Process and apparatus for intermittent control of a cyclically operating internal combustion engine

• US 4,509,488 A
• Filed: 07/12/1982
• Issued: 04/09/1985
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/1981
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Daimler-Benz AG (Mercedes-Benz Group AG)
• Original Assignee: Daimler-Benz AG (Mercedes-Benz Group AG)
• Inventors: Letsche, Ulrich, Forster, Hans-Joachim, Lubbing, Bernd-Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): Cox, Ronald B.
• Application Number:
  US06/397,045
• Time in Patent Office: 1,002 Days
• Field of Search: 123/481, 123/198 F
• US Class Current: 123/481
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/0087 Selective cylinder activation, i.e. partial cylinder operation deceleration cut-off F02D41/123
• CPC Class Codes: F02P 9/002 Control of spark intensity, intensifying, lengthening, suppression by means of current control in the storage devices F02P3/05, F02P3/09, during starting F02P15/12

Abstract

A process for intermittent control of a cyclically operating internal combustion engine wherein, in the succession of working cycles, working strokes are skipped--in approximately uniform distribution--and the number of skips is varied in dependence on the load. Fuel is fed in a controlled fashion only to the nonskipping working chambers of the internal combustion engine independently of the load in a constant quantity optimal for consumption. For a sensitive power distribution, especially in the low load range, the number of skips is varied chronologically at least approximately randomly and independently of the speed, i.e., the temporal density of the working strokes is varied. This can be accomplished by setting differently finely staggered firing patterns or by a stochastic ignition setting.

Claims

1. A process for intermittent control of a cyclically operating internal combustion engine having plural working chambers, the steps comprising:

skipping working strokes in the succession of working cycles;

distributing the skipped working strokes stochastically among the various working chambers;

distributing the skipped working strokes approximately uniformly in time;

varying the number of skipped working strokes in dependence on the load and independently of the number of revolutions; and

feeding fuel in a controlled fashion only respectively to the nonskipped working chambers of the internal combustion engine independently of the load in a constant amount per working stroke.

2. A process according to claim 1, wherein the skips are distributed temporally approximately uniformly among the working chambers of the internal combustion engine.

4. A process according to one of claim 1, further comprising the step of

storing intermediately the mechanical energy delivered by the internal combustion engine in a manner compensating for torque surges and speed fluctuations prior to being transmitted to a load.

3. A process for intermittent control of a cyclically operating internal combustion engine having plural working chambers, the steps comprising:

skipping working strokes in the succession of working cycles;

distributing the skipped working strokes approximately uniformly in time;

varying the number of skipped working strokes in dependence on the load and independently of the number of revolutions;

feeding fuel in a controlled fashion only respectively to the nonskipped working chambers of the internal combustion engine independently of the load in a constant amount per working stroke, and

varying the number of skipped working strokes between 0 skips per actual working stroke and about five to seven times z, where

z is the number of different working chambers of the internal combustion engine, and

distributing the skips stochastically among the various working chambers.