Engine Controller System and Method Employing High Speed Angular Position Sensor

• US 20080040021A1
• Filed: 10/24/2005
• Published: 02/14/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Litens Automotive Partnership
• Original Assignee: Litens Automotive Partnership
• Inventors: Staniewicz, Zbyslaw
• Granted Patent: US 7,558,669 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/115
• CPC Class Codes: F01L 1/34 characterised by the provision of means for changing the timing of the valves without changing the duration of opening and without affecting the magnitude of the valve lift
• CPC Class Codes: F01L 2001/0537 Double overhead camshafts [DOHC]
• CPC Class Codes: F01L 2800/00 Methods of operation using a variable valve timing mechanism
• CPC Class Codes: F01L 2820/041 Camshafts position or phase sensors
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2041/001 for engines with variable valve actuation
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2250/28 Control for reducing torsional vibrations, e.g. at acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 37/02 one of the functions being ignition
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/009 using means for generating position or synchronisation signals
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/083 taking into account engine load variation, e.g. air-conditionning
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/1498 measuring engine roughness
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/40 with means for controlling injection timing or duration
• CPC Class Codes: F02N 11/04 the motors being associated with current generators
• CPC Class Codes: F02P 7/07 Hall-effect pick-up devices
• CPC Class Codes: F02P 9/005 by weakening or suppression of sparks to limit the engine speed
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 5/145 influenced by the relative movement between the Hall device and magnetic fields see G01R33/06
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 15/12 by monitoring vibrations

Abstract

A control system and method for controlling a vehicle system, such as an engine, is taught. The controller uses the angular position of a rotating component, and in particular the angular phase of the rotating component to another rotating component, as an input. The input is determined with high resolution, yet is determined in a computationally efficient manner to reduce the amount of computation which must be performed by the controller. By producing a high resolution result in a computationally efficient manner, the result can be available to the controller almost immediately after the measurement is taken and the cost of controller can be less than it otherwise would be. In some embodiments, the system and method can also accurately determine the static angular position of one or more rotating members. The system and method are believed to be particularly suitable for determine the angular phasor between one or more camshafts and the crankshaft of an engine.

Claims

1. A system for controlling a vehicle system, comprising:

a programmable controller having at least two inputs and at least one output;

a first sensor operable to apply a voltage level to a first one of said at least two inputs, the voltage level varying sinusoidally with the angular position of a rotating component of the vehicle system;

a second sensor operable to provide a signal to a second of said at least two inputs indicating the time at which the controller is to determine the angular position of the rotating component and wherein, in response to the signal from the second sensor, the controller determines the angular position of the rotating component represented by the voltage level at the first of said at least two inputs and, in accordance with a control program the controller is executing, the controller provides an appropriate output control signal to the vehicle system on said at least one output.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the first sensor is located adjacent a dipole magnet which rotates with the rotating component and the voltage level applied to the first of said at least two inputs by the first sensor indicates the angular position of a North to South transition of the magnetic field of the dipole magnet received by the first sensor.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the controller normalizes the voltage level applied by the first sensor and uses the resulting normalized voltage level as an index to the elements of an array of angular positions stored in the controller, the determined angular position being that represented by the value in the element indicated by the index.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the normalization of the voltage level is performed with fixed point arithmetic operations in said controller.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the vehicle system is an engine and the rotating component for which the controller determine the angular position is a camshaft.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the second sensor determines when the angular position of the crankshaft of the engine is at a selected position.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein said programmable controller includes at least three inputs, the system further comprising a third sensor operable to apply a voltage level to a third one of said at least three inputs, the voltage level varying sinusoidally with the angular position of a second rotating component of the vehicle system and wherein the controller determines the angular position of the rotating component represented by the voltage level at the first of said at least two inputs and determines the angular position of the second rotating component represented by the voltage level at the third of said at least three inputs and, in accordance with a control program the controller is executing, the controller provides an appropriate output control signal to the vehicle system on said at least one output.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the sinusoidally varying voltage level output by the first sensor is ninety degrees out of phase with the sinusoidally varying voltage level output by the third sensor.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the vehicle system is an engine and the rotating member and the second rotating member are camshafts which are synchronously connected to a crankshaft of the engine and wherein the controller is further operable to determine the static angular position of the crankshaft.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the first sensor is operable to apply a first voltage level to a first one of said at least two inputs and a second voltage level to another of said at least two inputs, the first voltage level varying sinusoidally with the sin of the angular position of a rotating component of the vehicle system with respect to a reference plane of said first sensor and the second voltage level varying sinusoidally with the cosine of the angular position of a rotating component of the vehicle system with respect to a reference plane of said first sensor.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the controller selects one of said first and second voltage levels to determine the angular position of the rotating component represented by the voltage level, the controller selecting the one of said first and second voltage levels which is in a predefined voltage range providing a better resolution for the determined angular position.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein the controller is further operable to determine an absolute angular position of the rotating member when the rotating member is stationary by processing both of the first and second voltage levels.

13. The system of claim 10 wherein the controller processes both of the first and second voltage levels to determine the angular position of the rotating component within a three hundred and sixty degree position.

14. A method of controlling the operation of a vehicle system with a determined angular position of a first rotating component in the vehicle system as an input to the control process, comprising the steps of:

at a time of interest, receiving from a sensor a voltage whose level varies sinusoidally with the angular position of the first rotating component;

normalizing and scaling the received voltage such that the normalized and scaled received voltage level is within a range of possible index values of an array of elements storing pre-computed angular position values;

retrieving the pre-computed angular position value stored in the array element indicated by the index value corresponding to the normalized and scaled received voltage value; and

using the retrieved pre-computed angular position value as an input to control the vehicle system.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the time of interest is the occurrence of a selected angular position for a second rotating component and the retrieved pre-computed angular position value represents a phasor between the angular positions of the first rotating component and the second rotating component.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the vehicle system being controlled is a vehicle engine and the first rotating component is a camshaft and the second rotating component is a crankshaft.