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US 9,175,661 B2Granted
Glow plug heater control
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsEric Kurtz, Paul Joseph Tennison, David A. May
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods and systems for operating a glow plug are disclosed. In one example, current supplied to a glow plug can be controlled to promote combustion stability of a cylinder after an engine start. Engine feedgas hydrocarbons may be reduced during conditions where combustion stability may be otherwise reduced to reduce tailpipe emissions.
Claims5
An engine system, comprising:
- an engine having a combustion chamber;
- a glow plug protruding into the combustion chamber;
- and
- a controller including instructions to anticipate increasing current supplied to the glow plug in response to a difference between engine torque and driver demand torque after an engine start and after the engine reaches a threshold temperature, and where the controller includes further instructions to supply current to the glow plug in response to an amount of combustion phase retard from base combustion phase timing, the amount of combustion phase retard based on a difference between a catalyst temperature and a catalyst light off temperature, and additional instructions to increase glow plug current a predetermined amount for each crankshaft degree of combustion phase retard.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.