Fuel-injection device

• US 5,375,575 A
• Filed: 03/25/1993
• Issued: 12/27/1994
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/1992
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Bosch Automotive Systems Corporation (Robert Bosch GmbH)
• Original Assignee: Zexel Corporation
• Inventors: Yajima, Satoshi, Fujita, Mitsuhiro, Shinagawa, Masahiko, Ohishi, Takashi
• Primary Examiner(s): Wolfe, Willis R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Moulis, Thomas N.
• Application Number:
  US08/036,863
• Time in Patent Office: 642 Days
• Field of Search: 123/446, 123/502, 123/506, 123/458, 123/494, 123/490
• US Class Current: 123/446
• CPC Class Codes: F02B 3/06 with compression ignition compression ignition engines using air or gas for blowing fuel into compressed air in cylinder F02B13/02
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2041/2027 Control of the current by pulse width modulation or duty cycle control
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2041/2051 using voltage control
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2041/2055 with means for determining actual opening or closing time
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2041/2058 using information of the actual current value
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2200/063 Lift of the valve needle
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2200/503 Battery correction, i.e. corrections as a function of the state of the battery, its output or its type
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/008 Controlling each cylinder individually
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/0085 Balancing of cylinder outputs, e.g. speed, torque or air-fuel ratio
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/20 Output circuits, e.g. for controlling currents in command coils
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/38 of the high pressure type
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/40 with means for controlling injection timing or duration
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/401 Controlling injection timing F02D41/402 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F02M 57/02 Injectors structurally combined with fuel-injection pumps
• CPC Class Codes: F02M 59/366 Valves being actuated electrically
• CPC Class Codes: F02M 59/466 Electrically operated valves, e.g. using electromagnetic or piezoelectric operating means
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/40 Engine management systems

Abstract

A fuel-injection device includes a solenoid valve which adjusts a fuel-injection level of a fuel-injection pump by adjusting its throttling for the fuel-injection passage to supply the fuel to a compressor. A driving pulse to drive the solenoid valve is formed taking various factors into consideration. For example, the driving pulse is composed of a segment having a large duty ratio and a segment having a small duty ratio in order to secure a responsiveness of the solenoid valve. The driving pulse is formed on the basis of a change in electrical voltage to drive the solenoid valve, varying levels of voltage drop in a wiring harness installed for every cylinder, and of varying levels of responsiveness unique with fuel-injection pumps.

Claims

1. A fuel injection device comprising:

a fuel-injection pump for an engine and at least having a compressor disposed inside a cylinder of the fuel-injection pump wherein a pump plunger is slidably inserted, a high-pressure passage for guiding fuel in the compressor to a fuel injection nozzle, and a fuel-supplying passage for supplying fuel supplied from a fuel-intake to said compressor;

a solenoid valve disposed in the fuel-supplying passage of said fuel-injection pump, and having a valve to adjust the communication conditions between the compressor side and the fuel-intake side of said fuel-supplying passage, and controlling the motion of the valve in response to control signals externally supplied to the solenoid;

a driving pulse forming means for forming a driving pulse having a pulse segment with a large duty ratio during a forced time period and a pulse segment with a duty ratio smaller than that of said forced time period during a limited time period, within the solenoid valve'"'"'s driving period, which is determined by computing the valve-closed time period required to obtain a desired fuel-injection level from an engine throttle position and an engine rotational speed, and by the sum of the time delay in the solenoid valve'"'"'s closing required for said solenoid valve to shut off said fuel-supplying passage and said valve closed-time period;

a solenoid valve driving means for driving said solenoid valve in response to the driving pulse formed by said driving pulse forming means.

2. A fuel-injection pump as recited in claim 1, wherein the time delay in the solenoid valve'"'"'s closing required for said valve to shut off said fuel-supplying passage is determined by a means for detecting an inflection point of said current supplied to said solenoid that occurs at the time point when said valve seats no the valve seat, and by a means for counting the time period from the time point when the pulse to drive said solenoid valve is output by said solenoid valve driving means until the time point when said valve is seated.

3. A fuel-injection pump as recited in claim 1, further comprising a first generator for generating a pulse having a large duty ratio at specific time intervals, for a specific time period, and a second generator for generating a pulse having a duty ratio smaller than that of the pulse generated from said first generator, wherein the pulse output from said second generator during said solenoid valve'"'"'s driving period and the pulse output from said first generator are input to an OR gate for forming a forced time period and a limited time period for said driving pulse.

4. A fuel-injection pump as recited in claim 1, wherein the driving pulse forming means includes means for ending the force time period of said driving pulse when the current applied to the solenoid exceeds a specific value.

5. A fuel-injection pump as recited in claim 1, wherein said valve-closed time period is determined by a means for computing a desired injection level based on said engine throttle position and engine rotational speed, by converting said computed desired injection level to a cam angle necessary to obtain the injection level, and subsequently, by computing the time necessary for the cam to rotate by the cam angle.

6. A fuel-injection device as recited in claim 1, wherein the solenoid valve extendedly installed on the side of the injection pump, and inserted by a slidable rod having said valve has a valve housing with a valve seat for said valve to be seated on, a header mounted on said valve housing to cover said valve and to create a space to accommodate said valve between itself and said valve housing, a solenoid facing an armature secured to said rod and positioned at the opposite side to said header of said valve housing, and a spring constantly pushing said valve away from said valve seat, and wherein said fuel supplying passage is reaching near said valve'"'"'s accommodating space and said rod that connects to this accommodating space at the time of the valve'"'"'s opening.

7. A fuel-injection device comprising:

a fuel-injection pump for an engine and at least having a compressor disposed inside a cylinder of the fuel-injection pump wherein a pump plunger is slidably inserted, a high-pressure passage for guiding fuel in the compressor to a fuel injection nozzle, and a fuel-supplying passage for supplying fuel supplied from fuel-intake to said compressor;

a solenoid valve disposed in the fuel-supplying passage of said fuel-injection pump, and having a valve to adjust the communication conditions between the compressor side and the fuel-intake side of said fuel-supplying passage, and controlling the motion of the valve in response to control signals externally supplied to the solenoid;

an electrical source voltage detecting means for detecting an electrical source voltage used to control said solenoid valve;

a driving pulse adjusting means for forming a driving pulse, which contains the pulse having a large duty ratio for a forced time period and a subsequent pulse having a duty ratio for a limited time period, within said solenoid valve'"'"'s driving time period determined by the sum of the time delay in the solenoid valve'"'"'s closing required for said solenoid valve to shut off said fuel-supplying passage and the valve-closed time period required to obtain a desired fuel-injection level, computed from an engine throttle position and engine rotational speed, and wherein the duty ratio of said forced time period and that of said limited time period are adjusted according to the electrical source voltage detected by said electrical source voltage detecting means.

8. A fuel-injection pump, as recited in claim 7, having a first generator for generating pulse having a large duty ratio at specific time intervals, for a specific time period, and a second generator for generating a pulse having a duty ratio smaller than that of the pulse generated from said first generator, wherein the pulse output from said second generator during said solenoid valve'"'"'s driving period and the pulse output from said first generator are input to an OR gate for preliminarily forming a forced time period and a limited time period for said driving pulse, and the duty ratio of the driving pulse in said forced time period and that of said limited time period are adjusted by an adjusting means according to the electrical source voltage level detected by said electrical source voltage detecting means.

9. A fuel-injection device as recited in claim 7, wherein the duty ratio of the driving pulse of said forced time period and that of said limited time period are determined by a means using a preliminarily determined relationship, according to the electrical source voltage level detected by said electrical source voltage detecting means, and the driving pulse is formed by a means by directly using the forced time period and the duty ratio.

10. A fuel-injection device as recited in claim 7, wherein the forced time period of said driving pulse and the duty ratio of said limited time period increase according to the drop in electrical source voltage.

11. A fuel-injection pump as recited in claim 7, wherein said valve-closed time period is determined by a means for computing a desired injection level based on said engine throttle level and engine rotational speed, by converting said computed desired injection level to a cam angle necessary to obtain the injection level, and subsequently, by computing the time necessary for the cam to rotate by the cam angle.

12. A fuel-injection device as recited in claim 7, wherein the solenoid valve extendedly installed On the side of the injection pump, and inserted by a slidable rod having said valve has a valve housing with a valve seat for said valve to be seated on, a header mounted on said valve housing to cover said valve and to create a space to accommodate said valve between itself and said valve housing, a solenoid facing an armature secured to said rod and positioned at the opposite side to said header of said valve housing, and a spring constantly pushing said valve away from said valve seat, and wherein said fuel supplying passage is reaching near said valve'"'"'s accommodating space and said rod that connects to this accommodating space at the time of the valve'"'"'s opening.

13. A fuel-injection device comprising:

a fuel-injection pump for an engine and at least having a compressor disposed inside a cylinder of the fuel-injection pump wherein a pump plunger is slidably inserted, a high-pressure passage for guiding fuel in the compressor to a fuel-injection nozzle, and a fuel-supplying passage for supplying fuel supplied from a fuel-intake to said compressor;

a solenoid valve disposed in the fuel-supplying passage of said fuel-injection pump, and having a valve to adjust the communication conditions between the compressor side and the fuel-intake side of said fuel-supplying passage, and controlling the motion of the valve in response to control signals externally supplied to the solenoid;

a driving circuit for driving and controlling said solenoid valve;

a driving pulse forming means for forming a driving pulse that has a pulse width which is determined by the sum of the time delay in the solenoid valve'"'"'s closing required for said solenoid valve to shut off said fuel-supplying passage and the valve-closed time length required for obtaining a desired fuel-injection level, computed from an engine throttle position and engine rotational speed, and is adjusted according to a voltage drop in a connection wire between the solenoid valve of the fuel-injection pump and the driving circuit for driving the solenoid valve;

a solenoid valve driving means for driving said solenoid valve in response to the driving pulse output from said driving pulse forming means.

14. A fuel-injection pump as recited in claim 13, wherein said driving pulse contains a forced time period, during which a segment of the driving pulse has a large duty ratio, and a subsequent limited time period, during which a segment of the driving pulse has a duty ratio smaller than that of said forced time period, and the duty ratio in said forced time period and that in said limited time period are corrected by a correcting means according to a voltage drop in the connection wire between the solenoid valve of the fuel-injection pump and the driving circuit driving said solenoid valve.

15. A fuel-injection pump as recited in claim 14, further comprising a first generator for generating a pulse having a large duty ratio at specific time intervals, for a specific time period, and a second generator for generating a pulse having a duty ratio smaller than that of the pulse generated from said first generator, wherein the pulse output from said second generator during said solenoid valve'"'"'s driving period and the pulse output from said first generator are input to an OR gate for preliminarily forming a forced time period and a limited time period for said driving pulse, and the duty ratio of the driving pulse in said forced time period and that of said limited time a are corrected by a correcting means according to a voltage drop in the connecting wire between the solenoid valve and the driving circuit for driving the solenoid valve.

16. A fuel-injection pump as recited in claim 14, wherein the duty ratio of the driving pulse in said forced time period and that in said limited time period are determined by a means using a preliminarily determined relationship, according to a voltage drop in the connection wire between the solenoid valve of the fuel-injection pump and the driving circuit for driving the solenoid valve, and the driving pulse is formed by using this forced time period and the duty ratio.

17. A fuel-injection device as recited in claim 14, wherein the forced time period of said driving pulse and the duty ratio of said limited time length increase, as a voltage drop in the connection wire between the solenoid valve and the driving circuit to drive the solenoid valve increases.

18. A fuel-injection pump as recited in claim 13, wherein said driving pulse is a pulse of rectangular-shaped wave with a pulse width being determined by a means in accordance with the sum of the time delay in the solenoid valve'"'"'s closing and the valve-closed time period, and its amplitude is corrected by a correcting means according to a voltage drop in the connection wire between the solenoid valve of the fuel-injection pump and the driving circuit for driving the solenoid valve.

19. A fuel-injection pump as recited in claim 13, wherein said driving pulse has a specific duty ratio and a pulse width determined by a means for computing the sum of the time delay in the solenoid valve'"'"'s closing and of the valve-closed time period, and wherein said duty ratio is corrected by a correcting means according to a voltage drop in the connection wire between the solenoid valve of the fuel-injection pump and the driving circuit for driving the solenoid valve.

20. A fuel-injection pump as recited in claim 13, wherein said valve-closed time period is determined by a means for computing a desired injection level based on the engine throttle position and engine rotational speed, by converting said computed desired injection level to a cam angle necessary to obtain the injection level, and subsequently, by computing the time necessary for the cam to rotate by the cam angle.

21. A fuel-injection device as recited in claim 13, wherein the solenoid valve extendedly installed on the side of the injection pump, and inserted by a slidable rod having said valve has a valve housing with a valve seat for said valve to be seated on, a header mounted on said valve housing to cover said valve and to create a space to accommodate said valve between itself and said valve housing, a solenoid facing an armature secured to said rod and positioned at the opposite side to said header of said valve housing, and a spring constantly pushing said valve away from said valve seat, and wherein said fuel supplying passage is reaching near said valve'"'"'s accommodating space and said rod that connects to this accommodating space at the time of the valve'"'"'s opening.

22. A fuel-injection device comprising:

a fuel-injection pump assigned to each cylinder of a multicylinder engine, and having a compressor disposed inside a cylinder of the fuel-injection pump wherein a pump plunger is slidably inserted, a high-pressure passage for guiding fuel in the compressor to a fuel injection nozzle, and a fuel-supplying passage for supplying fuel supplied from a fuel-intake to said compressor;

a solenoid valve disposed in the fuel-supplying passage of said fuel-injection pump, having a valve to adjust the communication conditions between the compressor side and the fuel-intake side of said fuel-supplying passage, and controlling the motion of the valve in response to control signals externally supplied to the solenoid;

a means for detecting a time delay in the solenoid valve'"'"'s closing required for each solenoid valve of the fuel-injection pump to shut off the fuel-supplying passage of the corresponding fuel-injection pump;

a driving pulse forming means for forming a pulse that has a pulse width which is determined by the sum of the time delay in the solenoid valve'"'"'s closing detected by said means for detecting the time delay in the solenoid valve'"'"'s closing and of the valve-closed time period required for obtaining a desired fuel-injection level and computed at least from an engine throttle position and engine rotational speed, and corrected so that the time delay in the solenoid valve'"'"'s closing detected by said means for detecting the time delay in the solenoid valve'"'"'s closing will be uniform for every solenoid valve;

a solenoid valve driving means for driving said solenoid valve by the driving pulse output from said driving pulse forming means.

23. A fuel-injection device as recited in claim 22, wherein said driving pulse forming means reduces the driving voltage for the driving pulse in the cylinder of the engine having a shorter time delay in the solenoid valve'"'"'s closing than the desired time delay in the solenoid valve'"'"'s closing, and raises the driving voltage for the driving pulse in the cylinder of the engine having a longer time delay than the desired time delay in the solenoid valve'"'"'s closing for correction.

24. A fuel-injection device as recited in claim 23, wherein said desired time delay is an average value of a specific value prescribed for every engine cylinder.

25. A fuel-injection device as recited in claim 23, said desired time delay in the solenoid valve'"'"'s closing is an average value of the time delay in the solenoid valve'"'"'s closing detected for every engine cylinder.

26. A fuel-injection pump as recited in claim 22, wherein said valve-closed time length is determined by a means for computing a desired injection level based on the engine throttle position and engine rotational speed, by converting said computed desired injection level to a cam angle necessary to obtain the injection level, and subsequently, by computing the time necessary for the cam to rotate by the cam angle.

27. A fuel-injection device as recited in claim 22, wherein the solenoid valve extendedly installed on the side of the injection pump, and inserted by a slidable rod having said valve has a valve housing with a valve seat for said valve to be seated on, a header mounted on said valve housing to cover said valve and to create a space to accommodate said valve between itself and said valve housing, a solenoid facing an armature secured to said rod and positioned at the opposite side to said header of said valve housing, and a spring constantly pushing said valve away from said valve seat, and wherein said fuel supplying passage is reaching near said valve'"'"'s accommodating space and said rod that connects to this accommodating space at the time of the valve'"'"'s opening.