US3338224A

US3338224A - Fuel control mechanism

Info

Publication number: US3338224A
Application number: US452990A
Authority: US
Inventors: Walter F Isley; Frank C Druzynski
Original assignee: Continental Aviation and Engineering Corp
Current assignee: Continental Aviation and Engineering Corp
Priority date: 1965-05-04
Filing date: 1965-05-04
Publication date: 1967-08-29
Anticipated expiration: 1984-08-29
Also published as: GB1148071A; DE1526511B1

Description

1957 w. F. ISLEY ETAL 3,338,224

FUEL CONTROL MECHANISM Filed May 4, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 251 FIG. 5

V Y INVENTORS FIG. .2. WALTER ISLEY DRUZYNSKI BY FRANK ATTORNEYS Aug. 29, 1967 w. F. ISLEY ETAL FUEL CONTROL MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I Filed May 4, 1965 C DRUZYNSKI ATTORNEYS v United States Patent 3,338,224 FUEL CONTROL NLECHANiSM Walter F. Isley, Grosse Pointe, and Frank C. Druzynski, Birmingham, Mich., assignors to Continental Aviation and Engineering Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Virginia Filed May 4, 1965, Ser. No. 452,990 9 Claims. (Cl. 123-140) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A device for preventing the governor for an internal combustion engine from actuating the delivery of an amount of fuel above a predetermined setting at each throttle position and which permits maximum fuel delivery at idle and fully open positions of the throttle and permits a minimum fuel delivery at a throttle position approximately one-fourth of the distance between these two positions. This result is :produced by a drive plate connected with the throttle for rotation therewith and which is connected with a fuel pump delivery limiting means through a pin and slot arrangement in which one pin engages in a slot to produce movement of the limiting means through a portion of the rotation of the drive plate and another pin engages in another slot to produce movement of the limiting means in an opposite direction through rotation of the drive plate through the remaining arc.

The present invention relates to internal combustion engines, particularly fuel control means for such engines and more particularly to an improved means adapted to be connected with the fuel pump for such engines and operable to limit the maximum quantity of fuel which can be delivered to the engine by the fuel pump at each throttle setting.

Governors are often provided on internal combustion engines for the purpose of maintaining a constant engine speed at each throttle setting regardless of variations in engine load, Such devices therefore are operable upon the engine load decreasing for instance to decrease the amount of fuel to the engine to thereby maintain a prededetermined speed. If the engine load should increase, then the governor actuates mechanism to increase the fuel quantity delivered by the fuel pump to maintain the constant speed desired. The problem encountered in such fuel control systems is that when the engine is operating at part load and an increased load is put upon the engine which would cause the engine to slow down or lug, the governor will automatically actuate the fuel pump to increase the quantity of fuel being delivered to the engine to maintain the original speed, even to the maximum quantity that the system is capable of delivering. Although this is a momentary and temporary condition, it results in inefiiciency as well as undue wear especially when such an engine is coupled to a transmission. Particularly, when an automatic transmission of the lock-up type is coupled to the engine, the governor will in effect cause the engine to produce full load power during the power shifts because shifting through the gears does not occur until the engine is lugged down to the speed shift point. During the power shift, the engine speed increases, due to the excess fuel being delivered by the governor, severe loading is produced on the clutches, gears and the shift mechanism of the transmisison to thereby produce wear, reduce the durability of the mechanism, and cause harsh sounding and feeling shifting.

Heretofore means have been provided for preventing the governor from increasing engine speed beyond a given value at each throttle posit-ion. In this way the govenror is prevented from momentarily increasing fuel delivery to the maximum upon each increase in engine load. The problem, however, with such prior art systems has been produced by the fact that engine characteristics do not permit the provision of a limiting means which limits the maximum fuel the system can deliver at each throttle position in a straight line function. As the throttle position approaches the idle position from a position approximately one-fourth fully open it has been found that it is necessary to permit the governor to increase the amount of fuel delivered by the fuel pump at a change in the engine load to insure proper recovery of the engine and that at the idle position it is necessary to permit the governor to actuate the pump to deliver substantially the maximum amount of fuel the system is capable of delivering in order to insure that the engine will properly recover at a substantial increase in engine load at that throttle position. Therefore any governor limiting means must permit the governor to deliver maximum fuel at the idle position and fully opened positions and must diminish the amount of fuel that the system is permitted to deliver from these positions toward a minimum amount which is permitted at a throttle position substantially one-fourth of the way between idle and the fully opened position of the throttle.

The present invention provides a limiting means operable to prevent a governor from actuating the delivery of an amount of fuel above a predetermined setting at each 7 provided are operable to increase the predetermined set-- ting from this intermediate throttle position to a fully open throttle position so that sufficient fuel is available for proper recovery of the engine at all positions of the throttle.

It is an object then of the present invention to provide a governor limiting means operable to prevent the governor from actuating a maximum fuel delivery to the engine each time engine load increases at a predetermined throttle position other than idle and full load.

It is another object of the present invention to provide limiting means for controlling the operation of a governor which is operable to permit the governor to actuate delivery of maximum fuel at the idle positions of the throttle and to permit a slowly diminishing amount of fuel to be delivered as the throttle approaches a position substantially one-fourth of the way between idle and fully open and to permit a slow increase in the amount of fuel permitted to be delivered as the throttle approaches the fully opened posit-ions from the intermediate position.

It is a further object of the present invention to reduce loading on the gears of transmissions and harshness of shifting for governor controlled internal combustion engines by providing means limiting the amount of fuel I which can be delivered to the engine at each part throttle setting whereby engine speed is not permitted to momentarily increase to a maximum value as the engine'load is increased through operation of the transmission.

Still further objects and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art upon reference to the following drawings in which like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the several views and in which FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the relation of a preferred fuel limiting means to a fuel control system of an internal combustion engine.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of a preferred fuel limiting means of the present invention as seen substantially from line 22 of FIG. 3 and with portions removed for purposes of clarity.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the limiting device illustrated in FIG. 2 and with portions removed for purposes of clarity.

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 but illustrating another preferred operating position of the limiting means of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of the structure shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 but illustrating yet another operating position of the limiting means of the present invention.

Now referring to the drawings for a more detailed description of the present inveniton, FIG.'1 illustrates diagrammatically an internal combustion engine having a fuel pump 12 preferably drivingly connected thereto and operable to deliver fuel to the engine 10 from a fuel tank 14. A fuel density control means is illustrated diagrammatically at 1-6 as being connected to the fuel pump 12 and the fuel tank 14 by conduits 18 and 20 respectively. As will be more apparent as the description proceeds, the fuel density control means 16 is not a necessary part of the present invention and has been more carefully described and claimed in our copending application, Ser. No. 281,715, filed May 20, 1963 and now Patent No. 3,204,623.

A governor 22 is preferably connected to the engine 10 as shown,'to detect engine speed and is connected by a linkage 24 to a throttle 26 and by linkage 30 to the fuel pump 12.

The throttle 26 is positioned to maintain the desired engine speed. The linkage 24 actuates the governor which senses engine speed and through linkage 30' controls the fuel pump 12 to maintain a desired engine speed regardless of changes in engine load. The engine 10 illustrated is preferably a multi-fuel type although as the description proceeds it will be apparent that other engines can be used as well. The fuel limiting means 32 as will be described in greater detail below, is connected by linkage 28 to the full load stop (not shown) of the fuel pump 12 and by linkage 25 to the throttle 26 to prevent the governor 22 from actuating the fuel pump 12 to deliver fuel to the engine 10 above a predetermined maximum rate for each position of the throttle 26. Because the engine 10 is preferably of a multi-fuel type the fuel density control means 16 acts to regulate the full load stop of the fuel pump 12 in response to variations in the viscosity of the fuel being delivered to the engine 10 substantially as described in our aforementioned copending application.

Now referring to FIGS. 2-5 for a more detailed description of the limiting device 32 of the present invention, the device 32 is therein illustrated as comprising a housing '34 defining an open chamber 36. The fuel density control means 16 is preferably mounted on top of the limiting means 32 to close the chamber 36. As more completely described in our aforementioned copending application, the fuel viscosity control device 16 includes a rod 38 which is axially movable in response to changes in the fuel viscosity of the fuel being delivered to the engine 10 and which is pivotably connected as at 40 to a forked member 42. The forked member 42 is pivotably connected at 44 to a lever arm 46. A wedge block 48 is secured to a pin member 50 which is in turn axially adjustably carried in an extension of the housing 52 of the fuel density control means. 16. A guide surface 54 is provided-on the housing 52 and an extension 56 of the wedge block 48 slidably engages the guide surface 54. Nut members 58 and a spring member 60 permit axial adjust ment of the pin member 50 to move the wedge block 48 along the surface 54.

As can best be seen in FIG. 2 a shaft 62 is rotatably carried in the housing 34 and extends into the chamber 36 of the limiting means 32. As can best be seen in FIGS. 3 through 5 a drive plate 64 is secured to the shaft 62 for rotation therewith and comprises at least two spaced arm portions 66 and 68 each carrying a pin member 70 and 72 respectively. A link 74 is provided with an enlarged opening 76 which encompasses the shaft 62 but which is not in engagement therewith as illustrated, and elongated slots 78 and 80 through which the pins 70 and 72 are respectfully inserted. The upper portion of the link 74 is bent as shown at 82 to provide a seat for a spring 84 secured to the housing 34 and urging the link member 74 downwardly into engagement with one or both of the pins 70 and 72. The upper portion of the link member 74 is pivotably secured as at 86 to a center wedge member 88. The shaft 62 extends exteriorly of the housing 34 as shown in FIG. 2, and is rotatable by means of an arm adapted for connection to the throttle 26 by the linkage 25.

The linkage 28 is pivotally connected'to a pivotally mounted arm 89. The arm 89 is provided with a nose cam 90 which engages with an inclined face portion of the lever arm 46. The center wedge 88 is provided with opposite inclined faces 92 and 94 which respectively engage complementary faces 96 and 98 provided on the wedgeblock 48 and lever arm 46 respectively so that the center wedge 88 is positioned intermediate the wedge block 48 and the lever arm 46. In the embodiment illustrated, movement of the arm 89 to the right as seen in FIG. 3 actuates the full load stop of the fuel pump 12 through the linkage 28 to decrease the quantity of fuel which can be delivered to the engine 10. Pivotable movement of the arm 89 to the left as seen in FIG. 3 actuates the full load stop of the fuel pump 12 through the linkage 28 to increase the amount of fuel which can be delivered to the engine 10. The nose cam 91 of the arm 89 engages in the inclined face 100 of the lever arm member 46 so that axial movement of the rod 38 in response to changes in the viscosity of the fuel being delivered to the engine 10 produces a corresponding pivotal movement of the arm 89 to vary the full load stop of the fuel pump 12.

It is apparent that movement of the center wedge 88 along the surfaces 96 and 98 will produce an outward or inward movement of the surface 100 of the arm member 46 to move the linkage 28 through the nose cam 90 and arm member 89 to thereby vary the position of the full load stop of the fuel pump 12.

It is apparent that the movement of the throttle 26 pro- 7 duces a rotation of the shaft 62 and a corresponding movement of the drive plate 64 so that the position of the arm 7 portions 66 and 68 will change depending upon the position of the throttle 26. With the throttle in a position substantially one-fourth of the way intermediate an idle position and a fully open position the shaft 62 will be rotated to position the drive plate 64 and the arm portions 66 and 68 as shown in FIG. 3. In this position both pins 70 and 72 engage the upper portions of the link 74 defining the slots 78 and 80 respectively so that the link 74 and the center wedge 88 are in the lowermost possible position.

In this position the arm member 89 is urged to pivot toward the right as shown in FIG. 3 the maximum distance for a given position of the rod 38 so that the full load stop on the fuel pump 12 is adjusted to its minimum full load position that the particular engine will tolerate for good recovery for the particular fuel being used. The governor will not be permitted then to actuate the fuel pump 22 to deliver more fuel than the predetermined setting produced by the linkage 30 regardless of changes in load conditions.

Further opening of the throttle 26 produces a counterclockwise rotation of the shaft 62 toward the position illustrated in FIG. 4. Counter-clockwise rotation of the shaft 62 and drive member 64 causes the pin 70 to disengage from the end of the 'slot 78 in the link 74 but the pin 72 remains engaged in the upper portion of the slot 80 and causes the link member 74 and the center wedge 88 to be moved upwardly to thereby move the arm member 89 to the left as seen in FIG. 4 to adjust the full load stop of the fuel pump 12 to permit the governor to deliver a greater quantity of fuel to the engine 10. It is apparent then that over approximately three fourths the upper range of the throttle 26 the link 74 is moved upwardly to adjust the full load stop of the fuel pump 12 and to thereby adjust the upper limits of maximum fuel that the fuel pump 12 is permitted to deliver to the engine in response to actuation by the governor 22. Over this range the limit is substantially a straight line function. This prevents the governor 22 from momentarily actuating the fuel pump 12 to deliver the maximum quantity it is capable of delivering each time engine speed is decreased at a predetermined throttle setting because of an increase in engine load at that setting.-

It has been found that as engine speed is decreased through a range of throttle positions from idle to approximately one fourth fully opened, an increasing amount of available fuel is required to insure proper recovery of the engine and in fact at idle the governor 22 must be capable of actuating the fuel pump 12 to deliver substantially the maximum quantity it is capable of delivering so that any limiting means must adjust the full load stop of the fuel pump 12 to a substantially fully opened position at idle position of the throttle. The particular limiting means of the present invention produces this result.

As the throttle 26 is moved from the position illustrated in FIG. 3 toward an idle position the shaft 62 is rotated in a clockwise direction to rotate the drive plate 64 and the arm portions 66 and 68 toward the position shown in FIG. 5. As the drive plate 64 is rotated, the pin member 70 engages in the upper portion of the slot 78 to move the link 74 and the center wedge 88 upwardly and to thereby adjust the full load stop of the fuel pump 12 toward the maximum value so that at idle position the link 74 and center wedge 88 are at their upper-most position and the full load stop of the pump 12 is at a position permitting maximum fuel delivery to the engine.

Thus as the throttle 26 is moved from the idle position toward the fully open position, the drive plate 64 and pin members 70 and 72 are moved from the position shown in FIG. 5 toward the position shown in FIG. 3. The drive late 64 moves in a counter-clockwise direction to produce a relative movement of the pin member 70 away from the upper portion of the slot 78 and of the pin member 72 toward the upper portion of the slot 80. The spring member 84 maintains contact between the pin member 70 and the upper portion defining the slot 78 so that the link 74 is moved downwardly during initial rotation of the drive plate 64.

Because the slot 80 is of a lesser length than slot 78 and is positioned with its upper portion below the upper portion of slot 78 the pin 72 will be brought into engagement with the upper portion of slot 80 before pin 70 is moved into engagement with the lower portion of slot 78. At this position both pins engage link 74 and the link 74 is in its lowermost position. It is apparent that if both slots 78 and 80 were of the same length, this position would be produced upon the throttle 26 being positioned substantially midway between idle and fully open.

Further counterclockwise movement of the drive plate 64 causes the pin 72 to move the link 74 upwardly toward the maximum position shown in FIG. 4.

It is apparent that the limiting means of the present invention provides an efiective means of limiting the tendency of a governor to actuate the fuel pump to produce maximum fuel delivery each time engine load is increased at a particular throttle setting. The limiting means of the present invention imposes a maximum value at each throttle setting above which the governor cannot actuate the fuel pump. The particular slotted link 74 and pins 70 and 72 of the present invention are operable to provide position. This permits sufficient fuel quantity availability at and around idle to insure that the engine will properly recover as heretofore explained.

It is also apparent that although we have described but one embodiment of our invention many other changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as expressed by the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In combination with a member adapted for reciprocating movement between a first position and a second position,

(a) a drive plate and means for selectively rotating said drive plate between a first drive plate position, a second drive plate position, and a drive plate position intermediate said first and second position,

(b) means connecting said member and said drive plate and operable upon rotation of said drive plate from said first drive plate position toward said intermediate drive plate position to move said member from said first position toward said second position, and operable upon further rotation of said drive member from said intermediate drive plate positioned toward said second drive plate position to move said member from said second position toward said first position,

(c) the improvement being said last mentioned means comprising a first pin member and a second pin member and means connecting said drive plate and said member through only said first pin member at said first drive plate position and connecting said drive plate and said member through both of said pin members at said intermediate drive plate position, and connecting said drive plate and said member through only said second pin member at said drive plate position, said pin members being positioned on said drive plate and said connecting means comprising a pair of slots provided in said member and receiving said pin members.

2. The combination as defined in claim 1 and in which said slots are elongated and are of different lengths.

3. The combination as defined in claim 1 and including means urging said member into engagement with said pin members.

4. In an internal combustion engine having a fuel pump and a throttle, a means for connecting said throttle and said fuel pump to regulate the maximum amount of fuel which can be delivered by said fuel pump to said engine at each position of said throttle, said means comprising,

(a) a link member adapted for reciprocating movement between a first position and a second position and means connecting said link member to said fuel pump and operable to permit maximum fuel delivery by said fuel pump at said first position of said link member and to permit a predetermined minimum fuel delivery at said second position of said link member,

(b) a rotatably mounted drive plate and means connecting said drive plate and said throttle and operable to rotate said drive plate in response to changes in the position of said throttle, said drive plate being rotatable between a first drive plate position corresponding to the idle position of said throttle, a second drive plate position corresponding to the fully opened position of said throttle, and a drive plate position intermediate said first and second drive plate po sitions and corresponding to a position intermediate said idle and fully opened positions of said throttle,

(c) the improvement comprising means connecting said link and said drive plate and operable upon rotation of said drive plate from said first drive plate positioned toward said intermediate drive plate positioned to move said link member from said first position toward said second position and operable upon further rotation of said drive plate from said intermediate drive plate position toward said second drive plate position to move said link member from said second position toward said first position.

5. The combination as defined in claim 4 and in which said last means comprises a first pin member and a second pin member and means connecting said drive plate and said link member through only said first pin member at said first position of said drive plate and connecting said drive plate, and said link member through both of said pin members at said intermediate position of said drive plate, and connecting said drive plate and said link member through only said second pin member at said second position of said drive plate.

6. The combination as defined in claim 5 and in which said pins are positioned on said drive plate and said last mentioned means comprises slots provided in said link member.

9. The combination as defined in claim 4 and in which said intermediate position of said drive plate corresponds to a position of said throttle substantially one-fourth of the way between idle and fully open. 7

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,771,280 11/1956 Andis 74107 X 2,818,053 12/1957 Shallenberg 123-140 3,130,599 4/1964 Haas 74526 LAURENCE M. GOODRIDGE, Primary Examiner.

Claims

1. IN COMBINATION WITH A MEMBER ADAPTED FOR RECIPROCATING MOVEMENT BETWEEN A FIRST POSITION AND A SECOND POSITION, (A) A DRIVE PLATE AND MEANS FOR SELECTIVELY ROTATING SAID DRIVE PLATE BETWEEN A FIRST DRIVE PLATE POSITION, A SECOND DRIVE PLATE POSITION, AND A DRIVE PLATE POSITION INTERMEDIATE SAID FIRST AND SECOND POSITION, (B) MEANS CONNECTING SAID MEMBER AND SAID DRIVE PLATE AND OPERABLE UPON ROTATION OF SAID DRIVE PLATE FROM SAID FIRST DRIVE PLATE POSITION TOWARD SAID INTERMEDIATE DRIVE PLATE POSITION TO MOVE SAID MEMBER FROM SAID FIRST POSITION TOWARD SAID SECOND POSITION, AND OPERABLE UPON FURTHER ROTATION OF SAID DRIVE MEMBER FROM SAID INTERMEDIATE DRIVE PLATE POSITIONED TOWARD SAID SECOND DRIVE PLATE POSITION TO MOVE SAID MEMBER FROM SAID SECOND POSITION TOWARD SAID FIRST POSITION, (C) THE IMPROVEMENT BEING SAID LAST MENTIONED MEANS COMPRISING A FIRST PIN MEMBER AND A SECOND PIN MEMBER AND MEANS CONNECTING SAID DRIVE PLATE AND SAID MEMBER THROUGH ONLY SAID FIRST PIN MEMBER AT SAID FIRST DRIVE PLATE POSITION AND CONNECTING SAID DRIVE PLATE AND SAID MEMBER THROUGH BOTH OF SAID PIN MEMBERS AT SAID INTERMEDIATE DRIVE PLATE POSITION, AND CONNECTING SAID DRIVE PLATE AND SAID MEMBER THROUGH ONLY SAID SECOND PIN MEMBER AT SAID DRIVE PLATE POSITION, SAID PIN MEMBERS BEING POSITIONED ON SAID DRIVE PLATE AND SAID CONNECTING MEANS COMPRISING A PAIR OF SLOTS PROVIDED IN SAID MEMBER AND RECEIVING SAID PIN MEMBERS.