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US5584277A Expired / Lapsed US ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Fuel delivery system with wall wetting history and transient control

Assignee: FCA US LLC
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Filing: 1995-09-26
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Granted: 1996-12-17
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Expires: 2015-09-26
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Abstract

Abstract The fuel delivery control system monitors engine speed and load parameters to develop a wall wetting history that is indicative of the physical state of the fuel within the intake port or intake manifold. The wall wetting history is used along with engine speed, temperature and pressure measurements to determine the pulse width of the fuel injector signal. Fuel to air ratio is thereby optimized. Transient conditions due to changes in engine load or due to acceleration and deceleration are used to generate a pulse width correction signal to optimize performance on a cycle by cycle basis. Each engine cylinder injector may be independently controlled.

Inventors

  • 👤 Gang Chen
  • 👤 Michael T. Vincent
  • 👤 Terry R. Gutermuth
  • 👤 Michael W. Weglarz

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction US
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-04 04:02
CPC Classifications
F; F02; F02D; F02D41/00; F02D41/30; F02D41/32; F02D41/34; F02D41/02; F02D41/04; F02D41/047; F02D41/10; F02D41/107; F02D2200/00; F02D2200/02; F02D2200/04; F02D2200/0402; F02D2200/0406; F02D2200/0408; F02D2200/0411; F02D2200/0414; Y; Y02; Y02T; Y02T10/00; Y02T10/10; Y02T10/40

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 31
Claim 1
Independent Claim 192 words
A system for controlling fuel quantity injected in a fuel injection system for an internal combustion engine, comprising: an engine speed sensor for reading the engine speed of said internal combustion engine; an engine load sensor for reading the engine load of said internal combustion engine; a fuel quantity selector coupled to said engine speed sensor and to said engine load sensor; and a history generator coupled to said fuel quantity selector for generating a fuel intake port wall wetting history in said internal combustion engine; said history generator generating said fuel intake port wall wetting history as a function of each of the following fuel physical states: (a) fuel vapor, (b) fuel droplets suspended in fuel vapor, and (c) fuel liquid, and wherein said wall wetting history is a further function of: fuel droplet vaporization, rue liquid flow, and fuel burn fraction corresponding to the percentage of unburned fuel remaining in the cylinder after combustion; said fuel quantity selector determining from said fuel intake port wall wetting history, said engine speed, and said engine load a fuel injection control signal to control said fuel quantity injected in said fuel injection system.
Claim 2
Independent Claim 192 words
A system for controlling fuel quantity injected in a fuel injection system for an internal combustion engine, comprising: an engine speed sensor for reading the engine speed of said internal combustion engine; an engine load sensor for reading the engine load of said internal combustion engine; a fuel quantity selector coupled to said engine speed sensor and to said engine load sensor; and a history generator coupled to said fuel quantity selector for generating a fuel intake port wall wetting history in said internal combustion engine; said history generator generating said fuel intake port wall wetting history as a function of each of the following fuel physical states: (a) fuel vapor, (b) fuel droplets suspended in fuel vapor, and (c) fuel liquid, and wherein said wall wetting history is a further function of: fuel droplet vaporization, rue liquid flow, and fuel burn fraction corresponding to the percentage of unburned fuel remaining in the cylinder after combustion; said fuel quantity selector determining from said fuel intake port wall wetting history, said engine speed, and said engine load a fuel injection control signal to control said fuel quantity injected in said fuel injection system.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 30 words
The system of claim 1 wherein said history generator generates said fuel intake port wall wetting history based on a predefined relationship among said engine speed and said engine load.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 27 words
The system of claim 1 wherein said fuel intake port wall wetting history is established for each of a plurality of cylinders in said internal combustion engine.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 31 words
The system of claim 1 wherein said intake port wall wetting history is based on a plurality of fuel quantity parameters of said fuel quantity injected in said internal combustion engine.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 24 words
The system of claim 4 wherein said fuel quantity parameter is a burn fraction of said fuel quantity actually burned in said engine cylinder.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 26 words
The system of claim 4 wherein said fuel quantity parameter is a rate of liquid fuel droplet vaporization of said fuel quantity in said intake port.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 27 words
The system of claim 4 wherein said fuel quantity parameter is a rate of fuel vaporization of said fuel quantity from a surface of said intake port.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 21 words
The system of claim 4 wherein said fuel quantity parameter is a rate of liquid fuel flowing in said intake port.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 28 words
The system of claim 1 wherein said fuel quantity selector modifies said fuel injection control signal in response to a transient operation of said internal combustion engine operation.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim 19 words
The system of claim 9 wherein said modified fuel injection control signal is a function of said engine load.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim 29 words
The system of claim 9 wherein said modified control signal is a pulse width signal which is a function of manifold air temperature, manifold absolute pressure and throttle opening.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim 30 words
The system of claim 9 wherein said transient operation is detected when a piston is between approximately 9 degrees before top dead center and 111 degrees after top dead center.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim 28 words
The system of claim 11 wherein said measured operating conditions of said manifold in said combustion engine includes an air pressure, an air temperature, and an air charge.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim 30 words
The system of claim 1 wherein said fuel injection control signal is selected so that any desired air to fuel ratio is maintained during operation of said internal combustion engine.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim 17 words
The system of claim 1 wherein said fuel injection control signal is a pulse width signal (PW).
Claim 17
Dependent Claim 31 words
The system of claim 15 wherein said pulse width signal (PW) is calculated as a function of fuel injection rate, engine speed, total fuel burn fraction and desired amount of fuel.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim 29 words
The system of claim 1 wherein said engine speed reading of said internal combustion engine is a measure of a revolving rate of a crankshaft in said combustion engine.
Claim 19
Independent Claim 201 words
A method of delivering fuel to an internal combustion engine, comprising the steps of: (a) determining the fuel intake port wall wetting history data for a cylinder of an engine as a function of each of the following fuel physical states: (I) fuel vapor, (ii) fuel droplets suspended in fuel vapor, and (iii) fuel liquid and wherein said wall wetting history is a further function of: (iv) fuel droplet vaporization, (v) fuel liquid flow, and (vi) a fuel burn fraction corresponding to the percentage of unburned fuel remaining in the cylinder after combustion; (b) measuring a plurality of engine demand characteristics; (c) calculating a desired amount of fuel to be delivered by a fuel injector to a cylinder based upon said engine demand characteristics and said wall wetting history data; (d) monitoring said engine demand characteristics for transient conditions after said step of measuring has been completed; (e) modifying said desired amount of fuel to be delivered by said fuel injector if a transient condition is determined to have occurred within a predetermined time after said step of measuring is completed; (f) delivering fuel in an amount corresponding to said desired amount of fuel as determined in steps (c) and (e).
Claim 20
Independent Claim 201 words
A method of delivering fuel to an internal combustion engine, comprising the steps of: (a) determining the fuel intake port wall wetting history data for a cylinder of an engine as a function of each of the following fuel physical states: (I) fuel vapor, (ii) fuel droplets suspended in fuel vapor, and (iii) fuel liquid and wherein said wall wetting history is a further function of: (iv) fuel droplet vaporization, (v) fuel liquid flow, and (vi) a fuel burn fraction corresponding to the percentage of unburned fuel remaining in the cylinder after combustion; (b) measuring a plurality of engine demand characteristics; (c) calculating a desired amount of fuel to be delivered by a fuel injector to a cylinder based upon said engine demand characteristics and said wall wetting history data; (d) monitoring said engine demand characteristics for transient conditions after said step of measuring has been completed; (e) modifying said desired amount of fuel to be delivered by said fuel injector if a transient condition is determined to have occurred within a predetermined time after said step of measuring is completed; (f) delivering fuel in an amount corresponding to said desired amount of fuel as determined in steps (c) and (e).
Claim 21
Dependent Claim 25 words
The method of delivering fuel according to claim 18, further comprising the step of calculating a pulse width corresponding to said desired amount of fuel.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim 47 words
The method of delivering fuel according to claim 18, wherein said wall wetting history data includes a fraction of fuel deposited on a wall of an intake manifold and intake valves, a vapor fraction of fuel spray and a suspended fuel droplet fraction for previous engine cycles.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim 23 words
The method of delivering fuel according to claim 18, wherein steps (a) through (e) are carried out for each cylinder of the engine.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim 29 words
The method of claim 18 wherein step (a) determines said fuel intake port wall wetting history based on a past reading of said engine speed and said engine load.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim 33 words
The method of claim 18 wherein step (a) determines said fuel intake port wall wetting history based on a predefined relationship among said engine speed, said engine load, and an engine coolant temperature.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim 33 words
The method of claim 18 wherein step (a) determines said intake port wall wetting history based on a plurality of fuel quantity parameters of said fuel quantity injected in said internal combustion engine.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim 24 words
The method of claim 24 wherein said fuel quantity parameter is a burn fraction of said fuel quantity in said intake port actually burned.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim 26 words
The method of claim 24 wherein said fuel quantity parameter is a rate of liquid fuel droplet vaporization of said fuel quantity in said intake port.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim 27 words
The method of claim 24 wherein said fuel quantity parameter is a rate of fuel vaporization of said fuel quantity from a surface of said intake port.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim 21 words
The method of claim 24 wherein said fuel quantity parameter is a rate of liquid fuel flowing in said intake port.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim 31 words
The method of claim 24 wherein said fuel quantity parameter is an amount of fuel remaining in said intake port from a previous fuel quantity injected by said fuel injection system.

References Cited (Backward Citations)

US4357923A Cited
US4903668A Cited
US4922877A Cited
US5474052A Cited

USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows

Annuity Stage Window Opens Payment Deadline Surcharge Period Until Estimated Fee Status
3.5 Years (Year 4) 1999-12-17 2000-06-17 2000-12-17 $2000.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8) 2003-12-17 2004-06-17 2004-12-17 $3760.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12) 2007-12-17 2008-06-17 2008-12-17 $7700.00 Window Closed / Lapsed

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