Caterpillar Inc.

Caterpiller Inc.

Daniel Reese Puckett

Frank J Lombardi

Michael E Sattler

Steven Grant

Andrew O Marrack

Bradley Scott Bashore

Mitchell B Juchems

Kranti Kumar Nellutla

Scott F Shafer

Brian G McGee

Joshua W Steffen

John Parker Timmons

Cory Andrew Brown

Travis E Barnes

Jack Albert Merchant

Bryan Moore

Gregory Lance Armstrong

Prasanna Mohan Ballal

Dustin K Fee

Nandagopal Methil-Sudhakaran

Paul Joseph Desiderio

Jeffrey DePayva

Gary L Cowden

Dana Ray Coldren

Alan Ray Stockner

Stephen Robert Lewis

Gregory W Hefler

Michael S Lukich

Michael C Long

Scott Richard Schuricht

Kevin Lloyd Dea

Jayaraman Krishnapura Venkataraghavan

Eric Wade Cler

Michael Gerstner

Michael Andrew Snopko

Sunil Jefferey Bean

Jay Venkataraghavan

Benjamin R Tower

Rammohan Sankar

Nadeem N Bunni

Kevin J Sergott

Kenneth Carroll Adams

William J Love

Andrew Nathan Schifferer

Dianqi Fang

Eric A Hutchison

Anand Krishnamurthygopalan

W John Love

Urvish Joshi

David John Schuh

Matthew Colin Mowers

Kaushik Krishnamurthy

Sasidhar Rayasam

Tyler Bowman

Amy Shalaine Johanson

Errol W Davis

Kirti Tamhane

Aaron Luther Thomas

Michael Scott Marchionda

Faith Juliet McKenzie

Seth Evans

Yanli Yang

Todd A Johnson

Nandagopal Methil

Kiran S Prakash

Jason Z Li

Matthew E Schulman

Angela L Moore

In one instance, disclosed herein is a method for controlling a fuel injector of an engine system, the method comprising: determining, based on an engine condition of the engine system, a pull-in duration for the fuel injector during which current is applied to move a valve member away from a resting position; applying a current to a valve solenoid to move the valve member of the fuel injector to a closed position for the determined pull-in duration; and after the determined pull-in duration, reducing the current applied to the valve solenoid to a keep-in level.

Power draw control for fuel injectors

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method of controlling a common rail fuel system of an engine system is provided. The common rail fuel system includes a fuel pump, a fuel rail, a plurality of fuel injectors, and a pressure-responsive relief valve fluidly coupled to the fuel rail. The method comprises identifying a pressure condition of the fuel rail indicative of the pressure-responsive relief valve being in an open and latched condition, the identification being based on detecting a rise and reduction in rail pressure within a threshold time period. The method further comprises terminating flow from the fuel pump, while the common rail fuel system is operating, to unlatch and close the pressure-responsive relief valve.

Systems and methods for resetting a pressure relief valve of a common rail fuel system

Operating a fuel system for an engine includes moving a plunger during a pumping cycle between an advanced position and a retracted position, and pulsing a solenoid actuator in an electrical circuit during at least one off cycle of the plunger where the plunger is neither advancing nor retracting with a plurality of current pulses of varied duration. An electrical property such as a freewheeling response in the electrical circuit induced by moving a valve in response to each respective current pulse is monitored, and a valve timing of the valve determined based on the monitored electrical property. The fuel system including a fuel injector may be electronically trimmed based on the determined valve timing. Related apparatus and control logic is also disclosed.

Valve timing detection in fuel system using off cycle sweep

A fuel system for an internal combustion engine includes a fuel control system having a fueling control unit structured to determine a test point on a tip wear-sensitive region of a fuel injector delivery curve, and store measurements of pressure drops in a pressurized fuel reservoir caused by injections of fuel at the test point. The fueling control unit is further structured to produce an injector health signal based on the stored measurements of pressure drop. Related methodology and control logic for calculation of wear parameters for injection signal duration electronic trimming and prognostic health determinations are also disclosed.

Onboard diagnosis and compensation for tip wear in fuel injector

This disclosure relates generally to emissions treatment devices including aftertreatment devices that may be utilized with internal combustion engines and, more particularly, to methods and systems for controlling in-cylinder dosing (ICD) and preventing fuel to oil dilution. A method of operating an engine converting an amount of heat needed for regenerating an aftertreatment device into a cam-stroke fueling strategy. The method further includes determining a number of the engine's cylinders to be active cylinders for introducing dosing fuel and calculating a total dosing fuel apportionment of the dosing fuel for each of the active cylinders based on the cam-stroke fueling strategy. A number of dosing shots per injector for each of the active cylinders can be calculated based on the total dosing fuel apportionment and an amount of dosing fuel is apportioned for each dosing shot according to the cam-stroke fueling strategy.

System and method for in-cylinder dosing (ICD) for an engine

Controlling a fuel injector in a fuel system for an engine includes switching between a boosted voltage power supply and a lower voltage power supply during energizing a solenoid actuator in a fuel injector, and generating a solenoid energizing waveform including a pull-in tier produced by a boosted voltage incipient current, a boosted voltage second current, and a lower voltage later current, based on the switching between a boosted voltage power supply and a lower voltage power supply. Controlling a fuel injector further includes detecting an arrival timing of the valve based on a property of the lower voltage later current, and electronically trimming the fuel injector based on the detecting an arrival timing. Related control system logic is also disclosed.

Optimized energy waveform for fuel injector trimming based on valve arrival time

Operating an engine system and fuel system includes energizing a solenoid actuator for a spill valve in a fuel injector in a first engine cycle via a standard waveform to inject a shot of fuel. Operating an engine system and fuel system further includes determining suitability for reduced energy operating of the fuel system, and energizing the solenoid actuator via a reduced energy waveform based on the determining suitability so as to inject one or more shots of fuel in a second engine cycle. The operating methodology and control logic can extend an engine speed range for multi-shot fuel injection in an engine.

Reduced energy waveform for energizing solenoid actuator in fuel injector valve

A pump health assessment system and a method for providing a pump health of a pump is disclosed. The method includes: determining that there is an imbalance in the pump; increasing pump flow from the pump; measuring a rail pressure of a fuel rail; determining if the rail pressure is substantially equal to an expected rail pressure profile; and in accordance with a determination that the rail pressure is not substantially equal to the rail pressure profile, outputting an indication of pump damage.

Fuel pump health assessment system

A method for identifying a fuel injector characteristic may include generating a signal to supply electrical current to the fuel injector, and monitoring the electrical current supplied to the fuel injector. The method may also include identifying the characteristic of the fuel injector based on the electrical current, the characteristic including a type of fuel injector, and performing a corrective action based on the type of fuel injector which was identified based on the electrical current.

Method and system for identification of fuel injector

A method for controlling a fuel injector includes applying a spill valve current, applying a control valve current, the control and spill valves including components in electrical communication with each other, and detecting a timing at which the spill valve returns to an open position based on induced spill valve current. The method includes detecting a timing at which the control valve returns to a resting position based on induced control valve current, the induced spill valve current and the induced control valve current being included in respective freewheeling currents that at least partially overlap each other, adjusting a spill valve current that is applied during an injection, based on the detected spill valve return timing, and adjusting a control valve current that is applied during the injection, based on the detected control valve return timing.

Method and system for monitoring injector valves

A method for controlling a fuel injector of an engine system includes applying a pull-in current to close a spill valve of the fuel injector and detecting a timing at which the spill valve closes. The method also includes adjusting at least one of an amplitude of the pull-in current, a duration of the pull-in current, or a timing of a start of an application of the pull-in current based on the detected timing of the closing of the spill valve.

Method and system for valve position monitoring

A fuel injection method includes applying a first method current to close a spill valve according to a first method, applying a control valve current to open a control valve, and discontinuing the application of the control valve current to thereby cause the control valve to close. The method also includes applying a second method current to maintain the spill valve closed according to a second method and detecting a timing of a closing of the control valve while applying the second method current according to the second method, the second method being different than the first method.

Method and system for valve movement detection

A method of injecting fuel with a fuel injector includes applying a spill valve current to close a spill valve and applying a control valve current to move a control valve to an injection position. The method also includes discontinuing the application of the spill valve current to open the spill valve and preventing a return of the control valve to a non-injection position while detecting a timing when the spill valve opens.

Method and system for spill valve movement detection

A pressurized fuel system for an engine includes a fuel pump in a pump protection device structured to drain pressurized fuel from a common rail to provide fuel flow through the fuel pump that limits cavitation. The device includes a valve mechanism having a first valve and a second valve that are movable to an open position and a closed position respectively, in response to valve opening and valve closing rail pressures. The active pressure range of the device may be a medium pressure range.

Protection device for limiting pump cavitation in common rail system

A fuel system is disclosed for use with an engine. The fuel system may have a plurality of fuel injectors, a common rail fluidly, a pump, and an outlet valve associated with the pump. The fuel system may also have a sensor configured to generate a signal indicative of a pressure of fuel in the common rail, and an electronic control module. The electronic control module may be configured to detect a zero-fueling condition, to determine a first pressure decay rate of the common rail during the zero-fueling condition while the pump is rotating, and to determine a second pressure decay rate of the common rail during the zero-fueling condition after the pump has stopped rotating. The electronic control module may also be configured to selectively generate a diagnostic flag associated with wear of the outlet valve based on the first and second pressure decay rates.

Fuel system having pump prognostic functionality

Growing community of inventors

Peoria, IL, United States of America

Daniel Reese Puckett