Including Cylinder Pressure Or Temperature Responsive Means Patents (Class 123/435)
  • Patent number: 10304570
    Abstract: Various embodiments are directed towards a nuclear latch assembly. The assembly includes a latch housing and a latch mechanism. The latch mechanism includes a projection member. The latch mechanism provides a biasing force on the projection member. Unless an opposing force on the projection member counterbalances the biasing force, the projection member at least partially projects from a surface of the latch housing. The assembly may include a biasing member that provides the biasing force on the projection member. The assembly may include a bolt. The bolt includes a longitudinal axis. A bore included in the housing is sized to receive the bolt. When the bore receives the bolt, the housing is rotatable about the longitudinal axis of the bolt. The latch mechanism includes a side bore that receives the projection member, the biasing member, and a disk intermediate the projection member and the biasing member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2019
    Assignee: NuScale Power, LLC
    Inventors: Seth Cadell, Tamas R. Liszkai
  • Patent number: 10281032
    Abstract: Under an abnormal determination, when a transmission gear stage is switched, a torque limit value is changed from a value before switching of the transmission gear stage to a value after switching thereof in a period in which this transmission gear stage is switched.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2019
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Tomohiro Asami, Masakazu Owatari, Takashi Miura, Yuki Murakami
  • Patent number: 10267251
    Abstract: A method for determining an air mass air in a cylinder of an internal combustion engine is disclosed. A first filling equivalent is determined during a compression phase of the cylinder, wherein the first filling equivalent corresponds to a first average pressure difference in a first angle range of a crank angle in the compression phase. A second filling equivalent is determined during an expansion phase of the cylinder, wherein the second filling equivalent corresponds to a second average pressure difference in a second angle range of the crank angle of the expansion phase. A differential filling equivalent is calculated by subtracting the first filling equivalent from the second filling equivalent. The air mass in the cylinder is determined based on the differential filling equivalent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2019
    Assignee: CONTINENTAL AUTOMOTIVE GMBH
    Inventors: Harry Schuele, Bjoern Knorr
  • Patent number: 10267246
    Abstract: An internal-combustion engine has an electronically-controlled one of a turbocharger and an exhaust-driven turbo supercharger coupled to an exhaust duct of the engine, and the engine is controlled during a shift event of a transmission coupled to an output shaft of the engine by determining a target engine speed at the end of the shift event, and controlling electrical energy supplied to an electric machine, rotatably coupled to a rotatable shaft that is rotatably coupled to the electronically-controlled turbocharger or exhaust-driven turbo supercharger, to control rotation of the rotatable shaft coupled to the turbocharger or exhaust-driven turbo supercharger to attain the target engine speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2019
    Assignee: BorgWarner Inc.
    Inventors: Tyler R. Garrard, Robert Merrion, John Kresse
  • Patent number: 10247633
    Abstract: In a combustion pressure sensor having built-in charge amplifier, signal line overheating and deterioration of detection accuracy is restricted. The combustion pressure sensor includes a sensor body that includes a piezoelectric element having one end connected to chassis ground through a housing and detects pressure in a combustion chamber of engine, and a charge amplifier that includes at least a voltage converting unit converting output of the sensor body into voltage signal and a reference voltage generating unit generating reference voltage supplied to the voltage converting unit and operates on power supplied from a signal processing unit disposed outside. The reference voltage generating unit includes a voltage generating circuit having a constant current circuit and a resistor connected in series. The voltage generating circuit has one end connected to power line extending from the signal processing unit, and the other end connected to the end of the piezoelectric element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takayuki Shibata, Kouji Ooya
  • Patent number: 10233799
    Abstract: An engine control device sets a target value for the engine oil temperature appropriately in an engine that uses gasoline as a fuel, even when the fuel does not have a single boiling point because the gasoline is a mixed composition, or when the fuel property changes (for example, when the vaporization property changes due to deterioration). In other words, the engine control device prevents excessive heating or insufficient heating by changing the oil temperature to the high side in a condition wherein the fuel being used does not easily vaporize, and changing the oil temperature to the low side in a condition wherein the fuel being used easily vaporizes. This engine control device includes an oil temperature controller that controls the temperature of oil lubricating the interior of the engine; a fuel supply device that supplies fuel to the engine; and a detector for detecting the property of the fuel. The temperature of the oil is controlled on the basis of a signal from the detector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2019
    Assignee: Hitachi Automotive Systems, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kenichiroh Ogata, Takashi Okamoto, Yoshinobu Arihara, Yoshihiro Sukegawa
  • Patent number: 10208691
    Abstract: A process and a system for preventing pre-ignition in an internal combustion engine (ICE) includes detecting an ionization level of a combusted gas from a cylinder of the ICE during gas exchange and for a given combustion cycle i. When the ionization level is greater than a reference ionization level a pre-ignition countermeasure prior to and/or during an immediate subsequent combustion cycle i+1 is executed. The ionization sensor may be part of a spark initiating device of the ICE or be a separate ionization sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 3, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2019
    Assignee: FEV GmbH
    Inventor: Patrick Haenel
  • Patent number: 10119486
    Abstract: An engine control device controls a cylinder direct fuel injection type spark ignition engine provided with a fuel injection valve configured to directly inject fuel to a cylinder and an ignition plug configured to perform spark ignition for a gas mixture inside the cylinder. In a case where it is necessary to warm up an exhaust gas purifying catalyst disposed in an exhaust passage, the engine control device executes a catalyst warm-up operation in which a fuel is injected at a timing during the compression stroke, and at a timing when the fuel spray colliding with the piston crown surface moves toward the ignition plug along the shape of the piston crown surface, and in which the ignition timing is after compression top dead center. The engine control device advances the fuel injection timing in accordance with an increase in an estimation amount of a liquid fuel remaining on the top surface of the piston during execution of the catalyst warm-up operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2018
    Assignee: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yoshihiro Imaoka, Takeshi Tsuyuki, Takao Inoue
  • Patent number: 10113499
    Abstract: An ECU has a fuel pressure sensor that detects fuel pressure inside of a common rail. The ECU detects the fuel pressure at a predetermined frequency and calculates a drop amount of the fuel pressure in accordance with fuel injection by fuel injectors based on the detected fuel pressure. The ECU acquires a fluctuation amount of a fuel injection amount of each of the fuel injectors based on the drop amount of the fuel pressure and learns an injection characteristic of each of the fuel injectors, the injection characteristic indicating a correlation between the fuel injection amount and the fluctuation amount of the fuel injection. In a case in which a detection timing of the fuel pressure is within a fuel injection period of a predetermined fuel injector, the ECU disallows the learning of the injection characteristic using the fuel pressure detected in the fuel injection period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2018
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Akihiro Okamoto
  • Patent number: 10100719
    Abstract: A GDCI engine control system provides rapid heating of intake air to the combustion chamber when the engine is cold. The engine uses an intake air pathway that includes a compressor having a compressor inlet and a compressor outlet. A loop fluidly connects the compressor outlet to the compressor inlet. First and second valves are arranged in the loop and are arranged near the compressor outlet and the compressor inlet respectively. First and second passages converge at a first junction, and the first passage fluidly connects the first valve and the first junction. The second passage fluidly connects to the loop at a second junction arranged fluidly between the first and second valves. An intake air heat exchanger is arranged in the first passage and fluidly between the first valve and the first junction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2018
    Assignee: DELPHI TECHNOLOGIES IP LIMITED
    Inventor: Wayne R. Moore
  • Patent number: 10067033
    Abstract: A method for estimating pressures at a gas engine using a real-time model-based observer is implemented by a pressure estimation computing device. The method includes receiving a design schema describing an intake manifold and a plurality of components associated with the gas engine, segmenting the design schema into a plurality of segments defining a plurality of sections of the gas engine, defining a fluid dynamics model associated with each of the plurality of segments, defining a plurality of interconnected elements based on the plurality of fluid dynamics models, receiving at least one pressure measurement from at least one of a plurality of sensors associated with each of the sections of the gas engine, estimating a plurality of pressure values at each section of the gas engine, and controlling fuel injection to at least one gas cylinder based on the estimated plurality of pressure values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2018
    Assignee: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
    Inventors: Rogier Sebastiaan Blom, Herbert Kopecek, Sharath Sridhar Aramanekoppa, Johannes Huber
  • Patent number: 10060363
    Abstract: There can be provided an engine control apparatus having a controller operable to receive input from a heat flux sensor arranged to measure combustion power within an internal combustion engine and to use said input in a control process to determine an adjustment to a controllable engine operation parameter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2018
    Assignee: Lappeenranta University of Technology
    Inventors: Juha Jaakko Pyrhonen, Raimo Juntunen, Tatu Musikka, Olli Pyrhonen, Andrey Mityakov, Sergey Z. Sapozhnikov, Vladimir Y. Mityakov
  • Patent number: 10006397
    Abstract: A data analyzer for analyzing characterization data to form fuel injection control, including a data obtainer that obtains data from a detection signal of a sensor as a time-series data that changes over time. The data analyzer further includes a differentiator that differentiates the time-series data obtained by the data obtainer, a moving averager that calculates a moving average of the differentiated time-series data by the differentiator, an identifier that identifies a waveform of the time-series data based on the moving average calculated by the moving averager, and a data characterizer characterizes the time-series data based on the waveform of the time-series data identified by the identifier. As such, noise is removed as much as possible, and characteristics of time-series data become analyzable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 26, 2018
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Naoyuki Yamada, Ken Uchiyama
  • Patent number: 10001052
    Abstract: Where a relationship between maximum heat release rate timing and a first combustion period length (that is, a reference relationship) in the case where an engine rotation speed of a spark-ignition internal combustion engine is a selected speed and a valve opening characteristic of an intake valve is a reference characteristic is expressed by the function are f=f(?dQpeak) where ?dQpeak denotes the maximum heat release rate timing and aref denotes the first combustion period length, when the valve opening characteristic of the intake valve changes to a specific characteristic from this state, a first combustion period length for selected maximum heat release rate timing is estimated on the basis of the mathematical expression a=f(?2)+?a1 where ?2 denotes the selected maximum heat release rate timing and a denotes the first combustion period length.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2018
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Munenori Imaeda
  • Patent number: 9989003
    Abstract: Various methods and systems are provided for diagnosing a condition of a cylinder of an engine. In one example, a method includes adjusting recirculated exhaust gas responsive to a determined emission value and indicating insufficient combustion of one or more engine cylinders based on an amount by which the recirculated exhaust gas is adjusted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2018
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventor: Milan Palinda Karunaratne
  • Patent number: 9964061
    Abstract: The engine controlling apparatus includes a selector and a changer. The selector selects one of a plurality of injection modes according to the operating condition of an engine, where injection rates of a plurality of injectors differ among the injection modes. The changer changes a map specifying a reference value of a detection signal detected by a first sensor according to the injection mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2018
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI JIDOSHA KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Akihiro Tsuchiya, Mitsuhiro Yuasa, Kensuke Kondo, Yuji Sato
  • Patent number: 9957910
    Abstract: A diagnostic system for an engine includes: a plurality of cylinders, in-cylinder injectors, port injectors and an electronic control unit. The electronic control unit configured to make an abnormality diagnosis of an air-fuel ratio due to the in-cylinder injectors and then to make an abnormality diagnosis of the air-fuel ratio due to the port injectors. The electronic control unit is configured to make an abnormality diagnosis of the air-fuel ratio due to the in-cylinder injectors in an operating situation in which fuel is injected from only the in-cylinder injectors, and to make an abnormality diagnosis of the air-fuel ratio due to the port injectors by increasing a ratio of an injection amount of the port injectors when the electronic control unit has diagnosed that there is an abnormality of the air-fuel ratio in an operating situation in which fuel is injected from both the in-cylinder injectors and the port injectors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Takashi Matsumoto
  • Patent number: 9932920
    Abstract: A control device includes a cylinder pressure sensor, a driving condition detector, a reference crank angle setter, a reference cylinder pressure calculator, an EGR ratio estimator, and a controller. The cylinder pressure sensor detects a cylinder pressure inside a cylinder. The driving condition detector detects a driving condition in an internal combustion engine. The reference crank angle setter calculates, according to the driving condition, a reference crank angle immediately before which mixture gas starts combusting. The reference cylinder pressure calculator calculates a reference cylinder pressure at the reference crank angle based on temperature characteristics of a heat capacity ratio of the mixture gas under a condition. The EGR ratio estimator calculates an EGR ratio based on a pressure difference between the reference cylinder pressure and the cylinder pressure at the reference crank angle. The controller controls the internal combustion engine according to the EGR ratio.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2018
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shinichi Okunishi, Ken Ogawa
  • Patent number: 9926873
    Abstract: An internal combustion engine control apparatus includes a cylinder pressure sensor, a driving condition detector, a reference crank angle setter, a reference cylinder pressure calculator, an air-fuel ratio estimator, and a controller. The cylinder pressure sensor detects a cylinder pressure. The driving condition detector detects a driving condition in an engine. The reference crank angle setter calculates a reference crank angle immediately before which an air-fuel mixture starts combusting in accordance with the driving condition. The reference cylinder pressure calculator calculates a reference cylinder pressure in the cylinder at the reference crank angle based on temperature characteristics of a specific-heat ratio of the air-fuel mixture under a condition. The air-fuel ratio estimator calculates an air-fuel ratio based on a pressure difference between the reference cylinder pressure and the cylinder pressure at the reference crank angle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2018
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shinichi Okunishi, Ken Ogawa
  • Patent number: 9863339
    Abstract: An engine control apparatus includes an engine information detector for detecting engine information including an engine speed, a fuel amount, an air amount, a boost pressure, injection timing, an intake air temperature, an atmospheric pressure, and an atmospheric temperature, a combustion pressure sensor for detecting a combustion pressure of an engine, and a controller performing an IMEP control for adjusting a main injection amount and a combustion noise control for adjusting a pilot injection amount by using the engine information detected by the engine information detector and the combustion pressure detected by the combustion pressure sensor, and calculating a final main injection correction amount and a final pilot injection correction amount by using an IMEP pilot correction amount and an IMEP correction amount outputted from the IMEP control and a combustion noise correction amount outputted from the combustion noise control.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2018
    Assignee: HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY
    Inventor: Kyoungchan Han
  • Patent number: 9840998
    Abstract: An engine control system includes first and second control modules. The first control module determines a fuel combustion parameter. The second control module determines a fuel delivery parameter based on the fuel combustion parameter. The fuel combustion parameter includes at least one of (i) a total amount of heat released by a volume of fuel during a combustion cycle and (ii) a rate at which heat is released during the combustion cycle. The fuel delivery parameter includes at least one of (i) a duration of time over which the volume of fuel is delivered to a cylinder, (ii) a time at which a fuel injector starts delivering the volume of fuel to the cylinder, and (iii) a fuel pressure in a fuel rail.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2017
    Assignee: AVL POWERTRAIN ENGINEERING, INC.
    Inventors: Gustav R. Johnson, Gary L. Hunter
  • Patent number: 9835514
    Abstract: An internal combustion engine knock determining device includes a vibration detector that produces a signal corresponding to engine vibration, an intensity computing unit that retrieves vibrational components in a plurality of frequency regions in which vibration intensity peaks are located when knock occurs, a background-noise computing unit that calculates background noise caused by factors other than knock, a frequency computing unit that determines specific frequency regions from which to determine whether knock is occurring by excluding certain frequency regions designated as frequency regions requiring exclusion due to the intensity of false-detection causing noise as a proportion of the background noise in the certain regions, and a knock determining unit that determines the occurrence of knock based on the vibration intensity in the specific frequency regions obtained by excluding the frequency regions requiring exclusion, wherein the number of specific frequency regions is increased to improve the ac
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2017
    Assignee: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Yuji Sasaki
  • Patent number: 9816446
    Abstract: A knock determination apparatus for an internal combustion engine calculates a knock intensity based on an output signal of an in-cylinder pressure sensor in a gate range for knock determination. When the calculated knock intensity is larger than a knock determination threshold value, the knock determination apparatus determines that knock has occurred. Further, the knock determination apparatus calculates an integrated intensity which is an integrated value of knock intensities that are equal to or larger than a knock intensity at a point of 97% or more in a target knock level among knock intensities that are calculated at the respective cycles during continuous N cycles in the same cylinder. Furthermore, the knock determination apparatus corrects a knock determination threshold value so that the difference between the calculated integrated intensity and a target integrated intensity becomes small.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2017
    Assignees: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, FUJITSU TEN LIMITED
    Inventors: Yoshihiro Sakayanagi, Sumiaki Hashimoto
  • Patent number: 9816454
    Abstract: A system for controlling an engine based on piston temperature deviation includes a piston temperature estimation module that estimates a piston temperature based on engine operating conditions, a piston temperature deviation estimation module that estimates a deviation of the estimated piston temperature from a steady-state piston temperature, and an engine control module that determines an engine control parameter based upon the estimated piston temperature deviation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2017
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Jeremy J. Anderson, Jonathan T. Shibata, Sharon X. Li
  • Patent number: 9797364
    Abstract: A method for operating a combustion engine is disclosed. In an embodiment, the method includes: generating several sparks to ignite a fuel-air mixture in a combustion chamber by an ignition device of the combustion engine, determining a combustion duration of at least one of the sparks, detecting a deviation of an actual operation from a target operation of the combustion engine at least depending on the combustion duration, compensating for the deviation by implementing at least one measure which influences a combustion of the fuel-air mixture in the combustion chamber, determining the combustion duration of the chronological first of the sparks, allocating the first spark to a first spark type or to a second spark type depending on the combustion duration, and implementing the at least one measure if at least one value which characterizes a frequency of one of the spark types exceeds a threshold value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2017
    Assignee: Daimler AG
    Inventors: Dietmar Bertsch, Harald Ott, Uwe Schaupp
  • Patent number: 9776134
    Abstract: In an internal combustion engine of the present invention, an exhaust purification catalyst (13) and a hydrocarbon supply valve (15) are disposed in an engine exhaust path, and NOx contained in exhaust gas is purified by injecting hydrocarbon from the hydrocarbon supply valve (15) at a predetermined cycle. With respect to the injection amount per unit time of the hydrocarbon from the hydrocarbon supply valve (15), there is a difference provided between the first half and the second half of one injection time period, and in the first-half injection time period (Y), the injection amount per unit time of hydrocarbon is made to be less as compared to the second-half injection time period (X).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2017
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Toru Uenishi, Kohei Yoshida, Mikio Inoue
  • Patent number: 9765709
    Abstract: An in-cylinder pressure sensor detecting in-cylinder pressure is provided. A first crank angle and a second crank angle in the adiabatic compression stroke are set using an in-cylinder-pressure-maximum crank angle as a baseline, and an absolute pressure correction value is calculated using the in-cylinder pressure and in-cylinder volume at each of these crank angles. A crank angle advanced from the in-cylinder-pressure-maximum crank angle is set as the second crank angle in a manner so as to be a timing in the adiabatic compression stroke on the retard side with respect to the spark timing, and is used for the absolute pressure correction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2017
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masakatsu Nagai, Hiromichi Yasuda
  • Patent number: 9752495
    Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for cleaning out condensate stored at a charge air cooler. In response to increased condensate accumulation at a charge air cooler, airflow through the engine is increased to purge the condensate while an engine actuator is adjusted to maintain engine torque. Combustion stability issues of engine cylinders are addressed by adjusting fueling of each cylinder individually during condensate ingestion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2017
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Chris Paul Glugla, Kristofor Robert Norman, Shuya Shark Yamada
  • Patent number: 9745928
    Abstract: A pressure adjuster may connect with a supply path connecting a fuel supply device and a fuel use device. The pressure adjuster may comprise a pressure chamber communicating with the supply path located closer to the fuel supply device than a check valve of the supply path, a communication chamber communicating with the supply path located closer to the fuel use device than the check valve, a valve member including a first pressure-receiving surface and switching between an open state and a closed state by pressure of fuel inside of the pressure chamber at the first pressure-receiving surface, a discharge path communicating with the communication chamber and configured to discharge fuel flowing from the communication chamber to outside of the casing when the valve member is in the open state, and a constriction portion disposed in the discharge path and constricting a cross section area of the discharge path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2017
    Assignee: AISAN KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Yoshihiko Honda
  • Patent number: 9732293
    Abstract: A fuel composition having a boiling range of between 95 to 440 degrees Fahrenheit containing (a) a saturates content below 55 vol %; (b) a RON of from about 88 to about 91; (c) an olefins content of from about 0 to about 5 vol %; (d) an aromatics content of from about 32 to about 40 vol %; (e) an ethanol content of from about 8 to about 16 vol %; (f) an octane sensitivity of from about 8 to about 11; and the fuel composition is used in an HCCI engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2017
    Assignee: Chevron U.S.A. Inc.
    Inventors: Richard J. Peyla, William J. Cannella
  • Patent number: 9702785
    Abstract: An engine failure diagnosis system simply performs failure diagnosis of engine components, which are driven while an engine is operating, even at the time when the engine is stopped, and identifies a component that has failed and a location where a failure has occurred. The engine failure diagnosis system includes an ECM arranged to control an engine provided in an outboard motor of a watercraft. The ECM includes an actuation command section arranged to actuate engine components, which are driven while the engine is running, in a given manner, and a failure diagnosis section arranged to diagnose the presence of a failure in the engine components. The engine components of the engine are provided with actuated condition detecting sections arranged to detect a predetermined actuated condition. When the actuation command section outputs an actuation command while the engine is stopped, the engine components are actuated in a given manner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2017
    Assignee: YAMAHA HATSUDOKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Kenichi Fujino
  • Patent number: 9650982
    Abstract: A fuel control system of a vehicle includes a first storing module that, in response to receipt of a vehicle shutdown command, stores a first temperature of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) within an LPG fuel rail of an engine and a first pressure of LPG within the LPG fuel rail. A second storing module, in response to receipt of a vehicle startup command, stores a second temperature of LPG within the LPG fuel rail and a second pressure of LPG within the LPG fuel rail. A butane module determines an amount of butane in the LPG based on the first temperature, the first pressure, the second temperature, and the second pressure. A fuel control module controls LPG fueling of the engine based on the amount of butane in the LPG.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2017
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
    Inventors: Xiaoyue Sherry Fang, Karl H. Kozole
  • Patent number: 9638110
    Abstract: A natural gas engine equipped with a mechanism that introduces exhaust gas into a cylinder during an intake stroke, and in which an amount of diesel fuel injected into a cylinder is set to a diesel fuel amount for idling condition across an entire operating region of an engine, engine output is increased or decreased by increasing or decreasing an amount of a natural gas fuel, and fuel injection of the diesel fuel into a cylinder is performed using multi-injection in a high load region in which the accelerator opening degree is greater than a preset first opening degree.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: ISUZU MOTORS LIMITED
    Inventor: Toshitaka Minami
  • Patent number: 9628006
    Abstract: An apparatus includes a motor driver configured to drive a motor across a pair of input terminals to the motor and a current sense unit configured to sense the motor's electrical current amplitude. Further, an angular frequency extractor is operatively coupled to the motor driver and the current sense unit and configured to detect discontinuities in the motor's electrical current amplitude. The angular frequency extractor also is configured to determine a time period for one complete revolution of a rotor of the motor and to generate a feedback signal based on the determined period to control an angular frequency of the motor. The feedback signal may be used to adjust how the motor is being driven (e.g., to slow the motor down or speed it up).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2017
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: David Hernandez, Gregory Charles Amidon, David John Baldwin, Brandon J. Beckham
  • Patent number: 9624854
    Abstract: A method for fuel injection of an engine system may include detecting driving information, including a combustion pressure in a combustion chamber, a heat generation amount in the combustion chamber, a crank angle, and a pressure/temperature/air amount of an intake manifold and an exhaust manifold, setting a fuel amount and injection timing with respect to a pilot injection as map data from an internal temperature, determining whether a maximum combustion pressure change rate is greater than a predetermined pressure change rate, determining generation timing of the maximum combustion pressure change rate, when the maximum combustion pressure change rate is greater than the predetermined pressure change rate, and decreasing a fuel amount of the pilot injection when the maximum combustion pressure change rate is generated during the pilot injection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2017
    Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company
    Inventors: JangSu Lee, Hyo Sang Cho, Hyoung Hyoun Kim
  • Patent number: 9599037
    Abstract: A control apparatus of an internal combustion engine which is capable of a lean burn operation and which includes a catalyst which is provided in an exhaust passage of the internal combustion engine and which has an oxidizing ability, a supercharger; an in-passage injection valve which injects fuel into an intake passage; an in-cylinder injection valve which injects fuel into a cylinder, and a variable valve apparatus which changes at least one of an opening timing of an intake valve and a closing timing of an exhaust valve. The control apparatus performs creating a valve overlap that is a state where the intake valve and the exhaust valve of the internal combustion engine are opened, completing an injection of fuel from the in-passage injection valve during a period in which the intake valve is closed, and completing an injection of fuel from the in-cylinder injection valve during an intake stroke when intake air pressure of the internal combustion engine is higher than atmospheric pressure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Hiroyuki Hokuto
  • Patent number: 9556816
    Abstract: In a system, a fuel supply increasing unit increases, upon determination that abnormal combustion takes place in at least one cylinder, a quantity of fuel to be supplied into the at least one cylinder in comparison to a quantity of fuel to be supplied into the same cylinder in which no abnormal combustion takes place. A vibration determiner determines whether a level of vibrations of a vehicle has reached a predetermined level. A disabling unit disables, upon determination that the level of vibrations of the vehicle has reached the predetermined level while the fuel supply increasing unit is increasing the quantity of fuel to be supplied into the at least one cylinder, the fuel supply increasing unit from increasing the quantity of fuel to be supplied into the at least one cylinder.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2017
    Assignee: SUZUKI MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventor: Shunsuke Yamana
  • Patent number: 9556810
    Abstract: The present disclosure includes a system and method for regulating exhaust gas recirculation (“EGR”) in an engine. In one embodiment, the system may include a knock sensor coupled to the engine that sends a signal corresponding to at least one operating condition of the engine to a controller. The controller may estimate an amount of EGR gas administered to the engine and regulate the amount of EGR gas being administered to the engine when the estimated amount of EGR gas is not an effective amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2017
    Assignee: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
    Inventor: Jeffrey Jacob Bizub
  • Patent number: 9556818
    Abstract: A two-stroke uniflow engine is provided with: a cylinder; a piston; an exhaust valve that is opened and closed in order to discharge exhaust gas that is generated inside the cylinder; a scavenging port that takes active gas into the interior of the cylinder in accordance with a sliding movement of the piston; a fuel injection port that is provided in the internal circumferential surface of the cylinder; a fuel injection valve that injects fuel gas into the fuel injection port; and a fuel injection control unit that executes control of the injection of the fuel gas in the fuel injection valve, wherein the fuel injection control unit decides at least one of an injection pressure and an injection time of the fuel injection valve based on a change in pressure inside the cylinder that is caused by a reciprocating movement of the piston.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2017
    Assignee: IHI CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takayuki Yamada, Takayuki Hirose, Yasunori Ashikaga, Takahiro Kuge, Takeshi Yamada
  • Patent number: 9556845
    Abstract: Methods and systems for utilizing heated fuel to compensate for a low cetane number, cetane number variance and sub-optimal engine cold-start performance in internal combustion engines are disclosed herein. Systems comprise a heater, a sensor, and an engine control unit (“ECU”). Methods can comprise detecting variables that affect combustion, calculating conditions inside a combustion chamber, determining the difference between current ignition delay and a desired ignition delay, estimating a cetane number of a fuel, and using the data to determine a suitable temperature that will compensate for cetane number and improve the ignition delay. Other methods comprise sending a signal to a heater in communication with a fuel injection system such that said heater warms fuel within the fuel injection system prior to injecting the fuel into a combustion chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2017
    Assignee: EcoMotors, Inc.
    Inventor: Shizuo Sasaki
  • Patent number: 9506419
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a method of controlling combustion noise of diesel fuel. The method includes steps of setting a first target value indicating a crank angle at a maximum heat release rate and a second target value indicating a combustion noise index; calculating the value of X, which is the difference between a crank angle under the current conditions of a vehicle and the first target value and calculating the value of Y, which is the difference between a combustion noise index under the current conditions of the vehicle and the second target value; setting a third target value indicating a value of Y for the value of X, and calibrating the amount of pilot fuel injected into an engine according to the difference between the value of Y and the third target value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2016
    Assignee: HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY
    Inventor: In Soo Jung
  • Patent number: 9488125
    Abstract: A control device of a direct-injection engine is provided. The control device includes an engine body having a piston provided inside a cylinder and a combustion chamber formed by the cylinder and the piston, an injector for injecting fuel into the combustion chamber, an ozone generator for generating ozone inside the combustion chamber, and a controller for controlling the injector and the ozone generator. The controller controls the injector to inject a first amount of the fuel and, after this fuel is ignited, to inject a second amount of the fuel, and the controller controls the ozone generator to generate ozone in synchronization with the fuel injection that is performed by the injector after the fuel ignition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2016
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Masahiko Fujimoto, Noriyuki Ota, Masatoshi Seto
  • Patent number: 9476367
    Abstract: A method that protects a direct injection fuel injector in a multi-fuel engine comprises selectively operating the engine with at least one of a directly injected fuel introduced through the direct injection fuel injector and a second fuel. When fuelling the multi-fuel engine with the second fuel, a fuel system protection technique is selectively commanded when one or more adverse conditions, such as the direct injection fuel injector requiring cooling, is determined to exist. The fuel system protection technique comprises (a) suspending fuelling with the second fuel and injecting the directly injected fuel for a first predetermined number of engine cycles, and (b) switching back to fuelling the multi-fuel engine with the second fuel for a second predetermined number of engine cycles. The first and second predetermined number of engine cycles are selected to keep torque disturbances below a predetermined threshold value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2016
    Assignees: WESTPORT POWER INC., GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Mark E. Dunn, Craig Marriott, Ning Wu, Dehong Zhang, Raymond Bzymek, Joshua Cowgill, Ben Moscherosch
  • Patent number: 9458779
    Abstract: An engine control system of a vehicle includes a manifold temperature module, a runner temperature module. The manifold temperature module determines a first temperature of gas in an intake manifold of an engine. The runner temperature module determines a second temperature of gas in an intake runner associated with a cylinder based on the first temperature of the gas in the intake manifold. The engine control system further includes at least one of: a fuel control module that controls fueling of the cylinder based on the second temperature of the gas in the intake runner; and a spark control module that controls spark of the cylinder based on the second temperature of the gas in the intake runner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2016
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
    Inventors: Daniel G. Brennan, Gregory P. Matthews, Layne K. Wiggins
  • Patent number: 9429096
    Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for controlling a vehicle engine to reduce cycle-to-cycle combustion variation. A predictive model is applied to predict cycle-to-cycle combustion behavior of an engine based on observed engine performance variables. Conditions are identified, based on the predicted cycle-to-cycle combustion behavior, that indicate high cycle-to-cycle combustion variation. Corrective measures are then applied to prevent the predicted high cycle-to-cycle combustion variation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2016
    Assignees: Robert Bosch GmbH, The Regents of the University of Wisconsin
    Inventors: Erik Hellstrom, Anna Stefanopoulou, Li Jiang, Jacob Larimore
  • Patent number: 9371795
    Abstract: During high-load operation of an engine, fuel for initial slow-burning combustion and premixed combustion is injected into a combustion chamber by continuous fuel injection, then fuel injection is paused, and fuel for diffusion combustion is injected after a predetermined interval has elapsed. Also, the fuel injection amount in the continuous fuel injection is set higher than the fuel injection amount for diffusion combustion. A spray autointerference cooling effect is achieved by the continuous fuel injection, thus promoting ignition delay so as to increase the proportion of premixed combustion, thereby suppressing the production of smoke. This enables high-volume EGR to be performed, thus enabling reducing the amount of NOx produced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2016
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Mitsuhiro Nada
  • Patent number: 9359969
    Abstract: A method for regulating HCCI combustion of fuel in a reactor of an internal combustion engine is described in which a multivariable regulation is used, manipulated variable changes ?uk for the instantaneous regulating cycle k being determined on the basis of at least system deviations ?xk-1 and manipulated variable changes ?uk-1 of a preceding regulating cycle k?1.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2016
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Axel Loeffler, Wolfgang Fischer, Roland Karrelmeyer, Gerald Graf
  • Patent number: 9334799
    Abstract: A method of real-time estimation of the intensity of the knocking of an internal combustion engine utilizing a vibratory sensor is disclosed which is useful for control of internal combustion. A vibratory signal representing vibrations of the engine is continuously acquired as a function of the crankshaft angle. A model of a wave equation propagating through the cylinder-head is constructed. The coefficients of a Fourier decomposition of the vibratory signal are determined in real time by inverting the dynamics of the wave equation model using an estimator. The energy contained in the signal is computed by summing the squares of the coefficients of the Fourier decomposition. A parameter correlated with the intensity of knocking equal to the square root of the maximum of the energy is determined in real time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2016
    Assignee: IFP ENERGIES NOUVELLES
    Inventor: Jonathan Chauvin
  • Patent number: 9284884
    Abstract: A trapped burned gas fraction is controlled in a two-stroke cycle opposed-piston engine with uniflow scavenging by adjusting an external EGR setpoint in real time. The adjusted setpoint is used to control EGR flow in the engine's air handling system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2016
    Assignee: ACHATES POWER, INC.
    Inventors: Nishit Nagar, Donovan M. Quimby
  • Patent number: 9273622
    Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for reducing pre-ignition incidence in a variable displacement engine during reactivation from a VDE mode. During conditions when one or more deactivated cylinders are reactivated to elevated engine loads, the reactivated cylinder(s) may be temporarily and preemptively enriched to reduce the possibility of cylinder pre-ignition. The preemptive enrichment is learned and further adjusted in a closed loop fashion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2016
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Chris Paul Glugla