EP1888901B1 - Method for noise reduction of an injection diesel engine - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention concerns a method for noise reduction of an injection diesel engine (M), in particular in transient state. The method consists in: determining a noise index based on a pressure signal (S1-S4) derived from a sensor, said signal providing an instantaneous pressure of the combustion chamber (C1-C4) of the engine (M) during an engine cycle; determining a difference value (Ec) between the noise index (Ib) and a predetermined reference value (Ref); modifying at least one parameter to reduce said difference (Ec) if said difference is greater than a predetermined threshold value. The invention us applicable in particular to diesel engines.

Description

The present invention claims the priority of the French application 0505769 filed on 07/06/2005 whose content (description, claims, drawings) is incorporated herein by reference.

The invention relates to a method for reducing the noise generated by an injection engine such as a diesel engine of a motor vehicle.

In the field of injection engines, such as diesel engines, the level of combustion noise is conditioned by the injection parameters which are generally chosen to meet a compromise between different requirements.

The choice of the injection parameters is made for example from series of tests carried out on a test bench, which make it possible to determine for each speed of the tested engine, parameters offering an optimal compromise, for example between pollution level and level of combustion noise. These injection parameters are for example the amount of fuel injected, or the advance of the injection.

Given the conditions on the test bench, the choice of the injection parameters is mainly carried out at stabilized engine speed and load so that these parameters are satisfactory under steady-state conditions, that is to say for example when the vehicle is traveling at constant speed.

However, these parameters are not entirely satisfactory under transient conditions, for example when a large acceleration is required. In this case the engine generates a much higher level of combustion noise than in steady state, for the same speed of rotation and the same load.

On the other hand, during the life of the engine, the compression characteristics and / or the characteristics of the injectors of each chamber of combustion evolve for example because of the fouling of the injectors. But the injection parameters are those that were initially selected so that such a motor produces a noise increasingly important as it ages. An example of a method for reducing noise is disclosed in the application US 2003/0127073 .

The object of the invention is to propose a method for reducing the level of combustion noise of a heat engine, in particular under transient conditions.

For this purpose, the subject of the invention is a method for reducing the noise generated by an injection-engine according to claim 1.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the method is applied to a multiple injection engine including a so-called pilot injection and a so-called main injection, and in which the noise index is determined on the basis of the pilot injection and / or or on the basis of the main injection.

• La figure 1 est une illustration du procédé selon l'invention sous forme de schéma-bloc ;
• La figure 2 est un premier diagramme de pression à régime stabilisé ;
• La figure 3 est un second diagramme de pression d'un premier cycle transitoire ;
• La figure 4 est un troisième diagramme de pression d'un second cycle transitoire ;
• La figure 5 est un quatrième diagramme de pression d'un troisième cycle transitoire ;
• La figure 6 est un cinquième diagramme de pression d'un douzième cycle transitoire ;
• La figure 7 est un sixième diagramme de pression d'un cinquantième cycle transitoire quasi-stabilisé.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the modified injection parameters are the injection advance, and / or the quantity of fuel injected for each injection, and / or the injection pressure, and / or the addition an additional injection.

• The figure 1 is an illustration of the method according to the invention in block diagram form;
• The figure 2 is a first steady-state pressure diagram;
• The figure 3 is a second pressure diagram of a first transient cycle;
• The figure 4 is a third pressure diagram of a second transient cycle;
• The figure 5 is a fourth pressure diagram of a third transient cycle;
• The figure 6 is a fifth pressure diagram of a twelfth transient cycle;
• The figure 7 is a sixth pressure diagram of a quasi-stabilized 50th transient cycle.

The figure 1 shows in block diagram form the method according to the invention applied to a motor M with four combustion chambers, each combustion chamber being equipped with a corresponding pressure sensor, marked respectively by C1, C2, C3 and C4.

Each C1-C4 sensor produces a signal S1-S4 representative of the instantaneous pressure of the combustion chamber to which it is dedicated. The four pressure signals S1 - S4 are received at A, for example on an acquisition electronic card.

In the example of the figure 1 , the four signals are out of phase and added or averaged so as to constitute a single signal representative of the instantaneous pressure in a combustion chamber as a function of the angle of the motor shaft.

A filtering and bypass processing is then applied to the block FD, the signal generated by the electronic card in step A, so as to smooth this signal and to obtain the instantaneous value of the pressure gradient.

The filtering treatment is for example carried out by a low-pass filter of order greater than two, and having a cutoff frequency which varies according to the engine speed. Bypass processing can be implemented by means of an electronic or analog card.

The signal obtained after the treatment applied in FD is represented in block D3P, by a curve GP1 representative of the value of the pressure gradient as a function of the progress of the combustion cycle, in the vicinity of the injection point or points.

The block marked by D3P is a step of determining a noise index Ib during the last engine cycle, based on the pressure values that were taken during this cycle. Different calculations can be considered in this step to determine the noise index.

Advantageously, the noise index is the difference between two GP1 pressure gradient values resulting from an injection. This noise index is then worth the difference between the GP1 pressure gradient when this gradient reaches a local maximum after the injection, and the pressure gradient at the instant of the injection considered.

The detection of this local maximum may consist in detecting a cancellation of the first or second derivative of the curve GP1.

In the case of a multiple injection engine, the injection considered for the calculation of the noise index Ib may be a so-called pilot injection, or a so-called main injection. But the noise index can also be determined from a combination of gradient differences corresponding to several injections occurring during the same cycle.

In the next step, the noise index Ib determined in D3P is compared with a reference value Ref to determine a difference Ec with respect to this reference value. The reference value used advantageously comes from a set of values also called engine mapping which gives different reference values corresponding to different operating conditions of the engine.

If the difference between the current value of the noise index Ib and the reference value Ref is too great, the injection parameters are modified at the block CR, these modifications being applied to the engine as soon as the next engine cycle, which is represented by the PM block.

In the example shown in this flow chart, the signals S1 - S4 from each sensor are first joined to the block A so as to constitute a single signal representative of the average of the pressures in the various combustion chambers of the engine at each instant of the cycle. If the gap Ec is too large, the injection parameters are modified for all the combustion chambers.

But the method according to the invention may advantageously consist in treating the combustion chambers independently of each other. In this case, the processing steps consist in determining a noise index Ib and a gap Ec for each combustion chamber of the engine, and modifying at least one injection parameter of each combustion chamber having a difference Ec greater than the threshold value.

Thus, the differences in the compression characteristics of the different combustion and / or operating chambers of each injector are taken into account in order to reduce the combustion noise of the entire engine. In particular, the behavioral deviation of a particularly noisy combustion chamber relative to the others during the transient can be corrected without disturbing the operation of the other combustion chambers.

The Figures 2 to 7 are diagrams of the pressure gradient for different cycles of a transient regime that corresponds to an average diesel range vehicle, starting from a steady state at 70km / h, and which is requested a full load acceleration, brutally.

These pressure diagrams are those of a vehicle for which the injection parameters are not modified during the transient regime, which makes it possible to highlight the corrections that should be applied, in accordance with the invention, for remedy this situation.

The figure 2 comprises a curve representative of an initial stabilized regime. The Figures 3 to 5 give the pressure gradient curves during the three engine cycles that follow the acceleration request. The figure 6 gives the pressure gradient for the twelfth cycle following the acceleration request, and the figure 7 gives the pressure gradient during the fiftieth cycle following the sudden acceleration, this fiftieth cycle corresponding substantially to a new stabilized engine speed.

Each diagram comprises two curves marked GP1 and GP2, which are each representative of the pressure in a corresponding combustion chamber during a time interval around the injections. These curves GP1, GP2 which illustrate the pressure gradient in the engine are more particularly the derivative of the pressure of the combustion chamber relative to the rotation angle of the engine.

The case illustrated in these diagrams corresponds to a multiple injection engine comprising an Ipil pilot injection followed by a Ipal main injection. The pilot injection consists of the injection of a small quantity of fuel carried out a few milliseconds before the main injection. It has the effect of reducing the pressure gradient in the combustion chamber, in particular to reduce the combustion noise.

In the figure 2 which shows a steady-state gradient diagram, a pilot injection marked by Ipil causes a pre-combustion which first substantially increases the pressure gradient to a first local maximum. Following the attainment of this local maximum, the pressure gradient decreases significantly until the main injection identified by Ipal is triggered, which causes the combustion of the fuel accompanied by a significant increase in the pressure gradient. up to a second local maximum spotted by Mpal.

The noise index, noted Ib, corresponds here to the difference between the value of the pressure gradient at the time of the main injection and the moment when the maximum Mpal maximum is reached. The pilot injection that has a marked effect in the diagram of the figure 2 modifies the conditions in the combustion chamber, which tends to reduce the value of Ib.

As visible on the figure 2 , the curves of the two curves GP1 and GP2 are similar in this first diagram.

Figure 3 , a full load acceleration request has just been applied to the engine. In this case, the effect of the pilot injection is much lower than in the diagram of the figure 2 , because it is a transient regime, for which the injection parameters are therefore not optimal. In particular, the effect of the pilot injection is almost non-existent in the case of the curve GP1, which leads to a value of the noise index Ib much greater than the case of the diagram of the figure 1 .

Diagrams of Figures 4 and 5 show similarly the pressure gradient curves of the following two cycles, in which the effect of the pilot injection is still very low, which leads to higher noise index values Ib.

The diagram of the figure 6 shows the twelfth engine cycle after the engine cycle of the figure 2 . The vehicle then accelerated significantly, so that it is a transient less marked than for the first three cycles. As a result, the effect of the pilot injection is again noticeable, which again leads to a reduced noise index value Ib, similarly to the case of the figure 1 .

The diagram of the figure 7 which corresponds to the fiftieth cycle following the request for acceleration full load corresponds to a situation in which the vehicle is approaching a new stabilized regime. It follows that the effect of the pilot injection is again fully perceptible, so that this pilot injection can significantly reduce the value of the noise index Ib, as in the case of the figure 2 .

As visible in Figures 3 to 5 the shape of the pressure gradient curve is very different from what it then becomes, while the fuel demand remains substantially the same.

More particularly, during the start of the transient regime, the effect of the pilot injection is almost non-existent, so that the autoignition of the combustion following the main injection is all the more violent, which is particularly important. origin of a higher combustion noise than in other cases.

This defect can advantageously be rectified by modifying the injection parameters as a function of the difference Ec between the noise index Ib and the reference value, in accordance with the invention.

This modification consists in acting in real time on the injection parameters, for example by increasing the quantity of fuel introduced during the pilot injection when the noise index is too great, that is to say when its difference Ec is greater than a predetermined threshold value. The increase of the quantity of fuel introduced by the pilot injection can be obtained by increasing the duration of injection.

The modification of the injection parameters in case of excessive noise index may still consist in modifying in real time the value of the angular advance or separation between the pilot injection and the main injection in order to reduce it. In a similar way, this modification of the injection parameters can still consist in introducing an intermediate pilot injection intervening between the normal pilot injection and the main injection.

As indicated above, according to the invention, the modifications of the closed loop injection parameters are carried out in real time, which means that the value of the noise index Ib during a motor cycle is taken into account to modify the injection parameters during the next engine cycle.

This closed-loop control has the effect of reducing the noise indicator Ib to a nominal value in a substantially instantaneous manner, in order to prevent the motor from generating a large noise.

Advantageously, the reference value Ref to which the noise index Ib is compared with each cycle is derived from a combustion map giving a reference value for each operating condition of the engine.

Claims (4)

1. Method for reducing the noise generated by an injection heat engine (M), consisting in determining at each engine cycle a noise index (Ib)from different values taken during this engine cycle by a signal (GP1, GP2) issued from a pressure sensor (C1-C4) of a combustion chamber of the engine (M); determining a difference value (Ec), for the engine cycle concerned, between the noise index (Ib) and a predetermined reference value (Ref); and modifying at least one injection parameter for the following engine cycle, so as to reduce this difference (Ec) if this difference (Ec) is greater than a predetermined threshold value, characterized in that the reference value is issued from a combustion cartography giving a reference value for each operating condition of the engine and in that the noise index (Ib) is determined by application of a derivation processing (FD) to the signal (S1-S4) generated by the pressure sensor, and by determining the difference between the value of the pressure gradient (GP1, GP2) when this pressure gradient (GP1, GP2) reaches a local maximum (Mpal) subsequent to an injection and the value of the pressure gradient at the time of this injection (Ipil, Ipal).
2. Method according to claim 1, consisting in determining a noise index (Ib) and a difference (Ec) for each combustion chamber (C1-C4) of the engine (M), and in modifying at least one injection parameter of each combustion chamber (C1-C4) having a difference (Ec) greater than the predetermined threshold value.
3. Method according to claim 1 or claim 2, applied to a multiple injection engine including an injection designated as pilot and an injection designated as principal, and in which the noise index (Ib) is determined on the basis of the pilot injection (Ipil) and/or on the basis of the principal injection (Ipal).
4. Method according to one of the preceding claims, in which the modified injection parameters are the injection advance, and/or the quantity of fuel injected for each injection, and/or the injection pressure, and/or the addition of a supplementary injection.

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