Schaeffler Technologies Ag & Co .Kg

Christian Karbacher

Andreas Thoelke

Tobias Riedl

Peter Solfrank

Florian Holler

Ikechukwu Martins Onwuegbulam

The disclosure relates to an internal combustion engine having multiple camshaft control units which are connected to one another in a line by a first network topology and via which a crankshaft signal can be transmitted in unprocessed, amplified or conditioned form. The camshaft control units are designed to suppress forwarding of the crankshaft signal in a first state and to forward or to replicate the crankshaft signal and to send an additional signal in a second state. The disclosure also relates to a method for logically assigning the camshaft control units to the camshafts to be adjusted by them.

Internal combustion engine and method for operating an internal combustion engine

An internal combustion engine comprises a crankshaft, at least one camshaft adjustable electromechanically by an actuating gearing, an engine control unit, and a camshaft control unit for controlling an actuating motor which operates the actuating gearing. The engine control unit is linked to a device for detecting the angular position of the crankshaft, and the camshaft control unit is linked to the engine control unit. A device for detecting a reference position of the camshaft and a device for detecting the angular position of the shaft of the actuating motor are provided as sole mechanisms for detecting the angular position of the camshaft. The camshaft control unit is designed to determine the phase angle of the camshaft in relation to the crankshaft on the basis of the information items provided by said devices in combination with the detected angular position of the crankshaft and the transmission ratio of the actuating gearing.

Internal combustion engine and method for operating an electromechanical camshaft adjuster

An electromechanical camshaft phaser () comprises a setting gear () and an electric motor (), which is controlled by means of an electric-motor control unit (). Data concerning the operation of the electric motor () including position changes of its motor shaft are transferred via a data bus () from the electric-motor control unit () to an engine control unit () of the internal combustion engine () comprising the camshaft phaser (). In addition, recurring time signals are transferred from the electric-motor control unit () to the engine control unit () via a separate line (), by which harder real-time requirements are met than by the data bus (). The time signals are used to generate a time difference signal in the engine control unit () by comparison with the data received by the engine control unit (), which time difference signal is fed back to the electric-motor control unit () via the data bus () and is used there to synchronize the electric-motor control unit () with the engine control unit ().

Method for operating an electromechanical camshaft phaser

An adjusting unit of an internal combustion engine is provided, comprising an electric motor and a transmission interacting therewith, an adjusting shaft of the transmission being coupled to the rotor of the electric motor. A drive shafts of the transmission is coupled to the shaft which is to be adjusted. For controlling the electric motor, a sensorless control unit is provided outside of a housing of the electric motor which encloses the stator of the electric motor.

Adjusting unit of an internal combustion engine

A circuit, comprising a plurality of phase windings in an electric motor, an inverter configured to excite the phase windings by a sequence of voltage pulses including a plurality of successive voltage pulses that a current can be set in each of the phase windings, wherein the voltage pulses are selected in such a manner that a positive and a negative current are produced in all the phase windings during the voltage pulses, a current sensor for measuring a peak value for the current being set during a duration of each voltage pulse in each phase winding, and an evaluation circuit connected to the current sensor, wherein the evaluation circuit is configured to determine the voltage pulse in the voltage pulse sequence during a duration of which peak current value having a greatest magnitude was measured.

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Herzogenaurach, Germany

Christian Karbacher