Fuel pump pressure control structure and methodology

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10968857-B2
Application number	US-201716344764-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 24, 2017
Priority date	Oct 24, 2016
Publication date	Apr 6, 2021
Grant date	Apr 6, 2021

Abstract

A method and system is provided of controlling a pump having a pumping element configured to provide pressurized fuel to a common rail accumulator coupled to a plurality of fuel injectors configured to inject fuel into a corresponding plurality of cylinders of an engine, comprising: receiving rail pressure values indicating a current fuel pressure in the accumulator; and responding to the received at least one rail pressure value by controlling operation of the pumping element during each potential pumping event of the pumping element to generate actual pumping events during at least some of the potential pumping events to cause the rail pressure values to remain within a desired range and to at least one of increase an overall efficiency of the pump, decrease audible noise generated by the pump, increase reliability of the pump and reduce injection pressure variations at the plurality of fuel injectors.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method of controlling a pump having a plurality of pumping elements including a first pumping element and a second pumping element configured to provide pressurized fuel to a common rail accumulator coupled to a plurality of fuel injectors configured to inject fuel into a corresponding plurality of cylinders of an engine, comprising:
receiving at least one rail pressure value indicating a current fuel pressure in the accumulator; and
responding to a received at least one rail pressure value by controlling operation of the plurality of pumping elements during each potential pumping event of the plurality of pumping elements to generate actual pumping events during at least some of the potential pumping events to cause the at least one rail pressure value to remain within a desired range or achieve a desired pressure value;
wherein each of the potential pumping events of the first pumping element is concurrent with an injection event of the plurality of fuel injectors and each of the potential pumping events of the second pumping element is not concurrent with an injection event of the plurality of fuel injectors.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first pumping element and the second pumping element are components of a single pump.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first and second pumping elements are each configured to have one of a 1×, 1.5× or 2× ratio of potential pumping events to injection events by the plurality of fuel injectors.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein responding to the received at least one rail pressure value by controlling operation of the plurality of pumping elements comprises generating actual pumping events of either 100% fuel delivery or 0% fuel delivery during each of the potential pumping events to increase the overall efficiency of the pump.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein responding to the received at least one rail pressure value by controlling operation of the plurality of pumping elements comprises generating actual pumping events of either 100% fuel delivery or 0% fuel delivery during each of the potential pumping events of the first pumping element and generating actual pumping events of 0% fuel delivery during all of the potential pumping events of the second pumping element, thereby decreasing audible noise generated by the pump or engine.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein responding to the received at least one rail pressure value by controlling operation of the plurality of pumping elements comprises generating actual pumping events of greater than 0% but less than 100% fuel delivery during each of the potential pumping events of the first pumping element and generating actual pumping events of 0% fuel delivery during each of the potential pumping events of the second pumping element, thereby decreasing audible noise generated by the pump or engine.

7. The method of claim 2 , wherein responding to the received at least one rail pressure value by controlling operation of the plurality of pumping elements comprises generating actual pumping events of 100% fuel delivery during each of the potential pumping events of the first pumping element and generating actual pumping events of either 100% fuel delivery or 0% fuel delivery during the potential pumping events of the second pumping element, thereby increasing the overall efficiency of the pump and decreasing audible noise of the pump or engine.

8. The method of claim 2 , wherein responding to the received at least one rail pressure value by controlling operation of the plurality of pumping elements comprises generating actual pumping events of 100% fuel delivery during each of the potential pumping events of the first pumping element and generating actual pumping events of greater than 0% but less than 100% fuel delivery during each of the potential pumping events of the second pumping element.

9. The method of claim 2 , wherein responding to the received at least one rail pressure value by controlling operation of the plurality of pumping elements comprises generating actual pumping events to deliver an amount of fuel that is greater than an undesirable fuel delivery percentage during half of the potential pumping events of the first pumping element, generating actual pumping events to deliver an amount of fuel that is less than the undesirable fuel delivery percentage during another half of the potential pumping events of the first pumping element and generating actual pumping events of 0% fuel delivery during each of the potential pumping events of the second pumping element, thereby improving the reliability of the pump.

10. The method of claim 2 , wherein responding to the received at least one rail pressure value by controlling operation of the plurality of pumping elements comprises generating actual pumping events to deliver either 0% fuel delivery or an amount of fuel that is greater than an undesirable fuel delivery percentage during each of the potential pumping events of the first pumping element and during each of the potential pumping events of the second pumping element.

11. The method of claim 2 , wherein responding to the received at least one rail pressure value by controlling operation of the plurality of pumping elements comprises generating actual pumping events to deliver either 0% fuel delivery or an amount of fuel that is greater than an undesirable fuel delivery percentage during each of the potential pumping events of the first pumping element and generating actual pumping events of 0% fuel delivery during each of the potential pumping events of the second pumping element.

12. The method of claim 2 , wherein responding to the received at least one rail pressure value by controlling operation of the plurality of pumping elements comprises generating actual pumping events of 100% fuel delivery during each of the potential pumping events of one of the first and second pumping elements and generating actual pumping events of greater than 0% but less than 100% fuel delivery during each of the potential pumping events of another of the first and second pumping elements.

13. The method of claim 2 , wherein responding to the received at least one rail pressure value by controlling operation of the plurality of pumping elements comprises generating actual pumping events to deliver an amount of fuel that is greater than an undesirable fuel delivery percentage during each of the potential pumping events of one of the first and second pumping elements and generating actual pumping events to deliver an amount of fuel that is less than the undesirable fuel delivery percentage during each of the potential pumping events of another of the first and second pumping elements, thereby improving the reliability of the pump.

14. The method of claim 2 , wherein responding to the received at least one rail pressure value by controlling operation of the plurality of pumping elements comprises generating actual pumping events of either 100% fuel delivery or 0% fuel delivery during each of the potential pumping events of one of the first and second pumping elements and generating actual pumping events of 0% fuel delivery during each of the potential pumping events of another of the first and second pumping elements.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the actual pumping events of 100% fuel delivery are during potential pumping events of the first pumping element, thereby decreasing audible noise of the pump or engine.

16. The method of claim 2 , wherein responding to the received at least one rail pressure value by controlling operation of the plurality of pumping elements comprises generating actual pum

Assignees

• Cummins Inc

Inventors

• Benson Donald J
• Peavler Paul

Classifications

• F02D2200/0602

  Fuel pressure · CPC title

• F02M59/02 Primary

  of reciprocating-piston {or reciprocating-cylinder} type · CPC title

• F02M59/08

  characterised by two or more pumping elements with conjoint outlet {or several pumping elements feeding one engine cylinder (feeding common rails F02M63/0225)} · CPC title

• F02D41/3845

  by controlling the flow into the common rail, e.g. the amount of fuel pumped · CPC title

• F02D2250/04

  Fuel pressure pulsation in common rails · CPC title