Air handling systems and controls for internal combustion engines operating with a miller cycle
AssigneeCummins Inc.
InventorsKe Wang, Kai Zou, Chengxiu Huang, Timothy Shipp
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system includes an internal combustion engine including a valve train comprising one or more intake valves operable in a Miller cycle and one or more exhaust valves. An electric turbo motor is electronically controllable to boost an output from a lower pressure turbocharger to a higher pressure turbocharger. An electronic control system configured to control the electric turbo motor in response to a transient condition to boost intake flow pressure to the internal combustion engine during the transient condition.
Claims20
An internal combustion engine system, the system comprising:
- an internal combustion engine including an intake system and an exhaust system, the internal combustion engine including at least one cylinder for receiving an intake flow for combustion to produce an exhaust flow;
- a turbocharger system including a lower pressure turbocharger and a higher pressure turbocharger in series with one another, wherein:
- the lower pressure turbocharger includes a first turbine and a first compressor that is driven by the exhaust flow through the first turbine to compress the intake flow;
- the higher pressure turbocharger includes a second turbine upstream of the first turbine in the exhaust system, and the higher pressure turbocharger includes a second compressor downstream of the first compressor in the intake system, the second compressor being driven by the exhaust flow through the second turbine to further compress the compressed intake flow from the first compressor;
- and
- an electric turbo motor connected to the first compressor that is operable to drive the first compressor to boost an output of the first turbine;
- and
- a controller configured to operate the electric turbo motor to drive the first compressor to provide a compression boost of the intake flow to the internal combustion engine in response to a transient event for the internal combustion engine.
An apparatus for controlling operation of the internal combustion engine, the internal combustion engine including:
- an intake system and an exhaust system;
- at least one cylinder for receiving an intake flow from the intake system, for receiving fuel, and to produce an exhaust flow to the exhaust system;
- a valve train associated with the at least one cylinder including at least one intake valve for operation in a Miller cycle and at least one exhaust valve;
- a multi-stage turbocharger system driven by the exhaust flow, the multi-stage turbocharger system including a first compressor in the intake system that is coupled to an electric turbo motor and that is coupled to a first turbine, the multi-stage turbocharger further including a second compressor downstream of the first compressor and a second turbine upstream of the first turbine that is coupled to the second compressor;
- the apparatus comprising a controller operably connected to the internal combustion engine, the controller configured to:
- determine a transient event associated with the internal combustion engine;
- and
- initiate operation of the electric turbo motor in response to the transient event to provide a compression boost of the intake flow by the first compressor.
A method, comprising:
- operating a valve train of an internal combustion engine with a Miller cycle;
- detecting a transient event during operation of the valve train with the Miller cycle;
- in response to the transient event, initiating operation of an electric turbo motor to boost compression of an intake flow from a first stage of a multi-stage turbocharger system to a second stage of the multi-stage turbocharger system;
- and
- further compressing the boosted compressed intake flow from the first stage with the second stage of the multi-stage turbocharger system upstream of the internal combustion engine.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.