System and method for managing a mechanical air compressor clutch device for charging an internal
By monitoring the status of the clutch device and calculating energy changes using predetermined mapping and filters, the slippage and cooling phases of the clutch device are managed, solving the problem of overheating of the clutch device liner during the coupling of the mechanical compressor and the engine, thus achieving protection of the clutch device and stable operation of the engine system.
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- HORSE POWERTRAIN SOLUTIONS S L U
- Filing Date
- 2024-09-30
- Publication Date
- 2026-04-28
AI Technical Summary
The heat generated during the coupling process between the mechanical compressor and the engine can damage the lining of the clutch assembly, especially when the internal combustion engine is running inefficiently. Existing technologies cannot effectively prevent the clutch assembly from overheating and being damaged.
By monitoring the state of the clutch device and calculating energy changes in the liner using predetermined mappings and filters, the slip and cooling phases of the clutch device are managed to prevent overheating of the clutch device liner. This includes calculating energy changes during the heating phase using first and second mappings, calculating energy changes during the cooling phase using a first-order filter, and prohibiting coupling before the liner energy reaches a threshold.
It effectively prevents overheating of the clutch liner, extends its service life, avoids damage, and ensures stable operation of the engine system.
Smart Images
Figure CN121941834A_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] This invention relates to a method for managing a clutch device for a mechanical air compressor used to boost the internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle. The invention also relates to a system for managing such a clutch device. Background Technology
[0002] In order to significantly limit emissions of pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (NOx), internal combustion engines will have to operate under conditions of very poor fuel mixtures in the future.
[0003] This operating mode requires ensuring a very high airflow, which necessitates the use of an engine supercharging system, most commonly a two-stage supercharging system.
[0004] Two-stage supercharging systems typically include a mechanical compressor associated with the turbocharger. This mechanical compressor is driven by the engine crankshaft to assist the turbocharger, providing additional compression.
[0005] Because mechanical compressors are very energy-intensive, they are only used in operating modes where turbochargers cannot guarantee boost alone. Furthermore, mechanical compressors are speed-limited and must not exceed a predetermined engine threshold speed. Therefore, a clutch device is necessary to allow the compressor and engine to be coupled or decoupled.
[0006] This clutch mechanism ensures gradual coupling between the crankshaft and the mechanical compressor. Gradual coupling is achieved through a slip phase that generates significant heat.
[0007] This heat can damage the clutch assembly, especially in the liner area. Summary of the Invention
[0008] This invention relates to preventing overheating damage to the lining of clutch equipment.
[0009] The present invention relates to a method for managing a clutch device for a mechanical air compressor used to boost the internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle.
[0010] The method includes the following steps:
[0011] - Determine the state of the clutch device. If the clutch device is in the slipping stage, it corresponds to the heating stage; otherwise, it corresponds to the cooling stage.
[0012] - Calculate the change in energy accumulated in the liner of the clutch device during a predetermined time step according to at least one predetermined mapping, the at least one predetermined mapping representing the change in energy accumulated in the liner according to the state of the clutch device;
[0013] - Update the stored energy value accumulated in the liner of the clutch device based on the calculated change in accumulated energy; and
[0014] - The clutch device is managed based on the updated value of the energy accumulated in the clutch device liner.
[0015] This method is designed to prevent overheating damage to the lining of the clutch assembly.
[0016] For example, in the clutch equipment management process, coupling between the compressor and the engine is only permitted when the energy accumulated in the clutch equipment liner is less than or equal to a predetermined energy threshold.
[0017] Advantageously, a first mapping and a second mapping are used to calculate the energy changes during the heating phase, where the first and second mappings represent the changes in energy accumulated in the liner as a function of the compression ratio of the mechanical compressor and the slip ratio of the clutch device, respectively. This mapping allows for a simple and accurate estimation of the increase in energy accumulated in the liner during the heating phase.
[0018] According to one characteristic, the energy change during the heating phase is calculated by integrating the sum of the first contribution and the second contribution from the first mapping and the second mapping, respectively.
[0019] Based on another characteristic, a first-order filter is used to calculate the energy change during the cooling phase. The first-order filter represents the cooling of the liner over time without any energy input. This first-order filter represents a cost-effective means in terms of computational power, allowing for a simple and accurate estimation of the reduction in energy accumulated in the liner during the cooling phase.
[0020] For example, the filter is initialized to an initial value corresponding to the energy accumulated in the liner and converges to zero according to a pre-calibrated time constant, which represents the value corresponding to the time required for the temperature of the liner to drop to a predetermined level, indicating the energy level at which the liner allows the clutch device to couple with the engine without compromising the liner's energy level.
[0021] According to another aspect, the present invention relates to a system for managing a clutch device of a mechanical air compressor used to boost the internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle.
[0022] The management system includes devices for the following:
[0023] - Determine the state of the clutch device. If the clutch device is in the slipping stage, it corresponds to the heating stage; otherwise, it corresponds to the cooling stage.
[0024] - Calculate the change in energy accumulated in the liner of the clutch device during a predetermined time step according to at least one predetermined mapping, the at least one predetermined mapping representing the change in energy in the liner according to the state of the clutch device;
[0025] - Update the stored value of energy accumulated in the liner of the clutch device based on the calculated changes in accumulated energy;
[0026] - Manage the clutch device based on the updated value of the energy accumulated in the liner of the clutch device.
[0027] According to another aspect, the present invention also relates to an internal combustion engine for a motor vehicle, comprising: a mechanical air compressor for supercharging the engine, and a system for managing the compressor clutch device as described above; and a method for implementing the management as described above. Attached Figure Description
[0028] Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description, which is given by way of non-limiting example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
[0029] Figure 1 The architecture of an internal combustion engine associated with a system for managing clutch devices according to the present invention is shown;
[0030] Figure 2 A flowchart is provided for a method of managing a clutch device according to the present invention.
[0031] Detailed description of at least one embodiment
[0032] exist Figure 1 In the example shown, the internal combustion engine 1 of the motor vehicle is spark-ignition type and includes, for example: four cylinders 2 in a straight line; a fresh air intake manifold 3 or distributor 3; an exhaust manifold 4; and a turbo compression system or turbo compressor 5.
[0033] Engine 1 is associated with an intake circuit, a combustion gas exhaust circuit, and a fuel supply circuit (not shown).
[0034] The intake circuit, from upstream to downstream in the air circulation direction, includes: an air filter 6; a flow meter 7; an intake valve 8; a first branch 9 and a second branch 10, which are installed in parallel; a throttle box 11; and a distributor 3, which may integrate a heat exchanger 12 (e.g., an air-to-water exchanger). The first branch 9 directs intake air to a mechanical compressor 13, which is driven by the crankshaft 14 of the engine 1 via a belt 15. The mechanical compressor 9 is installed upstream of the compressor 5a of the turbocharger 5. The second branch 10 is provided with a bypass valve 16 and directs air directly to the compressor 5a of the turbocharger 5, bypassing the mechanical compressor 13.
[0035] The exhaust circuit, from upstream to downstream in the direction of combustion gas flow, includes: an exhaust manifold 4; a turbocharger 5 with a turbine 5b; an emission control system 17 including, for example, a three-way catalytic converter; and a muffler 18.
[0036] exist Figure 1 In the example shown, the mechanical compressor 13 is associated with the turbocharger 5. Alternatively, the engine 1 may still be boosted solely by the mechanical compressor 13, without the turbocharger 5.
[0037] This invention can be applied to any combustion engine associated with a mechanical compressor driven by a clutch device (especially an electronically controlled clutch), whether the mechanical compressor is standalone or associated with a turbocharger in a two-stage turbocharger.
[0038] This invention has particularly advantageous applications in the case of hydrogen spark ignition engines.
[0039] exist Figure 1 In the preferred embodiment shown, the turbocharger 5 effectively reuses the energy contained in the exhaust gas to increase the mass flow of fresh air entering the engine: the turbine extracts energy from the combustion gases passing through it and returns that energy to the compressor, which compresses the intake air and increases its density. The mechanical compressor 13 operates using the mechanical energy of the crankshaft 14, which reduces the performance of the engine 1.
[0040] Therefore, it is preferable to retain the mechanical compressor 13 for use in an operating mode in which the turbocharger 5 alone cannot ensure boosting of the engine 1 itself.
[0041] To enable activation and deactivation, the mechanical compressor 13 is equipped with a clutch device 19, which allows for coupling and decoupling of the mechanical compressor 13 and the engine 1 as needed. A portion of the clutch device 19 is integrated with the compressor 13, and another portion is integrated with a pulley 20, which is coaxial with the rotational axis of the compressor 13. This pulley 20 is driven by the engine crankshaft 14 via a drive device 15 (e.g., a belt 15), which connects the pulley 20 to a second pulley mounted at the end of the crankshaft. Therefore, the speed ratio between the crankshaft 14 and the pulley 20 is constant, and the rotation of the compressor is ensured by engaging the clutch device 19 until the speed of the pulley 20 gradually reaches its limit.
[0042] Traditionally, the mechanical compressor is activated when the engine speed N is less than a first predetermined fixed speed threshold N1 and the engine setpoint torque Tq is greater than a first torque threshold C1 depending on the engine speed N. After the compressor is activated, the speed N and the setpoint torque Tq are continuously measured. If the speed N becomes greater than a second predetermined fixed speed threshold N2 and is strictly greater than N1, or if the setpoint torque Tq becomes less than a second torque threshold C2 depending on the speed N and is strictly less than C1 for the same speed value N, the compressor is deactivated.
[0043] Therefore, the activation or deactivation of the mechanical compressor in the prior art does not take into account the state of the clutch device. However, each time the compressor couples with the engine, the slippage phase of the clutch device causes a strong heat release, and when these coupling phases are repeated, it may damage the clutch device in the long term.
[0044] A strategy for managing clutch device 19 is defined to protect the liner of clutch device 19 from the risk of overheat-related damage.
[0045] During the slip phase, the clutch device 19 is in the heating phase.
[0046] The heat released during the heating phase is proportional to the driving torque of the compressor 13 and the speed ratio of the compressor 13, or the slip ratio, that is, proportional to the ratio between the rotational speed of the compressor 13 and the rotational speed of the pulley 20.
[0047] The drive torque is distributed between the inertial torque and the compression torque of the compressor 13, which must accelerate from zero speed to the rotational speed of the pulley 20. The compression torque is proportional to the compression ratio of the mechanical compressor 13. The compression ratio is equal to the ratio between the pressure value measured downstream of the compressor and the pressure value measured upstream of the compressor; these values are measured, for example, by a pressure sensor at the terminal of the compressor 13.
[0048] The speed ratio or slip ratio of the clutch device 19 is the ratio between the speed of the compressor 13 and the speed of the pulley 20. This ratio is zero at the beginning of the slip phase and gradually converges to 1 at the end of the slip phase.
[0049] Outside of the slip phase, the clutch assembly 19 is considered to be in a cooling phase, as it returns the heat accumulated during the slip phase to its environment. This return of accumulated heat is primarily through conduction to components in direct contact with the clutch assembly 19 and convection with the surrounding air. It should be noted that the heat supplied by the control current through the solenoid, which controls the armature movement of the clutch assembly 19, is negligible.
[0050] As can be understood from the above, if the slip phases are too close together, the cooling phase between the two clutch phases of the compressor is not long enough to allow the heat accumulated in the clutch to dissipate. If the accumulated energy continues to increase, it will eventually reach a threshold that puts the normal operating mode of the clutch at risk.
[0051] In addition, the engine 1 includes a management system 21 for the clutch device 19, which includes: a memory 22; a computing module 23; a communication module 24; a measurement module 25; and a control module 26.
[0052] The communication module 24 of the management system 21 is capable of communicating with an advanced electronic control unit (not shown), which is configured to control various components of the internal combustion engine based on data collected by sensors at different locations on the engine. Preferably, the electronic control unit sends data to the management system 21 representing the speed of the pulley 20, the speed of the compressor 13, and the pressure at the terminals of the compressor 13, which allows the compression ratio to be determined.
[0053] The measurement module 25 is configured to determine whether the clutch device 19 is in the slip phase.
[0054] The control module 26 of the management system 21 is configured to control the coupling and decoupling of the mechanical compressor 13 and the engine 1, in particular based on the energy value accumulated in the liner of the clutch device 19.
[0055] The calculation module 23 is used to calculate the change in accumulated energy of the liner of the clutch device during a predetermined time step, the change being based on at least one predetermined mapping stored in the memory 22, the predetermined mapping being characterizing the change in liner energy with the state of the clutch device.
[0056] The calculation module 23 is configured to calculate, based on at least one predetermined mapping stored in the memory 22, the change in energy accumulated in the liner of the clutch device during a predetermined time step, the mapping representing the change in energy in the liner according to the state of the clutch device.
[0057] For example, control module 26 may only allow coupling between compressor 13 and motor 1 if the energy accumulated in the liner of the clutch device is less than or equal to a predetermined energy threshold E1. Alternatively, an alarm message regarding overheating of clutch device 19 may still be issued even if the energy accumulated in the liner of the clutch device exceeds E1.
[0058] Figure 2 This is a flowchart of a method for managing a clutch device 19 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0059] The method begins at step 30: if the clutch device is in the slip phase, then the state of the clutch device is determined to correspond to the heating phase; otherwise, its state is determined to correspond to the cooling phase.
[0060] The method continues to step 31: calculating the change in energy accumulated in the liner of the clutch device 19 during a predetermined time step. The calculation of the change in energy accumulated in the liner uses at least one predetermined mapping, which is contained in memory 22 and represents the change in energy accumulated in the liner with respect to the state of the clutch device 19 determined in step 30.
[0061] Preferably, a first mapping and a second mapping are used to calculate the energy changes during the heating phase, the first mapping and the second mapping representing the changes in energy accumulated in the liner with the compression ratio of the mechanical compressor and the slip ratio of the clutch device 19, respectively.
[0062] For example, the energy change during the heating phase is calculated by integrating the sum of the first contribution and the second contribution of the first mapping and the second mapping, respectively.
[0063] For example, the energy change during the cooling phase is calculated using a first-order filter, which represents the cooling of the liner over time without any energy input, filtered to an initial value corresponding to the value of energy accumulated in the liner, and converges to a zero value according to a pre-calibrated time constant, which represents the value corresponding to the time required for the liner temperature to drop to a predetermined level, which represents the energy level at which the liner allows the clutch device 19 to couple with the engine 1 without damaging the liner.
[0064] Then, the management system 21 updates the stored value of the energy accumulated in the liner of the clutch device 19 based on the calculated change in accumulated energy (step 32). The energy value accumulated in the liner is stored in the memory 22 of the management system 21. For example, during the first start-up of the engine 1 (excluding restarts after engine stop controlled by the stop and start function), the stored value of the energy accumulated in the gasket is initialized to 0.
[0065] The method continues to step 33: managing the clutch device 19 based on the updated value of the energy accumulated in the liner of the clutch device 19 in step 32.
[0066] For example, during management step 33, the management system 21 only authorizes the coupling of the compressor 13 with the engine 1 when the stored value of the energy accumulated in the liner of the clutch device 19 is less than or equal to the energy threshold E1.
Claims
1. A method for managing a clutch device (19) of a mechanical air compressor (13) for pressurizing an internal combustion engine (1) of a motor vehicle, characterized in that, The method includes the following steps: - Determine the state of the clutch device (19). If the clutch device (19) is in the slip phase, it corresponds to the heating phase; otherwise, it corresponds to the cooling phase. - Calculate the change in energy accumulated in the liner of the clutch device (20) during a predetermined time step according to at least one predetermined mapping, wherein the at least one predetermined mapping represents the change in energy accumulated in the liner according to the state of the clutch device (19); - Update the stored value of energy accumulated in the liner of the clutch device (19) based on the calculated change in accumulated energy; and - The clutch device (19) is managed based on the updated value of the energy accumulated in the liner of the clutch device (19).
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, In the process of managing the clutch device (19), coupling between the compressor (13) and the engine (1) is permitted only when the energy value accumulated in the liner of the clutch device (19) is less than or equal to a predetermined energy threshold (E1).
3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein, The first mapping and the second mapping are used to calculate the energy change during the heating phase. The first mapping and the second mapping represent the change of energy accumulated in the liner with the compression ratio of the mechanical compressor (13) and the slip ratio of the clutch device (19), respectively.
4. The method according to claim 3, wherein, The energy change during the heating phase is calculated by integrating the sum of the first contribution and the second contribution from the first map and the second map, respectively.
5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein, A first-order filter is used to calculate the energy change during the cooling phase, where the first-order filter represents the cooling of the liner over time without any energy input.
6. The method according to claim 5, wherein, The filter is initialized to an initial value corresponding to the energy value accumulated in the liner and converges to a zero value according to a pre-calibrated time constant, which represents the value corresponding to the time required for the temperature of the liner to drop to a predetermined level, which represents the energy level at which the liner allows the clutch device (19) to couple with the engine (1) without damaging the liner.
7. A system (21) for managing a clutch device (19) of a mechanical air compressor (13) for boosting an internal combustion engine (1) of a motor vehicle, characterized in that, The system includes means for the following: - Determine the state of the clutch device; if the clutch device is in the slip phase, it corresponds to the heating phase; otherwise, it corresponds to the cooling phase. - Calculate the change in energy accumulated in the liner of the clutch device during a predetermined time step based on at least one predetermined mapping, wherein the at least one predetermined mapping represents the change in energy in the liner according to the state of the clutch device; - Update the stored value of the energy accumulated in the liner of the clutch device based on the calculated change in accumulated energy; as well as - The clutch device is managed based on the updated value of the energy accumulated in the liner of the clutch device.
8. An internal combustion engine for a motor vehicle (1), comprising: Mechanical air compressor (13), used in turbocharged engines; And a system (21) for managing the clutch device (19) of the mechanical air compressor (13) according to claim 7; and a management method for implementing any one of claims 1 to 6.