A method of operating an internal combustion engine to provide correction of fuel injection times and indication of injector failure

摘要

Disclosed is a method of operating an internal combustion engine 110. The engine 110 comprises an engine block 120 defining a cylinder 125 having a piston 140 coupled to rotate a crankshaft 145 and a fuel injector 160 suitable to inject fuel inside the cylinder. The method comprises the steps of operating the injector to perform a pattern of test fuel injections and determining an actual value of a parameter indicative of a torque generated by each injection. If a difference between the actual value of the parameter indicative of a torque generated by the test fuel injection and a target value thereof exceeds a predefined threshold then the nominal energizing time is corrected. A cumulative correction for the energizing time for the injector is calculated as a sum of the energizing time correction values of each test fuel injection of the pattern and if the absolute value of the cumulative correction energizing time exceeds a predefined threshold value then a faulty condition of the injector is indicated.