Method and device for phase recognition in a 4-stroke Otto engine with ion flow measurement
AssigneeRobert Bosch GmbH
InventorsMarkus Ketterer, Klaus-Juergen Wald, Achim Guenther, Juergen Foerster
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A device and a method for detecting phase in four-stroke engines, in which an electronic control unit (ECU) detects a spark current as a measuring signal and determines whether ignition occurred for ascertaining the compression cycles of the cylinders, whereby the electronic control unit is able to cause the injection to be performed in a correct phase relation.
Claims12
A device for detecting a phase angle for an internal combustion engine having a plurality of cylinders, each cylinder having at least one spark plug for triggering an ignition spark, the device comprising:
- an ionic-current measuring device for measuring an ionic current and for providing a signal;
- an electronic control unit for determining whether the ignition spark occurred in at least one cylinder of the plurality of the cylinders based on the signal from the ionic-current measuring device;
- an arrangement for adjusting an energy of the ignition spark in the at least one cylinder so that the ignition spark occurs in response to a low internal pressure in the at least one cylinder and so that the ignition spark does not occur in response to a high internal pressure in the at least one cylinder;
- and
- an arrangement for determining the phase angle in the at least one cylinder based on observing at least one successful occurrence of the ignition spark and at least one unsuccessful occurrence of the ignition spark.
A method for detecting a phase angle for an internal combustion engine having a plurality of cylinders, each cylinder having at least one spark plug for triggering an ignition spark, the method comprising the steps of:
- measuring an ionic current with an ionic-current measuring device and providing a signal;
- determining whether the ignition spark occurs in at least one cylinder of the plurality of cylinders based on the signal from the ionic-current measuring device;
- adjusting an energy of the ignition spark so that an occurrence of the ignition spark is a function of an internal pressure in the at least one cylinder;
- and
- determining the phase angle of the at least one cylinder based on observing at least one successful ignition spark and at least one unsuccessful ignition spark.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.