A control device for a high-pressure pump includes: a determination unit, an acquisition unit, and an electric power setting unit. The determination unit determines whether a movable portion of an electromagnetic valve has been moved to a closed position to close the electromagnetic valve when the electromagnetic valve is energized. The acquisition unit acquires, as an electromagnetic-valve response time, a period of time from a start of the energization of the electromagnetic valve until when it is determined that the electromagnetic valve has been closed. The electric power setting unit sets a supply power to the electromagnetic valve by repeating a process in which the supply power to the electromagnetic valve is reduced so as to be smaller than a previous value until the electromagnetic-valve response time reaches a predefined upper limit value.

A fuel injection controller includes an increase control portion applying the boost voltage to the coil to increase a coil current to a first target value, and a constant current control portion applying a voltage to the coil to hold the coil current to a second target value. A threshold is an energization time period that is necessary to reach a boundary point between a seat throttle area of a property line and an injection-port throttle area of the property line from an energization start time point. An initial-current applied time period is from the energization start time point that the boost voltage starts to be applied to the coil to a time point that the coil current is decreased to the second target value. The increase control portion controls the coil current such that the initial-current applied time period is less than the threshold.

An actuator/sensor device (1) includes: at least one actuator (3) controlled by a control signal and at least one sensor (5) transmitting an acquisition signal, the actuator (3) and the sensor (5) being integrated into the same component; an actuator/sensor pin (8) connecting a terminal of the actuator (3) and an output of the sensor (5) to the same single electrical wire (9) external to the actuator/sensor device (1); and switching elements adapted to cause either the control signal in a control phase (19) or the sensor information in an acquisition phase (21) to be sent on the electrical wire (9).

A fuel-injection system comprises a control unit that controls the injection of a fuel cylinder of an engine such that an injection volume of the fuel is injected into one of the cylinders during each work cycle of the engine. To this end, the control unit actuates an inlet valve and/or outlet valve such that, during pump strokes of a high-pressure pump which follow one another, a different high-pressure volume of the fuel per pump stroke is delivered into a pressure accumulator during at least two consecutive work cycles. The high-pressure volume that is produced per work cycle corresponds to the injection volume that is removed from the pressure accumulator per work cycle and is constant during each of the consecutive work cycles.

A control apparatus, which controlling an operation of an injector provided to an internal combustion engine, includes: a voltage application unit applying a voltage raised to have a step-up target value to the injector to open the injector; a current measurement unit measuring a drive current supplied to the injector in response to an application of the voltage; and a calculator calculating a current difference value which indicates a difference between an actually-measured profile and a reference profile. The actually-measured profile indicates a time-variation in an actually-measured value of the drive current, and the reference profile is a profile set in advance. The step-up target value is corrected according to the current difference value that is calculated.

Methods and systems for simultaneously operating port fuel injectors and direct fuel injectors of an internal combustion engine are described. In one example, operation of a port fuel injector is deactivated in response to an indication of reduced performance of a direct fuel injector so that degradation of the direct fuel injector may be reduced.

A injection control device for an internal combustion engine includes a fuel injection valve directly injecting a fuel into a cylinder of the internal combustion engine, and a drive current setting unit setting a drive current of the fuel injection valve according to a fuel pressure that is a pressure of the fuel supplied to the fuel injection valve, using a drive current profile specifying a relation between the fuel pressure and the drive current. When a compression stroke injection injecting the fuel in a compression stroke or an expansion stroke injection injecting the fuel in an expansion stroke is executed, the drive current setting unit sets the drive current using a predetermined profile having no hysteresis in change characteristics of the drive current with respect to the fuel pressure in a fuel pressure region of the compression stroke injection or the expansion stroke injection, as the drive current profile.

Methods are provided for controlling a solenoid spill valve of a direct injection fuel pump, wherein the solenoid spill valve is energized and de-energized according to certain conditions. A control strategy is needed to operate the direct injection fuel pump when small fractional trapping volumes are commanded, wherein a small amount of fuel is compressed and sent to the direct injection fuel rail. To maintain reliable and repeatable solenoid spill valve behavior for small fractional trapping volumes, methods are proposed that involve energizing the solenoid spill valve for a minimum angular duration below a trapping volume fraction threshold.

A method of controlling a solenoid valve of an automotive system, the valve being charged by a pulse width modulated signal (PWM) and determining an actuation of an automotive system component is provided. The method comprises the following: determining a target end of command of the valve as a function of a PWM state and a time interval from a last change of PWM state; monitoring a current value, a PWM phase period and the PWM state of a last pulse width modulated signal; and correcting in the next pulse width modulated signal at least one of said current value and PWM phase period, so that a next end of command of the valve will occur at the target end of command.

A method of controlling fuel injection in an internal combustion engine is presented. For each injector event a drive signal is applied to the fuel injector, wherein said drive signal has a pulse width, which is calculated on the basis of a master performance function and of a minimum delivery pulse corresponding to the minimum pulse width required for the injector to open. The minimum delivery pulse is determined from the voltage across the terminals of the fuel injector's electromagnetic actuator, by comparing the duration of a segment of the voltage second derivative to a predetermined threshold value.