Method and apparatus for protecting an engine from overheating
First Claim
1. An overheat protection system for an internal combustion engine having cylinders and a cylinder head, the cylinders being independently deactivatable, the overheat protection system comprising:
- a cylinder head temperature sensor operably coupled to sense the temperature of the cylinder head; and
a control system operably coupled to the cylinders and the cylinder head temperature sensor such that when the temperature of the cylinder head exceeds a maximum level, the control system deactivates at least one of the cylinders and rotates the deactivation of at least one of the engine cylinders such that no one cylinder is constantly fired thus providing engine cooling by drawing fresh air through the at least one deactivated cylinders.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for protecting an engine from overheating. The apparatus comprises a cylinder head temperature sensor operably coupled to sense the temperature of the cylinder head and a control system operably coupled to the cylinders and the cylinder head temperature sensor such that when the temperature of the cylinder head exceeds a maximum level the control system deactivates one or more of the cylinders and rotates the deactivation of one or more engine cylinders such that no one cylinder is constantly fired thus providing engine cooling by drawing fresh air through the deactivated one or more cylinders.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. An overheat protection system for an internal combustion engine having cylinders and a cylinder head, the cylinders being independently deactivatable, the overheat protection system comprising:
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a cylinder head temperature sensor operably coupled to sense the temperature of the cylinder head; and a control system operably coupled to the cylinders and the cylinder head temperature sensor such that when the temperature of the cylinder head exceeds a maximum level, the control system deactivates at least one of the cylinders and rotates the deactivation of at least one of the engine cylinders such that no one cylinder is constantly fired thus providing engine cooling by drawing fresh air through the at least one deactivated cylinders. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. An overheat protection system for an internal combustion engine having an equal number of cylinders, cylinder heads, fuel injectors which provide fuel to the cylinders, and fuel injector drivers, each fuel injector being operably connected to a fuel injector driver, the overheat protection system comprising:
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a cylinder head temperature sensor operably coupled to sense the temperature of the cylinder head; and a control system coupled to the fuel injector drivers and to the cylinder head temperature sensor such that when the control system receives signals from the cylinder head temperature sensor that the temperature of the cylinder head has exceeded a maximum level the control system will de-energize at least one of the fuel injectors via the corresponding fuel injector driver and rotate the at least one of the de-energized fuel injectors in such a way that no one fuel injector is constantly energized thus providing engine cooling by drawing fresh air through the at least one cylinders not being provided with fuel. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for protecting an internal combustion engine from overheating, the internal combustion engine having cylinders and cylinder heads, the cylinders being independently deactivatable, the method comprising:
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sensing the temperature of the cylinder head; deactivating at least one of the engine cylinders when the temperature of the cylinder head exceeds a maximum level; and rotating the deactivation of at least one of the engine cylinders such that no one cylinder is constantly fired thus providing engine cooling by drawing fresh air through the at least one deactivated cylinders. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. An overheat protection system for an internal combustion engine having cylinders, cylinder heads, and drivers, each cylinder being operably coupled to a corresponding independent driver, the overheat protection system comprising:
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a cylinder head temperature sensor operably coupled to sense the temperature of the cylinder head; and a control system operably coupled to the drivers and the cylinder head temperature sensor such that when the temperature of the cylinder head exceeds a maximum level, the control system deactivates at least one of the cylinders via the drivers and rotates the deactivation of at least one of the engine cylinders such that no one cylinder is constantly fired thus providing engine cooling by drawing fresh air through the at least one deactivated cylinders. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification