Did You Know...
...that in the early 1940s GE engineer James Wright was charged with a task of utmost importance to the war effort: develop a cheap substitute for rubber that could be used to produce tires, gas masks and a whole host of military gear. Wright tackled the task diligently -- and wound up inventing Silly Putty.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8156923 | Method and system for pre-ignition control Methods and systems are provided to address engine pre-ignition. One or more cylinders are alternately rich and lean operated for a duration to reduce engine thermal loading while maintaining an exhaust air-to-fuel ratio around stoichiometry. ... | 04/17/2012 |
| 8141539 | Controller and control method for internal combustion engine An ECU controls an adjusting mechanism adjusting an output of an engine, such as a throttle valve, a swirl control valve, an ignition plug, an intake valve, and an ACIS (Acoustic Control Induction System) changing the length of an intake manifold, in accordance with... | 03/27/2012 |
| 8051835 | Internal combustion engine and internal combustion engine control method In a V-type six-cylinder engine, turbo-superchargers are provided for compressing intake air and feeding the compressed air into combustion chambers, and an ECU is operable to switch the combustion mode from a non-supercharged stoichiometric combustion mode to a sup... | 11/08/2011 |
| 7870844 | Control system and method for internal combustion engine A control system includes: a detecting device that detects the transition in the cumulative amount of heat generated in a combustion chamber based on the pressure in the combustion chamber in an expansion stroke; and a controller that controls the amount of exhaust ... | 01/18/2011 |
| 7594497 | Control device and control method for internal combustion engine When the engine output request is increased in a state in which the valve closing timing of an intake valve (9) is before intake BDC, a target value (LT) for the maximum lift of an intake valve is changed straight away, regardless of the actual air intake amo... | 09/29/2009 |
| 7503312 | Differential torque operation for internal combustion engine A method of operating an internal combustion engine having a plurality of cylinders including at least a first cylinder and a second cylinder, the method comprising firing the first cylinder and the second cylinder in an alternating sequence; during a first mode, ad... | 03/17/2009 |
| 7484498 | Spark-ignition gasoline engine Disclosed is a spark-ignition gasoline engine, which comprises control means operable, when an engine operation zone is a high-load operation zone including a WOT region within at least a low speed range, to adjust a closing timing of an intake valve in such a manne... | 02/03/2009 |
| 7455046 | Nitrogen enriched combustion of a natural gas internal combustion engine to reduce NOemissions A method and system for reducing nitrous oxide emissions from an internal combustion engine. An input gas stream of natural gas includes a nitrogen gas enrichment which reduces nitrous oxide emissions. In addition ignition timing for gas combustion is advanced to im... | 11/25/2008 |
| 7418946 | Engine start control apparatus and method An engine start control apparatus includes an intake air amount control device for controlling an amount of air supplied to a combustion chamber, a fuel supply device for injecting fuel to be fed into the combustion chamber, and an igniting device for igniting the f... | 09/02/2008 |
| 7377236 | System and method for exhaust heat generation using electrically actuated cylinder valves and variable stroke combustion cycles A method for operating an engine having at least a first and second cylinder, including operating the first cylinder with a spark timing more retarded than a spark timing of a second cylinder; and operating one of said first cylinder and second cylinders with a firs... | 05/27/2008 |
| 7377260 | Method and device for controlling an internal combustion engine An internal combustion engine has a plurality of cylinders having combustion chambers and each being associated with a spark plug designed for igniting a mixture of air and fuel in the combustion chamber, and at least two adjusting devices for adjusting the air supp... | 05/27/2008 |
| 7370616 | Method for transition between controlled auto-ignition and spark ignition modes in direct fuel injection engines A method is provided for control of transition between combustion modes of a direct-injection engine operable in a homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) mode at lower loads and a spark ignition flame propagation (SI) mode at higher loads. The engine include... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7370633 | Load transient control methods for direct-injection engines with controlled auto-ignition combustion A direct injection controlled auto-ignition engine is operated at steady state, within a homogeneous charge compression-ignition (HCCI) load range and with fuel-air-diluent mixtures at predetermined conditions, for each speed and load, of engine control inputs, incl... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7367308 | Method for load transient control between lean and stoichiometric combustion modes of direct-injection engines with controlled auto-ignition combustion A method is provided for control of a direct-injection engine operated with controlled auto-ignition (HCCI) during load transient operations between modes of lean combustion low load (HCCI/Lean) and stiochiometric combustion medium load (HCCI/Stoich.). The method in... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7367313 | Speed transient control methods for direct-injection engines with controlled auto-ignition combustion A direct injection controlled auto-ignition engine is operated at steady state, within a homogeneous charge compression-ignition (HCCI) load range and with fuel-air-diluent mixtures at predetermined conditions, for each speed and load, of engine control inputs, incl... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7318427 | Method for operating an internal combustion engine In a method of operating a reciprocating-piston internal combustion engine with a combustion chamber in which a fuel mix with fresh gas is provided via intake ports and combustion exhaust gases are discharged through exhaust ports which can be opened by intake valve... | 01/15/2008 |
| 7311094 | Method for operating an internal combustion engine Operation of an internal combustion engine with oil lubrication and electronic fuel injection, includes the steps of determining a flow of fuel mass (mkp_ausg) evaporating out of oil, and determining a setpoint injected-fuel quantity (rk_ev) with taking into account... | 12/25/2007 |
| 7292928 | Method for controlling an operating condition of a vehicle engine A residual ratio factor characterizing the amount of residual exhaust gas left in a selected cylinder at the end of a piston intake stroke is determined from tabular and surface models based on previously gathered dynamometer data from a test vehicle at various engi... | 11/06/2007 |
| 7267104 | Internal combustion engine start-up control A variable valve mechanism (12a, 12b) varies a lift amount and an opening/closing timing of an intake valve (10) of an internal combustion engine (1). During a first period in an engine start operation, wall flow is suppress... | 09/11/2007 |
| 7234450 | Gas density ratio detector, gas concentration detector, and fuel vapor treatment apparatus When a gas flow producer is driven, plural kinds of gases flow into a measure-passage at respective timing. An orifice is provided in the measure-passage. The orifice has a diameter-changing portion which restricts a separation of gases from an inner surface of the ... | 06/26/2007 |
| 7229381 | Method for controlling engine starts for a vehicle powertrain A method is disclosed for controlling an internal combustion engine in a vehicle powertrain. A filtered driver demand for torque at vehicle traction wheels is used to determine an engine torque command. The engine torque command is initialized to a percentage of a t... | 06/12/2007 |
| 7228221 | Control apparatus and control method for internal combustion engine A control apparatus retards ignition timing of the engine, and increases an amount of a fuel supplied to the engine based on a retard amount of the ignition timing, by calculating a maximum engine intake air amount at which an exhaust system temperature can be maint... | 06/05/2007 |
| 7207317 | Engine control system An engine control system for controlling an engine into which fuel is supplied from a fuel supply system and which is ignited by an ignition system, the engine control system comprising: a detonation detecting device for detecting detonation of said engine; a judgme... | 04/24/2007 |
| 7201138 | Control system for internal combustion engine A control system used with an engine determines a fuel injection timing according to a detected engine operating condition and fuel injection is executed through a fuel injection valve. The target ignition timings of the fuel are set according to the detected engine... | 04/10/2007 |
| 7181332 | Method for controlling an operating condition of a vehicle engine A residual ratio factor characterizing the amount of residual exhaust gas left in a selected cylinder at the end of a piston intake stroke is determined from tabular and surface models based on previously gathered dynamometer data from a test vehicle at various engi... | 02/20/2007 |
| 7128052 | System and method for exhaust heat generation using electrically actuated cylinder valves A method for operating an engine having at least a first and second cylinder [group], the first cylinder having a first electrically actuated valve and the second cylinder having a second electrically actuated valve, comprising of operating the first cylinder with a... | 10/31/2006 |
| 7121260 | Ignition timing control apparatus for engine An ignition timing control apparatus for an engine includes a controller that sets an ignition timing considering a change of a temperature or a pressure in a combustion chamber at a time when an opening/closing characteristic of an intake valve is changed, the open... | 10/17/2006 |
| 7107965 | Controlling spark of an engine with adjustable intake valve timing A system and method to control spark timing of an engine wherein the injection timing of the engine is varied relative to a crankshaft position depending on engine operating conditions. According to the method, spark timing is varied as fuel injection timing varies ... | 09/19/2006 |
| 7089912 | Method, an arrangement, and a computer readable storage device for controlling homogeneous charge compression ignition combustion The invention relates to a method for operating an internal combustion engine operable in compression ignition mode, said engine comprising a fuel supply means, a piston in each cylinder causing ignition during compression ignition mode, at least one inlet and one e... | 08/15/2006 |
| 7063068 | Variable valve timing controller for an engine A variable valve timing controller includes an intake-valve and an exhaust-valve. When the engine is started, the intake-valve and the exhaust-valve are operated in a first mode in which the exhaust-valve is closed before top dead center and then the intake-valve is... | 06/20/2006 |
| 7047940 | Control apparatus and control method for internal combustion engine A control apparatus stops supply of a fuel to an engine (a) when a value of a parameter relating to a misfire of the engine satisfies a misfire condition that is set based on an octane value of the fuel, or (b) when it is determined that a misfire may occur if an in... | 05/23/2006 |
| 7032572 | Method for controlling an engine to obtain rapid catalyst heating A method is disclosed for controlling operation of an engine coupled to an exhaust treatment catalyst. Under predetermined conditions, the method operates an engine with a first group of cylinders combusting a lean air/fuel mixture and a second group of cylinders pu... | 04/25/2006 |
| 7027908 | Method and device for controlling an internal combustion engine on a vehicle A method and a device for controlling an internal combustion engine of a vehicle, in which a performance quantity of the internal combustion engine or of the vehicle is limited to a predefined limit value. For the limiting, a control of the air supply to the interna... | 04/11/2006 |
| 7025039 | System and method for controlling valve timing of an engine with cylinder deactivation Various systems and methods are disclosed for carrying out combustion in a fuel-cut operation in some or all of the engine cylinders of a vehicle. Further, various subsystems are considered, such as fuel vapor purging, air-fuel ratio control, engine torque control, ... | 04/11/2006 |
| 6966299 | Start control device and start control method for internal combustion engine An electronic control unit adjusts an electronic throttle valve to a starting opening in a cold start mode of an engine, then maintains the opening of the electronic throttle valve so that an engine rotational speed detected by a crank angle sensor increases to a ta... | 11/22/2005 |
| 6960980 | Power converter with shunt resistor A power converter includes a shunt resistor constituted by a shunt resistance and a plurality of main electrodes made of a sheet-like resistive material. In the shunt resistor, plates lower in volume electric resistivity than the resistive material, higher in therma... | 11/01/2005 |
| 6959692 | Computer controlled engine valve operation An electronic valve actuation system and control method is described. The valve timing is changed between early and late intake valve closing depending on engine operating conditions. Further, valve timing is adjusted to control engine airflow or engine torque. Fina... | 11/01/2005 |
| 6955155 | Method for controlling transitions between operating modes of an engine for rapid heating of an emission control device A method is disclosed for controlling operation of an engine coupled to an exhaust treatment catalyst. Under predetermined conditions, the method operates an engine with a first group of cylinders combusting a lean air/fuel mixture and a second group of cylinders pu... | 10/18/2005 |
| 6932056 | Method for reacting to knock event in an internal combustion engine A control method for controlling an internal combustion engine selects a knock threshold magnitude and compares it to individual knock event magnitudes. The difference between these two values is calculated and limited to be within a predetermined range of values. T... | 08/23/2005 |
| 6910461 | Control apparatus for internal combustion engine Based on results of a knock control for adjusting ignition timing in accordance with the occurrence of knocking, an electronic control unit computes deposit required ignition timing akgrg, which is ignition timing determined by taking adhesion of deposits in an inte... | 06/28/2005 |
