Patents Examined by Erick R. Solis
  • Patent number: 11174808
    Abstract: An air-fuel ratio control system (1) including an air-fuel ratio control section (3) for controlling the air-fuel ratio ? of an air-fuel mixture, an exhaust gas purifier (4); an air-fuel ratio sensor (5) whose output changes sharply when ? in the exhaust gas changes between rich and lean sides about a stoichiometric air-fuel ratio; a heater (6); and a temperature control section (7). The air-fuel ratio control section (3) controls ? based on the output of the air-fuel ratio sensor (5) using, as a target air-fuel ratio, a predetermined air-fuel ratio such that 0.980??<1.000 is satisfied, and when a change amount ?? ? is 0.008, an output difference ?V is 150 mV or smaller. The temperature control section (7) controls the temperature of the air-fuel ratio sensor (5) to a predetermined target temperature of 650° C. or higher.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2021
    Assignee: NGK SPARK PLUG CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tetsuya Ito, Yuki Saito
  • Patent number: 11149662
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a zero emission propulsion system and generator sets using ammonia (NH3) as fuel for engines and power plants such as steam boilers (5) for steam turbines (7), piston engines (9), fuel cells (10) or Stirling engines (11). Due to the poor flammability of ammonia (NH3), a hydrogen reactor (4) can split ammonia (NH3) into hydrogen (H2) and nitrogen (N2). The hydrogen (H2) can be placed in a hydrogen tank (8) for intermediate storage and the nitrogen can be stored in a nitrogen tank (6). The hydrogen (H2) could be mixed with ammonia (NH3) to improve flammability and thus facilitate the ignition of an air/ammonia (NH3) mixture in engines or power plants (5, 9, 11). Alternatively, hydrogen (¾) may be supplied in a separate fuel system (5-1, 9-5, 11-8) as a pilot fuel for pilot ignition of an air/ammonia (NH3) mixture. The hydrogen (H2) can also be used in AIP systems along with oxygen (O2) from an oxygen tank (22).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Inventor: Lars Harald Heggen
  • Patent number: 11149598
    Abstract: A fuel injection control device includes an additional energization unit. Concerning an undershoot state caused by a first energization for fuel injection, a return period is an estimated period required for a movable core to return to an initial position from a first energization. An injection interval ranges from the first energization to a second energization that is for a next fuel injection. An allowable period is obtained by subtracting a rise period estimated for the second energization from the return period. The additional energization unit adds an additional energization between the first energization and the second energization when the injection interval is longer than or equal to the allowable period and is shorter than or equal to the return period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masayuki Niwa, Makoto Saizen, Makoto Tanaka
  • Patent number: 11143121
    Abstract: A vehicle includes an engine including an injector of cylinder injection type and a forced induction device, a second motor generator that generates electric power with an output torque of the engine, and an ECU that controls the engine and the second motor generator. When an amount of intake air and a fuel pressure of the engine decrease in boosting of suctioned air by the forced induction device, the ECU reduces a decrease in the amount of intake air during a period in which an injection amount is equal to a minimum injection amount, and when an excessive torque is generated in the output torque of the engine along with reducing a decrease in the amount of intake air, the ECU absorbs the excessive torque by a power generation operation of the second motor generator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2021
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Koichi Yonezawa, Satoshi Yoshizaki, Osamu Maeda, Daigo Ando, Yoshikazu Asami, Kenji Itagaki, Shunsuke Oyama, Koichiro Muta
  • Patent number: 11143117
    Abstract: Provided is a throttle device including a total of two throttle units in an engine for each two cylinders, each of the throttle units having a unit body having intake air passages corresponding to the four cylinders of the engine, a throttle shaft rotatably supported by the unit body, throttle valves secured to the throttle shaft to open and close the intake air passages for the cylinders, and a motor driving and rotating the throttle shaft, in which a first motor provided in a first throttle unit and a second motor provided in a second throttle unit out of the two throttle units have mutually different responsivities to a change in rotation speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2021
    Assignee: MIKUNI CORPORATION
    Inventor: Isamu Tanaka
  • Patent number: 11136930
    Abstract: An engine start control device includes an pass determination section that performs a pass determination process of determining, based on a rotation state of the engine output shaft, whether a piston in a cylinder of the engine can pass over a compression top dead center for a rotation drop period in response to an occurrence of the start request. The engine start control device also includes a start control section that when it is determined that the piston cannot pass over the compression top dead center, starts driving of the motor in a low reaction force period to start the engine, the low reaction force period being a period in which a reaction force applied to the piston by a cylinder internal pressure in the cylinder is a predetermined value or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2021
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shinya Owatari, Shogo Hoshino
  • Patent number: 11136927
    Abstract: An internal combustion engine system includes an internal combustion engine and a control device. A difference of an intake valve closing timing with respect to a compression top dead center is referred to as a first crank angle difference; a difference of an exhaust valve closing timing with respect to an exhaust top dead center is referred to as a second crank angle difference; and a difference between the first crank angle difference and the second crank angle difference is referred to as an intake/exhaust closing timing difference. The control device is configured to execute: a fuel cut processing; and a valve driving processing to control at least one of the intake valve closing timing and the exhaust valve closing timing such that the intake/exhaust closing timing difference becomes smaller during a fuel cut operation than during a non-fuel cut operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2021
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Shigeki Miyashita
  • Patent number: 11125197
    Abstract: The vehicle includes an engine comprising a crankshaft, a crankshaft position sensor (CKP) configured to generate a pulse signal corresponding to a rotation of the crankshaft, a battery, a hybrid starter generator (HSG) configured to start the engine based on a power of the battery and charge the battery, and a motor controller unit (MCU) configured to determine a rotation angle of the crankshaft based on the pulse signal received from the CKP, and control the HSG based on the determined rotation angle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 21, 2021
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company, KIA Motors Corporation
    Inventors: Byunghwan Jung, Sukhyun Joo
  • Patent number: 11118527
    Abstract: A control unit controls a combustion state of an internal combustion engine in accordance with a drive torque requested by a driver. The control unit performs a switching control to switch at least a combustion state between lean-burn combustion and stoichiometric combustion. A monitor unit performs torque monitoring to determine abnormality of a request torque, which is requested to the internal combustion engine, and a generated torque of the internal combustion engine based on the request torque and an estimation torque, which is an estimation value of an actual torque of the internal combustion engine. A combustion state determining unit determines whether the combustion state in the control unit is the lean-burn combustion or the stoichiometric combustion. A computing unit computes the estimation torque in accordance with the combustion state determined by the combustion state determining unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2021
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Masato Nodera
  • Patent number: 11118555
    Abstract: Apparatuses, methods, and systems for igniting fuel for an internal combustion engine, an ignition system include a first ignition device associated with a pre-combustion chamber of a cylinder and a second ignition device associated with a main combustion chamber of the cylinder. An engine control unit is operably connected to both the engine and the ignition system to ignite fuel for the cylinder with the first ignition device independently of igniting fuel with the second ignition device. The engine control unit determines an occurrence of a combustion condition and in response thereto (i) ignites fuel for combustion with both the first and the second ignition devices or (ii) ignites fuel for combustion only with the second ignition device. The engine control unit determines a second combustion condition and in response thereto ignites fuel only with the first ignition device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2021
    Assignee: Cummins Inc.
    Inventors: Daniel J. O'Connor, Robin J. Bremmer, J. Steven Kolhouse
  • Patent number: 11111847
    Abstract: An improved method and system of carbon sequestration of a pyrolysis piston engine power system is provided. The system includes a pyrolysis piston engine for generating power and exhaust gas and a water cooling and separation unit which receives the exhaust gas and cools and removes water from the exhaust gas to create C02 gas supply. The system also includes a mixing pressure vessel which receives at least a portion of the C02 gas supply from the water cooling and separation unit and mixes the C02 gas supply with oxygen to create a working fluid to be provided to the piston engine and an oxygen generator for providing oxygen to the mixing pressure vessel. The system also includes a pyrolysis interface for inputting byproducts from a pyrolysis system, wherein the pyrolysis interface comprises a pyrolysis gas interface and a pyrolysis gas/oil interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2021
    Assignee: Enhanced Energy Group, LLC
    Inventor: Paul M Dunn
  • Patent number: 11105311
    Abstract: An ignition device for an internal combustion engine includes an ignition coil, a first switch, a secondary current adjuster, and controller The ignition coil includes a primary coil, a core, and a secondary coil. The first switch switches an energized state of the primary coil between an ON state and an OFF state. The secondary current adjuster adjusts a current value of a secondary current flowing through the secondary coil. The controller controls the secondary current adjuster so that a current value of the secondary current in at least a part of a charging period of the ignition plug, which is a period from when the energized state of the primary coil is switched from the ON state to the OFF state by the first switch to when dielectric breakdown occurs in the ignition plug, becomes smaller than a peak value of the secondary current after the dielectric breakdown occurs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Toshifumi Nakamura, Takahiko Inada
  • Patent number: 11105255
    Abstract: The invention is provided with an ignition control section and an injection control section. When partial compression ignition combustion is carried out, the ignition control section causes an ignition plug to carry out: main ignition in which a spark is generated in a late period of a compression stroke or an initial period of an expansion stroke to initiate SI combustion; and preceding ignition in which the spark is generated at earlier timing than the main ignition. Also, when the partial compression ignition combustion is carried out, the injection control section causes an injector to inject fuel at such timing that the fuel exists in a cylinder at an earlier time point than the preceding ignition. Ignition timing of the preceding ignition is set to be more retarded when fuel concentration specified by a fuel concentration specification section is low than when the fuel concentration is high.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Kota Matsumoto, Tomonori Urushihara, Keiji Maruyama, Masanari Sueoka, Ryohei Ono, Yuji Harada, Toru Miyamoto, Atsushi Inoue, Tatsuhiro Tokunaga, Takuya Ohura, Yusuke Kawai, Tomohiro Nishida, Keita Arai, Yodai Yamaguchi
  • Patent number: 11105279
    Abstract: An on-demand generator starting system and method is disclosed. The generator starting system is included as part of a standby or portable generator that includes one or more outlets that provide electrical power to an electrical device. The operating system includes a generator controller that monitors for a request for power from the electrical device connected to the outlet. When the control circuit of the generator controller determines that electric power is required from the generator, the control circuit initiates operation of the internal combustion engine. After the internal combustion engine starts, the control circuit operates a relay to provide power from the generator to the outlet of the generator. When the electrical device is no longer operating, the control circuit of the generator controller terminates operation of the internal combustion engine of the generator. In this manner, the generator operates only when the electrical device is requesting electrical power.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Briggs & Stratton, LLC
    Inventors: Robert John Koenen, Jason A. Hansen, Dale C. VanPatten, Jeffrey Berger, Philip Betzhold
  • Patent number: 11092336
    Abstract: In a method for estimating water content of exhaust gas, a first gas concentration at a first position in an exhaust passage, a second gas concentration at a second position downstream of the first position, and a gas temperature at the second position are obtained. A saturated water vapor at the gas temperature is calculated as a water content at the second position. By using the water content at the second position and the second gas concentration, an excess air amount of a fuel-air mixture supplied to a combustion apparatus is calculated based on a chemical reaction formula of combustion of the mixture. By using the excess air amount and the first gas concentration, a water content at the first position is estimated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2021
    Assignee: DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED
    Inventor: Yotaro Murakami
  • Patent number: 11078859
    Abstract: Vehicle oxygen sensor heater diagnostic techniques comprise, upon detection of a set of cold start conditions of the vehicle, measuring an initial resistance of each of a set of two or more oxygen sensor heaters and determining whether any of the measured initial resistances is outside of a nominal resistance range. In response to an outlier oxygen sensor heater being outside of the nominal resistance range, each of the set oxygen sensor heaters is provided with an equal voltage for a period, the resistance of each of the set of oxygen sensor heaters is monitored during the period, and a malfunction of the outlier oxygen sensor heater is detected or matured when a difference between its resistance and the resistances of the other oxygen sensor heaters after the period is greater than a calibrated threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2021
    Assignee: FCA US LLC
    Inventor: Atheel A Saleem
  • Patent number: 11078857
    Abstract: A method for ascertaining emissions of a motor vehicle driven with the aid of an internal combustion engine in a practical driving operation. A machine learning system is trained to generate time curves of the operating variables with the aid of measured time curves of operating variables of the motor vehicle and/or of the internal combustion engine, and to then ascertain the emissions as a function of these generated time curves.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2021
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Martin Schiegg, Heiner Markert, Stefan Angermaier
  • Patent number: 11078877
    Abstract: An example embodiment relates to a method for switching a current in an electromagnet of a switchable solenoid valve, wherein, in successive switching cycles, the current is in each case switched on in order to close the valve against a force of a spring, and thereby the current is generated by electrical connection of the electromagnet to a voltage source. The example embodiment makes provision for the current in the electromagnet to be generated with a current direction opposite to the respective previous switching cycle in at least two successive switching cycles in a switched operation of the valve.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2021
    Assignee: Vitesco Technologies GmbH
    Inventors: Tet Kong Brian Chia, Dmitriy Kogan
  • Patent number: 11078875
    Abstract: A vibration damping system for injection systems of motor vehicles includes an actively controllable actuator element, which is situated at a component of the injection system. The actuator element is situated at the component in such a way that, during operation of the injection system a vibration reduction of the injection system is achieved with the aid of an active control of the actuator element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2021
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Andreas Rehwald, Ralf Weber
  • Patent number: 11067011
    Abstract: A control module includes a dynamic target selection module configured to receive an intake manifold pressure setpoint and a measured intake manifold pressure, select between the intake manifold pressure setpoint and the measured intake manifold pressure, and output a selected intake manifold pressure setpoint based on the selection. A multivariable control module is configured to receive at least one target setpoint that is based on the selected intake manifold pressure setpoint and control operation of an air charging system of a vehicle based on the at least one target setpoint.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 20, 2021
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Marco Clelio Lucarelli, Vincenzo Alfieri, Francesco Castorina