Low noise control of a high-pressure fuel pump is performed by reducing noise generated by an anchor colliding with a fixing core. A control device 800 for a high-pressure fuel pump controls a suction valve that opens and closes an inflow port through which fuel flows to a pressurizing chamber by performing energization to a solenoid 205 in synchronization with a reciprocating motion of a plunger. A current energized to the solenoid 205 includes a peak current for giving a force to start closing a valve to the suction valve in a stationary state and a holding current for performing switching in a range smaller a maximum value of the peak current in order to hold the suction valve in a valve closing state. When the control device 800 reduces a peak current application amount of the peak current from a value sufficient to close the high-pressure fuel pump, a valve closing speed of the suction valve becomes small up to a certain application amount, and when the peak current application amount becomes smaller than the application amount, there is a saturation range of a current application amount of the peak current in which the valve closing speed of the suction valve is saturated. The control device 800 controls the current application amount of the peak current to fall in the saturation range.

The present invention relates to an injector for injecting fuel, comprising an injector housing, a movable nozzle needle which is arranged in the injector housing and has a nozzle needle tip, a nozzle needle seat for receiving the nozzle needle tip, and a mechanical switch which upon contact of the nozzle needle tip with the nozzle needle seat assumes a closed state and upon interruption of the contact assumes an open state, wherein the injector is provided with an input line and an output line for actuating a movement of the nozzle needle, and the switch includes a first terminal and a second terminal. The injector is characterized in that the first terminal of the switch is connected to the input line and the second terminal of the switch is connected to the injector housing.

The present application relates to an abnormality determination device for a variable geometry turbocharger having a nozzle mechanism capable of changing a flow path area of exhaust gas with an actuator. The abnormality determination device includes: a first detection part configured to be capable of detecting at least one of a load of the actuator or supply energy to the actuator; and a determination part configured to determine that an abnormality is present, if a detection result by the first detection part is out of an allowable range corresponding to an operational state of the variable geometry turbocharger.

A metering valve comprising a solenoid having: a coil mounted on a core; and an armature moveable axially with respect to the core and against a return bias in response to a current in the coil; a variable capacitor having a first plate mounted for movement with the armature and a second plate fixed with respect to the core. The metering valve comprises an electronic feedback loop which is used to adjust the current in the coil based on a feedback signal derived from of the capacitance of the variable capacitor. A reference capacitor may be provided having opposing third and fourth plates at a set separation. A valve body may house the solenoid, the variable capacitor and the reference capacitor.

Provided is a load drive device capable of diagnosing a failure of an output terminal of the load drive device before a charging voltage stabilizes in a configuration in which a capacitor is connected to an output terminal of the load drive device that drives an inductive load. In the load drive device according to the present invention, a capacitor is connected between a load terminal and a ground terminal, and the presence or absence of a failure of the load terminal is diagnosed on the basis of a current flowing between an internal power supply included in a diagnosis circuit and the load terminal.

With a simple configuration, responsiveness between an electronic control unit and a load drive circuit is monitored without deteriorating characteristics of the load drive circuit. The load drive circuit according to the present invention diagnoses an abnormality in responsiveness of a switch element that drives a load based on a drive command of the switch element and a signal at an output terminal of the switch element.

A method to estimate the temperature of an electromagnetic actuator, which entails a preliminary step in which to define a first threshold value for the current or for the voltage; and define a characteristic curve of the actuator family in the plane temperature/time needed to reach the threshold value; a step in which to carry out a reference measurement, in which, using the characteristic curve, a reference time needed by the electromagnetic actuator to reach the first threshold value is associated with a known reference temperature; and a step in which to carry out a series of measurements in which to determine the time needed by the electromagnetic actuator to reach the first threshold value, calculate the deviation between the time needed by the electromagnetic actuator to reach the first threshold value and the reference time; and determine the temperature of the electromagnetic actuator, using the characteristic curve, by associating the temperature of the electromagnetic actuator with the sum of the deviation and of the reference time.

The invention relates to a method for controlling a linear pump of a vapour recovery system in a fuel dispensing unit. The linear pump is flow controlled by a signal. The method comprises applying a known voltage to a solenoid coil of the linear pump for a predetermined time period, measuring a current consumption of the solenoid coil during the predetermined time period, and adjusting the signal based on the measured current consumption. The invention also relates to a vapour recovery system for recovering vapour from a motor vehicle tank via a fuel dispensing nozzle to a vapour tank.

A method is provided for ascertaining a torque curve of a hybrid powertrain including a first sub-powertrain an internal combustion engine, and a second sub-powertrain, which is separated from the first sub-powertrain by a torsional elasticity and has an electric machine with a rotor (10). A rotational characteristic value of the first sub-powertrain is detected via a sensor arranged on the torsional elasticity. A rotational characteristic value of the rotor is detected via a device engaged with the rotor. An irregularity in operation of the internal combustion engine is determined based on at least one of the rotational characteristic value of the first sub-powertrain or the rotational characteristic value of the rotor. The electric machine is controlled based on the irregularity m operation.

A method for determining a characteristic variable for opening and/or closing a flow-through opening of a solenoid valve, in which solenoid valve a solenoid coil is energized to raise an armature to open the flow-through opening for a fluid. During operation of the solenoid valve, a profile of a current in the solenoid coil being determined, and using a pattern recognition method based on artificial intelligence, the characteristic variable(s) is/are determined based on at least one section of the profile or a profile derived therefrom using a neural network. A method for applying and for training a pattern recognition method based on artificial intelligence are also described.