Patent ID: 8261707

Claim:
A valve timing controller for an internal combustion engine, which drives with an actuator and changing a valve timing variable mechanism so that open and close timing of at least one of an intake valve and an exhaust valve is changed, the valve timing variable mechanism being capable of continuously changing a rotational phase angle of a camshaft with respect to a crankshaft of the internal combustion engine from a reference phase angle value at a time when phase angle control is stopped to a limiting phase angle value defined by a stopper, the valve timing controller for the internal combustion engine comprising: a crank angle sensor for detecting a reference rotational position of the crankshaft; a cam angle sensor for detecting a reference rotational position of the camshaft; real phase angle detecting means for detecting a real phase angle of the camshaft based on detection signals from the crank angle sensor and the cam angle sensor; driving condition detecting means for detecting a driving condition including a temperature parameter of the internal combustion engine; first target phase angle setting means for setting a first target phase angle of the camshaft based on the driving condition detected by the driving condition detecting means; phase angle feedback control means for performing feedback control so that the real phase angle is coincident with the first target phase angle and calculating an amount of operation for the actuator; stopper pressing determination means for determining, based on a control parameter during the phase angle feedback control, whether or not the valve timing variable mechanism is pressed against a limiting position defined by the stopper; second target phase angle setting means for setting a second target phase angle on a reference rotational phase angle value side of the camshaft by a first predetermined value from the detected real phase angle value of the camshaft when the stopper pressing determination means determines that the valve timing variable mechanism is pressed against the limiting position defined by the stopper; and target phase angle switching means for switching the target phase angle during the phase angle feedback control from the first target phase angle to the second target phase angle when the stopper pressing determination means determines that the valve timing variable mechanism is pressed against the limiting position defined by the stopper.