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US 12,173,664 B2Granted
Adaptive any-fuel camless reciprocating engine
AssigneeThe Regents of the University of California
InventorsRaymond Mitchell Spearrin, Tsu-Chin Tsao, Peter Sinsheimer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An adaptive, any-fuel reciprocating engine using sensor feedback integration of high-speed optical sensors with real-time control loops to adaptively manage the electronic actuation schemes over a range of engine loads and fuels. The engine uses one or more optical sensors to collect specific types of gas property data via a spectroscopic technique to adaptively control various components within the engine.
Claims27
An adaptive camless reciprocating engine, the engine comprising:
- a cylinder housing a reciprocating piston;
- a valve coupled to the cylinder;
- at least one electronically-controllable actuator coupled to the valve, the actuator configured to control operation of the valve;
- one or more optical sensors disposed at or near the cylinder and configured to acquire optical data within the cylinder or at a location upstream or downstream from the cylinder;
- and
- a controller coupled to the one or more optical sensors and the at least one electronically-controllable actuator in a closed control loop;
- wherein the controller is configured to receive data from the one or more optical sensors and process said data to actively manage actuation of the electronically-controllable actuator according to one or more parameters calculated from the acquired optical data;
- wherein the one or more optical sensors comprise:
- a first optical sensor positioned at a location within an intake of the cylinder to measure one or more fluid parameters within the intake;
- a second optical sensor positioned to measure one or more fluid parameters at a location within the cylinder;
- and
- a third optical sensor positioned at a location within an exhaust of the cylinder to measure one or more fluid parameters within the exhaust;
- and
- wherein the controller is configured to calculate one or more fluid parameters within the intake comprising fuel composition or fuel energy content, one or more fluid parameters within the cylinder comprising temperature, CO, CO2, H2O, or UHC, and one or more fluid parameters within the exhaust comprising NOx, CO, UHC, or CO2.
11 more elements
An adaptive camless reciprocating engine, the engine comprising:
- (a) a cylinder housing a reciprocating piston;
- (b) a valve coupled to the cylinder;
- (c) at least one electronically-controllable actuator coupled to the valve and configured to control operation of the valve;
- (d) one or more optical sensors disposed at or near the cylinder and configured to acquire optical data within the cylinder or at a location upstream or downstream from the cylinder;
- (e) wherein the one or more optical sensors comprise:
- a first optical sensor positioned at a location within an intake of the cylinder to measure one or more fluid parameters within the intake;
- a second optical sensor positioned to measure one or more fluid parameters at a location within the cylinder;
- and
- a third optical sensor positioned at a location within an exhaust of the cylinder to measures one or more fluid parameters within the exhaust;
- (f) a processor coupled to the one or more optical sensors and the at least one electronically-controllable actuator;
- and
- (g) a non-transitory memory storing instructions executable by the processor;
- (h) wherein said instructions, when executed by the processor, perform one or more steps comprising:
- (i) receiving fluid parameter measurement data from the one or more optical sensors;
- (ii) calculating one or more fluid parameters within the intake comprising fuel composition or fuel energy content, one or more fluid parameters within the cylinder comprising temperature, CO, CO2, H2O, or UHC, and one or more fluid parameters within the exhaust comprising NOx, CO, UHC, or CO2;
- and
- (iii) sending one or more control signals to actively manage actuation of the at least one electronically-controllable actuator according to the one or more calculated fluid parameters.
14 more elements
In a camless reciprocating engine, the improvement comprising:
- (a) a plurality of electronically-controllable actuators configured to manage one or more parameters selected from the group consisting of cylinder intake/exhaust valve timing, compression ratio, spark ignition, and fuel injection;
- (b) a plurality of optical sensors, wherein one sensor of the plurality of optical sensors is positioned in-cylinder, one sensor of the plurality of optical sensors is positioned upstream of the cylinder as an intake sensor, and one sensor of the plurality of optical sensors is positioned down-stream of the cylinder as an exhaust sensor, and wherein said plurality of optical sensors measure fluid properties;
- and
- (c) a digital or analog controller circuit configured in a closed control loop wherein the controller circuit receives data from the optical sensors and processes said data to actively manage actuation of engine components selected from the group consisting of intake valves, exhaust valves, spark plugs, fuel injectors, and variable compression mechanisms;
- (d) wherein said sensor positioned in the intake measures one or more fluid parameters selected from the group consisting of fuel composition and fuel energy content;
- (e) wherein said sensor positioned in-cylinder measures one or more fluid parameters selected from the group consisting of temperature, CO, CO2, H2O, and UHC;
- and
- (f) wherein said sensor positioned in the exhaust measures one or more fluid parameters selected from the group consisting of NOx, CO, UHC, and CO2.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.