Disturbance-resistant bumpless crankshaft position sensing
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsAhmed Esa Sheikh, Bo Nilson Almstedt, Larry G. Anderson, Kirk Heywood, Ajith K. Kumar
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed herein are methods of generating a virtual crankshaft positioning stream of signal pulses that is derived from one or more series of actual crank signals. The virtual stream is useful for monitoring crankshaft positioning and is able to persist despite electromagnetic disturbances in the series of actual crank signals.
Claims30
A noise-resistant method of monitoring crankshaft position of an internal combustion engine, said method comprising
- providing a rotating member operationally coupled to said crankshaft, wherein said rotating member comprises a plurality of spaced elements and at least one reference element provided with a different spatial characteristic thereon;
- providing one or more crankshaft positioning sensors proximate to said rotating member so as to allow generation of at least one corresponding crank signal streams responsive to rotation of said rotating member;
- monitoring for crank signal generation during a predetermined inspection window, wherein, during undisturbed crank signal generation, a predefined number of crank signals occur in said predetermined inspection window;
- generating a virtual crank signal stream derived from crank signals of at least one crank signal stream,
- (i) said virtual crank signal stream persisting despite an addition of one or more false crank signals or deletion of one or more true crank signals that occur during said predefined inspection window;
- (ii) said virtual crank signal stream comprising a phase relative to said crankshaft that is monitored and maintained to correlate to a predicted location of said crankshaft despite noise on a crank signal stream;
- (iii) said virtual crank signal stream being monitored for integrity of the reference element of said virtual crank signal stream, wherein if the integrity of said reference element is violated, protection of said engine is initiated;
- whereby said virtual crank signal stream is useful to achieve noise-resistant monitoring of crankshaft position.
A method of producing a virtual crankshaft positioning signal stream for an internal combustion engine comprising a crankshaft, a rotating member operationally coupled thereto, said rotating member comprising a plurality of elements thereon with at least one reference element possessing a different spatial characteristic, and a first and second sensor that generate a first and second series of crank signals responsive to rotation of said rotating member, said method comprising:
- measuring time periods of one or more successive crank signals from said first or second series of signals, or both, to obtain a plurality of crank signal period measurements;
- and
- generating a series of virtual crank signals corresponding to said plurality of elements and said at least one reference element, wherein a virtual signal of said series of virtual signals comprises a virtual signal period that is computed based on a predetermined number of upstream crank signal period measurements.
A method of monitoring crankshaft position of an internal combustion engine said engine comprising a crankshaft, a rotating member operationally coupled thereto comprising a plurality of elements with one or more reference elements possessing at least one different spatial characteristic, and one or more crank positioning sensors proximate to said rotating member so as to allow generation of one or more corresponding crank signal streams responsive to rotation of said rotating member;
- said method comprising
- monitoring for crank signal occurrence in a series of inspection windows in which, based on upstream crank signal period measurements, one or more crank signals are expected to be located;
- accepting or rejecting a given crank signal depending on relationship between actual location and expected location of said given crank signal;
- and
- employing current or previously accepted crank signals, or both, to synthesize a virtual crankshaft positioning signal stream that correlates with crankshaft position;
- wherein said virtual crankshaft positioning signal stream is useful for monitoring crankshaft position.
A signal processor configured for producing a virtual crankshaft positioning signal stream useful for monitoring crankshaft position of an internal combustion engine, said engine comprising a crankshaft, a rotating member operationally coupled thereto comprising a plurality of elements with one or more reference elements possessing at least one different spatial characteristic, and one or more crank positioning sensors proximate to said rotating member so as to allow generation of one or more corresponding crank signal streams responsive to rotation of said rotating member;
- said signal processor comprising at least one processing module;
- at least one memory device operationally coupled to said at least one processing module;
- and program code modules stored in said signal processor:
- a computer readable first program code module for causing said signal processor to monitor for crank signal occurrence in a series of inspection windows in which, based on upstream crank signal period measurements, one or more crank signals are expected to be located;
- a computer readable second program code module for causing said signal processor to accept or reject a given crank signal depending on relationship between actual location and expected location of said given crank signal;
- and
- a computer readable first program code module for causing said signal processor to employ current or previously accepted crank signals, or both, to synthesize a virtual crankshaft positioning signal stream that correlates with crankshaft position;
- wherein said virtual crankshaft positioning signal stream is useful for monitoring crankshaft position.
A computer program product for use with a locomotive engine comprising a signal processor configured for producing a virtual crankshaft positioning signal stream from one or more crank signal streams produced by one or more crank positioning sensors, respectively, in response to rotation of a crankshaft in said locomotive engine, said computer program product comprising a computer-usable medium which comprises computer readable program code modules embodied in said computer-usable medium:
- a computer readable first program code module for causing said signal processor to monitor for crank signal occurrence in a series of inspection windows in which, based on upstream crank signal period measurements, one or more crank signals are expected to be located;
- a computer readable second program code module for causing said signal processor to accept or reject a given crank signal depending on relationship between actual location and expected location of said given crank signal;
- and
- a computer readable first program code module for causing said signal processor to employ current or previously accepted crank signals, or both, to synthesize a virtual crankshaft positioning signal stream that correlates with crankshaft position;
- wherein said virtual crankshaft positioning signal stream is useful for monitoring crankshaft position.
An engine control system for an internal combustion engine, wherein said engine comprises at least one cylinder, each cylinder retaining a piston, and wherein a crankshaft is operationally coupled to the pistons such that the crankshaft rotates twice per engine cycle and the position of each piston depends upon the rotational position of the crankshaft, said engine control system comprising:
- (a) a signal processor, wherein said signal processor is configured to receive signals from one or more crank positioning sensors;
- (b) a rotating member arranged to rotate responsive to rotation of said crankshaft, said rotating member comprises a plurality of spaced elements and at least one reference element provided with a different spatial characteristic thereon;
- (c) one or more crank positioning sensors proximate to said rotating member so as to allow generation of one or more corresponding crank signal streams responsive to rotation of said rotating member;
- wherein said signal processor comprising at least one processing module;
- at least one memory device operationally coupled to said at least one processing module;
- and program code modules stored in said signal processor:
- a computer readable first program code module for causing said signal processor to monitor for crank signal occurrence in a series of inspection windows in which, based on upstream crank signal period measurements, one or more crank signals are expected to be located;
- a computer readable second program code module for causing said signal processor to accept or reject a given crank signal depending on relationship between actual location and expected location of said given crank signal;
- and
- a computer readable first program code module for causing said signal processor to employ current or previously accepted crank signals, or both, to synthesize a virtual crankshaft positioning signal stream that correlates with crankshaft position;
- wherein said virtual crankshaft positioning signal stream is useful for monitoring crankshaft position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.