Electromagnetic valve actuation
First Claim
1. A method for controlling an internal combustion engine having a plurality of cylinders each having at least one intake and exhaust valve with at least one of the valves being operated by an electromagnetic actuator having an armature connected to the valve and traveling between first and second coils to open and close the valve in response to a control signal from an actuator control, the actuator control including a power supply and an energy storage device, the method comprising:
- decoupling the power supply from the first coil and the energy storage device; and
selectively coupling and decoupling the energy storage device from the first and second coils to control power supplied to the second coil as the armature travels between the first and second coils.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for controlling an internal combustion engine provide valve actuation that selectively couples an energy storage device to a launching coil to recover energy stored in the magnetic field and valve spring of the launching coil, decouples the energy storage device during a valve opening or closing event to control energy supplied to the catching coil, and couples the energy storage device to the catching coil to transfer energy from the storage device to the catching coil to provide a repeatable soft landing. A nonlinear feedback controller incorporates a feedforward system with an observer to control the rate of energy into the magnetic field of the catching coil while compensating for system losses and work to overcome gas forces within the combustion chamber. Feedback linearization techniques improve stability of the control system.
42 Citations
30 Claims
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1. A method for controlling an internal combustion engine having a plurality of cylinders each having at least one intake and exhaust valve with at least one of the valves being operated by an electromagnetic actuator having an armature connected to the valve and traveling between first and second coils to open and close the valve in response to a control signal from an actuator control, the actuator control including a power supply and an energy storage device, the method comprising:
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decoupling the power supply from the first coil and the energy storage device; and selectively coupling and decoupling the energy storage device from the first and second coils to control power supplied to the second coil as the armature travels between the first and second coils. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method for actuating an intake or exhaust valve of an internal combustion engine using an electromagnetic valve actuator having an armature connected to the valve and traveling across a gap between first and second coils to open and close the valve, the method comprising:
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controlling energy in the first coil to launch the valve; decoupling a power supply from the first coil and storing energy in an energy storage device as the armature moves away from the first coil; coupling the power supply to the second coil to control flight of the armature across the gap; and coupling the energy storage device to the second coil to catch the armature during landing of the valve. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A system for operating an electromagnetic valve actuator having first and second coils, the system comprising:
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a first switching element connected to the first coil for selectively coupling the first coil to ground; a second switching element connected to the second coil for selectively coupling the second coil to ground; an energy storage device; a third switching element connected to the energy storage device for selectively coupling the energy storage device to the first and second coils; a first diode connected to allow current flow from the first coil to the energy storage device; and a second diode connected to allow current flow from the second coil to the energy storage device. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A computer readable storage medium having stored data representing instructions executable by a computer to control an electromagnetic valve actuator having an armature that travels between first and second coils to actuate a valve for an internal combustion engine the computer readable storage medium comprising:
instructions for controlling a plurality of switching elements to selectively couple and decouple an energy storage element from the first and second coils and the power supply to store energy from the first coil in the energy storage device at the beginning of valve actuation, cool the power supply based on armature position during valve actuation, and supply energy from the energy storage device to the second coil when the armature is within a catching region of the second coil. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30)
Specification