close to the angular speed that the primary shaft has to assume to carry out the engagement of the subsequent gear.

Abstract: A ventilation system is described for electrical wiring arrangements of electrical circuits comprising a plurality of electrical connection terminals arranged within an insulating element; the ventilation system comprising a plurality of electrical ventilation cables connected to the respective electrical terminals of the electrical circuit; a plurality of connection chambers each produced in the body of the insulating element in such a manner as to accommodate therein the connection between the electrical ventilation cable and the corresponding terminal while maintaining the connection insulated from the outside; and at least one communication duct between the connection chambers produced in the body of the insulating element and designed so as to permit the passage of air between the connection chambers and through the electrical ventilation cables.

Abstract: Fuel injector provided with a piezoelectric actuator, a valve activated by the piezoelectric actuator and regulating a fuel supply that flows in a working direction, and a mechanical transmission placed between the piezoelectric actuator and the valve; an expansion of the piezoelectric actuator displaces the valve in the working direction from a closed position to an open position in an opposite direction to that of the fuel outlet.

Abstract: A control system with multiprocessor architecture for an internal combustion powertrain is disclosed. The control system has a computing unit capable of executing both basic control functions of the powertrain and ancillary control functions not directly related to the control of the powertrain. The computing unit comprises a main processor, which is dedicated to executing basic functions for controlling the powertrain, at least one auxiliary processor, which is dedicated to executing ancillary control functions, a number of memories, a series of peripheral devices, at least one peripheral bus connection, to which the peripheral devices are connected, and an intelligent main bus connection of the cross-bar bus type to allow the processors to communicate with the memories and with the peripheral bus connection.

Abstract: A method for estimating the degradation of the trapping capacity of a NOx-Trap catalytic converter, in accordance with which, if the actual duration of a first NOx regeneration process is equal to the predetermined duration, it is assumed that the trapping capacity is unchanged; if the actual duration of the first NOx regeneration process is less than the predetermined duration, at least one corrective action is performed in order to attempt to counteract the degeneration of the NOx-Trap catalytic converter, a subsequent NOx regeneration process is performed, if the actual duration of the subsequent NOx regeneration process is equal to the predetermined duration, then new characteristic operating parameters for the corrective action are used for the subsequent life of the NOx-Trap catalytic converter whereas, if the actual duration of the subsequent NOx regeneration process is less than the predetermined duration, the estimated trapping capacity of the NOx-Trap catalytic converter is reduced.

Abstract: A servo-assisted butterfly valve for an internal combustion engine comprising a valve seat, a butterfly body engaging the valve seat, a shaft on which the butterfly body is keyed, an electric actuator coupled to the shaft, an elastic member which is adapted to exert a torque on the shaft which tends to rotate the butterfly body towards a limp-home position and an abutment body which comprises an eccentric member which forms an abutment surface for an abutment member of the elastic body in order to stop, in the desired limp-home position, the rotation of the butterfly body caused by the elastic body in the absence of action by the electric actuator.

Abstract: Valve body for a fuel injector; the valve body is provided with a cylindrical tubular container which has a central cylindrical cavity, a valve seat which is disposed at a lower end of the tubular container, a pin which can engage the valve seat and is accommodated in a sliding manner inside the tubular container, a lower guide for the pin, which guide is accommodated in the valve seat, and an upper guide for the pin which is contained in a support element, which is disposed at an upper end of the tubular container and defines a pair of supply apertures which open into the cavity for supply of fuel to the cavity itself.

Abstract: Fuel injector having a valve body, which is provided with a valve operated by an electromagnetic actuator and capable of controlling the flow of fuel, and with a cylindrical, tubular container closed by a sealing element; the sealing element is arranged so as to close a lower end of the tubular container, is provided with a multihole atomiser and a valve seat, and is composed solely of a cylindrically symmetrical main body, which comprises the valve seat and ensures fluid-tight closure of the lower end of the tubular container, and of a perforated disc, which is welded coaxially to the main body and defines the multihole atomiser in conjunction with an underlying truncated conical surface defined in the main body.

Abstract: A method for detecting misfiring in an internal combustion engine by analysing the angular acceleration of the drive shaft, in which the value of the angular acceleration is estimated at predetermined angular positions of the drive shaft, the absolute value of the angular acceleration is compared with a predetermined threshold value, and the presence of a misfire is detected if the absolute value of the angular acceleration is greater than the predetermined threshold value; when the presence of a misfire is detected, a set of values of the angular acceleration subsequent to the value of the angular acceleration at which the misfire has been detected is filtered to eliminate the oscillation component generated by the misfire with respect to the value of the angular acceleration.

Abstract: A method of estimating the effect of the parasitic currents in an electromagnetic actuator for the control of an engine valve, the parasitic currents being modelled by means of an equivalent parasitic current which circulates in an equivalent turn which is short-circuited and magnetically coupled to a magnetic circuit formed by an electromagnet and an actuator body and the value of the equivalent parasitic current being estimated by resolving the differential equation obtained by applying the generalized Ohm's law to the equivalent turn.

Abstract: A device for air/fuel manifolds adapted to generate turbulent flows in combustion chambers. The device comprises a plurality of runners each of which internally comprises a longitudinal baffle adapted to form two channels each having a respective flow of air/fuel mixture to the combustion chamber. Moreover, in one channel is housed a throttle having, in its fully closed position, an aureole which extends along the whole perimeter of the throttle. The longitudinal baffle has a port for communication between the two channels, whereas a jet of fuel generated by an injector is targeted on the port for communication between the two channels.