Patents Examined by Susan E Scharpf
  • Patent number: 9617960
    Abstract: A fuel supply apparatus for an internal combustion engine includes: a feed pump capable of feeding a fuel of the internal combustion engine; a high pressure fuel pump that pressurizes the fuel fed from the feed pump; and a second injector that supplies the pressurized high-pressure fuel to the internal combustion engine selectively. An ECU of the fuel supply apparatus includes: a pulsation width detection unit that detects a pulsation width in a pressure of the fuel fed from the feed pump to the high pressure fuel pump; and a feeding condition determination unit that determines that a condition variation causing fuel vapor to form in the fuel fed to the high pressure fuel pump has occurred when the pulsation width detected by the pulsation width detection unit falls rapidly to a preset threshold variation width.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2017
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Kenichi Saito
  • Patent number: 9599043
    Abstract: A method for stopping an internal combustion engine, in which an air flow supplied via an air metering device, in particular a throttle valve of the internal combustion engine, is reduced after a stopping request has been ascertained, an undershoot point in time is ascertained, at which an ascertained speed of the internal combustion engine falls below a pre-definable speed threshold value, after the undershoot point in time, the air flow supplied via the air metering device of the internal combustion engine is increased again, the predefinable speed threshold value being selected in such a way that an intake cylinder no longer enters a compression stroke after the increase of the supplied air flow until the internal combustion engine is at a standstill, a degree of opening of the air metering device to increase the supplied air flow being selected as a function of a coasting speed of the internal combustion engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: ROBERT BOSCH GMBH
    Inventors: Karthik Rai, Stefan Hoefle
  • Patent number: 9599086
    Abstract: A method of controlling a fuel system includes determining the opening of a pressure relief valve and initiating a reseat strategy for the valve. The fuel system comprises a source of high pressure fuel and a pressure relief valve having at least one inlet fluidly coupled to the source of high pressure fuel and at least one outlet. The pressure relief valve has a closed position and at least one open position in which fuel is able to pass from the inlet to the outlet. The method comprises the steps of continuously measuring the pressure of the fuel in the fuel source, determining whether the pressure relief valve is in an open position, and generating an open signal if it is determined that the pressure relief valve is in an open position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: Perkins Engines Company Limited
    Inventor: Michael David Smith
  • Patent number: 9599088
    Abstract: In a system, an engine restating module is capable of executing an engine restart task to crank an automatically stopped engine if an engine restart condition is met. The engine restart task includes energization of a mechanism to thereby shift a pinion to be engaged with a ring gear, and energization of a motor to rotate the pinion. A deenergizing module is capable of deenergizing the motor if an interrupting request that interrupts restart of the automatically stopped engine is generated during execution of the engine restart task. A maintaining module is capable of maintaining energization of the mechanism to engage the pinion with the ring gear even if the interrupting request that interrupts restart of the automatically stopped engine is generated during execution of the engine restart task.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Takeshi Aoyagi
  • Patent number: 9599062
    Abstract: Various methods and systems are provided for adjusting a pilot injection during initial engine operation from vehicle manufacture. In one example, a method comprises delivering a first proportion of fuel as the pilot injection, and only decreasing the first proportion of fuel responsive to learning an injector flow characteristic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Michiel J. Van Nieuwstadt, Brien Lloyd Fulton, Aaron John Oakley
  • Patent number: 9599085
    Abstract: A fuel injection device injects fuel per each cylinder in an engine having a plurality of cylinders #1 and #2. At a time of engine actuation, start timings of fuel injections are shifted per each cylinder and times within one rotation of a crankshaft is set as the injection start timings for all cylinders. At least the initial fuel injection is performed before cylinder discrimination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: SUZUKI MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventor: Yukihiro Yoshikawa
  • Patent number: 9587577
    Abstract: When injecting fuel from a direct injector and a port injector such that a requested fuel injection amount for an internal combustion engine is reached, the direct injector is driven in the following manner. That is, target fuel injection amounts are set on the basis of the engine operating state in order from the fuel injection with the highest priority among fuel injection in a compression stroke, fuel injection in the late stage of an intake stroke, and fuel injection in the early stage of the intake stroke in the direct injector, and the abovementioned setting continues until the total value of the target fuel injection amounts reaches the requested fuel injection amount. Moreover, the direct injector is driven in such a manner that the target fuel injection amounts for each of the abovementioned fuel injections set in this manner are obtained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2017
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Tomohiro Nakano
  • Patent number: 9574539
    Abstract: The detection of the switching state of a stop switch at a switch terminal of an ignition device for an internal combustion engine is provided, in which an ignition pulse for controlling an electronic ignition switch is generated and a first power storage device is discharged via an ignition coil and during this discharge a voltage signal having negative and positive voltage half waves is generated, which is used for synchronizing a sampling, representing the switch state of the stop switch, particularly its closed position, of a voltage value at the switch terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2017
    Assignee: PRUEFREX engineering e motion GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Denis Lenz, Leo Kiessling
  • Patent number: 9541009
    Abstract: An air intake device offers simplified construction, reduced size, lowered cost, etc., while facilitating disposing of throttle body and driving part in intake air passage, allowing throttle body to be reliably held, and eliminating possible occurrence of intake air leakage, etc., thus positively securing the performance. The air intake device includes an actuator and an intake air manifold made of resin. In actuator, there are provided a throttle body, a throttle valve, a motor for opening/closing throttle valve, and a power transmission mechanism. Throttle valve and motor are positioned and held on one side of a support member, and power transmission mechanism is on the other side. In intake air manifold, a housing chamber is provided. When a fixing part of support member is jointed to a part to be fixed of intake air manifold, throttle body and motor are accommodated in a predetermined position in housing chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2017
    Assignee: MIKUNI CORPORATION
    Inventors: Etsuo Nishimura, Yasuhiro Tochigi, Hiroyuki Yanazawa
  • Patent number: 9512753
    Abstract: A cooling apparatus for EGR gas and engine oil may include coolant lines through which coolant circulates, an EGR heat exchange part provided between the coolant lines, wherein the EGR gas circulates through the EGR heat exchange part so as to exchange heat with the coolant, a bypass part spaced apart from the EGR heat exchange part, wherein the EGR gas circulates through the bypass part, or bypasses the bypass part so as not to exchange heat with the EGR heat exchange part, an oil heat exchange part provided on the coolant lines and spaced apart from the EGR heat exchange part, wherein engine oil circulates through the oil heat exchange part so as to exchange heat with the coolant, and a control valve provided at an entrance side of the EGR heat exchange part so as to control circulation of the EGR gas into the oil heat exchange part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2016
    Assignee: HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY
    Inventor: Jung Jae Han
  • Patent number: 9500174
    Abstract: An internal combustion engine includes a ring gear, a speed sensor operatively associated with the ring gear, and a change of mind (COM) starter motor mechanically linked to the internal combustion engine. The COM starter motor includes an armature and a pinion operatively connected to the armature. A solenoid is operatively connected to the COM starter motor. The solenoid selectively moves the pinion into engagement with the ring gear. An electronic control unit (ECU) is operatively connected to the speed sensor and the solenoid. The ECU is configured and disposed to indirectly detect a rotational speed of the pinion and selectively energize the solenoid to axially shift the pinion into engagement with the ring gear when the pinion reaches a particular rotational speed relative to a rotational speed of the ring gear.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2016
    Assignee: REMY TECHNOLOGIES, L.L.C.
    Inventors: German Holguin Pallares, Andrew Dragon, Kirk Neet
  • Patent number: 9488146
    Abstract: In a control apparatus for a general-purpose internal combustion engine including a generator as a power supply, the generator includes a main generator coil supplying power to the stepping motor, and an auxiliary generator coil supplying power to an ignition device of the engine. The apparatus includes ignition timing controller for, when starting the engine by a manual starter, detecting that an engine speed reaches or exceeds a predetermined engine speed not exceeding a connecting rotation speed of a centrifugal clutch to retard an ignition timing of the engine, thereby suppressing increase in the engine speed to less than the connecting rotation speed, and for restoring the ignition timing to its normal timing after a predetermined time elapses from start of retarding the ignition timing. Accordingly, it suppresses overshooting of an engine speed above the connecting rotation speed even if a delay occurs in closing a throttle valve by a delay in activating the motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2016
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tetsuya Arai, Toyokazu Kawasaki, Akihito Kasai, Kentaro Taniguchi
  • Patent number: 9488118
    Abstract: In a method of controlling the combustion of a combustion engine from an estimation of the burnt gas mass fraction in the intake manifold, a measurement relative to a fresh air flow rate or to a burnt gas flow rate is performed upstream from the mixing space where fresh air and burnt gas mix. The burnt gas mass fraction present in the mixing space is then estimated from the measurement and from a model of the mixing dynamics in this space. A transport delay between the space and the intake manifold is estimated. The mass fraction of burnt gas in the intake manifold is then deduced in real time. Finally, combustion is controlled from the burnt gas mass fraction in the intake manifold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2016
    Assignee: IFP ENERGIES NOUVELLES
    Inventors: Delphine Bresch-Pietri, Thomas Leroy, Jonathan Chauvin
  • Patent number: 9476376
    Abstract: A fuel injection controller includes an increase control portion applying the boost voltage to the coil to increase a coil current to a first target value, and a constant current control portion applying a voltage to the coil to hold the coil current to a second target value. A threshold is an energization time period that is necessary to reach a boundary point between a seat throttle area of a property line and an injection-port throttle area of the property line from an energization start time point. An initial-current applied time period is from the energization start time point that the boost voltage starts to be applied to the coil to a time point that the coil current is decreased to the second target value. The increase control portion controls the coil current such that the initial-current applied time period is less than the threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2016
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Keita Imai
  • Patent number: 9447742
    Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for expediting EGR purging in a hybrid vehicle during transient operations, such as tip-out to lower load conditions. In response to decreasing engine torque demand, engine fueling is disabled and a motor is used to spin the engine unfueled until a desired LP-EGR rate is achieved. Alternatively, engine operation is maintained with EGR disabled until the desired LP-EGR rate is achieved, and the excess engine torque generated is stored in a system battery.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2016
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Daniel Joseph Styles, James Alfred Hilditch, Stanley Larue Bower, Gopichandra Surnilla
  • Patent number: 9441549
    Abstract: A control device for internal combustion engine mounted in a vehicle includes a throttle valve provided in an intake passage of the internal combustion engine and capable of changing a cross-sectional area of the intake passage, a variable valve capable of changing opening and closing timings of an intake valve of the internal combustion engine, basic target torque calculation means for calculating a basic target torque of the internal combustion engine according to an operating state of the internal combustion engine, vibration control target torque calculation means for calculating a vibration control target torque of the internal combustion engine to suppress vehicle vibration according to a vibration component of the vehicle, and cylinder intake air amount control means for controlling a cylinder intake air amount by controlling one of the throttle valve and the variable valve according to the vibration control target torque and controlling the other of the throttle valve and the variable valve according
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2016
    Assignee: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Naoya Onozato, Masahiro Iriyama, Takahiro Yoshino, Masahiro Arai, Kenji Suzuki
  • Patent number: 9410497
    Abstract: An electrical control unit includes a constant voltage supply unit which supplies a constant voltage to a fuel injector, a boosted voltage supply unit which supplies a boosted voltage to the fuel injector, a control unit which controls supply timings of the constant voltage supply unit and the boosted voltage supply unit, and an interrupter which interrupts electric current when a short-circuit occurs in the boosted voltage supply unit. When an interruption of the interrupter is not detected, the boosted voltage supply unit supplies boosted voltage to start a fuel injection and the constant voltage supply unit supplies constant voltage to continue the fuel injection. When an interruption of the interrupter is detected, the constant voltage supply unit and the boosted voltage supply unit advance an interrupted power supply start timing relative to a non-interrupted power supply start timing to prevent delay of a fuel injection start timing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2016
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hiroki Igarashi, Toru Itabashi, Takahiko Furuta
  • Patent number: 9394839
    Abstract: A method for operating a combustion engine comprising charging and charge air cooling, wherein in a critical operating state the charge air volume flow through a charge air cooler is adjusted and/or temporally changed by means of at least one charge air cooler valve in such a manner that condensation water present in the charge air cooler and/or in the subsequent induction tract is fed only in harmless quantities successively into the combustion chamber and is thus discharged. The invention further relates to a combustion engine that can be operated according to the method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2016
    Assignee: AUDI AG
    Inventor: Christian Pfab
  • Patent number: 9394836
    Abstract: An internal combustion engine control apparatus includes a pseudo knock determination unit that determines whether or not a pseudo knock has been produced in a knock detection window, based on at least one of the frequency, a status amount indicating a rotation speed of the internal combustion engine, a status amount indicating a load of the internal combustion engine, and a status amount indicating an air-fuel ratio of the internal combustion engine; and a moving-average processing unit that sets a second period to a period that is approximately the same as a first period, in the case where it has been determined that the pseudo knock was not produced, and that does not implement moving-averaging or sets the second period to a period that is narrower than the first period, in the case where it has been determined that a pseudo knock was produced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2016
    Assignees: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Toshikatsu Saito, Takahiko Ono, Keitaro Ezumi, Tomokuni Kusunoki, Atsushi Inoue, Hiroki Morimoto
  • Patent number: 9389198
    Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for an engine coupled capacitance-based humidity sensor. Degradation of the humidity sensor may be determined based on humidity readings while flowing gasses into an engine intake air downstream of the humidity sensor and upstream of a compressor change by less than a first threshold while pressure at the sensor changes greater then a second threshold. The variation in pressure can be changed by adjusting a throttle upstream and downstream of the compressor based on whether the humidity sensor is degraded or functional.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2016
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Ross Dykstra Pursifull, Imad Hassan Makki, Timothy Joseph Clark, Michael James Uhrich, Pankaj Kumar