Engine Driven Welder Stop-Start Controller Fuel Economy
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Solution Overview
Problem
Engine-driven welders face challenges in efficiently managing engine start and stop operations due to arbitrary shutdowns based on internal and external variables, leading to inconvenience and potential difficulties in restarting, especially in adverse conditions like cold weather or poor battery health.
Innovation Solution
A system that continuously monitors welder and environmental parameters, calculates a restart value, and maintains an activity history to determine when to stop or start the engine based on a running range, ensuring reliable operation and fuel efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If the engine is shut down arbitrarily to improve fuel economy, then fuel efficiency improves, but the reliability of welding operation deteriorates due to potential restart difficulties
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary assessments before shutting down the engine by monitoring battery charge levels, engine temperature, and environmental conditions. This preliminary action ensures that shutdown decisions are made only when conditions are favorable for successful restart, thereby maintaining reliability while improving fuel efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors engine parameters, battery status, and environmental conditions, using this feedback to dynamically adjust shutdown decisions. The feedback mechanism ensures that the engine is restarted promptly when welding activity is detected or conditions indicate a high probability of successful restart, thus maintaining operational reliability.
2Reliability
If the engine is kept running continuously to ensure reliable welding operation, then reliability improves, but fuel consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts engine operation based on real-time conditions. Instead of keeping the engine running continuously, the system transitions between running and shutdown states based on welding activity detection, battery charge levels, and environmental factors, thereby reducing fuel consumption while maintaining reliability when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes operational parameters such as shutdown thresholds and monitoring frequencies based on environmental conditions and battery status. This allows the system to optimize the balance between fuel consumption and reliability by adjusting when shutdowns occur and how quickly the engine is restarted.
3Use of energy by moving object
If the engine is shut down during idle periods to improve fuel economy, then fuel efficiency improves, but the loss of time for restarting and reheating increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary heating of the engine and preparation of the battery before shutdown by monitoring temperature and charge levels. This preliminary action reduces the time required for restart and reheating, thereby minimizing time loss while maintaining fuel efficiency benefits.
Solution Approach 2:
The system takes preliminary anti-actions by pre-heating the engine and pre-charging the battery before shutdown occurs. This counteracts the potential time loss from restarting by ensuring the engine is in optimal condition for quick restart, thus reducing the net time loss.
4Use of energy by moving object
If the system monitors multiple parameters and maintains activity history to optimize shutdown decisions, then fuel efficiency improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control system performs multiple functions using a single integrated unit: it monitors engine parameters, tracks battery status, records environmental conditions, maintains activity history, and makes shutdown decisions. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate dedicated components, thereby limiting the increase in device complexity while achieving improved fuel efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The system merges the monitoring of multiple parameters (engine temperature, battery charge, environmental conditions) and the maintenance of activity history into a single control unit. This merging consolidates what could be multiple separate systems into one integrated solution, thus improving fuel efficiency through comprehensive monitoring while minimizing the increase in device complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
The subject innovation relates to starting and stopping an engine of an engine driven welder based on parameters related to the welder and parameters related to an environment in which the welder operates. In an embodiment, a method for managing a welder engine of an engine driven welder includes continuously monitoring welder parameters related to the engine driven welder, continuously monitoring environmental parameters influencing the welder engine, continuously calculating a restart value based at least in part on the engine parameters and the environmental parameters, continuously monitoring activity related to the engine to maintain an activity history, and stopping the engine based at least in part on the activity history and the restart value being outside a running range. Systems include components for accomplishing such aspects.