Skip fire fuel injection system and method

摘要

A system is disclosed for controlling fuel injectors in an internal combustion engine having a plurality of individual engine cylinders with associated pistons. The system includes at least one electronic engine control module configured to control the fuel injectors and having a memory with predetermined injector firing patterns stored therein. The firing patterns specify the fuel injectors to be fired and the fuel injectors to be skipped, in an engine cycle under conditions of reduced power demand. For each engine cycle in a succession of cycles under the reduced power demand condition, the engine control module determines the number of fuel injectors to be fired based upon the reduced power demand data, selects from the stored predetermined firing patterns a firing pattern specifying the injectors to be fired and the injectors to be skipped, and orders the specified fuel injectors to be fired sequentially in accordance with the selected predetermined firing pattern.

主权项

1. A system for controlling fuel injectors in an internal combustion engine, the engine having a plurality of individual engine cylinders with associated pistons, the pistons being operatively interconnected to a crankshaft, and the cylinders further including a plurality of respective fuel injectors, the system comprising:
at least one electronic engine control module configured to control the fuel injectors, the engine control module having a central processing unit and an associated memory; one or more predetermined injector firing patterns stored in said engine control module memory, the firing patterns relating to a number of fuel injectors to be fired, and specifying the fuel injectors to be fired and the fuel injectors to be skipped, in an engine cycle under conditions of reduced power demand relative to a predetermined full power demand; wherein the engine control module is configured to be responsive to data indicative of a reduced power demand condition during engine operation; wherein for each engine cycle in a succession of cycles under the reduced power demand condition, the engine control module is programmed to
(i) determine the number of fuel injectors to be fired based upon the reduced power demand data,(ii) based on the number of injectors to be fired, select from the stored predetermined firing patterns a firing pattern specifying the injectors to be fired and the injectors to be skipped in a given engine cycle, wherein the selected predetermined firing pattern is different from that for an immediately previous engine cycle, and(iii) order the specified fuel injectors to be fired sequentially in accordance with the selected predetermined pattern.