Information
-
Patent Grant
-
6830201
-
Patent Number
6,830,201
-
Date Filed
Thursday, December 26, 200221 years ago
-
Date Issued
Tuesday, December 14, 200419 years ago
-
Inventors
-
Original Assignees
-
Examiners
Agents
-
CPC
-
US Classifications
Field of Search
US
- 239 5332
- 239 5333
- 239 5339
- 251 12915
- 251 12921
- 251 27
-
International Classifications
- F02M4702
- F02M3900
- B05B130
-
Abstract
A fuel injector assembly comprising an engine camshaft driven piston plunger in a plunger body, a control valve, an electromagnetic actuator for stroking the control valve between limiting positions and a valve stop assembly establishing a first limiting valve stroke position when the control valve is fully open and a second valve stroke position corresponding to a reduced fuel delivery pressure prior to a main fuel pressure pulse in a fuel injection event.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to current controlled rate shaping for a unit pump fuel injector system (UPS) or a unit fuel injector system (UIS) for an internal combustion engine.
2. Background Art
Unit pump or unit injector fuel systems for internal combustion engines, particularly diesel engines, are designed to control fuel injection quantity and injection timing. By choosing an engine valve cam profile and a nozzle design, the parameters of a typical triangular fuel injection pressure time trace can be influenced to match the needs of the combustion process of a specific engine design. As national and international emission standards become increasingly stringent, deviations from an ideal fuel injecting process become less tolerable.
It has been demonstrated that it is advantageous with some engine designs to avoid raising the injection pressure for a period following initiation of the injection event, or to raise it at a lower rate, before resorting again during the injection event to a typical triangular fuel injection pressure time trace shape with a higher rate of increase of injection pressure. Fuel injection rate shaping in this fashion is an effective technique for reducing levels of particulates and oxides of nitrogen in the engine exhaust and for reducing engine noise.
In order to achieve added injection rate shaping functions, an additional stop for the control valve between a fully open position and a fully closed position of the control valve has been used, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,276,610, to allow for a controlled leakage of pressurized fuel through the control valve.
Unit pump and unit injector high pressure fuel injection systems of known construction comprise a pump body with a pump plunger driven by a valve camshaft for an internal combustion engine. The pump body and the plunger define a high pressure fuel pumping chamber that is in fluid communication with injection nozzles. A control valve, which is situated in a hydraulic circuit between the high pressure pumping chamber and the nozzle, is stroked by an electromagnetic actuator between an open position and a closed position. The stroke range includes a fully open position, a fully closed position and a rate shape position close to the fully closed position of the control valve.
The control valve position during a fuel injection event is controlled by an electronic engine control module and an electromagnetic actuator for stroking the control valve. The module responds to engine operating variables. The module includes an electronic processor with software that defines a calibrated time period for the injection event and the time period between injection events. The time period for a given injection event is characterized by an intermediate or modified pressure in a time plot of the fuel pressure at the nozzle. The intermediate pressure precedes a main injection pressure pulse.
The control valve normally is stroked to a fully open position by a valve spring. When the actuator is energized, the control valve strokes towards a closed position against the opposing force of the control valve spring. A control valve stop comprising a spring loaded piston engages an adjacent end of the control valve. The stop also comprises a secondary stop shoulder that is in engagement with the valve when the valve is fully open. A spring in the control valve stop reduces the net force of the control valve spring. The spring rate of the control valve stop spring is less than the spring rate of the control valve spring. When the piston in the control valve stop hits a piston stop shoulder, typically after 120 μm of stroke, a higher force is needed to pull the control valve to its fully closed position because the control valve stop spring does not oppose the control valve spring. That is due to a lack of contact between the control valve and the control valve stop piston during the final control valve travel of 30 μm.
The actuator has an armature connected to the control valve. The control valve is urged towards the closed position against the force of the control valve spring when the actuator stator is energized.
In a typical embodiment, the stroke of the valve between a so-called rate shape position and the closed position may be about 30 microns. The full stroke of the control valve between the fully opened position and the closed position may be about 150 microns. Active rate shaping occurs when the valve is in contact with the stop piston, thereby causing a net reduction of the spring force acting on the valve body. The pressure gradient at that time is reduced because of the controlled leakage of fluid past the control valve seat.
It is possible that the control valve and the control valve stop, during assembly of the injector, may have their centerlines misaligned or skewed. This has a potential for changing the effect of the stroking of the stop piston because the valve may engage the secondary stop shoulder before the stop piston is fully displaced against the force of the stop piston spring. Any deviations in the alignment of the valve with respect to the stop piston can have an undesirable influence on injection rate shaping during the injection event with a resulting deterioration of engine emission quality.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The assembly of the control valve and the control valve stop of the invention is designed to compensate for any misalignment or lack of concentricity of the control valve with respect to the stop piston. The stop piston is in engagement with the control valve regardless of any misalignment or lack of concentricity due to manufacturing tolerances. Because such tolerances will not affect the rate shaping characteristics of the injection event, it is possible to assemble the control valve stop in a pre-assembly procedure during manufacture of the unit pump or unit injector. In a high-volume manufacturing operation, provision is made, furthermore, to reduce the number of potential fluid leakage paths through which fluid could leak into engine oil due to a damaged seal ring, for example.
According to a further feature of the invention, the need for precisely calibrating the control valve and control valve stop assembly is eliminated by providing calibrated shims for establishing controlled strokes of the stop piston and the control valve. Assembly of the shims can take place in a pre-assembly procedure for the control valve stop.
The unit pump or unit injector of the invention includes a pump body with a cylindrical pumping chamber defined in part by an engine camshaft-driven plunger. A fuel inlet passage and a fuel delivery passage communicate with a movable control valve.
The control valve has a land that engages a valve seat in the pump body. A spill flow path from the fuel delivery passage to a fuel return passage is established when the control valve is stroked toward its open position. A control valve spring strokes the control valve toward its open position and an electromagnetic actuator strokes the control valve toward its closed position.
The stop adjacent one end of the control valve defines a first stop position of the valve to limit total valve travel. A second stop position is defined by the spring-loaded stop piston, which is in engagement with the control valve when the control valve is stroked to an intermediate position as the rate of pressure increase in the fuel delivery passage is reduced. Misalignment of the control valve stop piston relative to the control valve is accommodated when the control valve engages the stop piston.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1
is a cross-sectional view of a fuel injector pump and injector nozzle assembly capable of embodying the invention;
FIG. 1
a
is an enlarged, cross-sectional view of the control valve of the assembly of
FIG. 1
;
FIG. 2
is a cross-sectional view of a conventional adjustable stop assembly for use with a control valve for a unit injector system (UIS) or unit pump system (UPS);
FIG. 3
is an adjustable stop assembly embodying characteristics of the present invention;
FIG. 4
is an alternative construction, corresponding to the construction of
FIG. 3
, embodying characteristics of the present invention;
FIGS. 5
a
and
5
b
are schematic diagrams showing the manner in which the control valve cooperates with a stop assembly,
FIG. 5
showing a conventional stop assembly and
FIG. 5
b
showing, for purposes of comparison, the stop assembly of the invention; and
FIG. 6
is a time plot for solenoid current, valve stroke, injection pressure and nozzle needle motion for a unit pump system of the kind shown in
FIGS. 1 and 1
a.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
FIG. 1
shows an assembly of a known unit pump system. The invention will be described with reference to this unit pump system, but the invention can be used as well in a unit injector system.
The assembly of
FIG. 1
includes a pump body
10
having a coaxially disposed cylindrical opening
12
in which a pump plunger
14
is fitted. The opening
12
and the plunger
14
cooperate to define a pumping chamber
16
. The plunger
14
reciprocates over a stroke range within the cylindrical opening
12
. A plunger spring
18
is seated on a spring seat
20
carried by the plunger
14
. A spring guide sleeve
22
surrounds the spring
18
and the spring seat
20
.
A cam follower
24
is carried by the sleeve
22
and is driven by an engine camshaft at one-half engine speed, thereby causing the plunger
14
to reciprocate in the cylindrical opening
12
. Fuel from a low-pressure fuel pump (not shown) is delivered to annular cavity
26
, which acts as a fuel inlet port. Fuel passes through inlet passage
28
to a spring cavity
30
formed in the upper portion of the pump body
10
. A control valve spring
32
adjacent an actuator plate
34
is seated on a spring seat
35
, which acts on a poppet control valve
36
. The poppet control valve
36
is mounted within a valve chamber
38
. Poppet control valve
36
includes radial ports
40
to allow for a pressure balance while the control valve is moving.
When the control valve
36
is in its normally open position, a valve land
44
is disengaged from valve seat
46
, thereby permitting fluid to pass from the central opening
42
into fuel delivery passage
48
, which extends to the pumping chamber
16
. Passage
48
also extends through a fitting
50
and through a fuel passageway
52
to an injector nozzle holder assembly
54
. When the control valve
36
is in the open position, fluid is distributed also to stop cavity
56
formed in the pump body
10
. A fluid spill passage
58
extends from the chamber
56
to an annular space
60
in the pump body, which serves as an outlet port. This port communicates with flow return passage
62
, which leads to the inlet side of the fuel pump. Any fluid leakage past the plunger
14
during the pumping stroke can drain back into the outlet port through passage
64
.
During the retracting stroke of the plunger, fuel from the inlet port
26
is drawn through passage
28
, control valve spring cavity
30
, armature cavity
57
, cross-over passage
66
, stop cavity
56
, across the open valve seat
46
into passage
48
and finally into plunger cavity
16
.
During stroking of the plunger, fuel leaks through the open valve seat
46
into stop cavity
56
. From there it flows through passage
58
and leaves the pump through the outlet port
60
.
When the control valve is urged towards a closed position by energizing the electromagnetic actuator
70
, injection pressure is built up and injection begins as soon as the pressure is high enough to overcome the force of spring
76
of the nozzle holder assembly
54
, which biases the nozzle needle valve
72
towards a closed position.
Valve
36
is connected to an armature
68
for the electromagnetic actuator
70
. When the actuator
70
is energized, the armature
68
is pulled towards the electromagnetic actuator
70
, thereby closing the control valve
36
as valve land
44
engages valve seat
46
. When the control valve is closed and the plunger
14
is driven in an upward direction by the camshaft follower
24
, as shown in
FIG. 1
, a high injection pressure is developed in pumping chamber
16
and delivered to the nozzle holder assembly
54
, which includes a needle valve housing
80
with injection orifices
78
. Injection pressure acts on differential area
74
to lift needle valve
72
against the force of spring
76
.
When the electromagnetic actuator is not energized, the control valve spring
32
pushes the control valve
36
towards its open position. This spring force is opposed by the spring force of the CCRS stop spring
82
. The spring
32
has a higher spring rate than the spring
82
. Thus, when the actuator
70
is deactivated, the force of spring
32
will overcome the force of spring
82
, thereby shifting the valve
36
to its open position.
The unit pump system of
FIGS. 1 and 1
a
has features that are common to the unit pump system described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,158,419. Reference may be made to that patent for the purpose of supplementing the present disclosure. The disclosure of the '419 patent is incorporated by reference in its entirety in the present disclosure. The '419 patent is assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
FIG. 2
shows a valve stop assembly of the kind used in the known construction disclosed in the '419 patent. It comprises a control valve stop body
84
, which is received in a stop cavity corresponding to stop cavity
56
in
FIG. 1
a
. A shoulder
86
is formed on the valve stop body
84
, thereby limiting the extent to which the stop body extends into the pump body. The upper surface
88
of the valve stop body
84
is engaged by the valve seat end of the control valve. The control valve engages the stop surface
88
when the valve is fully open.
The valve stop body
84
has a cylindrical opening that receives a control valve stop piston
90
. A stop spring
92
, which is seated on a cap seal
94
, moves the stop piston
90
in an upward direction, as viewed in
FIG. 2. A
shoulder
96
formed in the stop body
84
is engaged by a stop flange
98
on the piston
90
. When the stop shoulder
96
is engaged by the flange
98
, the upper end surface
100
of the piston
90
extends outwardly through end opening
102
of the stop body. When the piston
90
is positioned as shown in
FIG. 2
, the surface
100
is displaced from the surface
88
by a calibrated distance, which may be 120 microns in a typical injector environment.
When the control valve
36
is shifted to its fully closed position, a gap exists between the surface
100
and the end of the valve. When the control valve
36
is in its fully open position, the end of the valve will engage surface
100
and will compress stop spring
92
until the end of the valve engages surface
88
of the stop assembly. The total stroke of the control valve, as it moves from the fully open position to the fully closed position, may be about 150 microns. As the valve is shifted by the actuator to its closed position, the final travel of the control valve, which may be 30 microns, for example, would not be influenced by the stop piston
90
since the stop spring
92
is not active during the final travel of the valve over the last 30 micron interval towards the closed position. A higher current then is needed in the actuator as the valve
36
is closed. The engine control unit, not shown, will provide increased amperage to the actuator to effect closing movement of the valve. This results in a rise in the injection pressure.
FIG. 6
shows a time plot of the current trace, the control valve motion trace, the typical injection pressure trace previously mentioned (shown partly by a dotted line) and the nozzle needle motion trace. The current is zero at location
104
. A so-called pull-in current is applied until it is detected that the control valve
36
hits the valve seat
46
. The current is reduced to an intermediate level, as shown at
108
, at an early instant in the injection event. The magnetic force generated by this current is not then high enough to seat the control valve
36
against the valve seat
46
. The control valve
36
therefore will move to the intermediate position, which may be about 30 μm from the entirely closed position. Due to the wanted leak, the injection pressure stays constant at that instant or rises at a slower rate. This is indicated in
FIG. 6
at
110
in the time plot of the injection pressure.
Following the current plot at
108
, the current is rapidly increased again, as shown at
112
. The pressure is ramped upward as a result of the ramping of the current from the level at
108
to the level at
112
, thereby effecting the higher injection pressure at
114
. The current is interrupted at
116
, which results in a rapid decline in the pressure, as shown at
118
.
The current is controlled, as shown in
FIG. 6
, in response to commands of an electronic engine control module (not shown) that monitors engine operating variables. The control module includes a processor with stored control algorithms to effect current control, which results in a pressure time plot of the kind shown in FIG.
6
. This control technique thus is known as “current controlled rate shaping (CCRS).”
The stroking of the valve is demonstrated by the time plot for the valve, as indicated at
120
. A corresponding needle lift plot is shown at
122
in
FIG. 6
for the injector nozzle holder assembly
54
.
The point at which engagement of the stop piston
90
with the stop shoulder
96
is interrupted is indicated in the current plot at
124
. As explained previously, this is followed by an increase in the current, which results in a corresponding ramping of the pressure, as shown at
114
. The stop spring has no effect at that time on the characteristics of the injection event.
When the valve is stroking through the intermediate pressure portion of the time plot of
FIG. 6
, the stop piston
90
is in engagement with the end of the control valve. Thus, the effective spring force acting on the valve is the algebraic sum of the two spring forces, one of which opposes the other. As previously indicated, the valve stroke during this portion of the injection event may be about 120 microns.
FIG. 5
a
illustrates schematically a condition that may arise during manufacture and assembly of a unit pump injection system or a unit injector system when a control valve stop piston and a valve stop body of the kind shown in
FIG. 2
is used. It is possible that manufacturing tolerances may result in a misalignment α of the axis
90
a
of the stop piston
90
relative to the axis
36
a
of the valve
36
. This misalignment, for example, may be about 0.5°, but the misalignment α illustrated schematically in
FIGS. 5
a
and
5
b
is exaggerated for purposes of illustration.
It is seen in the diagram of
FIG. 5
a
that piston
90
of a conventional design extends slightly outward (120 μm) from the stop body
84
, as previously explained. If the control valve
36
is shifted to the open position, it will engage the stop piston
90
before it engages the stop body
84
. If there is misalignment in the axes of the piston
90
and the control valve
36
, the control valve
36
may contact the stop body before control valve
36
is fully open, as shown at
126
in
FIG. 5
a
. This engagement of the control valve
36
with the stop body
84
may occur before the stop piston
90
is fully displaced into the stop body. This condition will seriously affect the performance of the injector and will alter the rate shaping illustrated in the pressure plot of FIG.
6
.
In contrast to the design shown in
FIG. 2
, and in the schematic illustration of
FIG. 5
a
, the adjustable valve stop of the present invention of
FIGS. 3 and 4
will avoid the disadvantages resulting from misalignment of the control valve relative to the stop piston. In a first embodiment of the invention, shown in
FIG. 3
, a valve stop body
128
is provided with an extension
130
, which receives a stop cap
132
. The cap
132
can be threaded, welded, pressed on, clipped on, or crimped, for example, at
134
on the valve stop body
128
until it engages a shoulder
136
. The cap
132
also has a calibrated shoulder
138
, which is engaged by stop piston
140
when the piston is fully extended in an upward direction, as shown in
FIG. 3. A
stop piston spring
142
, which is seated on the stop body
128
, engages the piston
140
and urges it outwardly, as shown at
144
. The end surface
146
on the piston
140
is displaced from the upper surface of shoulder
148
on the cap
132
a sufficient distance so that the valve end will always be in contact with the piston throughout the entire extent of its movement.
In
FIG. 3
, the stop body
128
has a shoulder
150
, which engages the pump body when the assembly of
FIG. 3
is received in the stop opening in the pump body. This shoulder
150
is precisely machined to close tolerances so that it is able to define the stroke of the valve. As previously explained, the overall stroke of the valve may be 150 microns.
Referring next to
FIG. 4
, an alternative construction of the valve stop assembly is shown. It includes a valve stop body
152
, which corresponds to the valve stop body
128
of FIG.
3
. The design of
FIG. 4
does not have a shoulder corresponding to the precisely machined shoulder
150
of FIG.
3
. Instead, the design of
FIG. 4
includes a calibrated or categorized shim
154
, which is controlled precisely with close dimensional tolerances so that the upper surface
156
of the shim
154
can precisely set the stroke of the valve, such as a stroke of 150 microns, as explained previously.
A cap
158
is received over the upper portion of the stop body
152
and is threadably connected, or otherwise secured, to it at
160
. The cap
158
has an upper portion
162
, which overlies a stop piston
164
. The stop piston engages the cap
158
, which limits the stroke of the piston, as indicated, to establish a gap at
166
between the piston and the valve stop body
152
. A second calibrated or categorized shim
168
is located between the upper surface of the valve stop body and the upper portion
162
of the cap
158
. As in the case of the shim
154
, the shim
168
is precisely controlled with close tolerances so that it is capable of setting the travel of the piston
164
to a desired value, such as 120 microns, as explained previously.
The piston
164
is urged in an upward direction, as viewed in
FIG. 4
, by valve stop spring
170
, which corresponds to valve stop spring
142
in the embodiment of FIG.
3
. As in the case of the embodiment of
FIG. 3
, the piston
164
has an end surface
172
, which is engaged by the control valve throughout the entire stroke of the valve in the stroke range permitted by the gap
166
. The control valve will engage the piston
164
at a single contact location without engaging the cap
158
during its movement throughout the entire range of movement corresponding to the stroke of the piston
164
.
The schematic illustration in
FIG. 5
b
shows the relative positions of the control valve
36
and the stop cap
132
for the design of
FIG. 3
when the control valve and the control valve stop are misaligned. It can be seen that the control valve can be stroked to its fully open position without interference between the end of the control valve and the cap
132
.
The valve stop assemblies of
FIGS. 3 and 4
are less costly in a high volume manufacturing operation because they can be assembled “off line” independently of the final assembly of the components of the injector assembly. They can be assembled in the pump body of the injector in a single, simple assembly step. This is in contrast to the relatively complex assembly procedure that would be required for a stop assembly of the kind shown, for example, in FIG.
2
.
By accurately controlling the gap between the stop assembly and the end of the control valve, which may be 30 microns as explained previously, a more precisely controlled shape of the time plot of the injection pressure for a unit pump or the unit injector during the initial phase of the injection event is achieved, whereby a modified pressure of controlled magnitude and duration is established. This precise control has been found to greatly improve engine exhaust gas emission quality.
Although embodiments of the invention have been disclosed, it will be apparent to persons skilled in the art that modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. All such modifications and improvements thereof are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.
Claims
- 1. A fuel injector for an internal combustion engine comprising:a pump body defining a cylindrical opening, a piston plunger in the cylindrical opening defining with the cylindrical opening a pumping chamber; a fuel inlet passage and a fuel return passage; a cam follower connected to the piston plunger, the engine having a camshaft that drives the follower during a fuel pumping stroke of the piston plunger; a fuel injection nozzle for fueling the engine; a fuel delivery passage connecting the pumping chamber and the nozzle; a movable control valve communicating with the fuel delivery passage, the control valve having a valve land and a cooperating valve seat defining in part a spill flow path from the fuel delivery passage to the fuel return passage when the control valve is moved in one direction and interrupting the spill flow path when the control valve is moved in the opposite direction; a valve spring for shifting the control valve in the one direction and an electromagnetic actuator for shifting the control valve in the opposite direction; the inlet passage communicating with the pumping chamber through the control valve when the control valve is moved in the one direction whereby the pumping chamber is filled as the piston plunger is retracted following its pumping stroke; and a stop assembly in the pump body adjacent one end of the control valve including a stop body, a stop piston in the stop body engageable with the control valve when it is moved in the one direction to a first stop position of the control valve, the stop piston engaging the stop body when the control valve is moved to a second stop position thereby limiting stroking of the control valve in the one direction; the control valve being separated from the stop piston by a calibrated gap when the valve land engages the valve seat; the control valve being engageable with the stop piston as it is moved to the second stop position without engaging the stop body regardless of misalignment of the stop assembly relative to the control valve.
- 2. The fuel injector set forth in claim 1 wherein the stop assembly comprises a stop spring acting on the stop piston, the net spring force acting on the control valve as the control valve engages the stop piston being equal to the difference between the forces of the valve spring and the stop spring.
- 3. The fuel injector set forth in claim 2 wherein the second stop position is defined by a first stop shoulder on the stop body that limits travel of the stop piston in the one direction, and a stop cap on the stop body defining a second stop shoulder that limits travel of the stop piston in the opposite direction.
- 4. The fuel injector set forth in claim 3 wherein the second shoulder is formed on the stop cap, the stop cap being a separate element of the stop assembly, the second stop shoulder on the stop cap being engageable with the stop piston as the stop piston extends toward the control valve whereby contact between the control valve and the stop body is avoided.
- 5. The fuel injector set forth in claim 4 wherein the second stop shoulder has a position defined by a calibrated shim engaging the stop cap.
- 6. The fuel injector set forth in claim 5 wherein the position of the stop assembly in the pump body is defined by a second calibrated shim between the stop body and the pump body.
- 7. The fuel injector set forth in claim 2 wherein the stop body includes a stop spring pocket receiving one end of the stop spring, the stop piston having a spring opening receiving the other end of the stop spring whereby the stop assembly can be pre-assembled during manufacture independently of final assembly of a complete fuel injector.
- 8. The fuel injector set forth in claim 3 wherein the stop body includes a stop spring pocket receiving one end of the stop spring, the stop piston having a spring opening receiving the other end of the stop spring whereby the stop assembly can be pre-assembled during manufacture independently of final assembly of a complete fuel injector.
US Referenced Citations (14)