Electromagnetically driven valve control apparatus and electromagnetically driven valve control method for internal combustion engine

An electromagnetically driven valve control apparatus for a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine, comprising:

• electromagnetically driven valves, each of which is at least one of an intake valve and an exhaust valve that are provided in each of cylinders of the internal combustion engine, and each of which is driven using electromagnetic force;
• and
• a controller provided with processing units, each of which controls the electromagnetically driven valves in each of plural valve groups, each of the plural valve groups including the electromagnetically driven valves whose opening periods do not overlap with each other while the internal combustion engine is operated in a low speed low load region, wherein the multi-cylinder internal combustion engine is an in-line six-cylinder internal combustion engine, and each of the plural valve groups includes the electromagnetically driven valves of cylinders in
• which an intake timing and an exhaust timing are shifted each other by 240 degrees in terms of a crank angle.

An electromagnetically driven valve control method for a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine in which at least one of an intake valve and an exhaust valve that are provided in each of cylinders is configured as an electromagnetically driven valve that is driven using electromagnetic force, comprising the steps of:

• dividing the electromagnetically driven valves into plural valve groups such that overlap of concentrated control periods for the electromagnetically driven valves in each of the valve groups is minimized;
• controlling the electromagnetically driven valves in each of the valve groups using a single control body;
• and
• changing a control cycle of each of the processing units when the electromagnetically driven valves are operated to be opened/closed on the basis of whether or not opening/closing operations of the plural electromagnetically driven valves in each of the valve groups overlap with each other, wherein each of the plural valve groups includes the electromagnetically driven valves whose opening periods do not overlap with each other while the internal combustion engine is operated in a low speed low load region, the electromagnetically driven valves provided in the cylinders are divided into the plural valve groups such that each of the plural valve groups includes the electromagnetically driven valves in different cylinders, whose opening periods do not overlap with each other while the internal combustion engine is operated in the low speed low load region.