System and method for monitoring engine oil pressure
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsJames Eastwood, Simon Cowling
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Abstract
A system and method for determining the oil pressure of an internal combustion engine is disclosed herein. The system and/or method may estimate the oil pressure using the response of two variable camshaft timing actuators having respective phase angle change control signals. Specifically, the signals may be used to determine whether the oil pressure is below a low oil pressure threshold value. The rate of response of the actuators may also be used to determine a current engine oil pressure.
Claims19
A motor vehicle comprising:
- an internal combustion engine comprising:
- an oil pressure monitoring system comprising:
- a variable camshaft timing system including at least one engine oil pressure operated camshaft timing actuator;
- a camshaft timing sensor providing an output signal indicative of operation of each respective camshaft timing actuator;
- and
- an electronic processing unit receiving signals from each respective variable camshaft timing sensor and including instructions stored in memory executable by a processor to generate an output indicative of engine oil pressure based on each received signal.
An oil pressure monitoring system in an internal combustion engine comprising:
- a variable camshaft timing system including at least one engine oil pressure operated camshaft timing actuator;
- a camshaft timing sensor providing an output signal indicative of operation of each respective camshaft timing actuator;
- and
- an electronic processing unit including code stored in memory executable by a processor to receive signals from each respective variable camshaft timing sensor and use at least one received signal to provide an output indicative of an oil pressure of the engine.
A method for monitoring engine oil pressure, an engine having a variable camshaft timing system including an engine oil pressure operated camshaft timing actuator and a camshaft timing sensor, comprising:
- providing, via the sensor, a signal indicative of operation of the camshaft timing actuator;
- providing an output indicative of the engine oil pressure of the engine based on the signal;
- and
- determining a phase angle rate of change of the camshaft timing actuator and using the determined rate of change to estimate a current oil pressure of the engine.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.