Internal combustion engine capable of selectively resting certain cylinders during low-load operation, and method of using same

A cylinder rest internal combustion engine comprising

• a plurality of cylinders,
• the plurality of cylinders divided into two or more groups,
• each cylinder comprising a throttle valve,
• at least some of the plurality of cylinders configured to be selectively restable so as to be temporarily non-operative during engine operation,
• each said cylinder group being independently operable, and
• wherein the number of resting cylinders is determined according to a throttle operation variable set by an operator,
• wherein each group comprises a unique throttle valve opening in a mid region of a throttle opening range which consists of specified throttle opening values between fully open and fully closed.

A method of using a cylinder rest internal combustion engine, the engine comprising

• a control unit,
• a plurality of cylinders,
• the plurality of cylinders divided into two or more groups,
• each cylinder comprising a throttle valve,
• at least some of the plurality of cylinders configured to be selectively non-operative during engine operation by means of the cylinder resting mechanism,
• the respective throttle valves of selected cylinders being independently operable on the basis of said group to which said cylinder belongs,
• the method of using the cylinder rest internal combustion engine comprising
• monitoring the throttle opening and a throttle operation variable,
• setting the number of resting cylinders according to the throttle operation variable,
• opening the throttle valves of the groups sequentially by the control unit such that the throttle valve is opened in a next cylinder group before the throttle valve opening of a former cylinder group is brought to a fully opened state.