US 12,729,657 B2Granted

System and method of fuel injection mode transitions for an internal combustion engine during cylinder activation and deactivation

AssigneeGM Global Technology Operations LLC

InventorsJ. Michael Gwidt, Jeffrey M. Hutmacher, Mark Daniel Carr, Chinmay Avachat, Brady Thomas Black

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Abstract

A system and method of operating an internal combustion engine (ICE) having a plurality of cylinders. The system includes port and direct fuel injectors configured to inject fuel to each cylinder and an engine control module (ECM) in communication with the port fuel and direct fuel injectors. The ECM is configured to selectively deactivate and activate each cylinder of the plurality cylinders by either halting or initiating fuel injection into the cylinders and selectively transition fuel injection modes. The ECM is further configured to inject make-up direct injection of fuel into selected cylinders, based in part, on whether the cylinder transitioned from a direct injection (DI) mode into a port fuel injection (PFI) mode, from the DI mode to a port direct injection (PDI) mode, or from a PDI to a PFI mode, whether the cylinder received an actual PFI injection, and other engine variables.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A system of operating an internal combustion engine (ICE) having a plurality of cylinders, comprising:

port fuel injectors configured to port inject fuel to each cylinder of the plurality of cylinders;
direct fuel injectors configured to direct inject fuel to each cylinder of the plurality of cylinders;
and
an engine control module (ECM) in communication with the port fuel injectors and direct fuel injectors, wherein the ECM is configured to:
selectively deactivate each cylinder of the plurality cylinders by halting fuel injection into each cylinder of the plurality of cylinders;
selectively transition fuel injection modes for each cylinder of the plurality of cylinders between a direction injection (DI) mode, a port fuel injection (PFI) mode, and a port direct injection (PDI) mode;
and
a non-transitory memory containing instructions when executed by a processor causes the ECM to:
command a deactivation of at least one of the plurality of cylinders;
transition at least one of the plurality of cylinders from the DI mode to the PFI mode, from the DI mode to the PDI mode, or from the PDI mode to the PFI mode;
determine a first cylinder is not already disabled during the command to deactivate;
determine the first cylinder did NOT transition into a PFI mode during the command to deactivate;
determine the first cylinder received an actual PFI injection during the command to deactivate;
determine the first cylinder transitioned into a PFI mode during the command and a calculation for next fuel injection period has NOT started;
and
inject a first make-up direct injection of fuel into the first cylinder for a next combustion event of the first cylinder.

13 more elements

A method of operating an internal combustion engine (ICE) have a plurality of cylinders, comprising:

commanding a deactivation of at least one cylinder of the ICE;
determining for a first cylinder of the plurality of cylinders:
the first cylinder is not already disabled during the command to deactivate;
the first cylinder did NOT transition into a PFI mode during the command to deactivate;
the first cylinder received an actual PFI injection during the command to deactivate;
the first cylinder transitioned into a PFI mode during the command and a next fuel injection period has NOT started;
and
injecting a first make-up direct injection of fuel into the first cylinder for a next combustion event of the first cylinder.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.