Sequential Fuel Injector Heating to Limit Peak Current
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Solution Overview
Problem
At cold operating temperatures, fuel injectors in internal combustion engines experience increased frictional losses and mechanical viscous friction, leading to higher power requirements and complex valve control under varying conditions, which affects their performance and emissions.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that sequentially heats fuel injectors using controlled electrical current to reduce instantaneous current requirements, allowing for a compromise between electrical current and heating time, thereby improving injector performance and reducing engine emissions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If multiple fuel injectors are heated simultaneously, then heating effectiveness is improved, but instantaneous current requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The heating process is divided into sequential segments where injectors are heated one at a time rather than simultaneously. The controller activates heating current to individual fuel injectors in sequence, ensuring that only one injector receives heating current at any given moment. This segmentation approach maintains effective heating while limiting peak current draw to levels comparable to heating a single injector.
2Loss of time
If heating current is increased, then heating time is reduced, but instantaneous current requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs periodic heating cycles where current is applied to each injector for a specific duration, then switched to the next injector. This periodic approach allows the system to achieve cumulative heating效果 over multiple cycles without requiring high instantaneous current. The controller manages the timing and duration of heating pulses to balance heating effectiveness with current constraints.
3Loss of time
If all injectors are heated at once, then total heating time is reduced, but conductor size and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The electrical heating system is segmented to operate on a time-division multiplexing basis, where each injector receives heating current in alternating time slots. This segmentation allows the use of smaller conductors and simpler power supply components compared to a system that would require simultaneous heating capability, while still achieving comprehensive heating of all injectors over a short total duration.
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 sequential heating method reduces the instantaneous current needed to heat fuel injectors, improving air-fuel control, lowering engine starting emissions, and allowing for lighter wire gauges without affecting system function or performance, while also reducing the complexity and cost of electrical components.
Implementation Method 1
current controlled to increase eddy currents as a temperature decreases and to decrease said eddy currents as said temperature increases
Data Source
AI summary
A method for heating fuel injectors of an internal combustion engine supplies current from a power source to a plurality of electrically operable mechanical actuators. The current is supplied sequentially to at least two electrically operable mechanical actuators at a level sufficient to produce a time-varying magnetic field having a power density that substantially raises an armature temperature of said valve, while substantially maintaining the operating states that said at least two electrically operable mechanical actuators assumed prior to applying said current.