Method And Apparatus For Determining A Normal Combustion Characteristic For An Internal Combustion Engine From An Accelerometer Signal
First Claim
1. A method of determining a combustion characteristic for an internal combustion engine from an accelerometer signal, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) operating a calibration engine, equipped with a calibration sensor and a reference accelerometer sensor, at a predetermined operating condition and using said calibration sensor to detect said combustion characteristic and said reference accelerometer sensor to collect a reference accelerometer signal;
(b) correlating said combustion characteristic with said reference accelerometer signal and storing correlated data in a calibration table where it is associated with said predetermined operating condition; and
(c) equipping an engine with an accelerometer sensor, said calibration table, and an electronic engine controller, whereby when said engine is operated at said predetermined operating condition, said electronic engine controller can determine a real-time combustion characteristic by collecting a real-time accelerometer signal from said accelerometer and cross correlating with said correlated data stored in said calibration table.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The method comprises operating a calibration engine, and collecting combustion characteristic data and reference accelerometer signals, which are correlated with each other and stored in a calibration table. The calibration table can be used by an engine to determine a real-time normal combustion characteristic when the engine is operating by collecting a real-time accelerometer sensor signal and cross correlating with the correlated data stored in the calibration table. Accordingly, the apparatus comprises a calibration engine comprising a calibration sensor, a reference accelerometer sensor and a data storage device for storing the collected calibration data that is correlated with the collected reference accelerometer signals, and an engine equipped with an accelerometer sensor, a calibration table and an electronic engine controller programmed to receive real-time accelerometer signals and cross correlate them with reference accelerometer signals to determine a real-time normal combustion characteristic.
23 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method of determining a combustion characteristic for an internal combustion engine from an accelerometer signal, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) operating a calibration engine, equipped with a calibration sensor and a reference accelerometer sensor, at a predetermined operating condition and using said calibration sensor to detect said combustion characteristic and said reference accelerometer sensor to collect a reference accelerometer signal; (b) correlating said combustion characteristic with said reference accelerometer signal and storing correlated data in a calibration table where it is associated with said predetermined operating condition; and (c) equipping an engine with an accelerometer sensor, said calibration table, and an electronic engine controller, whereby when said engine is operated at said predetermined operating condition, said electronic engine controller can determine a real-time combustion characteristic by collecting a real-time accelerometer signal from said accelerometer and cross correlating with said correlated data stored in said calibration table. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A control system for an internal combustion engine, said control system comprising:
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an accelerometer sensor mounted to said internal combustion engine at a location where said accelerometer sensor can detect oscillations that correlate to a combustion characteristic; a calibration table in which is stored, in association with a predetermined operating condition, a reference accelerometer signal collected from a calibration engine and an associated combustion characteristic derived from data collected by a calibration sensor when operating said calibration engine; an electronic engine controller programmed to receive a real-time accelerometer signal from said accelerometer and to cross correlate it with said reference accelerometer signal for said predetermined operating condition, to determine a real-time combustion characteristic from a combustion characteristic stored in said calibration table in association with said reference accelerometer signal; and a signal wire for transmitting said signal from said accelerometer sensor to said electronic engine controller. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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16. A calibration engine comprising:
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an engine block comprising at least one combustion chamber defined by a cylinder, a piston and a cylinder head; a calibration sensor associated with said engine for detecting a combustion characteristic; an accelerometer sensor mounted to said internal combustion engine at a location where said accelerometer sensor can detect oscillations that correlate to said combustion characteristic; a data storage device for storing data associated with a predetermined engine operating condition, said data comprising a reference accelerometer signal collected from said reference accelerometer sensor, and a value associated with said combustion characteristic collected from said calibration sensor, and wherein stored data can be exported to a calibration table that can be used by an engine of the same design and specification as said calibration engine, to determine a real-time combustion characteristic from a real-time accelerometer signal without requiring a calibration sensor; and wiring to respectively connect said accelerometer sensor and said calibration sensor to said data storage device. - View Dependent Claims (17)
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Specification