Systems and methods for inferering fuel injection pressure and uses thereof
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsJoseph Lyle Thomas, Ross Dykstra Pursifull
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods and systems are provided for controlling fuel injection to cylinders of an engine in a vehicle. In one example, a method comprises monitoring an electrical energy profile associated with a fuel injector that has been commanded to inject a predetermined amount of a fuel into an engine cylinder, inferring a fuel injection pressure based on the electrical energy profile, and controlling a subsequent fuel injection based on the inferred fuel injection pressure. In this way, fuel injection may be controlled without relying on a pressure sensor in a fuel rail that supplies fuel to the fuel injector, under conditions where the fuel rail does not include the pressure sensor or where the pressure sensor is degraded.
Claims20
A system for a vehicle, comprising:
- a fuel system that includes a pulse lift pump that supplies a fuel from a fuel tank to a low pressure fuel rail;
- a set of port fuel injectors that supply fuel from the low pressure fuel rail to a set of cylinders of an engine;
- and
- a controller with computer readable instructions stored on non-transitory memory that when executed, cause the controller to:
- command a predetermined amount of the fuel to be injected into a cylinder of the set of cylinders via a port fuel injector of the set of port fuel injectors;
- determine a fuel injection pressure of the fuel in the fuel rail based on a time to fully open the port fuel injector and/or a time to fully close the fuel injector;
- and
- control a fuel injection pulse width for a subsequent fuel injection to another engine cylinder based on the fuel injection pressure.
A method comprising:
- commanding a predetermined amount of a fuel to be injected into a cylinder of an engine via a fuel injector;
- responsive to the commanding, monitoring an electrical energy profile associated with the fuel injector;
- inferring a fuel injection pressure based on the electrical energy profile;
- and
- controlling a subsequent fuel injection based on the inferred fuel injection pressure.
A method comprising:
- commanding a fuel injector to deliver a predetermined amount of a fuel contained in a fuel rail to a cylinder of an engine;
- determining a first duration from when the fuel injector is actuated open to when the fuel injector is fully open and/or determining a second duration from when the fuel injector is actuated closed to when the fuel injector is fully closed;
- and
- indicating a presence or an absence of degradation associated with a pressure sensor that determines a measured fuel injection pressure in the fuel rail based on the first duration and/or the second duration.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.