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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8181629 | Engine and exhaust heating for hybrid vehicle A method for controlling a vehicle engine having a plurality of cylinders and an electric motor configured to rotate the engine is provided. The method includes, during engine idling, advancing spark timing of at least one cylinder to substantially before a peak tor... | 05/22/2012 |
| 8180553 | Controlling cylinder mixture and turbocharger operation A method for controlling differences in exhaust gas residual amount for a two cylinder bank engine having at least one turbocharger is presented. In one example, the description includes a method for adjusting valve timing to reduce cylinder exhaust gas residual var... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8177006 | Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle A vehicle propulsion system and a method of its operation are described. As one example, the vehicle propulsion system includes a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. The method may include starting the engine responsive to different criteria, including criteria related... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8176903 | System and method for improving exhaust gas recirculation for a turbocharged engine A system and method for delivering EGR to an internal combustion engine is presented. The system can reduce system cost and lower system complexity. ... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8176894 | Vacuum system for an engine Systems and methods for generating a vacuum in an engine are provided. The system includes a first throttle upstream from a plurality of cylinders and a second throttle upstream from one of the cylinders. The system further includes a vacuum reservoir in fluidic com... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8176888 | Method for starting a mixed fuel engine A method for improving starting of an engine that may be operated with fuels having varying alcohol concentrations is presented. In one embodiment, the method adjusts a compression ratio of an engine in response to a number of combustion events after an engine stop ... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8166959 | Approach for improved fuel vaporization in a directly injected internal combustion engine A system and a method of facilitating fuel vaporization in a directly injected internal combustion engine are provided. As one example, the method comprises: closing an exhaust valve of the cylinder; opening an intake valve after the exhaust valve has closed; moving... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8166956 | Engine with gaseous and/or liquid fuel injector In one example, a system for a vehicle travelling on a surface is described. The system includes an engine with a cylinder. The cylinder includes a fuel injector that is supplied with gaseous fuel and liquid fuel by a fuel delivery system. The fuel injector is mount... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8166952 | Fuel injection control during start-up A method of operation of an internal combustion engine including an intake valve coupled to a combustion chamber, and a port fuel injector positioned upstream of the intake valve in an intake manifold including a throttle, the port fuel injector fluidly coupled to a... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8166775 | Noise attenuating device for a heating-ventilation-cooling system of a motor vehicle A system and method for reducing noise in an automotive heating, ventilation, and cooling system is described. A noise attenuation device using radial vanes upstream of a flow discontinuity, such as a bend in the ducting, and downstream of a blower fan is used to re... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8165788 | Fuel-based injection control Systems and methods of operating an engine, the engine including an injector configured to directly inject fuel into an engine cylinder. One example method comprises, during an engine cold start, performing compression direct fuel injection, and retarding a timing o... | 04/24/2012 |
| 8165780 | Boosted engine control responsive to driver selected performance Various systems and methods are described for operating an engine in a vehicle in response to a driver performance/economy mode. One example method comprises delivering a first fuel to a cylinder of the engine from a first injector, delivering a second, different, f... | 04/24/2012 |
| 8165779 | Cascade control of HCCI phasing The present invention relates to an internal combustion engine that can be operated in a homogeneous charge combustion mode as well as a method and a computer readable storage device for controlling such an engine. The engine comprises at least one fuel injector, a ... | 04/24/2012 |
| 8164206 | Methods and systems for engine start control Methods and systems are provided for starting an engine in a vehicle. In one example, two or more energy storage devices are coupled in series to improve engine starting. The method and system may reduce engine starting time. ... | 04/24/2012 |
| 8161946 | Fuel injector interface and diagnostics A method comprising receiving a fuel injection signal from a first driver circuit via a control line, feeding the fuel injection signal to a second fuel injector driver circuit, sending a control signal output from the second fuel injector driver circuit to a fuel i... | 04/24/2012 |
| 8161732 | System and method to improve engine emissions for a dual fuel engine A system and method for improving emissions of an engine capable of combusting a multi-component fuel comprised of two or more fuels is presented. According to the method, the passage exhaust gases are processed in said exhaust system is determined in part from the ... | 04/24/2012 |
| 8151771 | Fuel preheat for engine start Systems and methods for providing heated fuel to a fuel injector of an engine are provided. According to the approaches described herein, adequate cold-start fuel atomization may be provided without compromising driver satisfaction due to excessive pre-ignition dela... | 04/10/2012 |
| 8151767 | Fuel control for direct injection fuel system A method for controlling a direct injection fuel system of a vehicle, the method comprising generating fuel pressure via an electronically controlled lift pump and a second pump, the electronically controlled lift pump actuated responsive to a command during an init... | 04/10/2012 |
| 8150605 | Coordination of variable cam timing and variable displacement engine systems Systems and methods are provided for operating an internal combustion engine including a variable cam timing (VCT) mechanism in cooperation with a plurality of deactivatable cylinders, each cylinder with a plurality of cylinder valves. One example method comprises, ... | 04/03/2012 |
| 8147377 | Control strategy for multi-mode vehicle propulsion system A method for controlling a vehicle operation in the transmission lash region. One method includes transitioning a combustion mode of a cylinder, and varying a timing of said transition responsive to whether the transmission is operating within the lash region of the... | 04/03/2012 |
| 8146565 | Reducing noise, vibration, and harshness in a variable displacement engine A method for operating an engine of a vehicle, the engine having one or more deactivatable cylinders, the method including controlling the stability of a vehicle in response to vehicle acceleration, and reactivating or deactivating combustion in at least a cylinder ... | 04/03/2012 |
| 8146557 | Direct injection event-based engine starting A method for starting an internal combustion engine having direct fuel injection, comprising of adjusting a number of direct injections per combustion cycle based on a cylinder event number from a first cylinder event. ... | 04/03/2012 |
| 8146541 | Method for improving transient engine operation A method for operating an engine with a fuel reformer is presented. In one embodiment a method for operating an engine by injecting a gaseous fuel and a liquid fuel to at least an engine cylinder is presented. The mixture of an engine cylinder may be diluted with EG... | 04/03/2012 |
| 8145410 | Variable displacement engine operation with NVH management A system and method for controlling an internal combustion engine operable with a first cylinder firing frequency and a second cylinder firing frequency to reduce or eliminate transmission of torsional vibrations associated with the second cylinder firing frequency ... | 03/27/2012 |
| 8145409 | Approach for determining exhaust gas sensor degradation A method for determining degradation of an exhaust gas sensor positioned in an exhaust system for an internal combustion engine of a vehicle is provided. The method includes sensor response durations to rich-to-lean and lean-to-rich transitions, as well as the symme... | 03/27/2012 |
| 8141534 | Methods and systems for assisted direct start control Methods and systems are provided for controlling a vehicle system including an engine that is selectively deactivated during engine idle-stop conditions. One example method includes, during a first condition, engaging an engine starter, without applying a starter cu... | 03/27/2012 |
| 8141531 | Valve cover with decoupled NVH isolation and sealing features A cylinder head cover, a system, and a method are disclosed for sealing a cylinder head and isolating cylinder head vibrations from a cylinder head cover body. An example cylinder head cover may include a bottom carrier having a first end configured to be disposed i... | 03/27/2012 |
| 8141358 | Method for controlling cylinder air charge for a turbo charged engine having variable event valve actuators A method for controlling cylinder air charge of an engine having a compressor is presented. In one example, the description includes a method for coordinating the control of the throttle, turbo charger, and valves such that the desired cylinder air charge may be ach... | 03/27/2012 |
| 8141356 | Ethanol separation using air from turbo compressor Methods and systems for separating fuel and supplying the separated fuel to an engine are disclosed. In one example, alcohol is separated from a blend of alcohol and gasoline. The methods and systems may improve fuel separator operation by adjusting separator operat... | 03/27/2012 |
| 8140247 | Control of intake pressure for restart-enabled idle stop Methods and systems are provided for controlling an engine of a vehicle. In one example, a throttle is adjusted improve engine restarting during an automatic engine stop where an operator requests an engine restart. The methods and systems may improve vehicle drivab... | 03/20/2012 |
| 8137239 | Transmission temperature sensing and control As one example approach, temperature indications from transmission actuators are used to control the actuators and transmission shifting. For example, temperature differences among the different actuators can be used to provide improved relative timing and actuation... | 03/20/2012 |
| 8136614 | Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle A method of operating a hybrid vehicle propulsion system includes selectively operating the engine to consume fuel stored on-board the vehicle based on a residence time of the fuel stored on-board the vehicle and further based on a profile of ambient conditions over... | 03/20/2012 |
| 8136504 | HCCI heavy mixing mode A method for operating a multi-stroke homogeneous charge compression ignition engine is described. The method includes late intake valve opening (LIVO) and also cycling air and fuel charge from the cylinder back into the intake manifold during a compression stroke t... | 03/20/2012 |
| 8136497 | Method for starting an engine A method for improving starting of an engine that may be repeatedly stopped and started is presented. In one embodiment, the method skips combustion in at least one cylinder, according to the engine combustion order, to control engine speed when an engine is automat... | 03/20/2012 |
| 8133153 | Transmission scheduling for multi-stroke engine A multi-mode internal combustion engine is described. As one example, the engine may be transitioned between a two stroke mode and a four stroke mode in coordination with a transmission shift by adjusting a number of strokes performed by the engine per combustion cy... | 03/13/2012 |
| 8132560 | Bidirectional adsorbent-canister purging A method for combusting a vapor of a fuel accumulated in an adsorbent canister in a vehicle, the vehicle having an engine and a fuel tank coupled to the adsorbent canister. The method comprises, during a first operating condition including a higher availability of c... | 03/13/2012 |
| 8132555 | Event based engine control system and method A system for starting an engine is described. In one example, the engine is supplied two fuels via two injectors. The method may improve engine starting and reduce engine emissions. ... | 03/13/2012 |
| 8132548 | Engine valve control system and method A method of operating an engine including at least a cylinder and a valve controlled by an electric valve actuator is disclosed. In one example, a valve holding current is determined during movement of the valve. The method may be useful for determining individual h... | 03/13/2012 |
| 8132546 | Control strategy for multi-stroke engine system An engine system and a method of operation are described. The engine may be operating in two-stroke and four-stroke modes while still maintaining a target exhaust air-fuel ratio. ... | 03/13/2012 |
| 8131453 | Methods and systems for assisted direct start control Methods and systems are provided for expediting engine spin-down in an engine that is shutdown during engine idle-stop conditions and restarted during restart conditions. In one example, the method comprises, during an automatic engine idle-stop, turning off spark, ... | 03/06/2012 |
