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US 10,519,888 B2Granted
Fuel system diagnostics
AssigneeWestport Power Inc.
InventorsJian Huang, Sandeep Munshi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and apparatus for in situ operating an internal combustion engine comprising determining at least one combustion characteristic for a combustion chamber of the internal combustion engine, comprising an actual heat release signal for the combustion chamber; and inputting the actual heat release signal into a diagnostic logic tree for diagnosing changes in combustion characteristics due to at least one of: a malfunctioning fuel injector, a start of combustion timing error; and a change in fuel quality; and performing a mitigation technique to compensate for the changes in combustion characteristics.
Claims20
A method for in situ operating an internal combustion engine comprising:
- turbo-charging said internal combustion engine;
- determining at least one combustion characteristic for each of a plurality of combustion chambers of said internal combustion engine, including an actual heat release signal for each of said plurality of combustion chambers;
- inputting said actual heat release signal for each of said plurality of combustion chambers into a diagnostic logic tree for diagnosing changes in combustion characteristics due to at least one of:
- a fuel injector of a plurality of fuel injectors associated with said plurality of combustion chambers malfunctioning,
- a start of combustion timing error, and
- a change in a fuel heating value;
- and
- performing a mitigation technique to compensate for said changes in combustion characteristics,
- wherein said diagnosing includes:
- (i) determining whether or not each of said plurality of fuel injectors is injecting a desired amount of fuel into respective combustion chambers within a first range of tolerance;
- and
- (ii) determining whether or not a difference between an actual intake manifold pressure and a desired intake manifold pressure is outside a second range of tolerance,
- wherein, in response to determining that each of said plurality of fuel injectors is injecting said desired amount of fuel into respective combustion chambers within said first range of tolerance and that said difference between said actual intake manifold pressure and said desired intake manifold pressure is outside said second range of tolerance, said mitigation technique includes determining a fuelling correction for said plurality of fuel injectors as a function of said difference between said actual intake manifold pressure and said desired intake manifold pressure.
10 more elements
An apparatus for in situ operating an internal combustion engine comprising:
- one or more accelerometer sensors associated with a plurality of combustion chambers in said internal combustion engine;
- and
- a controller which, in operation:
- receives a signal from each of said accelerometer sensors representative of pressure in a respective combustion chamber;
- determines at least one combustion characteristic for each of said plurality of combustion chambers including an actual heat release signal for each of said plurality of combustion chambers;
- inputs said actual heat release signal for each of said plurality of combustion chambers into a diagnostic logic tree for diagnosing changes in combustion characteristics due to at least one of:
- a fuel injector of a plurality of fuel injectors associated with said plurality of combustion chambers malfunctioning,
- a start of combustion timing error, and
- a change in a fuel heating value;
- and
- performs a mitigation technique to compensate for said changes in combustion characteristics,
- wherein said internal combustion engine is turbo charged,
- wherein said diagnosing includes said controller, in operation:
- (i) determines whether or not each of said plurality of fuel injectors is injecting a desired amount of fuel into respective combustion chambers within a first range of tolerance;
- and
- (ii) determines whether or not a difference between an actual intake manifold pressure and a desired intake manifold pressure is outside a second range of tolerance,
- wherein, in response to said controller determining that each of said plurality of fuel injectors is injecting said desired amount of fuel into respective combustion chambers within said first range of tolerance and that said difference between said actual intake manifold pressure and said desired intake manifold pressure is outside said second range of tolerance, said mitigation technique includes said controller, in operation, determines a fuelling correction for said plurality of fuel injectors as a function of said difference between said actual intake manifold pressure and said desired intake manifold pressure.
14 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.