Patents Examined by Robert Werner
  • Patent number: 11377087
    Abstract: Since a supercharging pressure from a supercharger decreases when an actual rotation speed difference is equal to or less than a margin rotation speed difference, a response delay of an engine torque due to a response delay of the supercharging pressure in a high rotation curbing control unit can be appropriately curbed. A shortage of the engine torque with respect to a required engine torque due to a decrease in the supercharging pressure by a supercharging pressure decreasing unit is compensated for using an torque of a second rotary machine. Accordingly, it is possible to curb a decrease in power performance due to a decrease in the supercharging pressure and to prevent an engine rotation speed from falling into a high-rotation state in which the engine rotation speed exceeds a maximum rotation speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Atsushi Tabata, Koichi Okuda, Tooru Matsubara, Takahiro Kimura
  • Patent number: 11371450
    Abstract: A method for entering and exiting cylinder deactivation modes in a diesel engine, comprises monitoring an engine speed from an idle engine speed to a governed engine speed and monitoring an engine load. If the monitored engine speed is the idle engine speed up to the governed engine speed, and if the engine load is less than the predetermined low load condition, then implementation of a cylinder deactivation mode is restricted to one of a 2 cylinder deactivation mode, a 3 cylinder deactivation mode, or a 4 cylinder deactivation mode. A cylinder deactivation mode is selected for engine operation among the 2 cylinder deactivation mode, the 3 cylinder deactivation mode, and the 4 cylinder deactivation mode to operate the engine at an effective frequency that avoids two resonant frequencies of the vehicle and to operate the engine below a torsional vibration limit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: Eaton Intelligent Power Limited
    Inventors: Matthew Pieczko, James E. McCarthy, Jr., Akibi Archer
  • Patent number: 11371462
    Abstract: The control apparatus for a compression ignition type engine includes a plurality of cylinder inner pressure sensors that detect pressure in each cylinder, and a combustion control unit. The combustion control unit corrects a target fuel injection amount of each cylinder by an injector based on a deviation between a predicted combustion period that is a period from an ignition timing by an ignition plug to a predetermined mass combustion timing and that is obtained based on a preset combustion model, and an actual combustion period that is a period from the ignition timing by the ignition plug to an actual combustion timing and that is obtained based on cylinder inner pressure, such that the period from the ignition timing by the ignition plug to the predetermined mass combustion timing, which is the timing when fuel having a predetermined mass ratio combusts, is equalized in each cylinder.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Masanari Sueoka, Junichi Taga, Hideki Omori, Keiji Maruyama, Tatsuhiro Tokunaga, Takuya Ohura, Toru Miyamoto, Tomohiro Nishida, Kenji Tanimura, Shinji Takayama
  • Patent number: 11352971
    Abstract: A method is provided for controlling a solenoid actuated fuel injector having a solenoid actuator which moves a pintle and needle arrangement such that the needle moves away from a valve seat to an open position and also includes circuitry which applies chopped hysteresis control subsequent to an energisation phase. The method includes a) obtaining a signal of the current or voltage across the solenoid; b) analyzing the voltage or current to detect a chopped hysteresis pulse; c) determining the time point of the end of said chopped hysteresis pulse; and d) applying a braking pulse to the solenoid, the timing of which is dependent on the results of step c).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: DELPHI AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS LUXEMBOURG S.A.
    Inventors: Peter Baur, Volker Heise
  • Patent number: 11346315
    Abstract: A battery pack includes a housing, rechargeable lithium-ion battery cells enclosed in the housing, terminals, a processing circuit, and a communications interface. The processing circuit is configured to control a supply of electrical power from the rechargeable lithium-ion battery cells to a positive terminal and a negative terminal in response to receiving signals from data terminals. The signals from the data terminals include operational information that includes at least a condition of an electric motor on power equipment coupled with the data terminals. The communications interface is configured to communicate over a wireless communication protocol to receive an identification of a type of power equipment coupled with the plurality of terminals. The processing circuit is configured to adjust one or more functions of the battery pack based upon identification data received from the communications interface, which includes the type of power equipment that is coupled with the plurality of terminals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Assignee: Briggs & Stratton, LLC
    Inventor: Robert Koenen
  • Patent number: 11333092
    Abstract: An acquisition unit acquires a required torque and an operating state of an internal combustion engine. A control unit is configured to: control operation of the internal combustion engine by using a required air amount, a required fuel amount, and a required ignition timing; acquire a required air amount by using the acquired required torque and a target air-fuel ratio of an air system determined according to the operating state; perform torque fluctuation correction on the target air-fuel ratio of the air system to determine a target air-fuel ratio of an injection system to reduce a difference between the required torque and an actual torque in a transition period between stoichiometric combustion and lean combustion; acquire a required fuel amount and a required ignition timing by using the determined target air-fuel ratio of the air system and the determined target air-fuel ratio of the injection system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2022
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Ryota Sasaki
  • Patent number: 11325584
    Abstract: A control device for a hybrid vehicle includes: a drive control unit that calculates required drive power which is required for a hybrid vehicle based on an accelerator opening when an accelerator return operation is performed, calculates a target engine output which changes slowly with respect to a required engine output for realizing the required drive power through slow change processing, and controls an engine, a first rotary machine, and a second rotary machine such that an engine output reaches the target engine output; and a smoothing rate setting unit that changes a smoothing rate which is used for the slow change processing based on a supercharging pressure and sets the smoothing rate to a smaller value when the supercharging pressure is high than when the supercharging pressure is low.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Atsushi Tabata, Koichi Okuda, Tooru Matsubara, Yasuhiro Hiasa, Yasutaka Tsuchida
  • Patent number: 11319905
    Abstract: An EGR cooler includes a tube assembly formed by stacking a plurality of tubes in which exhaust gas flows and a cover plate having a mounting portion formed concavely to mount the tube assembly thereon. A baffle is mounted at the tube assembly and adjusts flow of coolant inflow from a cylinder block. An inlet cover is installed on a first side of an outer surface of the cover plate to supply the exhaust gas to each tube and an outlet cover is installed on a second side of outer surface of the cover plate to exhaust the exhaust gas from each tube. At least one coolant passage in which the coolant flows is formed between the plurality of tubes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors Corporation
    Inventors: Il Suk Yang, Dong Young Lee
  • Patent number: 11300092
    Abstract: An ignition coil control device includes: an energization control unit that controls to energize an ignition coil by first energization control and second energization control shorter in energization time than the first energization control; a cruise area determination unit that determines that a driving area of a vehicle is located in a cruise area on the basis of a throttle opening and an engine speed; and an integration counter that is incremented every predetermined time when the first energization control is being executed in the cruise area and is decremented every predetermined time in other cases. When a counter value of the integration counter reaches an upper limit value, a cooling process of switching from the first energization control to the second energization control is executed. Such ignition coil control device can appropriately switch energization time while preventing excessive heating of an ignition coil without using a current sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2022
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Toshifumi Osawa, Ryohei Kitamura, Nobuyuki Takenaka, Takahiro Kashima
  • Patent number: 11300070
    Abstract: An electromagnetic valve control unit for detecting operation of an electromagnetic valve on the basis of a drive voltage or a drive current applied to the electromagnetic valve. The electromagnetic valve control unit includes an A/D converter, a filter, and a detection unit. The A/D converter converts the drive voltage or the drive current into a digital signal. The filter has a gain of about zero at a predetermined frequency. The detection unit detects operation of the electromagnetic valve on the basis of an output of the filter upon input of the digital signal into the filter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2022
    Assignee: Hitachi Astemo, Ltd.
    Inventors: Toshihiro Aono, Motoyuki Abe, Ryo Kusakabe, Teppei Hirotsu, Ayumu Hatanaka, Hideyuki Sakamoto, Takao Fukuda, Masahiro Toyohara, Osamu Mukaihara
  • Patent number: 11293364
    Abstract: A drive system includes an engine as a drive source, a lead storage battery that is charged using the engine as a motive power source, a starter that starts up the engine by being driven by electric power from the lead storage battery, and a battery sensor that measures an inter-terminal voltage of the lead storage battery. A control device that is applied to the drive system temporarily stops the engine when a temporary stop condition is satisfied, and starts up the engine again when a discharge amount of the lead storage battery in a period of the temporary stop is larger than a discharge upper limit amount. When an inrush voltage is equal to or lower than a restraint threshold, the discharge upper limit amount is set so as to be smaller than when the inrush voltage is higher than the restraint threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Koji Ito, Kazuhiko Sakakibara, Hiroyuki Toyama, Michihiro Miyashita
  • Patent number: 11293366
    Abstract: A system or method for determining virtual data of a system, relative to a measurement point having a sensor located nearby, is determined by a controller. The system calculates modeled data at the measurement point, filters the modeled data to determine filtered data, and calculates a differential between the modeled data and the filtered data to determine a compensation term. The system also determines raw-sensed data from the sensor at the measurement point, and combines that raw-sensed data with the compensation data to calculate the virtual data at the measurement point. In some configurations, the modeled data is determined from a physics-based model. Furthermore, filtering the modeled data may include using a low-pass filter, and a time constant for the low-pass filter may be calculated based on operating conditions of the system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2022
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
    Inventors: Giuseppe Conte, Carmen Pedicini, Vincenzo Alfieri
  • Patent number: 11293393
    Abstract: An internal combustion engine includes a fuel injection nozzle in which a nozzle hole that injects fuel is provided to be exposed to a combustion chamber from a cylinder head of the internal combustion engine, and a hollow duct in which an inlet and an outlet are exposed to the combustion chamber. The duct is provided to penetrate through an inside of the cylinder head so that fuel spray injected from the nozzle hole of the fuel injection nozzle passes from the inlet to the outlet. The duct is preferably configured so that a direction from the inlet to the outlet corresponds to a direction of the fuel spray injected from the nozzle hole.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JDDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Takeshi Hashizume
  • Patent number: 11293399
    Abstract: Wind turbine comprising at least a pitch bearing comprising at least two rings, each of the at least two rings attached to a wind turbine component, being a first wind turbine component a blade and a second wind turbine component a hub, and further comprising at least one bearing reinforcement attached to at least one of the two rings. The invention also relates to the pitch bearing of the wind turbine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2022
    Assignee: ACCIONA WINDPOWER, S.A.
    Inventors: Javier Pascual Resano, Jose Luis Aristegui Lantero, Gonzalo De los Rios Leiva, Jose Javier Gil Soto, Teresa Arlaban Gabeiras, Jose Miguel Garcia Sayes, Miguel Nunez Polo
  • Patent number: 11293389
    Abstract: A fuel supply structure for a saddled vehicle, includes: an upstream-side fuel supply system guiding fuel from a fuel tank to a fuel pump side; a downstream-side fuel supply system guiding the fuel from the pump to a fuel injection valve side; and an excess fuel return system returning excess fuel from the downstream-side fuel supply system to the tank side. A fuel hose joint is attached to the tank and includes: an insertion tube portion inserted into the tank and formed into a dual tube structure where an inner tube is covered by an outer tube; a first connection tube portion communicating with inside of the inner tube; and a second connection tube portion communicating with inside of the outer tube. A fuel suction hose is connected to one of the first and second connection tube portions, and a fuel return hose is connected to an other thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2022
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Junji Higashiyama, Takeshi Kamiyama, Tomoyuki Katayama
  • Patent number: 11293303
    Abstract: A connecting assembly comprising an air distribution housing, between an air inlet passage and at least one duct connected with the housing by at least one bush mounted on an orifice of a wall of the housing. The wall of the housing and an inner wall of the bush are connected by a fillet having a radius which is maximum over an angular sector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2022
    Assignee: Safran Aircraft Engines
    Inventors: Sébastien Jean Laurent Prestel, Baptiste Marie Aubin Pierre Jouy
  • Patent number: 11293368
    Abstract: A method for checking the function of a pressure sensor in the air intake tract or gas outlet tract of an internal combustion engine and to an engine control unit for carrying out the method and based on measuring dynamic pressure oscillations of the intake air or the exhaust gas by the relevant pressure sensor and, on the basis of the pressure oscillation signal obtained, respectively determining with the aid of a discrete Fourier transformation for a number of selected signal frequencies in each case a value of a specific operating characteristic of the internal combustion engine and deviation values of the values determined for the different signal frequencies from one another. Depending on whether deviation values determined fall below or exceed a predetermined limit value, the satisfactory function of the pressure sensor is confirmed, or a malfunction of the pressure sensor is diagnosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2022
    Assignee: Vitesco Technologies GmbH
    Inventors: Tobias Braun, Frank Maurer, Jürgen Dingl, Sven-Michael Eisen
  • Patent number: 11292474
    Abstract: A power generation control device includes: an internal combustion engine of a vehicle; a generator driven by the internal combustion engine to generate electricity; a power storage device charged by the generator; a gear mechanism that interconnects the internal combustion engine and the generator; a detection unit for detecting vehicle information of the vehicle; a power generation controller that sets a target power generation amount of the generator based on the vehicle information and calculates a target rotational speed of the internal combustion engine and a load torque of the generator according to the target power generation amount; and a rattle suppression controller which determines whether a rattle suppression control condition of the gear mechanism is satisfied or not based on the target power generation amount and raises the target rotational speed of the internal combustion engine to a predetermined rotation number when the condition is satisfied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2022
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI JIDOSHA KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Sosuke Nambu, Norihiko Ikoma, Masahiro Mizuno
  • Patent number: 11293370
    Abstract: A method for controlling a fuel injector of an engine system includes applying a pull-in current to close a spill valve of the fuel injector and detecting a timing at which the spill valve closes. The method also includes adjusting at least one of an amplitude of the pull-in current, a duration of the pull-in current, or a timing of a start of an application of the pull-in current based on the detected timing of the closing of the spill valve.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2022
    Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: Daniel R. Puckett, Andrew O. Marrack, Michael E. Sattler, Mitchell B. Juchems
  • Patent number: 11292450
    Abstract: A powertrain system includes an internal combustion engine, an electric motor, a battery and a control device. The control device is configured to: execute a control input determination processing to solve an optimization problem that minimizes a fuel consumption amount mf during the control time period while taking dynamics of a charging rate SOC as a constraint, and thereby calculate one or more control input values; and execute a system control processing. The control input determination processing includes: a co-state variable determination processing to update a co-state variable p for each time step while using, as an initial value thereof, a final value or an average value thereof during the last control time period; and a control input calculation processing to use the determined co-state variable p and search for and calculate, for each time step, the one or more control input values that minimize an Hamiltonian H.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hiroi Nagasawa, Yushi Shibaike