Internal-combustion engines – Vibration compensating device
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-23
2001-11-20
Kamen, Noah P. (Department: 3747)
Internal-combustion engines
Vibration compensating device
C123S1950HC, C123S509000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06318329
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vibration-damping support mount for attaching control electronics to an engine, and more particularly to a vibration-damping support mount used to attach electrical control components to an engine of an outboard motor.
2. Description of the Related Art
There exists in all fields of engine design an increasing emphasis on obtaining more effective emission control, better fuel economy and, at the same time, continued high or higher power output. This trend has resulted in the substitution of fuel injection systems for carburetors as the engine charge former. In the common systems used, fuel is injected into an intake air manifold. In order to obtain still further improvement, direct injection systems are being considered. These systems inject fuel directly into the combustion chamber and thus have significant potential advantages.
Direct injection, however, means that the pressure into which the fuel is injected is higher than with manifold injection systems in which the pressure is at substantially atmospheric pressure or even below. The fuel system for direct injection thus must supply fuel to the fuel injectors at extremely high pressure in order to inject into the corresponding combustion chambers when near minimum volume (i.e., with the piston near top dead center). The solenoids of the fuel injectors consequently are larger in order to operate the injector valves under the increased fuel pressure.
Larger solenoids, however, require increased voltage and current to properly operate. That is, for direct injected engines, a high voltage (e.g., 100 Volts) is required to drive the solenoids of the fuel injectors as compared to conventional manifold injection systems. Injection drivers are commonly used to develop higher voltages for driving the fuel injector solenoids. Such injector drivers are commonly mounted to the body of the vehicle in automotive applications.
An electronic control unit (ECU) often controls the timing and duration of fuel injection. The ECU thus controls the selective connection of the injector drivers to the fuel injectors so as to operate the injectors in a manner optimizing engine performance and emission control for a given running condition.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is advantageous to use automobile injector drivers with outboard motors that employ direct injected engines in order to reduce cost. That is, because injector drivers are readily and commercially available in and are mass produced for the automotive industry, the use of the same injector drivers with outboard motors does not require a specially designed driver that could be amortized only over smaller unit volumes. Application of automotive injector drivers with outboard motors thus reduces the cost of the engine, but this is not without complication.
The injector drivers desirably are mounted on the engine in an outboard motor in order to present a compact arrangement and for safety. This mounting location, however, exposes the injector drivers to engine vibrations which can impair the durability of the injector drivers.
One aspect of the present invention thus provides an improved mounting arrangement of an electrical component (e.g., an injector driver) on an engine. The engine comprises an engine body that defines at least one variable-volume combustion chamber. At least one fuel injector communicates with the combustion chamber, and an electronic control system controls the fuel injector. The electronic control system includes at least one electronic component disposed on a substrate. A multi-layer support couples the substrate to the engine. The support includes at least two of the layers of material that have differing vibration damping effects.
In one mode, the fuel injector directly communicates with the combustion chamber, and the electronic component comprises an injector driver. The electronic control system additionally includes a controller that also is supported on the engine by the support. A first layer of material of the support is disposed between the controller and the engine to generally isolate the controller and the injector driver from engine vibrations, and a second layer of material of the support is disposed between the controller and the injector driver to generally isolate the injector driver from vibrations produced by the controller. For this purpose, the first layer of material is harder than the second layer to absorb higher frequency vibrations produced by engine operation, especially when operated under a wide-open running condition. The second layer is softer to absorb lower frequency vibrations produced by the controller.
Further aspects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description of the preferred embodiments which follow.
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Huynh Hai
Kamen Noah P.
Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP
Sanshin Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
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