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US 12,594,927 B2Granted
System for an internal combustion engine with an electric torque assist
AssigneeIndia Nippon Electricals Limited
InventorsUmashankar Raman, Ashok Kumar
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Embodiments herein provide a system and method for using an Integrated Starter Generator (ISG) for electric torque assistance on specific strokes of a 2-stroke or 4-stroke Internal Combustion (IC) engine (300) with reduced inertial mass than a conventional inertial mass loaded IC engine in order to overcome a speed variation problem caused by the engine's lower inertia at low and idle speeds and thus meeting a crankshaft speed shortfall. Furthermore, enabling the 2-stroke and 4-stroke engines to run on a lean fuel-air mixture improves emissions at low and idling speeds, and leads to better IC engine emission control.
Claims8
A system (300) for an internal combustion (IC) engine with an electric torque assist, wherein the system (300) comprises:
- a crankshaft assembly (305) of the IC engine;
- a piston assembly that is connected with the crankshaft assembly (305) of the IC engine;
- characterized in that,
- an integrated starter generator (ISG) (312) that is connected to a side of the crankshaft assembly (305) of the IC engine using a shaft (320), wherein the ISG (312) operates in any of a motoring mode (M) or a generation mode (G);
- one or more sensors (310) that are mounted internally or externally between the crankshaft assembly (305) and the ISG (312) of the IC engine, wherein the one or more sensors (310) provides a stream of pulses proportional to an instantaneous speed of the crankshaft assembly (305) and generates pulses with respect to the position of the piston assembly;
- a MOSFET bridge (330) that is connected to the ISG (312), wherein the MOSFET bridge (330) enables the motoring mode (M) or the generation mode (G) of the ISG (312);
- a MOSFET driver (335) that is connected to the MOSFET bridge (330), wherein the MOSFET driver (335) is configured to switch operations of the MOSFET bridge (330) during the electric torque assist to the motoring mode (M) or the generation mode (G);
- a battery (340) and a pulsar coil (316);
- and
- a control unit (325) comprising:
- a controller or a processor (405) that is configured to:
- determine the instantaneous speed of the crankshaft assembly (305) using the stream of pulses from the one or more sensors (310);
- compute the pulses from the one or more sensors (310) into one or more engine cycle phases;
- monitor the instantaneous speed of the crankshaft assembly (305) and speed shortfall in the IC engine;
- determine a target value for the electric torque assist by analysing the speed shortfall and the instantaneous speed of the crankshaft assembly (305), or detecting the position of piston assembly by the one or more sensors (310), when the instantaneous speed of the crankshaft assembly (305) is less than a predefined threshold speed value of the IC engine;
- and
- provide the electric torque assist to the ISG (312) by switching the MOSFET bridge (330) to the motoring mode (M) of the ISG (312) using the MOSFET driver (335) to maintain an optimum electric torque assist throughout the one or more engine cycle phases.
14 more elements
A method for an internal combustion (IC) engine with electric torque assist comprises:
- providing, using a one or more sensors (310), a stream of pulses proportional to an instantaneous speed of a crankshaft assembly (305) and a position of a piston assembly reaching a Top Dead Center (TDC) of the IC engine when it is running;
- determining, using a control unit (325), the instantaneous speed of the crankshaft assembly (305) using the stream of pulses from the one or more sensors (310);
- computing, using the control unit (325), the pulses from the one or more sensors (310) into one or more engine cycle phases comprising a suction stroke, a compression stroke, a power stroke, and an exhaust stroke;
- monitoring, using the control unit (325), the instantaneous speed of the crankshaft assembly (305) and speed shortfall in the IC engine;
- determining, using the control unit (325), a target value for the electric torque assist by analysing the speed shortfall and the instantaneous speed of the crankshaft assembly (305), or detecting the position of piston assembly by the one or more sensors (310), when the instantaneous speed of the crankshaft assembly (305) is less than a pre-defined threshold speed value of the IC engine;
- and
- providing, using the control unit (325), the electric torque assist to an ISG (312) by switching a MOSFET bridge (330) to a motoring mode (M) of the ISG (312) using a MOSFET driver (335) to maintain an optimum electric torque assist throughout the one or more engine cycle phases;
- and
- switching, using the control unit (325), the ISG (312) in a generation mode using the MOSFET bridge (330) when the instantaneous speed of the crankshaft assembly (305) is greater than or equal to the predefined threshold speed value of the IC engine.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.