Internal-combustion engines – Charge forming device – Including cylinder pressure or temperature responsive means
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-15
2001-04-03
Argenbright, Tony M. (Department: 3747)
Internal-combustion engines
Charge forming device
Including cylinder pressure or temperature responsive means
C123S436000, C123S676000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06209520
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a method and to an apparatus for cylinder balancing and more particularly to a method and to an apparatus for balancing the cylinders of an automobile engine effective to cause each of these cylinders to produce a substantially equal torque.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Automobile engine combustion cylinders typically include a movable piston which is connected to a crankshaft. Particularly, air and gasoline are selectively and mixably combusted within the chambers causing the respectively contained pistons to move within the cylinders and against the crankshaft, thereby cooperatively causing the crankshaft to rotate. The selectively moving pistons therefore cooperatively and individually create a torque which is applied to the crankshaft and which causes the automobile to be selectively movable.
Due to structural variances of each of the respective cylinders, variations in the amount of air introduced into each of the cylinders, and/or variations associated with the fuel injection assemblies utilized by each of the cylinders, the torque produced by each of the cylinders is not substantially equal, thereby causing the cylinders to be “out of balance”. This imbalance causes or creates an undesirable crankshaft oscillation and drive train resonance which reduces the operating life of the drive train and increases gasoline consumption and the generation of undesirable combustion created emissions. It is therefore desirable to have the torque produced by each of the cylinders be substantially equal and to have the cylinders “balanced.”
Existing cylinder balancing methodologies using individual peak cylinder pressure values or crankshaft acceleration measurements are highly susceptible to noise type error and provide relatively unreliable and inaccurate balancing corrections. There is therefore a need for a new and improved balancer assembly.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is a first object of this invention to provide a method and an apparatus for balancing the combustion cylinders of an automobile effective to cause the torque produced by each of the cylinders to be substantially equal.
It is a second object of this invention to provide a method and an apparatus for balancing the combustion cylinders of an automobile by use of pressure sensors, each of which is resident within a unique one of each of the cylinders.
It is a third object of this invention to provide a method and an apparatus for balancing the combustion cylinders of an automobile by the use of a pressure sensor resident within an exhaust manifold.
According to a first aspect of the present invention a cylinder balancing assembly is provided for use with an automobile engine having several combustion cylinders which each contain a movable piston. The engine further includes a movable crankshaft, several conrods which each connect a unique one of the pistons to the crankshaft, and several fuel injectors which are each adapted to receive a quantity of fuel and to selectively inject the fuel into a unique one of the cylinders, the injected fuel being selectively combined with air and combusted within each of the cylinders effective to create a certain respective pressure which cycles each of the respective pistons between a first extended position and a second crankshaft rotation position in which each cylinder produces a torque by having its respective piston rotate the crankshaft and then completing a movement cycle by returning to the respective first position. The cylinder balancing assembly includes several sensors which respectively sense the pressure of a unique one of the cylinders and which respectively provide an output signal representing the respectively sensed pressure; and a controller which is coupled to the several sensors and to the several fuel injectors. The controller receives the output signals from each of the several sensors, uses the output signals to calculate the total amount of torque produced by each of the moving pistons during each of their respective movement cycles, and based upon the calculation regulates the amount of fuel entering each of the fuel injectors effective to cause each of the produced torques to be substantially equal, thereby balancing the cylinders.
According to a second aspect of the present invention a method is provided to cause the torque produced by each of the cylinders of an automobile engine to be substantially equal. The method includes the steps of calculating the torque produced by each of the cylinders during certain respective intervals of time, thereby creating a plurality of torque values; averaging the calculated torque values; and regulating the amount of fuel injected into each of the cylinders, effective to cause each of the respective torques produced by each of the cylinders to be substantially equal to the average torque value.
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J. Martin, Improvements in Transient Diesel Engine Performances by Electronic Control of Injection, 1989, pp. 255-265, Lucas Diesel Systems, Bois, France.
Kevin D. Beaty et al, Integral Gas Compressor Engines: Cylinder Balancing, NOx, and Efficiency, 1997, pp. 9-15, ICE-vol. 28-3, Spring Technical Conference, ASME 1997.
Richard K. Sobart, The Demands of Cylinder Event Control, Feb. 24-27, 1997, pp. 1-8, Paper 970617 SAE Technical Paper Series.
Kolmanovsky Ilya V.
Van Nieuwstadt Michiel J.
Argenbright Tony M.
Ford Global Technologies Inc.
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