Method and apparatus for controlling engine torque and wheel spin

• US 5,154,151 A
• Filed: 02/20/1991
• Issued: 10/13/1992
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/1990
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Lucas Industries PLC Brueton House New Road Solihull West Midlands B91 3TX England
• Original Assignee: Lucas Industries Limited (Zeppelin - Stiftung der Stadt Friedrichshafen)
• Inventors: Bradshaw, Benjamin J., Bridgens, Barry J., Howes, Michael J.
• Primary Examiner(s): ARGENBRIGHT, TONY MICHAEL
• Application Number:
  US07/658,388
• Time in Patent Office: 601 Days
• Field of Search: 180/197, 123/198 F, 123/481
• US Class Current: 123/481
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 28/16 responsive to, or preventing, skidding of wheels brake control systems for vehicle drive stability B60T8/1755; arrangements responsive to a speed condition for adjusting wheel braking force B60T8/32; control of vehicle driving stability otherwise than by controlling the propulsion unit only B60W30/02; preventing wheel slippage by reducing power in rail vehicles B61C15/00
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2250/21 during a transition between engine operation modes or states
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/0087 Selective cylinder activation, i.e. partial cylinder operation deceleration cut-off F02D41/123

Abstract

A wheel spin detector monitors the speeds of vehicle wheels and supplies a signal to an engine management system when excessive wheel spin is detected. The engine management system includes a fuel controller which, in response to the signal from the detector, reduces engine torque by inhibiting the supply of fuel to one or more cylinders of the engine such that either all cylinders are continuously fuelled or continuously unfuelled or one and only one cylinder is intermittently fuelled. When an unfuelled cylinder is fuelled again, the mixture supplied to it may be temporarily enriched.

Claims

1. An apparatus for controlling torque of a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine, said apparatus comprising fuel control means for operating the engine in any one of a plurality of reduced torque modes in each of which the engine produces a reduced torque which is different from that produced by the engine in each other of the plurality of reduced torque modes, said fuel control means including means for inhibiting supply of fuel such that, in each of the plurality of reduced torque modes, at least one of the cylinders is continuously unfuelled and each remaining cylinder is continuously fuelled.

2. An apparatus for controlling torque of a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine, said apparatus comprising fuel control means for operating the engine in any one of a plurality of reduced torque modes, said fuel control means including means for inhibiting supply of fuel such that, in each of the plurality of reduced torque modes, one and only one cylinder is intermittently fuelled.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2, in which said inhibiting means enriches a combustible mixture supplied to the one and only one cylinder when the one and only one cylinder is fuelled.

4. An apparatus for controlling torque of a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine, said apparatus comprising fuel control means for operating the engine in any one of a plurality of reduced torque modes comprising first and second sets of modes, the first set comprising at least one mode and the second set comprising at least one mode, said fuel control means including means for inhibiting supply of fuel such that, in each mode of the first set, at least one cylinder is continuously unfuelled and each remaining cylinder is continuously fuelled and, in each mode of the second set, one and only one cylinder is intermittently fuelled.

5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 4, in which said inhibiting means enriches a combustible mixture supplied to the one and only one cylinder when the one and only one cylinder is fuelled.

6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 4, in which said inhibiting means enriches a combustible mixture supplied to at least one cylinder when the at least one cylinder changes from being an unfuelled cylinder to being a fuelled cylinder.

7. An apparatus for controlling torque of a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine, said apparatus comprising fuel control means for controlling supply of a combustible mixture including fuel to the engine, means for intermittently supplying the combustible mixture to at least one of the cylinders, and means for temporarily enriching the combustible mixture when said supplying means resupplies the combustible mixture to the at least one of the cylinders.

8. A method of controlling torque of a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine, said method comprising selectively operating the engine in any one of a plurality of reduced torque modes, in each of which the engine produces a reduced torque which is different from that produced by the engine in each other of the plurality of reduced torque modes, by continuously unfuelling at least one of the cylinders and continuously fuelling each remaining cylinder.

9. A method of controlling torque of a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine, said method comprising selectively operating the engine in any one of a plurality of reduced torque modes by intermittently fuelling one and only one of the cylinders.

10. A method as claimed in claim 9, in which the one and only one of the cylinders, when fuelled, is supplied with an enriched combustible mixture.

11. A method of controlling torque of a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine, said method comprising selectively operating the engine in any one of a plurality of reduced torque modes exclusively comprising a first set of modes and a second set of modes, the first set comprising at least one mode and the second set comprising at least one mode, wherein in each mode of the first set, at least one cylinder is continuously unfuelled and each remaining cylinder is continuously fuelled and, in each mode of the second set, one and only one cylinder is intermittently fuelled.

12. A method of controlling torque of a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine, said method comprising selectively operating the engine in any one of a plurality of reduced torque modes comprising first and second sets of modes, wherein, in an at least one of the first set of modes, at least one cylinder is continuously unfuelled and each remaining cylinder is continuously fuelled and, in an at least one of the second set of modes, one and only one cylinder is intermittently fuelled, and in which the one and only one of the cylinders, when fuelled, is supplied with an enriched combustible mixture.

13. A method of controlling torque of a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine, said method comprising selectively operating the engine in any one of a plurality of reduced torque modes comprising first and second sets of modes, wherein, in an at least one of the first set of modes, at least one cylinder is continuously unfuelled and each remaining cylinder is continuously fuelled and, in an at least one of the second set of modes, one and only one cylinder is intermittently fuelled, and in which a combustible mixture supplied to at least one cylinder is enriched when the at least one cylinder changes from being an unfuelled cylinder to being a fuelled cylinder.

14. A method for controlling torque of a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine, said method comprising reducing the torque by intermittently fuelling at least one cylinder and temporarily enriching a combustible mixture supplied to the at least one cylinder in a fuelled cycle thereof following an unfuelled cycle thereof.