Aero Engine Combustion Pressure Sensing Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Aero engines face challenges in operating on diesel or jet fuel due to variations in cetane rating, fuel, atmospheric, and injection abnormalities, requiring a system to ensure equal power delivery across cylinders, avoid resonance, and provide predictive maintenance for engine components.
Innovation Solution
The integration of combustion chamber pressure sensing (CCPS) into the engine management system for real-time adjustment of injection timing and pulse width to compensate for fuel and atmospheric variances, balance power output, prevent resonance, and monitor injector degradation, allowing for predictive maintenance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If combustion chamber pressure sensing is integrated into the engine management system for real-time adjustment of injection timing and pulse width, then the engine can compensate for fuel and atmospheric variances and balance power output across cylinders, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a closed-loop feedback control system where combustion chamber pressure sensors continuously monitor actual combustion events and feed this data back to the engine management system. The system compares measured pressure parameters against target values and dynamically adjusts injection timing and pulse width to compensate for variations in fuel quality, atmospheric conditions, and cylinder-to-cylinder inconsistencies, thereby maintaining reliable and consistent engine performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical fuel injection systems with electronically controlled injection actuators that can be precisely timed and controlled through electronic signals. This substitution enables real-time digital adjustment of injection parameters based on feedback from pressure sensors, allowing for dynamic compensation of operating conditions while reducing mechanical complexity through electronic control.
2Reliability
If combustion chamber pressure sensing is used to monitor injector degradation and provide predictive maintenance warnings, then maintenance reliability improves, but the measurement and detection difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The engine management system performs self-diagnosis by continuously monitoring combustion chamber pressure parameters and automatically detecting deviations that indicate injector degradation. The system compares actual combustion characteristics against expected performance thresholds and generates maintenance warnings when degradation is detected, enabling the engine to monitor its own health status without external intervention.
Solution Approach 2:
The combustion chamber pressure sensor acts as an intermediary that indirectly measures injector performance by detecting the effects of injector degradation on combustion characteristics. Instead of directly measuring injector conditions, the system uses pressure parameter variations as a proxy indicator of injector health, simplifying the detection process while maintaining reliable predictive maintenance capability.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the control system adjusts injection timing and pulse width to compensate for cetane rating variances, then fuel adaptability improves, but the control complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic injection control where the engine management system continuously adapts injection timing and pulse width based on real-time feedback from combustion pressure sensors. The system dynamically adjusts injection parameters to compensate for variations in fuel cetane rating and other operating conditions, enabling the engine to maintain optimal performance across different fuel types without requiring complex pre-programmed fuel maps.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The CCPS system enables aero engines to operate efficiently on diesel or jet fuel by ensuring balanced power delivery, preventing resonance, and providing predictive maintenance, thereby enhancing engine performance and safety.
Implementation Method 1
a sensor for sensing a pressure parameter in each of a plurality of compression chambers of the engine member, the sensor for providing the sensed pressure parameter to a control system device
Implementation Method 2
a compression combustion engine can burn either diesel fuel or jet fuel (P) about equally as well
Data Source
AI summary
A control system for an aero compression combustion drive assembly, the aero compression combustion drive assembly having an engine member, a transmission member and a propeller member, the control system including a sensor for sensing a pressure parameter in each of a plurality of compression chambers of the engine member, the sensor for providing the sensed pressure parameter to a control system device, the control system device having a plurality of control programs for effecting selected engine control and the control system device acting on the sensed pressure parameter to effect a control strategy in the engine member A control method is further included.