INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE CONTROL FOR IMPROVED FUEL EFFICIENCY
First Claim
1. A method of controlling the operation of an internal combustion engine having at least one working chamber, each working chamber being generally arranged to operate in a succession of working cycles, the method comprising:
- receiving a desired engine output signal indicative of a desired engine output; and
firing the at least one working chamber in a pattern that skips the firing of selected skipped working cycles and fires selected active working cycles to deliver the desired engine output, wherein feedback indicative of at least one of requested and actual working cycle firings is used in the determination of the working cycles to be skipped.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A variety of methods and arrangements for improving the fuel efficiency of internal combustion engines are described. Generally, an engine is controlled to operate in a skip fire variable displacement mode. Feedback control is used to dynamically determine the working cycles to be skipped to provide a desired engine output. In some embodiments a substantially optimized amount of air and fuel is delivered to the working chambers during active working cycles so that the fired working chambers can operate at efficiencies close to their optimal efficiency. In some embodiments, the appropriate firing pattern is determined at least in part using predictive adaptive control. By way of example, sigma delta controllers work well for this purpose. In some implementations, the feedback includes feedback indicative of at least one of actual and requested working cycle firings. In some embodiments, the appropriate firings are determined on a firing opportunity by firing opportunity basis. Additionally, in some embodiments, an indicia of the current rotational speed of the engine is used as a clock input for a controller used to selectively cause the skipped working cycles to be skipped.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A method of controlling the operation of an internal combustion engine having at least one working chamber, each working chamber being generally arranged to operate in a succession of working cycles, the method comprising:
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receiving a desired engine output signal indicative of a desired engine output; and firing the at least one working chamber in a pattern that skips the firing of selected skipped working cycles and fires selected active working cycles to deliver the desired engine output, wherein feedback indicative of at least one of requested and actual working cycle firings is used in the determination of the working cycles to be skipped. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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- 11. An engine controller for controlling the operation of an internal combustion engine having at least one working chamber, each working chamber being generally arranged to operate in a succession of working cycles, the engine controller having a variable displacement operational mode that causes selected active working cycles to be fired and selected passive working cycles not to be fired, wherein the engine controller uses feedback control to provide a desired engine output, and the feedback utilized in the feedback control includes information indicative of at least one of requested and actual working cycle firings.
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20. An engine controller for controlling the operation of an internal combustion engine having at least one working chamber, each working chamber being generally arranged to operate in a succession of working cycles, the engine controller having a variable displacement operational mode that causes selected active working cycles to be fired and selected passive working cycles not to be fired, wherein the engine controller comprises:
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a multiplier arranged to multiply a first signal indicative of a desired engine output by a factor defined by a second signal indicative of an amount of drive energy provided by each active working cycle firing, and to output a third signal; a drive pulse generator arranged to receive the third signal and to output a drive signal that generally indicates when active working cycles are appropriate to deliver the desired engine output; and an engine control block arranged to receive inputs indicative of a current state of the engine and to output the second signal. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22)
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Specification