Engine synchronization system and control method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11313763-B2
Application number	US-201916685102-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 15, 2019
Priority date	Mar 6, 2019
Publication date	Apr 26, 2022
Grant date	Apr 26, 2022

Abstract

An engine synchronization method may include: detecting teeth numbers of crank teeth installed on a crankshaft based on a pulse signal generated from a crankshaft position sensor; calculating a tooth period between a falling edge and a next falling edge of the pulse signal generated from the crankshaft position sensor and detecting a missing tooth based on the calculated tooth period; determining whether the detected missing tooth is an actual missing tooth based on a tooth number detected at the time of detecting the missing tooth; and performing synchronization control of an engine when it is determined that the detected missing tooth is the actual missing tooth.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An engine synchronization method comprising:
detecting teeth numbers of crank teeth installed on a crankshaft based on a pulse signal generated from a crankshaft position sensor;
calculating a tooth period between a falling edge and a next falling edge of the pulse signal generated from the crankshaft position sensor and detecting a missing tooth based on the calculated tooth period;
determining whether the detected missing tooth is an actual missing tooth based on a tooth number detected at a time of detecting the missing tooth;
determining the detected missing tooth as the actual missing tooth based on the tooth period of the crankshaft when the tooth number assigned at the time of detecting the missing tooth is within a predetermined range from a tooth number of a crank tooth where the actual missing tooth is positioned; and
performing synchronization control of an engine when it is determined that the detected missing tooth is the actual missing tooth.

2. The engine synchronization method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting the teeth numbers of the crank teeth of the crankshaft until the engine is stopped using the crankshaft position sensor; and
storing a tooth number of a crank tooth, among the crank teeth, detected immediately before the engine is stopped, as a stop tooth number, in a memory,
wherein in detecting the teeth numbers of the crank teeth, a tooth number of a crank tooth, among the crank teeth, initially detected by the crankshaft position sensor right after the engine is restarted is set to a value which is calculated by adding 1 to the stop tooth number stored immediately before the engine is stopped, and
wherein a tooth number for each crank tooth detected subsequently is counted based on the set tooth number.

3. The engine synchronization method of claim 2 , further comprising determining whether the crankshaft rotates in a reverse direction,
wherein in detecting the tooth numbers of the crank teeth, a number of teeth numbers is subtracted, based on the pulse signal when the reverse rotation of the crankshaft rotates is detected, to count the teeth numbers for the crank teeth.

4. The engine synchronization method of claim 1 , wherein in detecting the missing tooth based on the calculated tooth period, when a current tooth period (T n ), an immediately preceding tooth period (T n-1 ), and a tooth period before last (T n-2 ) satisfy the following Equations (1) and (2), it is determined that the missing tooth exists in the immediately preceding tooth period (T n-1 ):
( T n-2 )×2<( T n-1 )  Equation (1); and

( T n-2 +T n )< T n-1 <( T n-2 +T n )×2.5  Equation (2).

5. The engine synchronization method of claim 1 , wherein in performing synchronization control of the engine, a crank angle is specified by comparing a position of the determined missing tooth with a position of a cam edge detected by a cam position sensor configured to detect an angle of a cam in intake and exhaust values, and the synchronization control of the engine is performed by controlling a fuel injection timing and an ignition timing in a vehicle based on the specified crank angle.

6. An engine synchronization system comprising:
a crankshaft signal processing unit configured to process crankshaft synchronization and detect a position of a crankshaft, based on a pulse signal detected from a crankshaft position sensor configured to detect crank teeth and a missing tooth installed on the crankshaft;
a cam signal processing unit configured to process cam synchronization and detect a position of a cam, based on a cam signal from a cam position sensor configured to detect an edge corresponding to an angle of rotation of each of intake and exhaust cams interlocked with a rotary shaft of an engine; and
an engine synchronization unit configured to synchronize the engine based on the crankshaft synchronization and the cam synchronization processed by the crankshaft signal processing unit and the cam signal processing unit,
wherein the crankshaft signal processing unit comprises:
a tooth period calculation unit configured to calculate a tooth period between a falling edge and a next falling edge of the pulse signal generated from the crankshaft position sensor;
a tooth number calculation unit configured to calculate teeth numbers of the crank teeth of the crankshaft; and
a crankshaft state determination unit configured to determine the missing tooth of the crankshaft by means of the tooth period calculation unit and the tooth number calculation unit,
wherein the crankshaft state determination unit is configured to:
detect the missing tooth based on the tooth period calculated by the tooth period calculation unit, and
determine the detected missing tooth as an actual missing tooth based on the tooth period of the crankshaft when a tooth number assigned at a time of detecting the missing tooth is within a predetermined range from a tooth number of a crank tooth where the actual missing tooth is positioned.

7. The engine synchronization system of claim 6 , wherein the tooth number calculation unit is configured to:
store a tooth number of a crank tooth, among the crank teeth, detected immediately before the engine is stopped, as a stop tooth number, in a memory provided in a vehicle,
set a tooth number of a crank tooth, among the crank teeth, initially detected by the crankshaft position sensor after the engine is restarted to a value which is calculated by adding 1 to the stop tooth number stored immediately before the engine is stopped, and
count a tooth number for each crank tooth detected subsequently based on the set tooth number.

8. The engine synchronization system of claim 6 , wherein the engine synchronization unit is configured to:
determine a crank angle by comparing the position of the determined missing tooth with a position of the cam edge determined through the cam synchronization, and
perform synchronization control of the engine by controlling a fuel injection timing and an ignition timing in the vehicle based on the determined crank angle.

9. The engine synchronization system of claim 6 , wherein:
the crankshaft signal processing unit comprises a reverse rotation determination unit configured to determine whether the crankshaft rotates in a reverse direction; and
the tooth number calculation unit subtracts a number of teeth numbers, based on the pulse signal when the reverse rotation of the crankshaft is detected by the reverse rotation determination unit, to count the teeth numbers for the crank teeth.

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Kia Motors Corp

Inventors

• Kwon Hyeok-Jun
• Oh Chang-Jin
• Lim Chang-Hyun
• Han Jung-Suk

Classifications

• F02D2250/06

  Reverse rotation of engine · CPC title

• F02D41/009 Primary

  using means for generating position or synchronisation signals · CPC title

• F02P7/067

  Electromagnetic pick-up devices {, e.g. providing induced current in a coil} · CPC title

• F02D43/00

  Conjoint electrical control of two or more functions, e.g. ignition, fuel-air mixture, recirculation, supercharging or exhaust-gas treatment · CPC title

• F02D2041/0092

  Synchronisation of the cylinders at engine start · CPC title