In a fluid energy machine, such as an exhaust gas turbocharger of an internal combustion engine of an automobile, with a casing accommodating a rotor wheel that is rotatable about a first axis of rotation extending in the axial direction of the casing, an inlet flow passage which extends generally in a flow direction at an angle relative to the axial and the radial directions to the housing, the flow passage is formed by spaced insertion elements with spherical sections that have a common center of curvature disposed on the first axis of rotation and guide vanes are supported between the spaced spherical wall sections of the insertion elements so as to be rotatable about a second axis of rotation which extends through the common center of curvature, and have opposite axial end walls also curved spherically with a center of curvature coinciding with the center of curvature of the insertion elements thereby to be pivotable between the two spaced spherical wall sections of the insertion elements with minimal clearance.

An ignition system includes an ignition coil with a primary winding and a secondary winding having a terminal for providing a high voltage (HV). An electrode arrangement of an igniter includes first and second HV electrodes coupled to the terminal of the secondary winding. The igniter also has at least one ground electrode. A first spark gap is defined between the first HV electrode and the at least one ground electrode, and a second spark gap is defined between the second HV electrode and the at least one ground electrode. A first capacitor is disposed in-line between the first HV electrode and the terminal of the secondary winding and a second capacitor disposed in-line between the second HV electrode and the terminal of the secondary winding of the ignition coil. The ignition system includes a driver module coupled to a terminal of the primary winding, for driving the ignition coil.

The present invention relates to a method and system for increasing power output and enhancing efficiency of an internal combustion engine, which comprises: cooling exhaust gas of the engine in a recuperating heat exchanger by transferring heat to stored air; compressing the exhaust gas to a pressure requisite for admission into the engine utilizing a compander module powered by expanding previously compressed and stored air in an expander without parasitic power consumption; mixing the exhaust gas with expanded air; and cooling or heating the exhaust gas to a suitable temperature in a final trim cooler or heater and supplying the exhaust gas to the engine at a pressure requisite at an admission point, without the need for additional compression and concomitant parasitic power consumption needed for exhaust gas recirculation. Extra electric power output and higher thermal efficiency is facilitated by using the excess power generation from the compander in a synchronous AC generator.

Methods and/or systems for operating an exhaust-gas aftertreatment system of an internal combustion engine include: setting the internal combustion engine to a diagnostic operating mode with relevant diagnostic operating parameters of the internal combustion engine are set to correspond with diagnostic default values; inducing a targeted, defined NH.sub.3 and/or NO.sub.X concentration change upstream of the filter; measuring the NH.sub.3 and/or NO.sub.X concentration change downstream of the filter; providing a correlating concentration comparison value; evaluating the concentration change on the basis of the respective concentration comparison value and predefined limit values; and diagnosing the SCR particle filter as defective if the evaluation yields that the concentration comparison value has overshot a predefined limit value.

Methods and systems are provided for an exhaust system. In one example, the exhaust system includes an aftertreatment device and a recirculation passage. A recirculation valve is positioned in the recirculation passage and configured to control an amount of recirculated exhaust gas flowing through the recirculation passage to the aftertreatment device. The exhaust system further includes a diverter valve configured to control a flow of engine exhaust gases to different portions of a catalyst of the aftertreatment device.

A vehicle controller is configured to execute a duty cycle control process of alternately repeating an electric power generation execution period and an electric power generation stop period of an electric generator and controlling a duty cycle, which is a ratio of the electric power generation execution period to a single cycle of repeated cycles, when determining that an anomaly has occurred in a driving circuit. The duty cycle control process includes at least one of two processes, a process of setting the duty cycle to be larger when a member in an overheatable region, in which overheating is possibly performed by the heater, has a low temperature than when the member has a high temperature and a process of setting the duty cycle to be larger when an internal combustion engine has a large intake air amount than when the engine has a small intake air amount.

A protective element (30) includes an insulating substrate (33), a plurality of electrodes (34) provided on the insulating substrate (33), a fuse element (35) electrically connected to any electrode (34) of the plurality of electrodes (34), and a heat generation element (38) provided on the insulating substrate (33) for heating and fusing the fuse element (35). The fuse element (35) contains a composite metal material in which a first fusible metal (31) and a second fusible metal (32) are stacked, some of a component of the first fusible metal (31) being dissolved at a joint working temperature, the second fusible metal (32) being lower in melt temperature than the first fusible metal (31), at least some of a component of the second fusible metal (32) being molten at the joint working temperature.

A protective element includes an insulating substrate, a plurality of electrodes provided on the insulating substrate, a fuse element electrically connected to any electrode of the plurality of electrodes, and a heat generation element provided on the insulating substrate for heating and fusing the fuse element. The fuse element contains a composite metal material in which a first fusible metal and a second fusible metal are stacked, some of a component of the first fusible metal being dissolved at a joint working temperature, the second fusible metal being lower in melt temperature than the first fusible metal, at least some of a component of the second fusible metal being molten at the joint working temperature.

A method of operating exhaust gas recirculation pump for an internal combustion engine including: providing an EGR pump assembly including an electric motor coupled to a roots device having rotors, the EGR pump operably connected to an internal combustion engine; providing an EGR control unit linked to the EGR pump assembly; providing sensors linked to the EGR control unit; determining if a motor speed is within a predetermined target in step S1 wherein when motor speed=predetermined target then; determining if a motor torque is within a predetermined target in step S2 wherein when motor torque=predetermined target then; determining if a motor temperature is within a predetermined target in step S3 wherein when motor temperature=predetermined target then; and maintaining operation of the exhaust gas recirculation pump.

A method for control and/or regulation of a hybrid powertrain of a motor vehicle, wherein exhaust gas is taken from an exhaust system and delivered to a fresh air supply of an internal combustion engine, wherein the residual recirculated exhaust gas is purged from the fresh air supply in the event of a negative load jump. After the negative load jump, the internal combustion engine continues to run with a smaller load and simultaneously the torque supplied by the internal combustion engine is recuperated by means of the electric machine, wherein no positive torque in total is applied to the output of the powertrain.