Systems and methods for warming up an engine with an electric boost device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10465575-B2
Application number	US-201715816391-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 17, 2017
Priority date	Nov 17, 2017
Publication date	Nov 5, 2019
Grant date	Nov 5, 2019

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for warming an engine and/or engine fluids. In one example, a method may comprise powering on an electric motor of an intake boost device to generate heat, circulating coolant and/or engine oil through the boost device to absorb the heat produced by the boost device, and then flowing the coolant and/or engine oil to the engine to transfer the heat absorbed from the boost device to the engine. In this way, an engine may be warmed without running the engine rich by using the heat generated by the electric motor of the boost device to warm the engine.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for a hybrid engine system comprising:
powering on an electric motor of an intake boost device to generate heat; absorbing heat from one or more of the boost device and air compressed by the boost device via one or more of circulated coolant and circulated engine oil; after absorbing the heat, transferring the absorbed heat to an engine by flowing one or more of the circulated coolant and circulated engine oil to the engine; and responsive to a decrease in operator demanded torque: maintaining power to the electric motor, maintaining a boost device bypass valve closed, and deactivating one or more engine cylinders, closing a boost device waste-gate valve, and opening an intake throttle valve of the engine.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the absorbing heat from one or more of the boost device and air compressed by the boost device comprises flowing one or more of the circulated coolant and circulated engine oil through the boost device by powering one or more of a coolant pump and an engine oil pump.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the absorbing heat from one or more of the boost device and air compressed by the boost device comprises flowing one or more of the circulated coolant and the circulated engine oil through a conduit that is in direct thermal contact with one or more of an outlet of the boost device and an intake conduit proximate the outlet of the boost device.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising, prior to an engine start, opening a compressor recirculation valve (CRV) or electric supercharger bypass valve (ESBV) while powering on the electric motor of the boost device.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising, when the engine is running, closing a CRV or ESBV in addition to the powering on the electric motor, absorbing heat, and transferring the absorbed heat to the engine.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising, when the engine is running and a desired torque output is less than a threshold, in addition to the closing the CRV or ESBV, powering on the electric motor, absorbing heat, and transferring the absorbed heat to the engine: fully opening an intake throttle valve; fully closing a turbocharger waste-gate valve; and adjusting at least one engine operating parameter to limit an amount of torque output by the engine.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the adjusting at least one engine operating parameter comprises deactivating one or more cylinders of the engine by shutting off fuel to the one or more cylinders.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising, when the engine is running and the desired torque output is greater than or equal to the threshold, reactivating the one or more engine cylinders that are deactivated.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the boost device comprises a supercharger that is at least partially driven by the electric motor.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the boost device comprises an electrically-assisted turbocharger that is coupled to the electric motor for receiving power therefrom.

11. A method for a hybrid engine system comprising: circulating one or more of coolant and engine oil through a boost device and an engine via one or more of a coolant pump and an engine oil pump, respectively, when a temperature of the engine is less than a desired temperature; and additionally prior to an engine start: powering on a motor of the boost device; and opening a compressor bypass valve (CBV); and when the engine is running: maintaining full-power operation of the motor; closing the CBV; and adjusting one or more engine operating parameters to limit torque output to a desired torque output level; and responsive to a decrease in operator demanded torque: maintaining power to the motor, maintaining the CBV closed, and deactivating one or more engine cylinders, closing a boost device waste-gate valve, and opening an intake throttle valve of the engine.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the maintaining full-power operation of the motor; closing the CBV; and adjusting one or more engine operating parameters to limit torque output to the desired torque output level when the engine is running are performed responsive to a decrease in operator torque demand.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the decrease in operator torque demand comprises an operator pedal tip-out.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising one or more of: fully opening an intake throttle valve, fully closing a turbocharger waste-gate valve, and fully closing a turbocharger bypass valve responsive to the decrease in operator torque demand.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the adjusting the one or more engine operating parameters to limit torque output to the desired torque output level comprises deactivating one or more fuel injectors of one or more engine cylinders of the engine, and wherein the method further comprises reactivating the one or more fuel injectors responsive to an increase in operator torque demand.

16. The method of claim 11 further comprising, in addition to circulating one or more of coolant and engine oil through the boost device and the engine when the temperature of the engine is less than the desired temperature, powering off one or more of a radiator fan and a cabin heater fan when the temperature of the engine is less than the desired temperature by more than a threshold amount.

17. The method of claim 11 further comprising, in addition to circulating one or more of coolant and engine oil through the boost device and the engine when the temperature of the engine is less than the desired temperature, circulating one or more of the coolant and engine oil directly back to one or more of the coolant pump and engine oil pump without circulating the one or more of the coolant and engine oil through a radiator and a cabin heater when the temperature of the engine is less than desired by more than a threshold amount.

18. The method of claim 11 further comprising, when the temperature of the engine is not less than the desired temperature, circulating one or more of coolant and engine oil around the boost device and not circulating one or more of the coolant and engine oil through the boost device when a temperature of the boost device is less than a threshold.

19. An engine system comprising: an oil pump; a coolant pump; an engine block fluidically coupled to one or more of the coolant pump and the oil pump, the engine block comprising one or more engine cylinders; an intake boost device at least partially driven by an electric motor and fluidically coupled to an engine and one or more of the coolant pump and the oil pump; a boost device bypass valve that enables airflow around the intake boost device in an open position; and a controller with computer readable instructions stored in non-transitory memory of the controller for: powering the electric motor of the intake boost device to generate heat; powering one or more of the coolant pump and the oil pump to circulate one or more of coolant and engine oil through the intake boost device and the engine; opening the boost device bypass valve when the engine is off; closing the boost device bypass valve when the engine is running; and deactivating the one or more engine cylinders, closing a turbocharger waste-gate valve, and opening an intake throttle valve of the engine system responsive to a decrease in operator demanded torque while maintaining power to the electric motor and maintaining the boost device bypass valve closed.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Kelly Tyler
• Xiao Baitao
• Bell David
• Buckland Julia Helen
• Stolzenfeld Timothy
• Mcconville Gregory Patrick

Classifications

• F02B39/10 Primary

  electric · CPC title

• F01M5/021 Primary

  by heating · CPC title

• F01M1/18

  Indicating or safety devices (concerning lubricant level F01M11/06, F01M11/12) · CPC title

• F01P3/20

  Cooling circuits not specific to a single part of engine or machine (F01P3/22 takes precedence) · CPC title

• F01P2060/12

  Turbo charger · CPC title