Adaptive idle speed control for a direct injected internal combustion engine
First Claim
1. A method of optimizing idle speed for a fuel injected engine comprising the steps of:
- determining instantaneous current requirements of electronics of a watercraft;
from the instantaneous current requirements, determining a minimum engine speed necessary to drive a battery charging device of the watercraft; and
adjusting, on-the-fly, idle speed of the fuel injected engine to the minimum engine speed.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides a system and method of adaptively setting the idle speed of an internal combustion engine based on instantaneous power requirements of the engine. By adaptively setting engine idle speed based on instantaneous power requirements of the engine as well as the power requirements of any auxiliary devices, the noise and exhaust emissions of the engine may be reduced as well as improving fuel consumption efficiency. The engine'"'"'s electronic control unit (ECU) is designed to regulate an idle speed controller based on current feedback received from sensors operationally connected to the engine as well as the various auxiliary devices. The ECU regulates the idle speed control such that the engine electronics are sufficiently energized to run the engine, but the engine idle speed is also set to a level that takes into account the instantaneous power requirements of the various system components and/or devices.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method of optimizing idle speed for a fuel injected engine comprising the steps of:
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determining instantaneous current requirements of electronics of a watercraft;
from the instantaneous current requirements, determining a minimum engine speed necessary to drive a battery charging device of the watercraft; and
adjusting, on-the-fly, idle speed of the fuel injected engine to the minimum engine speed. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An outboard motor comprising:
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an Internal combustion engine;
an alternator driven by the engine and connected to charge a battery;
an idle speed controller connected to the engine and configured to adaptively set an idle speed of the engine; and
an ECU to instruct the idle speed controller to set an idle speed of the engine based on instantaneous power requirements on the battery. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19)
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16. A computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program to adaptively regulate engine idle speed, the computer program having a set of instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to:
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determine an instantaneous battery voltage level of a battery configured to supply power to an engine;
determine instantaneous power requirements of the engine; and
based on the instantaneous battery voltage level and the instantaneous power requirements, determine an engine idle speed. - View Dependent Claims (17, 20, 21)
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Specification