Method for reducing variations in drive belt tension
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorDonald R. G. Bacon
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for reducing variations in tension in a drive belt 7 of an accessory belt drive system is disclosed in which an electrical load imposed upon the drive belt 7 by an electrical generator 8 is modulated based upon fluctuations in the speed at which the drive belt 7 is driven. By reducing the electrical load when the drive belt 7 is being accelerated and increasing the electrical load when the drive belt is decelerating the difference between the maximum tension and the minimum tension in the drive belt 7 is reduced.
Claims17
A method for reducing tension variations in a drive belt of a motor vehicle having a drive pulley driven by an engine connected by a drive belt to a driven pulley driving an alternator, comprising:
- using a look up table having a variety of instantaneous engine acceleration and instantaneous fluctuations in the engine acceleration from phasing of combustion strokes of the engine;
- and
- varying electrical load applied to the drive belt by the alternator according to the engine acceleration determined indirectly using the fluctuations in the engine acceleration from the look-up table.
A belt accessory drive system for an internal combustion engine, comprising:
- an alternator having an alternator pulley;
- a belt mounted on the alternator pulley and an engine pulley coupled to the crankshaft;
- and
- an electronic processor electronically coupled to the alternator wherein the electronic processor commands a varying load applied to the drive belt by the alternator in response to variations in engine acceleration determined using a look up table that includes a variety of instantaneous engine acceleration and instantaneous fluctuations in engine acceleration from phasing of combustion strokes of the engine.
A method for controlling an accessory driven by an internal combustion engine by a drive pulley of the engine coupled by a belt with a driven pulley coupled to the accessory, comprising:
- varying load applied to the drive belt by the accessory in response to variations in engine acceleration determined from a look up table having a variety of instantaneous engine acceleration and instantaneous fluctuations in engine acceleration from phasing of combustion strokes of the engine such that load applied by the accessory is decreased when engine speed is increasing and load applied by the accessory is increased when engine speed is decreasing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.