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US 2022/0282683 A1Published application
Apparatus and method for engine control
AssigneeVieletech Inc.
InventorMatthew Viele
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus and method for sensing the position of a piston in a valve in a gas compressor or the position of a piston in a free piston engine. The apparatus includes a plurality of valve sensors, a plurality of magnets, and a plurality of valve sense modules coupled to the valve sensors and a controller coupled to the plurality of valve sense modules. The method includes processing information received from the valve sensors to determine the linear position of the valves in the gas compressor or a piston in a free piston engine.
Claims36
An apparatus comprising:
- a first cylinder in a gas compressor, the first cylinder including a first cylinder plurality of valves and a first cylinder plurality of valve sensors, each of the first cylinder plurality of valve sensors associated with one of the first cylinder plurality of valves, each of the first cylinder plurality of valves including a first cylinder valve moving part having a first cylinder valve magnet coupled to the first cylinder valve moving part;
- a first cylinder electronic sense module coupled to each of the first cylinder plurality of valve sensors;
- a second cylinder in the gas compressor, the second cylinder including a second cylinder plurality of valves and a second cylinder plurality of valve sensors, each of the second cylinder plurality of valve sensors associated with one of the second cylinder plurality of valves, each of the second cylinder plurality of valves including a second cylinder valve moving part with a second cylinder valve magnet coupled to the second cylinder valve moving part;
- a second cylinder electronic sense module coupled to each of the second cylinder plurality of valve sensors and the first cylinder electronic sense module;
- and
- a controller coupled to the first cylinder electronic sense module.
3 more elements
A method comprising:
- receiving a first valve signal from a first valve sensor located on a first cylinder included in a gas compressor, the first cylinder including a first valve having a first valve piston located at a first valve linear piston position, the first valve signal providing first valve field angle information;
- processing the first valve signal to determine the first valve linear piston position;
- receiving a second valve signal from a second valve sensor located on a second cylinder included in the gas compressor, the second cylinder including a second valve having a second valve piston located at a second valve linear piston position, the second valve signal providing second valve field angle information;
- and
- processing the second valve signal to determine the second valve piston linear position.
2 more elements
A method comprising:
- in a gas compressor, synchronizing, to within less than about one microsecond, collection of a valve field angle from an anisotropic magneto-resistive sensor from a first electronic engine control module with collection of a compressor position from a compressor position module;
- converting the valve field angle position to a valve linear position;
- processing the compressor position and the valve linear position to generate a control signal for the gas compressor;
- and
- transmitting the control signal to a subsystem of the gas compressor requiring the control signal.
2 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- a piston included in a free piston engine, the piston including a plurality of magnets;
- and
- a piston rail in the free piston engine to receive the piston, the piston rail including a plurality of anisotropic magneto-resistive sensors.
A method comprising:
- generating a sensor signal from each of a plurality of sensors included in a piston rail of a free piston engine that includes a plurality of magnets located on a piston, the piston having a linear piston position;
- receiving the sensor signal from each of the plurality of sensors;
- and
- processing each of the sensor signals to determine the linear piston position.
1 more element
A method comprising:
- determining, for a piston having a piston velocity of about twenty meters per second at mid-stroke in a free piston engine, a top dead center piston linear position to an accuracy of about ten microns.
A method comprising:
- transmitting a target piston position over an Ethernet bus to an electronic sense module included in a gas compressor, a crankshaft engine, or a free piston engine;
- transmitting a real time piston linear position over a fast bus to the electronic sense module;
- comparing the target piston position to the real time piston linear position in the electronic sense module;
- and
- transmitting a control signal to a subsystem included in the compressor or the free piston engine when the real time piston linear position substantially equals the target piston position.
2 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- a first plurality of electronic sense modules, each of the first plurality of electronic sense modules daisy chained together through a first cable type to form a first daisy chain, the first cable type including a fast bus and a Ethernet bus;
- and
- a second plurality of electronic sense modules, each of the second plurality of electronic sense modules daisy chained together through the first cable type, the second plurality of electronic sense modules to form a second daisy chain.
An apparatus comprising:
- a substrate, a magnet embedded in the substrate, and an anisotropic magneto-resistive sensor embedded in the substrate, the magnet providing a magnetic field having a field angle at the anisotropic magneto-resistive sensor, the substrate mounted on a device including a piston;
- and
- a moving part of the piston to magnetically couple to the magnet at one end of a stroke of the piston.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.