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US 11,255,284 B2Granted
Systems and methods for catalyst heating during cold-start with an active pre-chamber
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsChris Paul Glugla, Michael Damian Czekala, Michael Shelby
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods and systems are provided for operating a cylinder of an engine including a pre-chamber ignition system during a cold start condition. In one example, a method may include performing a post-injection in the cylinder, and then performing a pre-chamber combustion during an exhaust stroke of the cylinder. In this way, a temperature of a catalyst of the engine may be increased, which may decrease vehicle emissions during the cold start condition.
Claims16
A method, comprising:
- during a cold start condition, injecting a first amount of post-injection fuel in a pre-chamber and a second amount of post-injection fuel in a cylinder during an exhaust stroke of the cylinder to heat a catalyst, the first amount based on an air-fuel ratio (AFR) of a first pre-chamber air-fuel mixture and the second amount based on an AFR of a first cylinder air-fuel mixture;
- combusting the first pre-chamber air-fuel mixture in the pre-chamber during a compression stroke of the cylinder to ignite the first cylinder air-fuel mixture;
- and
- combusting a second pre-chamber air-fuel mixture in the pre-chamber, including the first amount of post-injection fuel, during the exhaust stroke of the cylinder to ignite the second amount of post-injection fuel injected in the cylinder.
1 more element
A method, comprising:
- responsive to an engine start, operating a cylinder with a first pre-chamber air-fuel ratio (AFR) and a first cylinder AFR during a compression stroke of the cylinder;
- and
- responsive to exceeding a threshold number of engine cycles after the engine start, operating the cylinder with a second pre-chamber AFR and a second cylinder AFR during the compression stroke of the cylinder, the second cylinder AFR based on the second pre-chamber AFR, the second pre-chamber AFR rich relative to the first pre-chamber AFR, and the second cylinder AFR lean relative to the first cylinder AFR;
- wherein
- operating the cylinder with the second pre-chamber AFR and the second cylinder AFR during the compression stroke includes:
- producing a first air-fuel mixture in the pre-chamber by injecting a first amount of fuel in the pre-chamber and injecting a first amount of air in the pre-chamber during an intake stroke of the cylinder, the first amount of fuel and the first amount of air determined based on the second pre-chamber AFR;
- producing a second air-fuel mixture in the cylinder by injecting a second amount of fuel in the cylinder during the intake stroke of the cylinder, the second amount of fuel based in part on the second cylinder AFR;
- igniting the first air-fuel mixture in the pre-chamber via a spark plug to generate flames during the compression stroke of the cylinder;
- and
- igniting the second air-fuel mixture in the cylinder via the flames from the pre-chamber during the compression stroke of the cylinder.
7 more elements
A system, comprising:
- an engine including a plurality of cylinders, each cylinder including a pre-chamber of a pre-chamber ignition system and a fuel injector, wherein each pre-chamber comprises a spark plug and at least one unrestricted opening fluidly coupling an interior of the pre-chamber to an interior of a cylinder;
- an emissions control device coupled in an exhaust passage of the engine;
- and
- a controller storing executable instructions in non-transitory memory that, when executed, cause the controller to:
- operate each cylinder with a first pre-chamber AFR and a first cylinder AFR during a compression stroke, the first cylinder AFR based on the first pre-chamber AFR;
- ignite a first air-fuel mixture in a corresponding pre-chamber via the spark plug to initiate combustion of a second air-fuel mixture in the cylinder during the compression stroke of each cylinder;
- operate each cylinder with a second pre-chamber AFR and a second cylinder AFR during an exhaust stroke via a post-injection into each of the pre-chamber and the cylinder, responsive to at least one of an indication of a cold start condition and a temperature of the emissions control device below a threshold temperature of the emissions control device to heat the emissions control device, the second pre-chamber AFR and the second cylinder AFR based on the first pre-chamber AFR and the first cylinder AFR;
- inject an amount of fuel in the cylinder during the exhaust stroke of the cylinder;
- and
- ignite a third air-fuel mixture in the corresponding pre-chamber via a spark plug during the exhaust stroke of each cylinder.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.