In-Vehicle Engine Start Control via Pinion-Ring Gear Synchronization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing in-vehicle engine start control systems face challenges such as complex and costly mechanisms, delayed restarts, unusual noise, gear wear, and air pollution due to asynchronous fuel injection and inefficient synchronization of pinion and ring gears during automatic stop and restart operations.
Innovation Solution
An in-vehicle engine start control apparatus featuring a DC electric motor-driven pinion gear with a pinion push mechanism, a rotational driving control circuit, and a microprocessor that manages fuel injection and rotational driving instructions to synchronize the pinion and ring gears before the engine reaches a low rotation speed, allowing immediate restarts without waiting for complete stop and reducing gear wear.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If the engine is stopped completely before restart, then fuel efficiency is improved, but restart delay occurs and driver feels unnatural waiting
Solution Approach 1:
The pinion gear is rotationally driven preliminarily before the engine stops completely, so that the pinion and ring gears are synchronized and meshed in advance. When a restart request is issued, the engine can restart immediately without waiting for complete stop, eliminating restart delay while maintaining fuel efficiency benefits
2Speed
If the pinion gear is pushed to mesh with ring gear during engine deceleration, then restart speed is improved, but gear synchronization becomes difficult and causes unusual noise and wear
Solution Approach 1:
The pinion gear is rotationally driven preliminarily to synchronize its speed with the ring gear before meshing occurs. This preliminary synchronization ensures that when the pinion is pushed to engage with the ring gear, both gears are already at compatible rotation speeds, preventing unusual noise and wear while enabling fast restart
Solution Approach 2:
The control device monitors engine rotation speed and pinion gear rotation speed continuously, using this feedback information to determine the optimal timing for preliminary rotational driving and for pushing the pinion gear into mesh, ensuring synchronization is achieved at the precise moment when speeds are matched
3Speed
If asynchronous fuel injection is performed before cylinder discrimination, then engine start is accelerated, but air pollution increases
Solution Approach 1:
Cylinder discrimination is performed preliminarily while the engine is still rotating at relatively high speed before complete stop. This preliminary cylinder identification allows subsequent fuel injection to be performed synchronously and accurately, preventing asynchronous injection and resulting air pollution while maintaining fast restart capability
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
Enables quick and efficient engine restarts, reduces driver wait time, and minimizes gear wear by synchronizing pinion and ring gears before the engine reaches an unstable rotation state, improving fuel efficiency and reducing air pollution.
Implementation Method 1
a starting electric motor unit having a DC electric motor driven with power fed from an in-vehicle battery, a pinion gear rotationally driven by the DC electric motor
Implementation Method 2
a pinion push mechanism allowing the pinion gear to couple to and decouple from a ring gear
Data Source
AI summary
An in-vehicle engine start control apparatus stops a fuel injection instruction after rotationally driving a DC electric motor preliminarily by issuing a rotational driving instruction when an automatic stop condition is satisfied, and subsequently restarts the in-vehicle engine by issuing a push control instruction to a pinion gear immediately before a circumferential speed of a ring gear decelerating by inertia is synchronized with a circumferential speed of the pinion gear rotationally driven preliminarily to rotate and by issuing the rotational driving instruction and the fuel injection instruction again because a restart request is already issued or is issued with a delay when the push driving is completed.