US 2002/0162540 A1 · Method and apparatus for deactivating and reactivating cylinders for an engine with displacement on demand

Abstract

An engine control system including a variable displacement internal combustion engine, a plurality of cylinders located in the internal combustion engine, a plurality of fuel injectors for providing fuel to the plurality of cylinders, a plurality of valves coupled to the plurality of cylinders, the plurality of valves controlling the air flow in and out of the cylinders, an actuation apparatus for actuating the plurality of valves, an intake manifold coupled to the internal combustion engine, a throttle coupled to the intake manifold, a controller electronically coupled to the fuel injectors, an accelerator pedal position sensor electronically coupled to the controller, and where the controller determines the number of the cylinders to provide with fuel and air and a desired engine output torque based on at least the accelerator pedal position sensor and the controller controls the throttle to control the amount of air entering the intake manifold, where the controller is capable of eliminating torque disturbances upon changes in displacement of the engine.

Claims15

Dependent claims

An engine control system comprising:

a variable displacement internal combustion engine;
a plurality of cylinders located in said variable displacement internal combustion engine;
a plurality of fuel injectors for providing fuel to said plurality of cylinders;
a plurality of valves coupled to said plurality of cylinders, said plurality of valves controlling the air flow in and out of said plurality of cylinders;
an actuation apparatus for actuating said plurality of valves;
an intake manifold coupled to said variable displacement internal combustion engine;
a throttle coupled to said intake manifold;
a controller electronically coupled to said fuel injectors;
an accelerator pedal position sensor electronically coupled to said controller;
and
wherein said controller determines the number of said cylinders to provide with fuel and air and a desired engine output torque based on at least said accelerator pedal position sensor and said controller controls said throttle to control the amount of air entering said intake manifold, whereby said controller is capable of eliminating torque disturbances upon changes in displacement of said variable displacement internal combustion engine.

8 more elements

A method of controlling a variable displacement internal combustion engine comprising:

providing fuel injectors for the variable displacement internal combustion engine;
providing an electronic control module;
providing an electronic throttle;
providing an accelerator pedal position sensor;
providing an air flow sensor;
varying the displacement of the variable displacement internal combustion engine by deactivating at least one of said fuel injectors and said spark plugs for the variable displacement internal combustion engine;
measuring the speed of the variable displacement internal combustion engine;
determining a first desired torque using accelerator pedal position and engine speed;
determining a first mass-air/cylinder value needed to generate said first desired torque for the variable displacement internal combustion engine when it is partially displaced using the engine speed;
determining a second mass-air/cylinder value needed to generate said first desired torque for the variable displacement internal combustion engine when it is fully displaced using said engine speed;
generating a first intake manifold dynamic model to determine a first desired mass-air/cylinder value for the variable displacement internal combustion engine when it is partially displaced;
generating a second intake manifold dynamic model to determine a second mass-air/cylinder value for the variable displacement internal combustion engine when it is fully displaced;
converting said first or second desired mass-air/cylinder value to a desired dynamic mass-air/cylinder value;
measuring the mass-air/cylinder into the variable displacement internal combustion engine with said air flow sensor;
determining the difference between said desired dynamic mass-air/cylinder value and said measured mass-air/cylinder to generate an error value;
acting on said error with a controller to produce a first throttle value;
and
adding a second throttle value to said first throttle value to generate a throttle position command.

15 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Method and apparatus for deactivating and reactivating cylinders for an engine with displacement on demand

Life of this patent

Method and apparatus for deactivating and reactivating cylinders for an engine with displacement on demand

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims15