System and method for estimating and controlling temperature of engine component

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9297330-B2
Application number	US-201414482774-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 10, 2014
Priority date	Sep 5, 2013
Publication date	Mar 29, 2016
Grant date	Mar 29, 2016

Abstract

An engine system is provided. The engine system includes an ambient condition module configured to generate a signal indicative of a state of ambient air. The engine system also includes an operational parameter sensor configured to generate a signal indicative of one or more operational parameters associated with the engine. The engine system further includes a controller communicably coupled to the ambient condition module and the operational parameter sensor. The controller is configured to receive the signal indicative of the pressure of ambient air and the signal indicative of the one or more operational parameters associated with the engine. The controller estimates the temperature of at least one of a valve, a piston, a liner, a cylinder head, and a pre-chamber of the engine as a function of the received signals and parameters associated with fuel delivery to the engine.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An engine system comprising:
an ambient condition module configured to generate a signal indicative of a state of ambient air during an operation of an engine;
an operational parameter sensor configured to generate a signal indicative of one or more operational parameters associated with the engine, the one or more operational parameters including a temperature of an intake manifold of the engine; and
a controller operably coupled to the ambient condition module and the operational parameter sensor, the controller configured to:
receive the signal indicative of the state of ambient air;
receive the signal indicative of the one or more operational parameters associated with the engine;
estimate a temperature of at least one of a valve, a piston, a liner, a cylinder head, and a pre-chamber of the engine as a function of the received signals and parameters associated with fuel delivery to the engine; and
derate the engine maximum power rating when the estimated temperature of at least one of the valve, the piston, the liner, the cylinder head, and the pre-chamber exceeds a respective predetermined threshold.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the parameters include a fuel rate, a fuel injection timing, and a fuel injection schedule.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the fuel rate is derived from a load demand associated with the engine.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more operational parameters includes a speed of the engine.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the valve is at least one of an intake valve and an exhaust valve of the engine.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to correlate the received signals with a pre-calibrated map for estimating the temperature of at least one of the valve, the piston, the liner, the cylinder head, and the pre-chamber of the engine.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to compute the temperature of at least one of the valve, the piston, the liner, the cylinder head, and the pre-chamber of the engine as the function of the received signals and the parameters associated with fuel delivery.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to monitor the temperature of at least one of the valve, the piston, the liner, the cylinder head, and the pre-chamber over a predetermined time period for estimating the respective temperature of the valve, the piston, the liner, the cylinder head, and the pre-chamber.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the system is employed on a machine.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the state of ambient air is a pressure of ambient air.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the state of ambient air is a density of ambient air.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the state of ambient air is a temperature of ambient air.

13. A method for determining a temperature of a component of an engine, the method comprising:
receiving a signal indicative of a pressure of ambient air, the pressure determined, at least in part, in response to a first ambient air pressure signal from a first ambient air pressure sensor, and a second ambient air pressure signal from a second ambient air pressure sensor;
receiving a signal indicative of one or more operational parameters associated with the engine;
estimating a temperature of at least one of a valve, a piston, a liner, a cylinder head, and a pre-chamber of the engine as a function of the received signals and parameters associated with fuel delivery in a single fuel cycle of the engine; and
derating a maximum power rating of the engine when the estimated temperature exceeds a predetermined threshold temperature.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the one or more operational parameters includes at least one of a fuel rate, a fuel injection timing, and a fuel injection schedule.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising deriving the fuel rate from a load demand of the engine.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the one or more operational parameters associated with the engine includes a speed of the engine and a temperature of an intake manifold of the engine.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein the estimating step further comprises correlating the received signals with a pre-calibrated map.

18. The method of claim 13 , wherein the estimating step further comprises computing the temperature of at least one of the valve, the piston, the liner, the cylinder head, and the pre-chamber of the engine as the function of the received signals and the parameters associated with fuel delivery.

19. The method of claim 13 , wherein the estimating of the temperature of the at least one of the valve, the piston, the liner, the cylinder head, and the pre-chamber includes monitoring the respective temperature of the at least one of the valve, the piston, the liner, the cylinder head, and the pre-chamber over a time period.

20. The engine system of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined threshold is determined, at least in part, as a function of the thermal properties of materials of the respective at least one of the valve, the piston, the liner, the cylinder head, and the pre-chamber.

Assignees

• Caterpillar Inc

Inventors

• Svensson Kenth
• Hergart Carl
• Koci Chad
• Rasmussen Jason J

Classifications

• F02D2200/022

  Estimation of engine temperature · CPC title

• F02D35/026

  using an estimation · CPC title

• F02D2200/703

  Atmospheric pressure · CPC title

• F02D2200/701

  Information about vehicle position, e.g. from navigation system or GPS signal · CPC title

• F02D2200/0406

  Intake manifold pressure · CPC title