Turbocharger arrangement having compressor wheels arranged in parallel and a method for operating a turbocharger arrangement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10060335-B2
Application number	US-201615208473-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 12, 2016
Priority date	Jul 13, 2015
Publication date	Aug 28, 2018
Grant date	Aug 28, 2018

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for a turbocharger of an engine. In one example, a method may include balancing a pressure differential between compressor wheels of the turbocharger.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a turbocharged engine having two compressor wheels arranged back-to-back along a common shaft,
where inlet ducts of the two compressor wheels comprise different geometries; and
a flow connecting duct fluidly coupling the inlet ducts of the two compressor wheels downstream of a bifurcation of an intake passage;
wherein a cross-section of the flow connecting duct is less than 20% of an average cross-section of the inlet ducts.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the cross-section of the flow connecting duct is 10% of the average cross-section of the inlet ducts.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the two compressor wheels comprise a shared outlet, and where the shared outlet is toroidal and wraps around a largest circumference of the two compressor wheels.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the flow connecting duct is routed exterior to the shared outlet with respective ends of the flow connecting duct being physically coupled to each of the inlet ducts.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the flow connecting duct is hollow and comprises outlets for fluidly coupling the inlet ducts, and where a first outlet of the flow connecting duct is within 100 millimeters of a first compressor wheel and a second outlet of the flow connecting duct is within 100 millimeters of a second compressor wheel.

6. A turbocharged internal combustion engine, comprising:
a turbocharger having at least two compressor wheels, which run on a common drive axle and discharge air in parallel into a common outlet duct,
wherein an inlet duct routed separately in at least one section ahead of the turbocharger is provided for each of the at least two compressor wheels,
wherein a flow connecting duct is provided between the inlet ducts, and
wherein the flow connecting duct is implemented by at least one opening, which is introduced into housing parts separating the inlet ducts from one another.

7. The turbocharged internal combustion engine of claim 6 , wherein the flow connecting duct opens into the respective inlet ducts within a threshold distance from the at least two compressor wheels.

8. The turbocharged internal combustion engine of claim 6 , wherein two compressor wheels are provided, which are arranged back-to-back.

9. The turbocharged internal combustion engine of claim 8 , wherein the flow connecting duct between the inlet ducts is routed around the common outlet duct extending toroidally around the at least two compressor wheels.

10. The turbocharged internal combustion engine of claim 9 , wherein a crankcase breather duct of the turbocharged internal combustion engine additionally opens into the flow connecting duct connecting the inlet ducts, with a result that crankcase vapors are discharged from a crankcase into the inlet ducts ahead of the turbocharger during operating conditions of the internal combustion engine when a pressure of the crankcase increases above a threshold pressure, the threshold pressure based on a greater pressure of either of the inlet ducts.

11. The turbocharged internal combustion engine of claim 6 , wherein the flow connecting duct between the inlet ducts has a cross-sectional area of no more than 20% of an average cross-sectional area of the inlet ducts.

12. The turbocharged internal combustion engine of claim 6 , wherein the flow connecting duct opens into the respective inlet duct in each case at a distance of no more than 100 mm from the at least two compressor wheels, respectively.

13. A method of operating a turbocharger in an internal combustion engine, comprising:
determining one or more engine operating parameters via one or more sensors;
during engine operation,
determining a first inlet flow duct pressure via an engine controller based on an indication from a first sensor located between a first compressor wheel of the turbocharger and an intersection between a first inlet flow duct and a flow connecting duct;
determining a second inlet flow duct pressure via the engine controller based on an indication from a second sensor located between a second compressor wheel of the turbocharger and an intersection between a second inlet flow duct and the flow connecting duct; and
partially compensating an inlet pressure difference between the first inlet flow duct pressure and the second inlet flow duct pressure by actuating a valve of the flow connecting duct to an open position via the engine controller;

wherein the first and second compressor wheels of the turbocharger run on a common drive axle and discharge air in parallel into a common outlet duct,
wherein the first and the second inlet flow ducts are routed separately in at least one section ahead of the turbocharger provided for each of the first and second compressor wheels; and
wherein the flow connecting duct fluidly couples a first inlet and a second inlet of the first and second inlet ducts, where the first inlet corresponds to the first compressor wheel and the second inlet corresponds to the second compressor wheel.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising flowing crankcase vapors into the flow connecting duct during engine operating conditions when a pressure of the crankcase is above a threshold pressure, the threshold pressure based on a greater pressure of either of the first inlet flow duct pressure or the second inlet flow duct pressure, wherein the first inlet flow duct extends in an axial direction and the second inlet flow duct extends in a radial direction, and where the flow connecting duct comprises outlets corresponding to the first and second inlet flow ducts located within 100 millimeters of the first compressor wheel and the second compressor wheel, respectively.

15. The method of claim 13 , further comprising maintaining the valve positioned in the flow connecting duct in the open position to obtain the first inlet flow duct pressure being equal to the second inlet flow duct pressure via the controller.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Kindl Helmut Matthias
• Smiljanovski Vanco
• Kemmerling Joerg
• Sommerhoff Franz Arnd
• Kuske Andreas

Classifications

• F05D2260/606

  Bypassing the fluid · CPC title

• F05D2260/60

  Fluid transfer · CPC title

• F05D2260/15

  Load balancing · CPC title

• F05D2220/40

  in turbochargers · CPC title

• F04D29/284

  for compressors · CPC title