# US 2013/0152894 A1 · Stop/start engine glow plug heater control > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2013/0152894 A1 - Document ID: US20130152894A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 13/326,069 - Filed: 2011-12-14 - Published: 2013-06-20 - Earliest claimed: 2011-12-14 - Assignees: Ford Global Technologies, LLC - Inventors: Viet Quoc To; Brien Lloyd Fulton; John Richard Blankenship - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20130152894A1 ## CPC - F02M 31/13: Combustion air - F02N 19/04: by heating of fluids used in engines - F02P 19/02: electric, e.g. layout of circuits of apparatus having glowing plugs - F02B 3/06: with compression ignition (compression ignition engines using air or gas for blowing fuel into compressed air in cylinder F02B13/02) - F02B 2275/14: Direct injection into combustion chamber - Y02T 10/12: Improving ICE efficiencies - F02M: SUPPLYING COMBUSTION ENGINES IN GENERAL WITH COMBUSTIBLE MIXTURES OR CONSTITUENTS THEREOF - F02N: STARTING OF COMBUSTION ENGINES; STARTING AIDS FOR SUCH ENGINES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR - F02P: IGNITION, OTHER THAN COMPRESSION IGNITION, FOR INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES; TESTING OF IGNITION TIMING IN COMPRESSION-IGNITION ENGINES ({anti-pollution means for internal-combustion engines F02B17/00}; specially adapted for rotary-piston or oscillating-piston engines F02B53/12; {ignition of gas turbine plants F02C7/26; ignition of jet propulsion plants F02K9/95; starting of combustion engines F02N9/00}; ignition of combustion apparatus in general, glowing plugs F23Q; measuring of physical variables in general G01; controlling in general G05; data processing in general G06; electrical components in general see Section H; {ignition coils H01F38/12}; sparking plugs H01T13/00) - F02B: INTERNAL-COMBUSTION PISTON ENGINES; COMBUSTION ENGINES IN GENERAL (gas-turbine plants F02C; hot-gas or combustion-product positive-displacement engine plants F02G) - Y02T: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO TRANSPORTATION ## Abstract Methods and systems for operating a glow plug are disclosed. In one example, glow plugs of a compression ignition engine are selectively operated during automatic engine starting. The methods and systems may be useful to reduced glow plug degradation and improve emissions of an automatically started engine. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method for operating an engine, comprising: automatically stopping an engine without a dedicated driver request to stop the engine; and selectively activating a first heater that heats contents of an engine cylinder during an automatic engine start, the automatic engine start initiated without a dedicated driver engine start request. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, where the first heater is a glow plug. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, where the first heater is an air inlet grid heater. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, where the first heater is not activated after engine warm-up during conditions where the engine is successively automatically stopped and automatically started within a predetermined period of time. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The method of claim 4, where the predetermined amount of time is varied with ambient environmental conditions. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising selectively activating a second heater and heating contents of the engine cylinder during the automatic engine start. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The method of claim 6, where the first heater is a glow plug and where the second heater is an air inlet grid heater. ### Claim 8 A method for operating an engine, comprising: starting the engine via activating a first heater that heats contents of a cylinder during an operator initiated engine start; automatically stopping an engine without a dedicated driver request to stop the engine; and selectively activating the first heater and heating contents of an engine cylinder in response to an automatic engine start request, the automatic engine start request initiated without a dedicated driver engine start request, the first heater activated in further response to a temperature of the engine. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The method of claim 8, further comprising selectively activating a second heater and heating contents of the engine cylinder in response to the automatic engine start request. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, where the first heater is a glow plug and where the second heater is an air inlet glow plug. ### Claim 11 (depends on 8) The method of claim 8, where the temperature of the engine is at least one of an engine coolant temperature, an engine oil temperature, and an engine cylinder head temperature. ### Claim 12 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, further comprising activating the first heater and the second heater for different durations. ### Claim 13 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, where the first heater and the second heater are not activated in response to the automatic engine start request when a duration between when the engine is automatically stopped and when the automatic engine start request is received is less than a threshold amount of time. ### Claim 14 (depends on 8) The method of claim 8, where the first heater is not deactivated during the automatic stopping of the engine. ### Claim 15 A system, comprising: an engine; a glow plug positioned in a cylinder of the engine; a dedicated driver operated engine starting input device; a driver vehicle control input device; and a controller including instructions to start the engine in response to an operator changing a state of the dedicated driver operated engine starting input device, and instructions to automatically activate the glow plug and start the engine without the operator changing the state of the dedicated driver operated engine starting input device and in response to a state of the driver vehicle control input device. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The system of claim 15, where the driver vehicle control input device is a brake pedal or an accelerator pedal. ### Claim 17 (depends on 15) The system of claim 15, further comprising a grid heater and further controller instructions for automatically activating the grid heater and start the engine without the operator changing the state of the dedicated driver operated engine starting input device and in response to the state of the driver vehicle control input device. ### Claim 18 (depends on 15) The system of claim 15, further comprising additional controller instructions to not activate the glow plug during automatic engine starting where the operator has not changed the state of the dedicated driver operated engine starting input device. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The system of claim 18, further comprising additional controller instructions to automatically stop the engine. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The system of claim 19, further comprising additional controller instructions to selectively activate the glow plug in response to a temperature of the engine during automatic engine starting.