Ford Motor Company Limited

Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

Paul Michael Suzio

Kah S Oo

Chao Sen Hsu

Darrel Alan Recker

Charles Francis Weber

Liang Tang

A method and apparatus for smoothing a throttle plate position command prior to being used by a closed loop throttle control unit. The method sequentially indexes through a lookup table storing a series of values of a smoothing function at routine time intervals. The difference between the current throttle plate command and the received throttle plate command is multiplied by the value of the smoothing function indexed from the lookup table. The product is then added to a reference throttle plate position command to generate a series of smoothed throttle plate position commands applied to the throttle control unit which provides smoother operation.

Input smoothing method and apparatus for an electronic throttle control

A method and system for initial and ongoing calibration of the absolute zero throttle plate reference position used in an electronic throttle control system. The method compensates for shifts in the absolute zero throttle plate reference position that occur as a result of aging, wear, and thermal expansion/contraction by monitoring the torque output from a position controller when the throttle is commanded to be at the zero position, and correcting absolute zero position information until the torque required to maintain the absolute zero position is within a window extending between zero and that torque required to overcome a spring pre-load.

Method and system for absolute zero throttle plate position error

This invention includes the method of calibrating an inductance position encoder for a variable reluctance motor including the steps of selectively positioning the motor to predetermined positions, detecting the readings from position encoder and averaging the readings to define encoder position and to produce a calibration for the motor.

Automatic self-calibration method for position encoder

A method and system are provided for positioning a gasoline engine throttle in response to an angular position input command signal. A multi-phase variable reluctance motor positions the throttle in response to motor current commands from a micro-controller. The micro-controller receives and processes the position input command and throttle position feedback signals from a multi-phase variable inductance position encoder rotatably coupled with the motor shaft. The motor current command are obtained from look-up tables that are derived from empirical data of the motor. The motor current command tables are a mapping from motor rotor position and desired motor torque to desired motor currents in the appropriate phases of the motor to hold the load.

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Livonia, MI, United States of America

Paul Michael Suzio