ARBITRATION STRATEGY FOR SLOW RESPONSE AND FAST RESPONSE TORQUE REQUESTS

• US 20130319369A1
• Filed: 06/05/2013
• Published: 12/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cummins Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Cummins Incorporated
• Inventors: Stroh, David J., Kothandaraman, Govindarajan, Thomas, Robert J., Fox, Richard S., Schwab, Zach, Calmer, Craig M., Zope, Rohit
• Granted Patent: US 10,508,614 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 123/319
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 11/105 characterised by the function converting demand to actuation, e.g. a map indicating relations between an accelerator pedal position and throttle valve opening or target engine torque
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2200/1006 Engine torque losses, e.g. friction or pumping losses or losses caused by external loads of accessories
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2250/21 during a transition between engine operation modes or states
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 37/02 one of the functions being ignition
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/0002 Controlling intake air
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 45/00 Electrical control not provided for in groups F02D41/00 - F02D43/00
• CPC Class Codes: F02P 5/1504 with particular means during a transient phase, e.g. acceleration, deceleration, gear change during starting F02P5/1506
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/40 Engine management systems

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a system for managing engine output that includes a machine manager module and a combustion module. In one embodiment, the combustion module includes a slow response pathway and a fast response pathway. The slow response pathway includes managing air and fuel actuators and the fast response pathway includes managing spark timing. According to one embodiment, managing spark timing comprises bringing a spark actuator to the middle of a spark timing range for bi-directional control and involves sacrificing engine efficiency for engine responsiveness. Further, the fast response pathway may be selectively enabled based upon an optimization index.

Claims

1. A system for managing engine output, comprising:

a machine manager module; and

a combustion module, the combustion module comprising;

a slow response pathway, and a fast response pathway.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the slow response pathway comprises managing air actuators or other actuators with similar response times.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the fast response pathway comprises managing spark timing, fuel injection, or other actuators that can affect a change in engine output from one combustion event to the next.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein managing spark timing comprises bringing a spark actuator to the middle of a spark timing range for bi-directional control.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein bringing a spark actuator to the middle of a spark timing range comprises sacrificing engine efficiency for engine responsiveness.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the fast response pathway is selectively enabled based on an optimization index.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein requested engine output that exceeds the ability of the fast response pathway to control is considered and managed in the slow response pathway.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the combustion module identifies and tracks the source of the torque requests through the arbitration pathways.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the combustion module correlates ultimate engine operating demands with the identification of the torque request and the specifications of a given actuator.

10. A method for managing engine output, comprising:

arbitrating fast response engine output requests;

arbitrating slow response engine output requests; and

combining fast response engine output requests and slow response engine output requests into a common arbitration architecture.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein arbitrating fast response engine output requests is selectively enabled based on an optimization index.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein arbitrating fast response engine output comprises managing spark timing, fuel injection, or other actuators that can affect a change in engine output from one combustion event to the next.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein managing spark timing comprises bringing a spark actuator to the middle of a spark timing range and sacrificing engine efficiency for engine responsiveness.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising identifying and tracking the source of the engine output requests.

15. A method for improving torque actuation response, comprising:

actuating fuel and air actuators to achieve a built-up torque reserve;

concurrent with actuating the fuel and air actuators, retarding spark timing from an optimal spark timing to achieve a desired engine output torque.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein retarding spark timing brings a spark actuator to the middle of a spark timing range for bi-directional control and sacrifices engine efficiency for engine responsiveness.

17. The method of claim 15 where torque reserve can be achieved by running the engine lean (excess air), thereby reducing the spark retard and minimizing efficiency loss.

18. The method of claim 15 where torque reserve can be achieved by use of various combinations of fast and slow torque actuators.

19. The method of claim 15, where the fast actuators include fuel injection and spark timing and the slow actuators include air actuators.