Chrysler Corporation

Daimlerchrysler Corporation

Dennis A Soltis

Kenneth P DeGroot

Bruce H Teague

Michael J Reale

Raymond J Sullivan

Mark J Duty

James R Klotz

Christopher P Thomas

Gregory T Weber

Alan G Falkowski

Joseph B Adams

Jay C McCombie

Francis M Fodale

William D Rotramel

Stuart M Davis

Piotr Czapski

Jeffery C Ehlers

Joseph Jenkins

Philip S Keller

John S Amatangelo

Thomas M Welker

Arthur D Stockard

Gary Pace

Jeffrey W Anderson

An apparatus for minimizing spark-knock within a combustion chamber of a spark-ignition internal combustion engine, whereby a control vane mounted inside the intake runner is arranged to direct a fuel-air charge to a region inside the combustion chamber where spark-knock has been empirically determined to occur.

Method and apparatus for eliminating spark-knock in an engine

A piston and cylinder assembly according to the invention includes a cylinder block having a cylinder defined by a cylinder bore wall, a cylinder head connected to the cylinder block, and a piston for reciprocating in the cylinder relative the cylinder head. A combustion chamber for an air/fuel mixture has a volume formed by the cylinder bore wall, cylinder head, and the piston, and is divided into an intake side and an exhaust side by a longitudinal center axis of the piston. A spark plug is mounted in the cylinder head and extends into the combustion chamber to ignite the air/fuel mixture therein. A crown of the piston has a raised peak offset from the longitudinal center axis for providing a homogeneous air/fuel mixture in the combustion chamber near the spark plug.

Piston top geometry for optimized combustion

A fuel control system is provided including a fuel tank, a purge vapor canister, a vapor line, and a fuel injector connected to an internal combustion engine. A purge vapor canister vent valve seals the purge vapor canister from the atmosphere such that the fuel tank, purge vapor canister, and fuel injector form a closed system. Upon initial starting of the engine, the purge vapor pressure is such that the purge vapor is drawn to the fuel injector from the dome portion of the fuel tank after passing through the purge vapor canister. Simultaneously therewith, the amount of liquid fuel is reducing or increasing by an amount of equally increasing or decreasing, respectively, vapor fuel so that a necessary mass flow rate is achieved to support combustion. As the amount of fuel vapors decreases to a negligible amount, combustion is supported by the atomization of liquid fuel. The delivery of the liquid fuel and vapor fuel is completed through the use of a fuel injector to accommodate both liquid and vapor form of fuel.

Purge assisted fuel injection

A method is provided for controlling spark advance based on a fuel modifier. Initially, engine fueling is reduced according to a known dynamic crankshaft fuel control (DCFC) methodology. As a result, the engine tends to run rougher. In response, spark advance is varied based on the overall fuel multiplier reduction from the DCFC methodology. For instance, a look-up table, or mathematical function based on the DCFC multiplier can be utilized as the basis for the spark advance.

Spark advance modifier based on a fuel modifier

A method is provided for enriching a fuel to air ratio in an engine during acceleration based on a known fuel multiplier. Initially, the method retrieves the fuel multiplier from a dynamic crankshaft fuel control (DCFC) system. This system uses the fuel multiplier to reduce the amount of fuel delivered to the engine. When acceleration is desired, the method increases the overall acceleration enrichment values as a function of the DCFC fuel multiplier. Thus, when the vehicle is launched via a throttle tip-in while the DCFC system is active, the acceleration enrichment values are increased thereby improving drivability by having combustion taking place in a richer environment.

Acceleration enrichment based on a fuel modifier

An apparatus and a method of cooling a piston by passing a stream of lubricating oil against the underside of the piston and more specifically by providing an enclosed reservoir space between the engine cylinder wall and the side wall of the piston formed by a depression in the piston and providing a passageway in the piston aimed to direct oil to a desired location on the undersurface of the piston.

Piston cooling by oil flow from a pocket reservoir and passageway formed

An engine induction system resonator that is designed to minimize emitted engine noise. The resonator includes an enclosed tube that has a first diameter and that defines a resonant chamber therein. The resonator also includes a pipe that has a second diameter smaller than the tube diameter. The pipe extends axially through the tube and has first and second ends that connect to other induction system components to channel inductive air flow therethrough. The pipe defines a plurality of perforated holes distributed along a section of the pipe housed within the tube. The plurality of perforated holes is distributed along the pipe in a manner that minimizes emitted engine noise. The resonator is designed in view of other system components to minimize overall system cost and overall required system implementation area.

Single/multi-chamber perforated tube resonator for engine induction

A method of adjusting idle spark for an individual cylinder of an internal combustion engine in an automotive vehicle including the steps of determining a crankshaft acceleration for an individual cylinder of the internal combustion engine and determining an average acceleration error for the individual cylinder based on the determined crankshaft acceleration. The method also includes the steps of determining an adaptive spark advance for the individual cylinder based on the determined average acceleration error and determining a new spark advance for the individual cylinder based on the determined adaptive spark advance and a nominal spark advance. The method further includes the steps of adjusting idle spark for the individual cylinder based on the new spark advance for the individual cylinder.

Method of adjusting idle spark for an individual cylinder of an internal

A flexible fuel compensation system for an internal combustion engine. The flex-fuel system includes a method of run fuel pulsewidth calculation which controls the amount of fuel being sent to the fuel injectors. The method calculates multipliers to be used in calculating a first and second pulsewidth multiplier and fuel injector pulsewidths.

Flexible fuel compensation system

A flexible fuel compensation system including a method of energy content adjustment. The energy content adjustment method will interpolate a multiplier value based on the percent methanol found in the fuel mixture. This multiplier is then used to adjust the injection pulsewidth according to the correct energy content.

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Lake Orion, MI, United States of America

Dennis A Soltis