Methods, Devices And Systems For Glow Plug Operation Of A Combustion Engine
AssigneeSouthwest Research Institute
InventorsGary D. NEELY, Jayant V. SARLASHKAR
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A glow plug control apparatus for an engine of a motor vehicle, comprising at least one glow plug; a power source to apply electric power to the at least one glow plug; and a control unit comprising a microprocessor configured and arranged to determine glow plug supply power to be applied from the power source to the at least one glow plug based on input from stored vehicle data and from a plurality of engine sensors, wherein the input includes data of engine operating parameters including fresh air intake mass airflow, intake manifold total mass airflow, intake manifold temperature, coolant temperature, glow plug temperature and total fuel injection quantity.
Claims29
A glow plug control apparatus for an engine of a motor vehicle, comprising:
- at least one glow plug;
- a power source to apply electric power to the at least one glow plug;
- and
- a control unit comprising a microprocessor configured and arranged to determine glow plug supply power to be applied from the power source to the at least one glow plug based on input from stored vehicle data and from a plurality of engine sensors, wherein the input includes data of engine operating parameters including fresh air intake mass airflow, intake manifold total mass airflow, intake manifold temperature, coolant temperature, glow plug temperature and total fuel injection quantity.
A method of glow plug control for a motor vehicle comprising:
- providing a glow plug control apparatus comprising:
- at least one glow plug;
- a power source to apply electric power to the at least one glow plug;
- a control unit comprising a microprocessor configured and arranged to determine glow plug supply power to be applied from the power source to the at least one glow plug based on input from stored vehicle data and from a plurality of engine sensors, wherein the input includes data of engine operating parameters including fresh air intake mass airflow, intake manifold total mass airflow, intake manifold temperature, coolant temperature, glow plug temperature and total fuel injection quantity;
- providing data of fresh air intake mass airflow, intake manifold total mass airflow, intake manifold temperature, coolant temperature, glow plug temperature and total fuel quantity to the control unit;
- determining glow plug power to be applied from the power source to the at least one glow plug with the microprocessor based on the data of fresh air intake mass airflow, intake manifold total mass airflow, intake manifold temperature, coolant temperature, glow plug temperature and total fuel injection quantity provided to the control unit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.