Patent ID: 6209520
Filing Date: 2001-04-03
Classification: F02D

Abstract:
A cylinder balancing assembly for use in combination with an automobile engine having a plurality of cylinders which each contain a movable piston, said engine further including a selectively rotatable crankshaft, a plurality of conrods which each connect a unique one of said pistons to said crankshaft, and a plurality of fuel injectors which are each adapted to receive a quantity of fuel and to selectively inject said fuel into a unique one of said cylinders, said injected fuel being selectively combined with air and combusted within each of said cylinders effective to create a certain and respective pressure which selectively cycles the received and respective pistons between a first extended position and a second crankshaft rotation position, thereby causing each cylinder to produce a torque when the respectively contained piston rotates said crankshaft and then completes a movement cycle by returning to the respective first position, said cylinder balancing assembly comprising:a plurality of sensors which are each positioned within a unique one of said cylinders, which each sense said pressure of a unique one of said cylinders and which each provide an output signal representing said respectively sensed pressure; anda controller, coupled to said plurality of sensors and to said plurality of fuel injectors, said controller receiving said output signals from each of said plurality of sensors and using said output signals to calculate the total amount of torque produced by each of said cylinders and based upon said calculation, regulating said amount of fuel entering each of fuel injectors effective to cause each of the produced torques to be substantially equal, thereby balancing the cylinders;wherein said controller averages said total amount of said torques produced by each of said cylinders and creates an average torque value, said controller further using said average torque value to create an imbalance value for each of said cylinders, said controller further multiplying each of said cylinder imbalance values by an adaptive control factor effective to separately create an adaptive correction value for each of said cylinders, and said controller further regulating said amount of fuel being injected into each of said cylinders in accordance with said created adaptive correction values.