Method and apparatus for controlling the power output of a homogenous charge internal combustion engine
First Claim
1. A method for controlling the power output of an internal combustion engine with a manual throttle control, comprising the steps of:
- providing a homogeneous air/fuel charge originating at a location external to a plurality of cylinders of said engine;
storing a plurality of sets of numerical values, each set of numerical values being associated with a desired power output magnitude of said engine and comprising a plurality of said numerical values, each of said plurality of numerical values within each of said plurality of sets being associated with a specific one of said plurality of cylinders of said engine;
determining a desired power output of said engine;
measuring an actual power output of said engine;
comparing said desired power output with said actual power output;
selecting, based on the relative magnitudes of said desired and actual power outputs, a selected one of said plurality of sets of numerical values; and
selectively activating and deactivating each of said plurality of cylinders of said engine as a function of said selected one of said plurality of sets of numerical values.
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Abstract
A control method and apparatus for regulating the power output of an engine in a marine propulsion system provides the storage of several sets of numerical values in which each numerical value in each set is associated with a particular cylinder of the engine. In addition, each numerical value in each set represents the number of consecutive firing events experienced by each cylinder prior to the occurrence of a skip fire event. A numerical value of zero indicates continuous skip fire events for a particular cylinder and a numerical value equivalent to some predetermined maximum numerical value, such as 255, represents a continuous firing regime for the associated cylinder.
137 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for controlling the power output of an internal combustion engine with a manual throttle control, comprising the steps of:
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providing a homogeneous air/fuel charge originating at a location external to a plurality of cylinders of said engine;
storing a plurality of sets of numerical values, each set of numerical values being associated with a desired power output magnitude of said engine and comprising a plurality of said numerical values, each of said plurality of numerical values within each of said plurality of sets being associated with a specific one of said plurality of cylinders of said engine;
determining a desired power output of said engine;
measuring an actual power output of said engine;
comparing said desired power output with said actual power output;
selecting, based on the relative magnitudes of said desired and actual power outputs, a selected one of said plurality of sets of numerical values; and
selectively activating and deactivating each of said plurality of cylinders of said engine as a function of said selected one of said plurality of sets of numerical values. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
said selectively activating and deactivating step comprises the step of selectively energizing and de-energizing a spark plug associated with each of said plurality of cylinders of said engine as a function of said selected one of said plurality of sets of numerical values.
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3. The method of claim 1, wherein:
said selectively activating and deactivating step comprises the step of selectively energizing and de-energizing a fuel injector associated with each of said plurality of cylinders of said engine as a function of said selected one of said plurality of sets of numerical values.
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4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
repeating said actual power output measuring step and said comparing step until said actual power output is within a preselected margin of magnitude of said desired power output.
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5. The method of claim 1, wherein:
each of said numerical values in each of said plurality of sets of numerical values represents a number of consecutive firing cycles to be executed for an associated cylinder before a skip fire event occurs for that associated cylinder.
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6. The method of claim 1, wherein:
said comparing step is performed by a PID controller.
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7. The method of claim 6, wherein:
said comparing and selecting steps are performed by said PID controller.
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8. The method of claim 1, wherein:
said homogeneous charge internal combustion engine is connected in torque transmitting association with a marine propulsion system.
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9. The method of claim 1, wherein:
said homogeneous charge internal combustion engine is a two cycle engine.
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10. The method of claim 1, wherein:
said homogeneous charge internal combustion engine is a fuel injected engine.
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11. Apparatus for controlling the power output of an internal combustion engine with a manual throttle control, comprising:
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means for providing a homogeneous air/fuel charge originating at a location external to a plurality of cylinders of said engine;
means for storing a plurality of sets of numerical values, each set of numerical values being associated with a desired power output magnitude of said engine and comprising a plurality of said numerical values, each of said plurality of numerical values within each of said plurality of sets being associated with a specific one of said plurality of cylinders of said engine;
means for determining a desired power output of said engine;
means for measuring an actual power output of said engine;
means for comparing said desired power output with said actual power output;
means for selecting, based on the relative magnitudes of said desired and actual power outputs, a selected one of said plurality of sets of numerical values; and
means for selectively activating and deactivating each of said plurality of cylinders of said engine as a function of said selected one of said plurality of sets of numerical values.
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12. A method for controlling the power output of an internal combustion engine with a manual throttle control, comprising the steps of:
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providing a homogeneous air/fuel charge originating at a location external to a plurality of cylinders of said engine;
storing a first set of numerical values, each of said numerical values within said first set of numerical values being associated with an associated one of a plurality of cylinders of said engine, said first set of numerical values being associated with a first desired power output of said engine;
storing a second set of numerical values, each of said numerical values within said second set of numerical values being associated with an associated one of said plurality of cylinders of said engine, said second set of numerical values being associated with a second desired power output of said engine;
determining a desired power output of said engine;
selecting a preferred one of said first and second sets of numerical values; and
selectively activating and deactivating each of said plurality of cylinders of said engine as a function of said preferred one of said first and second sets of numerical values. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
measuring an actual power output of said engine; and
comparing said desired power output with said actual power output.
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14. The method of claim 13, wherein:
said selecting step is based on the relative magnitudes of said desired and actual power outputs.
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15. The method of claim 14, wherein:
said selectively activating and deactivating step comprises the step of selectively energizing and de-energizing a spark plug associated with each of said plurality of cylinders of said engine as a function of said selected one of said first and second sets of numerical values.
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16. The method of claim 14, wherein:
said selectively activating and deactivating step comprises the step of selectively energizing and de-energizing a fuel injector associated with each of said plurality of cylinders of said engine as a function of said selected one of said first and second sets of numerical values.
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17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:
repeating said actual power output measuring step and said comparing step until said actual power output is within a preselected margin of magnitude of said desired power output.
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18. The method of claim 12, wherein:
each of said numerical values in said first and second sets of numerical values represents a number of consecutive firing cycles to be executed for an associated cylinder before a skip fire event occurs for that associated cylinder.
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19. The method of claim 18, wherein:
said comparing step is performed by a PID controller.
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20. The method of claim 18, wherein:
said homogeneous charge internal combustion engine is a two cycle fuel injected engine connected in torque transmitting association with a marine propulsion system.
Specification