Patents by Inventor Masanari SUEOKA

Masanari SUEOKA has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20210231078
    Abstract: Provided is 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 an in-cylinder pressure specified by an in-cylinder pressure specification section is high than when the in-cylinder pressure is low.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 17, 2019
    Publication date: July 29, 2021
    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
  • Publication number: 20210231077
    Abstract: An engine apparatus includes an ignition control section and an injection control section. When the 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 the 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 the injector to inject fuel at such timing that the fuel exists in a cylinder at an earlier time point than the preceding ignition. Energy of the preceding ignition is set to be lower when a swirl flow is gentle than when the swirl flow is intense.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 23, 2019
    Publication date: July 29, 2021
    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
  • Publication number: 20210231076
    Abstract: A control apparatus for a compression-ignition type engine is applied to an engine capable of carrying out partial compression ignition combustion. When the partial compression ignition combustion is carried out, an ignition control section of the control apparatus causes an ignition plug to carry out: main ignition in which a spark is generated to initiate the SI combustion; and preceding ignition in which the spark is generated at an earlier time point than the main ignition. An injection control section causes the ignition plug to inject fuel in an intake stroke. The ignition control section sets energy of the preceding ignition to be lower than energy of the main ignition and causes the ignition plug to carry out the preceding ignition after the fuel injection in the intake stroke or an early period or a middle period of a compression stroke.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 19, 2019
    Publication date: July 29, 2021
    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
  • Publication number: 20210222642
    Abstract: An engine control apparatus includes an ignition control section and an injection control section. When the 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 a expansion stroke to initiate the 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 the injector to inject fuel at such timing that the fuel exists in a cylinder at an earlier time point than the preceding ignition. The energy of the preceding ignition is set to be higher when fuel concentration specified by a fuel concentration specification section is low than when the fuel concentration is high.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 23, 2019
    Publication date: July 22, 2021
    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
  • Publication number: 20210222610
    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. Timing of the preceding ignition is set to be more retarded when an engine speed is high than when the engine speed is low.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 17, 2019
    Publication date: July 22, 2021
    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
  • Publication number: 20210189945
    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: Application
    Filed: April 17, 2019
    Publication date: June 24, 2021
    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: 11002215
    Abstract: A controller for controlling a fuel injection valve and a fuel pressure adjustment mechanism integrates a deposition amount of deposits per unit time, and estimates a deposition amount of deposits on an injection hole of the fuel injection valve. The controller causes the fuel pressure adjustment mechanism to increase a fuel pressure, when the estimated deposition amount exceeds a predetermined value, and corrects the unit deposition amount acquired by the deposition amount estimation according to the set fuel injection timing of the fuel injection valve. The controller corrects such that as compared with the unit deposition amount when the fuel injection timing is set to a first timing away from a top dead center of the piston by a first period, the unit deposition amount decreases when the fuel injection timing is set to a second timing away by a second period longer than the first period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2021
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Takemoto, Michio Ito, Masanari Sueoka, Kazuhiro Nishimura, Kouji Hadama, Masataka Sumita, Masami Nishida
  • Patent number: 10995681
    Abstract: A combustion control device for an engine includes a plurality of cylinders, a surge tank disposed in an intake path to the cylinders, an independent intake passage connecting the surge tank and an intake port of each of the cylinders, a fuel injection valve that is disposed for each of the cylinders and that supplies fuel into each of the cylinders, and a control unit that controls a fuel injection amount of each of the fuel injection valves according to an engine operating state. The control unit corrects a target fuel injection amount of each of the cylinders, the target fuel injection amount being determined according to the engine operating state, based on a re-intake correction amount set in each of the cylinders according to a re-intake amount of intake air from the intake port in internal EGR in each of the cylinders.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 4, 2021
    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, Yusuke Kawai, Atsushi Inoue
  • Publication number: 20210115839
    Abstract: An engine control apparatus includes 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 the 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 the injector to inject fuel at such timing that the fuel exists in a cylinder at an earlier time point than the preceding ignition. Energy of the preceding ignition is set to be higher when an engine speed is high than when the engine speed is low.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 23, 2019
    Publication date: April 22, 2021
    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: 10982616
    Abstract: When the geometric compression ratio of an engine body is set to 13:1 or more and the engine body operates in a preset high load region, the effective compression ratio of the engine body is set to 12:1 or more with a difference from the geometric compression ratio being within 2, a gas to be introduced into a combustion chamber is supercharged by a supercharging system, fuel is injected at least in a compression stroke by an injector, and after the fuel injection is finished, an air-fuel mixture in the combustion chamber is ignited by an ignition device before the compression top dead center and is thus burned by flame propagation in the engine body, and then the unburned air-fuel mixture is burned by compression ignition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2021
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Atsushi Inoue, Masanari Sueoka, Yusuke Kawai, Tetsuya Chikada
  • Patent number: 10927749
    Abstract: A control device for an engine is provided, which includes a combustion controlling module, and an ignition retard determining module configured to determine whether there is a request for an ignition retard for retarding an ignition timing of an ignition plug. When the controlling module controls the ignition plug and an injector so that the SPCCI combustion is performed and there is not the ignition retard request, the controlling module executes a control in which the entire fuel to be injected in one cycle is injected in an intake stroke and a jump-spark ignition is carried out at a basic ignition timing, and when there is the ignition retard request, the controlling module executes a control in which an injection is performed in an intake stroke, a portion of the entire fuel is injected in a compression stroke, and the ignition timing is retarded from the basic ignition timing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2021
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Tatsuhiro Tokunaga, Masanari Sueoka, Keiji Maruyama, Tomohiro Nishida, Takuya Ohura, Toru Miyamoto, Junichi Taga, Hideki Omori, Kenji Tanimura, Hiroyuki Yabe
  • Patent number: 10920655
    Abstract: A control device is provided for an engine in which SPCCI combustion is carried out in which SI combustion of a portion of a mixture gas is performed by jump-spark ignition, and CI combustion of the remaining mixture gas is performed by self-ignition. When the engine is low load and a temperature is less than a given value, an early injection in which fuel is injected during an intake stroke and a retarded injection in which fuel is injected during the second half of a compression stroke are performed, and SPCCI combustion of A/F-lean mixture gas is performed. When the engine is low load and the temperature is greater than or equal to the given value, an injection amount ratio of the early injection is increased and the ratio of the retarded injection is decreased, and SPCCI combustion of A/F-lean mixture gas is performed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Keiji Maruyama, Takuya Ohura, Masanari Sueoka, Tatsuhiro Tokunaga, Toru Miyamoto, Tomohiro Nishida
  • Patent number: 10914244
    Abstract: A control device of an engine including a cylinder, a piston, a cylinder head, and a combustion chamber is provided, which includes intake and exhaust ports, a swirl control valve provided in an intake passage connected to the intake port, a fuel injection valve attached to the cylinder head to be oriented into the center of the combustion chamber in a plan view thereof, and having first and second nozzle ports, and a control unit. The control unit includes a processor configured to execute a swirl opening controlling module to output the control signal to the swirl control valve to have a given opening at which a swirl ratio inside the combustion chamber becomes 2 or above, and a fuel injection timing controlling module to output the control signal to the fuel injector to inject fuel at a given timing at which the swirl ratio becomes 2 or above.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2021
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Kota Matsumoto, Tomonori Urushihara, Masanari Sueoka, Keiji Maruyama, Toru Miyamoto, Yudai Koshiro, Gyetae Pak
  • Patent number: 10914259
    Abstract: A control device is provided for an engine in which premixed compression ignition combustion is carried out. The device includes an air amount adjusting mechanism, a variable valve mechanism, an exhaust choke valve, a water temperature sensor, and a processor. The processor controls the variable valve mechanism so that a valve overlap period of a given amount or more is formed in a low-load range where the engine load is low, and controls an injector, the air amount adjusting mechanism, and the exhaust choke valve so that A/F lean mixture gas is formed inside a combustion chamber, and premixed compression ignition combustion of the mixture gas is carried out. During the operation in the low-load range, the combustion controlling module makes an opening of the exhaust choke valve when a temperature parameter is low, smaller than that when the temperature parameter is high.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2021
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Keiji Maruyama, Takuya Ohura, Masanari Sueoka, Tatsuhiro Tokunaga, Toru Miyamoto, Tomohiro Nishida
  • Patent number: 10907550
    Abstract: This control apparatus of an engine includes an engine, a state quantity setting device, an injector, a spark plug, and a controller. The controller outputs a control signal to the spark plug at a predetermined ignition timing such that, after air-fuel mixture is ignited and combustion is started, unburned air-fuel mixture is combusted by autoignition, and the controller advances an ignition timing when the temperature before start of compression in a combustion chamber is to be reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2021
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Atsushi Inoue, Masanari Sueoka, Kota Matsumoto, Tomonori Urushihara
  • Patent number: 10895208
    Abstract: A control system for a compression-ignition engine is provided, which includes an engine configured to combust a mixture gas inside a combustion chamber by compression ignition, a fuel injector attached to the engine, a state function adjusting part attached to the engine and configured to adjust at least introduction of fresh air into the combustion chamber, a three-way catalyst provided in an exhaust passage of the engine, a wall temperature acquiring part configured to acquire a parameter related to a temperature of a wall of the combustion chamber, and a controller. A swirl flow is generated inside the combustion chamber to circle along the wall. When the wall temperature of the combustion chamber is below a given wall temperature, the controller sets an air-fuel ratio of the mixture gas substantially to a stoichiometric air-fuel ratio so as to remain within a purification window of the three-way catalyst.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 19, 2021
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Atsushi Inoue, Masanari Sueoka, Kota Matsumoto, Keiji Maruyama
  • Patent number: 10895214
    Abstract: A control system for a compression-ignition engine is provided, which includes the engine, a spark plug, a fuel injection valve, an air-fuel ratio control valve, and a control unit. A geometric compression ratio of the engine is 14:1 or above. The control unit includes a processor configured to execute an air-fuel ratio controlling module for, when the engine being in a given operating state is detected, controlling the air-fuel ratio control valve to bring the air-fuel ratio of the entire mixture gas to a given lean air-fuel ratio that is larger than a stoichiometric air-fuel ratio, and an spark plug controlling module for, after this control, outputting the control signal to the spark plug to perform the ignition at a given ignition timing so that the mixture gas starts combustion by flame propagation and then unburned mixture gas self-ignites. The given ignition timing is stored in a memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 19, 2021
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Atsushi Inoue, Masanari Sueoka, Kota Matsumoto, Keiji Maruyama
  • Patent number: 10876490
    Abstract: A controller for controlling a fuel injection valve and a fuel pressure adjustment mechanism sets an air-fuel ratio of a fuel-air mixture to be generated within a combustion chamber to be equal to or leaner than a theoretical air-fuel ratio, based on an operating condition of an engine; drives the fuel injection valve, based on the set air-fuel ratio; estimates a deposition amount of deposits on an injection hole of the fuel injection valve, based on an operating condition of the engine; causes the fuel pressure adjustment mechanism to increase the fuel pressure, when the estimated deposition amount of deposits exceeds a predetermined value; and restricts the fuel pressure from increasing, even when the estimated deposition amount of deposits exceeds the predetermined value, as long as the fuel-air ratio is set to an air-fuel ratio leaner than the theoretical fuel-air ratio.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Takemoto, Michio Ito, Masanari Sueoka, Kazuhiro Nishimura, Kouji Hadama, Masataka Sumita, Masami Nishida
  • Publication number: 20200370499
    Abstract: A controller for controlling a fuel injection valve and a fuel pressure adjustment mechanism sets an air-fuel ratio of a fuel-air mixture to be generated within a combustion chamber to be equal to or leaner than a theoretical air-fuel ratio, based on an operating condition of an engine; drives the fuel injection valve, based on the set air-fuel ratio; estimates a deposition amount of deposits on an injection hole of the fuel injection valve, based on an operating condition of the engine; causes the fuel pressure adjustment mechanism to increase the fuel pressure, when the estimated deposition amount of deposits exceeds a predetermined value; and restricts the fuel pressure from increasing, even when the estimated deposition amount of deposits exceeds the predetermined value, as long as the fuel-air ratio is set to an air-fuel ratio leaner than the theoretical fuel-air ratio.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 6, 2020
    Publication date: November 26, 2020
    Inventors: Kazuhiro TAKEMOTO, Michio ITO, Masanari SUEOKA, Kazuhiro NISHIMURA, Kouji HADAMA, Masataka SUMITA, Masami NISHIDA
  • Publication number: 20200370500
    Abstract: A controller for controlling a fuel injection valve and a fuel pressure adjustment mechanism integrates a deposition amount of deposits per unit time, and estimates a deposition amount of deposits on an injection hole of the fuel injection valve. The controller causes the fuel pressure adjustment mechanism to increase a fuel pressure, when the estimated deposition amount exceeds a predetermined value, and corrects the unit deposition amount acquired by the deposition amount estimation according to the set fuel injection timing of the fuel injection valve. The controller corrects such that as compared with the unit deposition amount when the fuel injection timing is set to a first timing away from a top dead center of the piston by a first period, the unit deposition amount decreases when the fuel injection timing is set to a second timing away by a second period longer than the first period.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 6, 2020
    Publication date: November 26, 2020
    Inventors: Kazuhiro TAKEMOTO, Michio ITO, Masanari SUEOKA, Kazuhiro NISHIMURA, Kouji HADAMA, Masataka SUMITA, Masami NISHIDA