A fuel injection valve includes: a movable arrangement that is coupled to a movable core and a needle while a movable flow passage, which forms a part of a flow passage of the fuel injection valve, is formed at an inside of the movable arrangement; and a valve main body that receives the movable arrangement. The movable arrangement has: a first flow-restricting portion that reduces a cross-sectional area of a portion of the movable flow passage; and a second flow-restricting portion that is spaced away from the first flow-restricting portion and reduces a cross-sectional area of another portion of the movable flow passage to a cross-sectional area that is equal to or larger than a cross-sectional area of the first flow-restricting portion. A distance between the first flow-restricting portion and the second flow-restricting portion is larger than an equivalent diameter of the cross-sectional area of the second flow-restricting portion.

A controller for controlling an internal combustion engine includes a valve timing adjuster, a variable valve lift mechanism and a processor. The processor controls a duty cycle of a drive signal in a selected one of control modes, thereby changing a relative rotational phase of a camshaft relative to an engine output shaft. The control modes include a specific control mode in which the duty cycle of the drive signal is adjusted to change a value of the current through a first motor. The processor performs, when changing the relative rotational phase through execution of the specific control mode, an abnormality diagnosis for the variable valve lift mechanism based on a comparison between the current value at the first motor and a reference current value. The processor sets the reference current value in accordance with a rotation angle of the output shaft of a second motor.

Various methods and systems are provided for health assessments of a fuel system. In one example, a method for an inlet metering valve (IMV) includes reducing electrical driving of the IMV, monitoring a response time of the IMV in real-time responsive to the reducing, and determining if the IMV is degraded based on a response of IMV current over a duration, the duration beginning after an initial decrease in current caused by the reducing.

A fluid injector comprising a coil arranged to drive a pump from a first state to a second state when energized, so as to pump a dosing fluid; a PN junction electrically arranged across the coil to discharge energy stored in the coil when the voltage across the coil is above a threshold. In one particular embodiment, the fluid injector is a selective catalytic reduction dosing fluid injector.

A capacitive actuator is connected to an output of an apparatus which is formed with a capacitor connected between an input and a reference potential, with a full bridge with four power switching elements connected in parallel with the capacitor. To charge the capacitive actuator, a control circuit first turns on the first and third power switching elements. Current then flows from the first capacitor via a coil connected between the bridge paths and energy is stored in the coil. When a maximum current value is reached, the first and third power switching elements are switched off and magnetic energy stored in the coil decays due to current flow via the diodes of the second and fourth power switching elements. This charges the capacitive actuator. The capacitive actuator is charged to a predefined voltage by possible repeated switching of the first and third power switching elements.

A method for detecting an opening time of a valve, includes receiving a valve current profile of the valve and processing the valve current profile using at least a slope reflection detector to determine a status of the valve based on an output of the slope reflection detector.

Methods and systems are provided for detection of a closing time for a solenoid valve. In one example, a method may include monitoring a current of the solenoid valve, filtering the current, and determining the closing time of the solenoid valve based on each of the current and the filtered current. In some examples, the solenoid valve may be an electrically-actuated fuel injection valve. In some examples, determining the closing time may include using the filtered current to determine an inflection point of the current.

An injection control device includes: an area correction unit that calculates an energization time correction amount by performing area correction of a current flowing through a fuel injection valve when executing a current drive of a fuel injection valve to inject a fuel from the fuel injection valve in a multi-stage injection; and a change unit that changes an upper limit guard value of the energization time correction amount according to an injection time of the multi-stage injection during control of the multi-stage injection.

An injection control device includes: an area correction unit that calculates an energization time correction amount when executing a current drive of a fuel injection valve to inject a fuel from the fuel injection valve; a charging circuit that applies an electric power from the charging unit to the fuel injection valve; and a charge amount determination unit for determining the charge amount of the charging unit. The area correction unit changes the area correction control based on a determination result of the charge amount determination unit.

In a current-driving of a fuel injection valve to inject fuel through a single injection or a multi-stage injection, an energization time correction amount is calculated by performing area correction on a current flowing through the fuel injection valve. The single injection is switched to the multi-stage injection when the single injection is consecutively performed under a predetermined condition.