REDUCING NOISE, VIBRATION, AND HARSHNESS IN A VARIABLE DISPLACEMENT ENGINE

• US 20100012072A1
• Filed: 07/15/2008
• Published: 01/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Sukaria, Husein, Lewis, Donald J., Leone, Thomas G., Tseng, Eric
• Granted Patent: US 8,146,565 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 123/192.100
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2250/21 during a transition between engine operation modes or states
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2250/28 Control for reducing torsional vibrations, e.g. at acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/0087 Selective cylinder activation, i.e. partial cylinder operation deceleration cut-off F02D41/123
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/10 for acceleration

Abstract

A method for operating an engine of a vehicle, the engine having one or more deactivatable cylinders, the method including controlling the stability of a vehicle in response to vehicle acceleration, and reactivating or deactivating combustion in at least a cylinder in response to vehicle acceleration.

Claims

1. A method for operating an engine of a vehicle, the engine having one or more deactivatable cylinders, comprising:

controlling vehicle operation to increase a vehicle stability in response to a vehicle acceleration; and

reactivating or deactivating combustion in a cylinder in response to the vehicle acceleration.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising reactivating the combustion in the deactivated cylinder in response to a magnitude of the acceleration at or about a firing frequency of the engine.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising filtering the vehicle acceleration to reduce frequencies outside the firing frequency of the engine, where the firing frequency is determined based on engine speed and a number of activated cylinders carrying out combustion.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein controlling vehicle operation includes actuating one or more wheel brake mechanisms in the vehicle.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein reactivating combustion includes injecting fuel into a combustion chamber of a deactivated cylinder, and/or operating an intake and exhaust valve associated with the cylinder.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein reactivating combustion in a deactivated cylinder in response to the vehicle acceleration includes reactivating combustion when the acceleration has surpassed a threshold magnitude at a selected frequency.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising increasing the threshold magnitude of acceleration in response to an indication of rough road conditions.

8. The method of claim 7 where the indication of rough road conditions is based on wheel speed of a plurality of wheels of the vehicle.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising inhibiting deactivation for a predetermined duration following reactivating combustion.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein reactivating cylinders includes operating an exhaust valve, operating an intake valve, and supplying fuel to the cylinder for combustion.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the acceleration is a lateral acceleration.

12. A system for a vehicle including an engine, the engine having one or more deactivatable cylinders, comprising:

a vehicle acceleration sensor coupled to the vehicle;

a wheel speed sensor coupled to a wheel of the vehicle;

a wheel brake mechanism coupled to the wheel of the vehicle; and

a control system for adjusting the wheel brake mechanism in response to the vehicle acceleration sensor to improve the stability of the vehicle during traveling conditions of the vehicle, the control system further filtering the acceleration sensor to pass frequencies at or around a firing frequency of the engine, and reactivating one or more deactivated cylinders of the engine in response to whether a magnitude of the acceleration at the passed frequencies is greater than a threshold magnitude, the threshold adjusted in response to a rough road indication, the rough road indication based on the wheel speed sensor.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the control system further includes a band-pass filter configured to pass frequencies at or around the firing frequency.

14. The system of claim 12 where the acceleration sensor is a lateral acceleration sensor.

15. The system of claim 12 wherein the acceleration sensor is a longitudinal acceleration sensor.

16. The system of claim 13 wherein the control system further determines a band of the band-pass filter based on engine speed and the number of activated cylinders.

17. The system of claim 12 wherein the acceleration sensor is mounted substantially perpendicular to a direction in which the engine is mounted.

18. A system for a vehicle, comprising:

a variable displacement engine configured to deactivate a plurality of cylinders of the engine by disabling fuel injection and/or holding intake and exhaust valves closed for at least a cycle of the engine;

a vehicle acceleration sensor coupled in the vehicle;

a wheel speed sensor coupled to a wheel of the vehicle;

a wheel brake mechanism coupled to the wheel of the vehicle; and

a control system for adjusting the wheel brake mechanism in response to the vehicle acceleration sensor to improve the stability of the vehicle during traveling conditions of the vehicle, the control system including a band-pass filter configured to filter the acceleration sensor to pass frequencies at or around firing frequency of the engine, the control system further reactivating the plurality of deactivated cylinders of the engine when a magnitude of the acceleration at the passed frequencies is greater than a threshold magnitude, the threshold magnitude adjusted in response to a rough road indication, the rough road indication based on the wheel speed sensor.

19. The system of claim 18 where the acceleration sensor is a yaw sensor.

20. The system of claim 18 wherein the acceleration sensor is a lateral acceleration sensor.