The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 03, 2001
Filed:
Dec. 28, 1998
Jerry C. Wang, Bloomington, IN (US);
Shawn Douglas Whitacre, Columbus, IN (US);
Matthew L. Schneider, Seymour, IN (US);
Dean Harlan Dringenburg, Seymour, IN (US);
Cummins Engine Company, Inc., Columbus, IN (US);
Abstract
A system and method for indicating when the oil of an engine needs to be changed. The system includes measuring engine parameters such as engine temperature, fueling rate, engine speed, and engine load. At timed intervals, soot generation, viscosity increase, and total base number (TBN) depletion are estimated through a calculation for that time interval. The estimated values from the calculations are accumulated in separate loops. Once the accumulation of soot generation, oil viscosity increase, or TBN depletion reaches a predetermined magnitude for that respective oil property, then an indication or signal is provided to indicate to the engine operator that the oil needs changing. The system is supplemented with real time sensors such as an oil level sensor, a soot sensor, and a viscosity sensor which provide a back up for the calculation of estimates and also prevent catastrophic engine conditions from not being detected through electronic calculation of estimates. The system and method also can correct for the accumulation of oil consumption caused by evaporation of oil or leakage of oil. The algorithms used in the calculations can account for oil quality and fuel sulfur as well as the configuration of the engine, to allow the engine to be used in different geographic locations.