Patents Examined by Erick R. Solis
  • Patent number: 11401877
    Abstract: A control device selectively executes first and second energization control for controlling an energization amount to the heater. The first energization control is executed to keep temperature of a sensor element within an active temperature region. The first energization control is PWM control in which the energization amount is controlled with closed loop control such that an impedance of the sensor element matches a target value. The second energization control is PWM control in which the energization amount is controlled with open loop control so as to keep the temperature of the sensor element within a preset temperature region that is lower than the active temperature region. The control device executes the second energization control during an internal combustion engine is stopped while executing the first energization control during the internal combustion engine is not stopped.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Keiichiro Aoki
  • Patent number: 11401874
    Abstract: An engine includes: an engine main body including a plurality of cylinders; a plurality of throttle valves positioned on intake sides of the plurality of cylinders; and a controller configured to control opening and closing operation of the plurality of throttle valves. Output of a part of the plurality of cylinders is larger than output of rest of the plurality of cylinders. And the controller opens a part of the throttle valves upstream of the part of the plurality of cylinders at a lower speed than rest of the throttle valves upstream of the rest of the plurality of cylinders.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: SUZUKI MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventor: Yoshinari Ninomiya
  • Patent number: 11401907
    Abstract: An internal combustion engine of a vehicle is equipped with a plurality of cylinders, and ignition devices provided for the cylinders respectively. The vehicle is mounted with an ECU. The ECU performs an ignition timing decision process for deciding a basic ignition timing of the ignition devices in accordance with a load of the internal combustion engine. The ECU performs a misfire determination process for determining that a misfire has occurred on a condition that the torque has decreased below a threshold set in advance. The ECU performs a retardation process for controlling an ignition timing toward a retardation side from the basic ignition timing when a state of the vehicle satisfies a condition determined in advance. A determination on the occurrence of a misfire based on a relationship in magnitude between the torque and the threshold is not made during the retardation process, in the misfire determination process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Hitoki Sugimoto
  • Patent number: 11391194
    Abstract: A gas sensor control apparatus (300) including a control section (61) which executes a first receiving process (STEP 1) for receiving a first detection result output from a mixed-potential-type ammonia detection section (42) for detecting ammonia contained in a gas under measurement and corresponding to the concentration of ammonia, a second receiving process (STEP 1) for receiving a second detection result output from an oxygen detection section (2) for detecting oxygen contained in the gas under measurement and corresponding to the concentration of oxygen, a first concentration calculation process (STEP 3) for calculating a first ammonia concentration of the gas under measurement based on the first detection result and the second detection result, and a pressure correction process (STEP 6) for correcting the first ammonia concentration based on pressure information obtained from an external device (220), thereby obtaining a second ammonia concentration of the gas under measurement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: NGK SPARK PLUG CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yoshihiro Nakano, Kimihiro Kohama
  • Patent number: 11391233
    Abstract: Method for controlling a fuel injector with a solenoid actuating a needle opening the injector and a spring returning the needle to the closed position. A controller, powering the solenoid, provides a first potential connected to a first transistor's drain, the source of the first transistor connected to the first diode's anode, the cathode of the first diode connected to a second diode's cathode, to a first connector of the solenoid and to the source of a second transistor. The drain of a second transistor is connected to a second potential, the second diode's anode being connected to ground, the second potential being connected to ground via a capacitance and to the cathode of a third diode, the third diode's anode being connected to a second connector of the solenoid and to the drain of a third transistor, the source of the third transistor being connected to ground.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: VITESCO TECHNOLOGIES GMBH
    Inventor: Thierry Bavois
  • Patent number: 11391259
    Abstract: A magneto ignition system for battery less hand-held combustion engines includes a claw generator with a stationary circular power coil winding enclosed by two iron claw halves and with a rotating flywheel magnet ring with multiple magnetic poles. The stationary circular coil winding includes a trigger coil with a stationary coil winding arranged in a plane orthogonal to the stationary circular power coil winding. The magneto ignition system further includes an engine control module ECM for establishment of appropriate ignition timing, and an ignition coil module ICM. The stationary circular power coil winding may provide the electrical power supply to both the ignition timing module ECM and the ignition coil module ICM.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: SEB AB
    Inventors: Jörgen Bengtsson, Bert Gustafsson, Lars Svensson
  • Patent number: 11391260
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method for operating an internal combustion engine with fuel which is combusted using a spark plug. According to the invention, the aging of the spark plug, in particular the aging of an electric resistor of the spark plug, is monitored during the operation of the internal combustion engine, wherein electromagnetic radiation of the spark plug is detected for monitoring purposes. The invention additionally relates to a controller for carrying out the method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: ROBERT BOSCH GMBH
    Inventors: Andreas Hastall, Robert Manfred Zielke, Ronald Ritter
  • Patent number: 11391255
    Abstract: An electronic fuel injection throttle body unit has a core body with two side components. The two side components each including a fuel delivery passage. Four air intake passages extending vertically through the throttle body. Valves are rotatable within the air intake passages. The valves being connected to valve shafts that rotate about respective valve shaft axes. The valve shaft axes and the fuel delivery passages are perpendicular to each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: FUEL INJECTION TECHNOLOGY INC.
    Inventors: Kenneth William Farrell, Jeremy Lynn Schmidt
  • Patent number: 11371455
    Abstract: A method for controlling an air-cooled internal combustion engine (ICE) of a motor vehicle controlled by an electronic control unit, includes: activating the electronic control unit; zeroing stored values of temperature of the ICE and the filtered filtering coefficient; in one iteration, —determining whether the ICE is operating, determining a filtering coefficient and a temperature setpoint, —determining a filtered filtering coefficient based on the filtering coefficient and the stored filtered filtering coefficient value, —determining temperature of the ICE according to the coefficient, temperature setpoint and stored temperature of the ICE, —determining whether the ICE is moving and whether the difference between engine temperature and admitted air temperature is below a threshold, ? if not, storing the filtered filtering coefficient and the temperature of the ICE, then beginning a new iteration, and ? if so, transmitting a signal authorizing the shutdown of the electronic control unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: VITESCO TECHNOLOGIES GMBH
    Inventors: Xavier Moine, Antoine Benne
  • Patent number: 11371456
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method for controlling a DC-DC voltage converter for current-driving at least one fuel injector of a motor vehicle internal combustion engine. The method notably includes the steps of determining a time referred to as the “recovery” time at which the output voltage crosses the predefined high voltage threshold, of determining a time referred to as the “drop” time, corresponding to the start of injection, at which the output voltage decreases below the predefined high voltage threshold, and of calculating the time elapsed between the recovery time and the drop time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: VITESCO TECHNOLOGIES GMBH
    Inventors: Jean Cannavo, Thierry Bavois
  • Patent number: 11371480
    Abstract: Due to changes in a flow of an air-fuel mixture in a cylinder, reliable ignition due to spark discharge may not be possible. Therefore, an ignition control unit 24 includes a secondary voltage calculation unit 31 that calculates an average value of a secondary voltage generated on a secondary side of an ignition coil, an irregular flow ratio calculation unit 32 that calculates a ratio of cycles in which the average value of the secondary voltage is equal to or less than a set average value with respect to a cycle of the internal combustion engine in a predetermined period as an irregular flow ratio indicating that the flow of the air-fuel mixture in the cylinder is irregular, and an ignition operation amount correction unit 37 that corrects an ignition operation amount so that the irregular flow ratio is equal to or less than the set ratio value that is the target to be reached of the irregular flow ratio.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: Hitachi Astemo, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Oryoji, Yoshihiko Akagi, Hidefumi Iwaki
  • Patent number: 11371470
    Abstract: An evaporated fuel treatment apparatus includes an abnormality determination unit that determines an abnormality of a purge passage. The abnormality determination unit changes an operating cycle of a purge control valve to a cycle longer than an initial set value while maintaining a duty ratio of the purge control valve set according to an operating state of an internal combustion engine, and determines an abnormality of the purge passage based on a first variation range and a second variation range calculated from a detection value detected by an airflow meter before and after the change of the operating cycle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: AISAN KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Daisaku Asanuma
  • Patent number: 11365712
    Abstract: A controller for a dedicated exhaust gas recirculation (D-EGR) engine is disclosed. The controller may receive a plurality of cylinder pressure signals, each of which is associated with a respective cylinder in a plurality of cylinders of the D-EGR engine. The plurality of cylinders includes at least one donor cylinder and a set of non-donor cylinders. The controller may receive a crankshaft angle signal associated with a crankshaft of the D-EGR engine. The controller may selectively adjust ignition timing of a cylinder, of the plurality of cylinders, based on the crankshaft angle signal and a cylinder pressure signal, of the plurality of cylinder pressure signals, associated with the cylinder; or a fuel rate of the at least one donor cylinder based on the crankshaft angle signal and a set of cylinder pressure signals, of the plurality of cylinder pressure signals, associated with the set of non-donor cylinders.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2022
    Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: David Todd Montgomery, Greg Hampson
  • Patent number: 11359561
    Abstract: A variety of methods and arrangements are described for managing transitions between operational states of an internal combustion engine during skip fire operation of the engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: Tula Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Vijay Srinivasan
  • Patent number: 11359567
    Abstract: Provided is a control device for a fuel injection device capable of detecting a variation in valve opening start timing of the fuel injection device and stabilizing a fuel injection quantity. Therefore, the control device for the fuel injection device of the present invention is a control device for a plurality of fuel injection devices each including: a valve body that opens a fuel passage by separating from a valve seat; a movable element that causes an opening/closing operation of the valve body; and a stator that attracts the movable element by a drive current flowing through a coil. This control device includes a control unit that controls the energization time of the drive current by a pulse width of a drive command pulse. The control unit estimates a valve opening start timing having a correlation with a detected valve closing completion timing. Further, the pulse width of the drive command pulse is corrected based on the valve opening start timing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: Hitachi Astemo, Ltd.
    Inventors: Akiyasu Miyamoto, Takao Miyake, Taisuke Sugii
  • Patent number: 11339755
    Abstract: Electronic fuel injection for an internal combustion engine maintains an operator-specified air-to-fuel ratio during engine operations in high-speed, high-volume, mixed fuel applications. A microprocessor-based controller executes a program stored in memory to calculate a fuel flow value as a function of the specified air-to-fuel ratio and specified density ratio of mixed fuels. The controller outputs a control signal to a variable fuel flow relief valve and receives feedback from an engine fuel flow sensor. The controller adjusts the control signal until the feedback matches the fuel flow value. The program optimizes the fuel flow value by accounting for engine air flow, water vapor density, and dry air density effects in the calculation, based on signals received by the controller from various environmental sensors. The system has particular application in dragster engines that burn a mixture of nitromethane and methanol.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Inventor: Donald John Jackson
  • Patent number: 11339738
    Abstract: A system and a method of controlling the temperature of fuel injected into combustion engines, which provides a reduced amount of fuel injected into engines propelled with either pure gasoline or ethanol or any bi-fuel mixture by precisely controlling the amount of heat supplied to the fuel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Assignee: ROBERT BOSCH LIMITADA
    Inventors: Fernando Lepsch, Marcello Francisco Brunocilla, Fernando de Oliveira Junior
  • Patent number: 11326530
    Abstract: A temperature acquisition apparatus for an internal combustion engine is configured to acquire a temperature of a combustion chamber of the internal combustion engine. The apparatus includes: an electronic control unit having a processor and a memory coupled to the processor. The processor is configured to perform: acquiring an intake air amount of the internal combustion engine; calculating a cumulative intake air amount based on the intake air amount; and acquiring a temperature of the internal combustion engine based on the cumulative intake air amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Daiki Yamazaki, Hidekazu Hironobu, Masatoshi Nakajima, Ryuichi Hata, Nobuaki Ito
  • Patent number: 11326573
    Abstract: The present application provides a spark plug testing tool for a spark plug assembly of a gas turbine engine combustor. The spark plug testing tool may include a dielectric tube attached to the spark plug assembly and a first support bracket to support the spark plug assembly and the dielectric tube therein such that the spark plug assembly remains electrically connected to the gas turbine engine combustor during testing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 20, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
    Inventor: Rubi Elizabeth Triana Zorsano
  • Patent number: 11319893
    Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for balancing injector fueling. In one example, a method includes learning portions of a transfer function shape by firing a plurality of injectors at PWs of a set of PWs following a reference injection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Ross Pursifull, Joseph Thomas, Michael Uhrich, David Oshinsky, Rani Kiwan