Caterpillar Inc.

Exxonmobil Research and Engineering Company

Kevin Patrick Duffy

Eric Charles Fluga

Jonathan P Kilkenny

Brian G McGee

Matthew R Roth

Gerald N Coleman

Scott Alan Leman

James Richard Weber

Gregory G Hafner

Carl-Anders Hergart

Michael Parry Liechty

Andrew John Kieser

William L Hardy

Anthony C Rodman

Mary Lou Kesse

Maarten Verkiel

Stephen Anthony Faulkner

Charles Hall Schleyer

Cory Andrew Brown

Cornelius Nicolae Opris

Roger Leroy Urven, Jr

Jason Jon Rasmussen

Rafal A Sobotowski

John M Clarke

Ronald P Maloney

James Josh Driscoll

Dennis L Endicott

John T Vachon

Homa Afjeh

David John Schuh

Paul William Bessonette

Parag Mehresh

Devin C Tornow

Kurtis M Best

David A Pierpoint

Kenneth D Erdman

A fuel composition for a homogenous charge compression ignition engine includes a combination of a gasoline fuel and a diesel fuel, the combination having a derived cetane number of from about 19.9 to 45 as determined in accordance with ASTM method D6890. A method for making the fuel composition provides for blending presently available gasoline fuel and diesel fuel together in a ratio to obtain the desired fuel composition.

Fuel compositions

The present disclosure provides an internal combustion engine having an engine housing with at least one cylinder that has diameter less than about 3 inches. A fuel injector is provided and disposed at least partially within the at least one cylinder, and includes a plurality of outlet orifices having a diameter between about 50 microns and about 125 microns, or about 0.05 millimeters and about 0.125 millimeters. The injector may include more than one set of separately controllable fuel outlet orifices, at least one of which could have an average diameter between about 0.05 millimeters and about 0.125 millimeters. The disclosure further provides a method of operating an internal combustion engine. The method includes the steps of rotating an engine crank shaft of the engine at a speed greater than about 5000 revolutions per minute, injecting a quantity of fuel into each of the cylinders, and burning at least every fourth piston stroke a sufficient quantity of the injected fuel to yield a brake mean effective pressure of at least about 200 lbs. per square inch.

Internal combustion engine and operating method therefor

A method of operating an internal combustion engine includes operating the engine in a first combustion mode. The method also includes switching operation of the engine to a second combustion mode. The method includes directing an exhaust stream of the engine into contact with a NOx adsorber substantially only during the operation in the second combustion mode.

Method of operating an internal combustion engine

Operation of a DI HCCI engine is optimized for maximizing load capability and load ranges via matching fuel ignitability with the compression ratio of the engine.

Method for selecting fuel to both optimize the operating range and minimize the exhaust emissions of HCCI engines

A homogeneous charge compression ignition engine is set up by first identifying combinations of compression ratio and exhaust gas percentages for each speed and load across the engines operating range. These identified ratios and exhaust gas percentages can then be converted into geometric compression ratio controller settings and exhaust gas recirculation rate controller settings that are mapped against speed and load, and made available to the electronic engine controller. This provides the engine controller with a look up table of what compression ratio and exhaust gas rates should be at each speed and load. The engine controller also balances at least one of combustion phasing and energy release among a plurality of cylinders in order to enable higher load operation.

High load operation in a homogeneous charge compression ignition engine

A method of operating an internal combustion engine is provided. The method includes injecting a first fuel charge into at least one cylinder of the engine. The method further includes determining a value indicative of at least one of a cylinder pressure and a rate of change in cylinder pressure. The method further includes injecting a second fuel charge into the at least one cylinder, upon the occurrence of a predetermined contingency, which may be a determined cylinder pressure or rate in change thereof exceeding a predetermined threshold. An internal combustion engine is further provided, including an electronic controller having a control algorithm. The control algorithm includes software for determining a value indicative of at least one of a cylinder pressure and a rate of change in cylinder pressure of at least one cylinder of the engine. The control algorithm further includes logic for transitioning a fuel injector of the engine between modes, based upon the occurrence of a predetermined contingency, which may be the determined value.

Method of transitioning between operating modes in an internal combustion engine

A homogenous charge compression ignition engine is operated by compressing a charge mixture of air, exhaust and fuel in a combustion chamber to an autoignition condition of the fuel. The engine may facilitate a transition from a first combination of speed and load to a second combination of speed and load by changing the charge mixture and compression ratio. This may be accomplished in a consecutive engine cycle by adjusting both a fuel injector control signal and a variable valve control signal away from a nominal variable valve control signal. Thereafter in one or more subsequent engine cycles, more sluggish adjustments are made to at least one of a geometric compression ratio control signal and an exhaust gas recirculation control signal to allow the variable valve control signal to be readjusted back toward its nominal variable valve control signal setting. By readjusting the variable valve control signal back toward its nominal setting, the engine will be ready for another transition to a new combination of engine speed and load.

Dynamic control of a homogeneous charge compression ignition engine

A homogeneous charge compression ignition engine operates by injecting liquid fuel directly in a combustion chamber, and mixing the fuel with recirculated exhaust and fresh air through an auto ignition condition of the fuel. The engine includes at least one turbocharger for extracting energy from the engine exhaust and using that energy to boost intake pressure of recirculated exhaust gas and fresh air. Elevated proportions of exhaust gas recirculated to the engine are attained by throttling the fresh air inlet supply. These elevated exhaust gas recirculation rates allow the HCCI engine to be operated at higher speeds and loads rendering the HCCI engine a more viable alternative to a conventional diesel engine.

Exhaust gas recirculation in a homogeneous charge compression ignition engine

An HCCI engine has the ability to operate over a large load range by utilizing a lower cetane distillate diesel fuel to increase ignition delay. This permits more stable operation at high loads by avoidance of premature combustion before top dead center. During low load conditions, a portion of the engines cylinders are deactivated so that the remaining cylinders can operate at a pseudo higher load while the overall engine exhibits behavior typical of a relatively low load.

Extending operating range of a homogeneous charge compression ignition engine via cylinder deactivation

The method includes reducing output of one or more cylinders of an engine system without reducing output of the remaining cylinders of the engine system. The method also includes reducing imbalance of the engine system by supplementing the engine system with power in response to the output reduction of the one or more cylinders.

System and method for balancing an engine during cylinder cutout

A fuel injection control system and method for delivering multiple fuel injections to a cylinder of an engine during a fuel injection event based upon engine operating conditions, the control system including an electronic controller coupled to an electrically controlled fuel injector, and a plurality of sensors coupled to the controller for inputting certain signals representative of certain engine operating conditions of the engine, the controller being operable to output a fuel injection signal to the fuel injector to deliver a first, a second, and a third fuel shot to the cylinder during a fuel injection event based upon the sensor signals. The controller also delivers each of the multiple fuel injection shots within defined cylinder piston displacement parameters during a particular piston stroke, within defined fuel apportionment limits, and within defined delay limits between each respective fuel shot so as to control exhaust emissions.

Method and apparatus for delivering multiple fuel injections to the cylinder of an internal combustion engine

Engines and methods of controlling an engine may involve one or more cams associated with engine intake and/or exhaust valves. In some examples, shifting the rotational phase of one or more cams advances and/or delays timing of the opening and/or closing of valves. Timing of valve closing/opening and possible use of an air supply system may enable engine operation according to a Miller cycle.

Combustion engine including cam phase-shifting

A method of operating an engine system should produce relatively low concentrations of various emissions without compromising a desired power output of the system. In order to operate an engine system of the present disclosure, a predetermined total amount of fuel injected into at least one combustion chamber is apportioned into at least a first amount and a second amount of fuel. The first amount of fuel is injected into the at least one combustion chamber during non-auto ignition conditions. The second amount of fuel is injected into the at least one combustion chamber during auto-ignition conditions. When the engine system is in a mid-low engine load range, the second amount of fuel is one of equal to or less than 15% of the predetermined total amount of fuel. When the engine system is in a high engine load range, the second amount of fuel is greater than 15% of the predetermined total amount of fuel.

Engine system and method of operating same over multiple engine load ranges

An apparatus and method for multi-mode fuel injection is disclosed. A sleeve is disposed about a fuel injector tip movable between a first and second position and wherein the sleeve is capable of impinging the fuel spray as it enters into the combustion chamber. By impinging the fuel spray, different spray profiles or plumes can be obtained allowing the fuel injector to inject in different modes, including homogenous charge compression ignition.

Fuel injector spray alteration through a moveable tip sleeve

Engines and methods of controlling an engine may involve one or more fluidically driven actuators associated with engine intake and/or exhaust valves. In some examples, the actuators may be placed in flow communication with high pressure fluid from one source and/or low pressure fluid from another. Timing of valve closing/opening and use of an air supply system may enable engine operation according to a Miller cycle.

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Metamora, IL, United States of America

Kevin Patrick Duffy