Donald J Benson, 63Columbus, IN

6336598, Jan 8, 2002

Apr 18, 2000

09/552480

Alain M. J. Touchette - Vancouver, CA
Bradley D. Douville - Vancouver, CA
S. Michael Baker - Delta, CA
Lester L. Peters - Columbus IN
Julius Perr - Columbus IN
A. S. Ghuman - Columbus IN
Donald J. Benson - Columbus IN

Westport Research Inc. - Vancouver

R05B 112

239408, 409410

A hydraulically actuated dual fuel injector separately injects two fuels into a combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine. In particular, the two fuels may be controlled quantities of a first liquid fuel and a second gaseous fuel that are used to fuel a diesel engine. The injector preferably begins injecting the first fuel sequentially before beginning to inject the second fuel. The dual fuel injector comprises: (a) an injector body; (b) a hydraulic fluid inlet port formed in the injector body for enabling pressurized hydraulic fluid from a hydraulic fluid source to be introduced into the interior of the injector body, said hydraulic fluid being of sufficient pressure to maintain sealing and to prevent leakage of the gaseous fuel into the hydraulic fluid; (c) a first fuel inlet port formed in the injector body for enabling a first fuel to be introduced into the interior of the injector body; (d) a first injection valve disposed within the injector body fluidly connected to the first fuel inlet port for controlling injection of the first fuel from the injector through a first fuel ejection port; (e) a second inlet port formed in the injector body for enabling a second fuel to be introduced into the interior of the injector body; (f) a second injection valve disposed within the injector body fluidly connected to the second inlet port for controlling injection of the second fuel from the injector through a second fuel ejection port; (g) a first two-way control valve which controls the flow of the hydraulic fluid to actuate the first injection valve; (h) a second control valve which controls the flow of the hydraulic fluid to actuate the second injection valve; (i) a metering device within the injector body for metering the amount of first fuel injected by the first injection valve; and (j) a seal in the injector body which prevents leakage of the second fuel within the injector body.

6353791, Mar 5, 2002

May 4, 2000

09/564776

Taner Tuken - Columbus IN
Donald J. Benson - Columbus IN

Cummins, Inc. - Columbus IN

F02M 4512

701114, 123447, 123501, 701105

A strategy for quantifying and compensating for between-engine variations in engine static timing, fuel pump phasing and overall system bandwidth includes a control circuit operable to manage a fuel control system including a high pressure, cyclically operable fuel pump and at least one fuel injector operable to supply fuel to an internal combustion engine from a fuel collection unit. In one embodiment, the strategy of the present invention is operable to determine peak values of the fuel pressure within fuel collection unit and corresponding engine position values for a number of different engine speeds and solve a corresponding model-based system of equations to determine a combined engine static timing and fuel pump phasing error as well as a first overall system bandwidth value. In another embodiment, the strategy of the present invention is operable to determine peak values of the pressure within a combustion chamber of the engine along with associated engine position values for a number of different engine speeds and solve for the engine static timing error alone and/or a second overall system bandwidth value. In yet another embodiment, the two foregoing strategies may be combined to produce separately the first and second bandwidth values as well as the individual engine static timing and fuel pump phasing error values.

6405709, Jun 18, 2002

Apr 11, 2000

09/547713

Donald J. Benson - Columbus IN
Yul J. Tarr - Pune, IN
Laszlo D. Tikk - Columbus IN
Taner Tuken - Columbus IN

Cummins Inc. - Columbus IN

F02M 4100

123456, 123447

A fuel injection system is disclosed for an internal combustion engine that has multiple combustion chambers and a camshaft which cyclically imparts pressurization energy to and recovers pressurization energy from fuel being supplied to the engine. The fuel injection system includes a plurality of unit injectors, a camshaft linkage which simultaneously reciprocates pressurizing plungers of a set of at least two unit injectors and an interconnecting line which allows selective fluid interconnection between fuel pressurization chambers formed within the unit injectors. The interconnection line allows fluid linkage of the volume of fuel which is simultaneously pressurized and depressurized within the interconnected fuel pressurization chambers of a first set of unit injectors.

6439202, Aug 27, 2002

Nov 8, 2001

09/986481

Donald J Benson - Columbus IN
Lester L Peters - Columbus IN

Cummins Inc. - Columbus IN

F02M 3704

123467, 123446, 123300

An improved fuel injection system is provided which incorporates a common rail and a plurality of unit injectors which function together to efficiently produce various injection rate shapes and different combinations of discreet and blended pilot, main, post and after treatment fuel injection events during a single injection. The fuel injection system effectively permits flexible, responsively timed, square shaped, discreet low to mid pressure level injections utilizing the fuel pressure of the common rail while also allowing the unit injector portion to function independently to produce flexible and responsively timed and pressure controlled, triangular shaped high pressure fuel injection events and to recover excess energy. In one embodiment, a separate common rail pump is avoided by utilizing the unit injector plunger to replace fuel into the common rail which was previously injected.

6497223, Dec 24, 2002

May 4, 2000

09/564240

Taner Tuken - Columbus IN
Donald J. Benson - Columbus IN
Yul J. Tarr - Columbus IN

Cummins, Inc. - Columbus IN

F02M 3704

123497, 123456

A fuel injection pressure control system includes a control strategy operable to measure or estimate actual fuel injection pressure and control the operation of a fuel supply pump to thereby quickly and accurately control fuel injection pressure. The control strategy includes a closed-loop control strategy operable to compensate for instantaneous changes in system non-linearities, including fuel pump non-linearities and the like, and an open-loop control strategy operable to compensate for all system variations as well as system non-linearities, including between-engine variations in system operating parameters and other noise factors including deteriorating conditions, changes in environment and the like. Each strategy includes an adaptive controller operable to update one or more control parameters to thereby guarantee closed-loop stability, provide for fast and accurate system response during transient events, and minimize overshoots and undershoots.

6550455, Apr 22, 2003

Apr 15, 2002

10/121864

Donald J. Benson - Columbus IN
Yul J. Tarr - Pune IN
Laszlo D. Tikk - Columbus IN
Taner Tuken - Columbus IN

Cummins Engine Company, Inc. - Columbus OH

F02M 4100

123456, 123508

A fuel injection system is disclosed for an internal combustion engine that has multiple combustion chambers and a camshaft which cyclically imparts pressurization energy to and recovers pressurization energy from fuel being supplied to the engine. The fuel injection system includes a plurality of unit injectors, a camshaft linkage which simultaneously reciprocates pressurizing plungers of a set of at least two unit injectors and an interconnecting line which allows selective fluid interconnection between fuel pressurization chambers formed within the unit injectors. The interconnection line allows fluid linkage of the volume of fuel which is simultaneously pressurized and depressurized within the interconnected fuel pressurization chambers of a first set of unit injectors.

6557530, May 6, 2003

May 4, 2000

09/565010

Donald J. Benson - Columbus IN
Taner Tuken - Columbus IN

Cummins, Inc. - Columbus IN

F02M 5100

123480, 123456, 123447

A fuel control system for an internal combustion engine including injected fuel quantity estimation includes a fuel pump responsive to a fuel pump command to supply fuel to a fuel collection unit. A pressure sensor is provided for producing a pressure signal indicative of the pressure of fuel within the collection unit throughout a fuel injection event, and an engine position sensor is provided for producing an engine position signal indicative of a crank angle of the engine relative to a reference crank angle. A control circuit includes means responsive to the pressure signal and a desired fueling value for producing an initial fueling command, and further includes a fuel quantity estimation block responsive to the pressure signal, the engine position signal and a final fueling command to produce a fuel quantity estimation value. The final fueling command is computed by the control circuit as a function of the initial fueling command and the fuel quantity adjustment value to which the injector is responsive to supply fuel to the combustion chamber.

6557776, May 6, 2003

Jul 19, 2001

09/907814

Donald J. Benson - Columbus IN
Yul J. Tarr - Columbus IN

Cummins Inc. - Columbus IN

F02D 106

239 5, 239 88, 239 96, 239124, 2395333, 2395334, 2395339

A closed needle injector assembly and method are provided which effectively extending injection duration and improving fueling accuracy at part load conditions, providing a low quantity detached pilot injection at all operating conditions and controlling the duration of, and dwell time between, the pilot injection and one or more higher flow rate primary injections independent of fuel injection pressure. The closed needle injector assembly includes first and second needle valve elements, respective control volumes and a single injection control valve to control the movement of the needle valve elements. A sequencing device is mounted on the injector to permit movement of only the inner needle valve element to define a low fuel injection rate event and permit selectively, controlled movement of both the inner and outer needle valve elements to open positions to define a subsequent primary fuel injection event.