Engine Fuel Control Using Modeled vs Measured Consumption
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Solution Overview
Problem
Powered systems, such as vehicles, face challenges in detecting and addressing increased fuel consumption due to underlying conditions like leaks or inefficiencies, leading to suboptimal engine performance and higher fuel costs.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that utilize a fuel consumption model to monitor and analyze fuel usage, identifying differentials between measured and modeled fuel consumption, allowing for the identification of contributing components and adjustment of fuel supply to maintain desired engine outputs, while also enabling predictive maintenance and operational adjustments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If fuel consumption monitoring is implemented to detect increased fuel usage, then fuel efficiency can be improved, but the complexity of the system increases due to additional sensors and processing requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors actual fuel consumption and compares it with modeled fuel consumption based on engine operating parameters. When a differential exceeds a threshold, the system generates a notification to the operator. This closed-loop feedback mechanism enables detection of fuel efficiency issues without requiring complex diagnostic hardware, as it leverages existing fuel consumption data and engine parameter sensors already present in the vehicle.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a fuel consumption model as an intermediary that translates engine operating parameters (temperature, pressure, flow rates) into expected fuel consumption values. This model acts as a mediator between the complex engine system and the simple monitoring/comparison logic, enabling fuel efficiency detection through software-based calculation rather than direct physical measurement of fuel consumption differentials.
2Reliability
If the system identifies components causing fuel consumption differentials, then maintenance can be optimized, but the difficulty of detecting and measuring the root cause increases due to the need to analyze multiple operating parameters
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides continuous feedback by comparing actual versus modeled fuel consumption and notifying operators when differentials exceed thresholds. This ongoing monitoring enables proactive maintenance scheduling based on actual fuel consumption patterns rather than waiting for failure, optimizing maintenance timing without requiring complex diagnostic procedures to identify issues.
Solution Approach 2:
The fuel consumption model automatically correlates operating parameters with fuel consumption patterns, enabling the system to self-diagnose potential issues without requiring external expert analysis. The model processes temperature, pressure, and flow rate data to identify deviations from expected fuel consumption behavior, allowing the system to autonomously flag maintenance needs based on its own operational data.
3Productivity
If the system adjusts fuel supply to maintain desired engine outputs, then performance can be optimized, but the loss of information increases due to the complexity of modeling fuel consumption across varying operating conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The fuel consumption model incorporates multiple engine operating parameters including temperature, pressure, and flow rates to dynamically calculate expected fuel consumption. By considering changes in these parameters across different operating conditions, the model maintains accuracy without oversimplifying the relationship between fuel supply and engine output, enabling performance optimization while preserving the complexity of real-world operating variations.
Data Source
AI summary
A fuel control system obtains a measured amount of fuel consumed by an engine and one or more corresponding operating parameters of the engine and determines a fuel consumption modeled amount based at least in part on a fuel consumption model of the engine and the one or more operating parameters. The fuel consumption model associates different amounts of fuel that, when supplied to the engine, generate corresponding designated outputs of the engine. The system also determines one or more differentials between the measured amount of fuel and the modeled amount and, responsive to the one or more of the differentials exceeding a threshold value, the system identifies one or more components of the powered system that contribute or cause the one or more differentials and/or changes an amount of fuel supplied to the engine according to the fuel consumption model to obtain a desired output of the engine.