Electronic fuel injection system and method for engines

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10725015-B2
Application number	US-201916404880-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 7, 2019
Priority date	Feb 25, 2016
Publication date	Jul 28, 2020
Grant date	Jul 28, 2020

Abstract

A system for tracking oil health of an engine includes an electronic fuel injection system which includes an electronic governor control unit. The electronic governor control unit is programmed to track engine parameters, calculate oil health based on the tracked engine parameters and on engine type, and display an indication of oil health.

First claim

We claim:

1. A system for tracking oil health for oil of an engine comprising:
an electronic fuel injection system of the engine, the electronic fuel injection system including an electronic governor control unit configured to:
track engine parameters and determine a plurality of factors based on the tracked engine parameters;
multiply the plurality of factors to determine a buffer value;
average the buffer value over a run session of the engine;
determine a number of starts per hour and multiply the number of starts per hour by the averaged buffer value to calculate oil health; and
display an indication of the oil health.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the engine parameters comprise engine rpm, engine load, an engine operating temperature, average engine run time, and a number of starts of the engine.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the engine comprises a liquid cooled engine or an air cooled engine.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the electronic governor control unit is configured to calculate the oil health based on the tracked engine parameters by calculating oil life used and subtracting the calculated oil life used from a stored oil life variable to determine a remaining oil life.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the stored oil life variable comprises a typical oil life span.

6. The system of claim 4 , wherein the electronic governor control unit is configured to display the remaining oil life.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the electronic governor control unit is configured to reset the calculated oil health when the oil is replaced with new oil.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the engine parameters comprise an oil temperature, a load factor, a speed factor, a cranking factor, an oil age factor, and a dirty environment factor.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the electronic governor control unit is configured to determine speed and load effects on oil life.

10. The system of claim 9 further comprising at least one sensor, wherein the electronic governor control unit is configured to determine the speed and load effects on the oil life using information received from the at least one sensor.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the at least one sensor comprises a wheel speed sensor and a manifold air pressure sensor.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of factors comprise a speed/load factor and a temperature factor.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the electronic governor control unit is configured to use a time of the run session to calculate the number of starts per hour.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the electronic governor control unit is configured to calculate an oil life factor using an exponential equation.

15. The system of claim 1 , wherein the electronic governor control unit is configured to multiply an overall session factor by a time of a run session of the engine to determine an oil-hours used time.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the electronic governor control unit is configured to continuously keep track of the oil-hours used time and when a total oil-hours used time reaches a calibrated oil-life hours displays the indication of the oil health.

17. A system for tracking oil health for oil of an engine comprising:
an electronic fuel injection system of the engine, the electronic fuel injection system including an electronic governor control unit configured to:
track engine parameters, based on engine type, wherein the engine parameters comprise a dirty environment factor comprising how dirty the environment is expected to be based on an application of the engine;
calculate oil health based on the tracked engine parameters; and
display an indication of the oil health.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the engine parameters further comprise an oil temperature.

19. The system of claim 17 , wherein the engine parameters further comprise a load factor.

20. The system of claim 17 , wherein the engine parameters further comprise a speed factor.

21. The system of claim 17 , wherein the engine parameters further comprise a cranking factor.

22. The system of claim 17 , wherein the engine parameters further comprise an oil age factor.

23. The system of claim 17 , wherein the engine type comprises a liquid cooled engine or an air cooled engine.

Assignees

• Kohler Co

Inventors

• Radue Martin L
• Kleczewski Michael

Classifications

• F02D2250/16

  End position calibration, i.e. calculation or measurement of actuator end positions, e.g. for throttle or its driving actuator · CPC title

• F02D2250/18

  Control of the engine output torque · CPC title

• F02D2009/0235

  Throttle control functions · CPC title

• F02D2009/022

  Throttle control function parameters · CPC title

• F02D41/2464 Primary

  Characteristics of actuators · CPC title