Internal-combustion engines – Poppet valve operating mechanism – With means for varying timing
Reexamination Certificate
2002-11-25
2004-11-02
Denion, Thomas (Department: 3748)
Internal-combustion engines
Poppet valve operating mechanism
With means for varying timing
C123S090170, C074S56800M
Reexamination Certificate
active
06810843
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to the field of variable camshaft timing (VCT) systems. More particularly, the invention pertains to a control method for achieving expected VCT actuation rate using set point rate limiter to impede the impact of sudden changes upon the VCT system.
2. Description of Related Art
Consideration of information disclosed by the following U.S. patents, which are all hereby incorporated by reference, is useful when exploring the background of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,023 describes a VCT system within the field of the invention in which the system hydraulics includes a pair of oppositely acting hydraulic cylinders with appropriate hydraulic flow elements to selectively transfer hydraulic fluid from one of the cylinders to the other, or vice versa, to thereby advance or retard the circumferential position of a camshaft relative to a crankshaft. The control system utilizes a control valve in which the exhaustion of hydraulic fluid from one or another of the oppositely acting cylinders is permitted by moving a spool within the valve one way or another from its centered or null position. The movement of the spool occurs in response to an increase or decrease in control hydraulic pressure, P
C
, on one end of the spool and the relationship between the hydraulic force on such end and an oppositely direct mechanical force on the other end which results from a compression spring that acts thereon.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,107,804 describes an alternate type of VCT system within the field of the invention in which the system hydraulics include a vane having lobes within an enclosed housing which replace the oppositely acting cylinders disclosed by the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,023. The vane is oscillatable with respect to the housing, with appropriate hydraulic flow elements to transfer hydraulic fluid within the housing from one side of a lobe to the other, or vice versa, to thereby oscillate the vane with respect to the housing in one direction or the other, an action which is effective to advance or retard the position of the camshaft relative to the crankshaft. The control system of this VCT system is identical to that divulged in U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,023, using the same type of spool valve responding to the same type of forces acting thereon.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,172,659 and 5,184,578 both address the problems of the aforementioned types of VCT systems created by the attempt to balance the hydraulic force exerted against one end of the spool and the mechanical force exerted against the other end. The improved control system disclosed in both U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,172,659 and 5,184,578 utilizes hydraulic force on both ends of the spool. The hydraulic force on one end results from the directly applied hydraulic fluid from the engine oil gallery at full hydraulic pressure, P
S
. The hydraulic force on the other end of the spool results from a hydraulic cylinder or other force multiplier which acts thereon in response to system hydraulic fluid at reduced pressure, P
C
, from a PWM solenoid. Because the force at each of the opposed ends of the spool is hydraulic in origin, based on the same hydraulic fluid, changes in pressure or viscosity of the hydraulic fluid will be self-negating, and will not affect the centered or null position of the spool.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,289,805 provides an improved VCT method which utilizes a hydraulic PWM spool position control and an advanced control algorithm that yields a prescribed set point tracking behavior with a high degree of robustness.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,361,735, a camshaft has a vane secured to an end for non-oscillating rotation. The camshaft also carries a timing belt driven pulley which can rotates with the camshaft but which is oscillatable with respect to the camshaft. The vane has opposed lobes which are received in opposed recesses, respectively, of the pulley. The camshaft tends to change in reaction to torque pulses which it experiences during its normal operation and it is permitted to advance or retard by selectively blocking or permitting the flow of engine oil from the recesses by controlling the position of a spool within a valve body of a control valve in response to a signal from an engine control unit. The spool is urged in a given direction by rotary linear motion translating means which is rotated by an electric motor, preferably of the stepper motor type.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,738 shows a control system which eliminates the hydraulic force on one end of a spool resulting from directly applied hydraulic fluid from the engine oil gallery at full hydraulic pressure, P
S
, utilized by previous embodiments of the VCT system. The force on the other end of the vented spool results from an electromechanical actuator, preferably of the variable force solenoid type, which acts directly upon the vented spool in response to an electronic signal issued from an engine control unit (“ECU”) which monitors various engine parameters. The ECU receives signals from sensors corresponding to camshaft and crankshaft positions and utilizes this information to calculate a relative phase angle. A closed-loop feedback system which corrects for any phase angle error is preferably employed. The use of a variable force solenoid solves the problem of sluggish dynamic response. Such a device can be designed to be as fast as the mechanical response of the spool valve, and certainly much faster than the conventional (fully hydraulic) differential pressure control system. The faster response allows the use of increased closed-loop gain, making the system less sensitive to component tolerances and operating environment.
Referring to
FIG. 1
, a prior art closed loop feedback system
10
is shown. The control objective of feedback loop
10
is to have a spool valve in a null position. In other words, the objective is to have no fluid flowing between two fluid holding chambers of a phaser (not shown) such that the VCT mechanism at the phase angle given by a set point
12
with the spool
14
stationary in its null position. This way, the VCT mechanism is at the correct phase position and the phase rate of change is zero. A control computer program product which utilizes the dynamic state of the VCT mechanism is used to accomplish the above state.
The VCT closed-loop control mechanism is achieved by measuring a camshaft phase shift &thgr;
0
16
, and comparing the same to the desired set point r
12
. The VCT mechanism is in turn adjusted so that the phaser achieves a position which is determined by the set point r
12
. A control law
18
compares the set point
12
to the phase shift &thgr;
0
16
. The compared result is used as a reference to issue commands to a solenoid
20
to position the spool
14
. This positioning of spool
14
occurs when the phase error (the difference between set point r
12
and phase shift
20
) is non-zero.
The spool
14
is moved toward a first direction (e.g. right) if the phase error is positive (retard) and to a second direction (e.g. left) if the phase error is negative (advance). When the phase error is zero, the VCT phase equals the set point r
12
so the spool
14
is held in the null position such that no fluid flows within the spool valve. Camshaft and crankshaft measurement pulses in the VCT system are generated by camshaft and crankshaft pulse wheels
22
and
24
, respectively. As the crankshaft (not shown) and camshaft (also not shown) rotate, wheels
22
,
24
along with them. The wheels
22
,
24
possess teeth which can be sensed and measured by sensors according to measurement pulses generated by the sensors. The measurement pulses are detected by camshaft and crankshaft measurement pulse sensors
22
a
and
24
a
, respectively. The sensed pulses are used by a phase measurement device
26
. A measurement phase difference is then determined. The phase difference is defined as the time from successive crank-to-cam pulses, divided by the time for an entire revolution and multiplied by 360.degree. The measured phase difference may be expressed
Borg-Warner Inc.
Brown & Michaels PC
Corrigan Jaime
Denion Thomas
Dziegielewski Greg
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