Woodward, Inc.

Woodward Governor Company

Suraj Nair

Gregory James Hampson

Jeffrey Carlson

Domenico Chiera

Samuel James McCreery

Luigi P Tozzi

Kamran Eftekhari Shahroudi

Ed VanDyne

Jeffrey B Barrett

Jason Barta

Charles Brennecke

David C Petruska

Doyle Kent Stewart

Monte Wegner

Mark Notarfrancesco

Sai Venkataramanan

Andy Vlietstra

The subject matter of this specification can be embodied in, among other things, a method of igniting an air/fuel mixture in an internal combustion engine includes receiving an air/fuel mixture into a pre-combustion chamber, the pre-combustion chamber enclosing a portion of an igniter, igniting the air/fuel mixture in in the pre-combustion chamber with the igniter to produce a flame, directing the flame to eject the pre-combustion chamber through a collection of passages in a wall of the pre-combustion chamber, toward a peripheral wall of a main combustion chamber of the internal combustion engine, igniting, by the flame, air/fuel mixture in the main combustion chamber adjacent the peripheral wall, and then igniting air/fuel mixture in the main combustion chamber in a central region of the main combustion chamber with a propagating flame front of the ignited air/fuel mixture or a portion of the directed flame adjacent the peripheral wall.

Flame triggered and controlled volumetric ignition

A method of controlling combustion in an internal combustion engine includes measuring parameters of combustion in a cylinder of the engine during a combustion phase of the cylinder, after igniting an air/fuel charge in the cylinder, and calculating the heat release of combustion in the cylinder based on the measured parameters. An auto-ignition event of the air/fuel charge is identified based on the calculated heat release, and, based at least in part on the identified auto-ignition event, at least one of ignition timing in the cylinder for the next combustion phase of the cylinder or an amount of exhaust gas supplied to the cylinder for the next combustion phase of the cylinder is controlled to cause an auto-ignition event of the air/fuel charge in the next combustion phase to shift toward a specified crank angle.

Auto-ignition control in a combustion engine

The subject matter of this specification can be embodied in, among other things, a method that includes determining a gas supplement ratio (GSR) of a mixture of natural gas and diesel, identifying a start event of a stroke of a piston of a combustion cylinder of a dual-fuel engine, identifying a first observation period that is offset from the start event based on the GSR, identifying a second observation period based on the GSR, receiving signals representative of vibration of the combustion cylinder during the stroke, identifying an abnormal combustion event based on the signals, determining that abnormal combustion occurred during at least one of the first observation period and the second observation period, and causing a change in operation of the engine based determining that abnormal combustion occurred during at least one of the first observation period and the second observation period.

Acoustic knock detection in dual-fuel engines

The subject matter of this specification can be embodied in, among other things, a method that includes receiving a collection of measurements of electric current amplitude in a primary winding of an engine ignition system having the primary winding and a spark plug, identifying an ignition start time, identifying an inflection point based on the plurality of measurements, determining an inflection point time representative of a time at which the identified inflection point occurred, determining a spark start time based on an amount of time between the ignition start time and the inflection point time, and providing a signal indicative of the spark start time.

Current profile optimization

A method of detecting uncontrolled combustion in an internal combustion engine includes sampling in-cylinder pressure sensor configured to measure pressure in a cylinder of the engine and generate a pressure signal, calculating a combustion intensity metric based on the pressure signal, determining a parameter describing how close the engine is to an uncontrolled combustion condition based on the combustion intensity metric, and controlling a substitution rate of a first fuel and a second fuel based on one or more of the parameter and the combustion intensity metric.

Dual fuel combustion intensity

The subject matter of this specification can be embodied in, among other things, a method for characterizing a fluid injector that includes receiving a collection of waveform data, identifying a pull locus, determining a detection threshold level value, identifying a first subset of the collection of data representative of a selected first electrical waveform of the collection of electrical waveforms, identifying an opening value, identifying a representative closing value, identifying an anchor value, identifying a second subset of the collection of data based on the collection of data, the pull locus, the first subset, and the opening value, identifying a maximum electrical value, identifying an opening locus based the collection of data, the anchor value, and the maximum electrical value, identifying a hold value, and providing characteristics associated with the fluid injector comprising the pull locus, the opening locus, the hold value, the anchor value, and the representative closing value.

Fingerprinting of fluid injection devices

The subject matter of this specification can be embodied in, among other things, a method that includes evaluating an analog electrical current waveform, determining a Boolean waveform based on the evaluated analog electrical current waveform, determining a collection of one or more first durations based on one or more on times identified from the Boolean waveform, determining a collection of one or more second durations based on one or more off times identified from the Boolean waveform, comparing the first durations and the second durations, determining, based on the comparing, an event based on the comparing, identifying a time at which the event occurred, and providing the time as a completion time.

Detection of valve open time for solenoid operated fuel injectors

A system and method for controlling knock in a lean burn internal combustion (IC) engine includes a spark plug having an electrode, an electrical circuit, and a controller. The electrical circuit is configured to provide a first voltage to the electrode and detect an ion current during a thermal-ionization phase of the combustion process, and provide a second voltage to the electrode to create a spark and initiate a combustion process within the combustion chamber. The controller is configured to monitor the ion current for a knock condition that includes at least an incipient knock condition, determine a crank angle of the IC engine where the incipient knock occurs, and adjust timing of the IC engine to operate at a crank angle that does not exceed a threshold level beyond inception of incipient knock.

Method and system for closed loop combustion control of a lean-burn reciprocating engine using ionization detection

A system and method for controlling knock in a lean burn internal combustion (IC) engine includes a spark plug having an electrode, and an electrical circuit configured to provide a first voltage to the electrode and detect an ion current during a thermal-ionization phase of the combustion process, and provide a second voltage to the electrode to create a spark and initiate a combustion process within a combustion chamber. The engine includes a controller configured to monitor the ion current for a knock condition that includes at least an incipient knock condition, determine a spark crank angle timing of the IC engine where the incipient knock occurs, and adjust the spark timing of the IC engine to operate at a crank angle that does not exceed a threshold level beyond an incipient knock set point.

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Fort Collins, CO, United States of America

Suraj Nair