Method for controlling a fuel pump for a motor vehicle

Abstract

Disclosed is a method for controlling a fuel pump for a motor vehicle, including determining if a set amount of fuel to be compressed is less than the minimum volume that can be delivered by the pump and, if this is the case, determining a new set amount of fuel to be compressed equal to the product of a number of compressions of a volume equal to the set amount of fuel to be compressed required to achieve at least the minimum volume that can be delivered and the set amount of fuel to be compressed; transmitting the new set amount of fuel to be compressed to the fuel pump; and subsequently disabling the fuel pump for a number of occurrences of the set amount of fuel equal to the number of compressions of a volume equal to the set amount of fuel to be compressed.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a fuel pump for a motor vehicle, the method comprising: for each iteration: receiving a demand for a demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed by the pump; determining whether the demanded quantity of fuel is greater than zero and below a minimum volume that the pump is capable of delivering; if by said determining, the demanded quantity of fuel is determined to be not below the minimum volume that the pump is capable of delivering, transmitting the demand for the demanded quantity of fuel to the fuel pump; and if by said determining, the demanded quantity of fuel is determined to be greater than zero and below the minimum volume that the pump is capable of delivering: determining a number of compressions of a volume equal to the demanded quantity of fuel that are needed in order to reach at least the minimum volume that the pump is capable of delivering, said number of compressions being equal to the minimum volume that the pump is capable of delivering divided by the demanded quantity of fuel, determining a new demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed as being equal to a product of said number of compressions times the demanded quantity of fuel, replacing the demanded quantity of fuel with the new demanded quantity of fuel, transmitting a demand for the new demanded quantity of fuel to the fuel pump, and then preventing compression at the fuel pump by inhibiting the fuel pump from receiving a number of subsequent occurrences of non-zero demands for fuel, said number equal to said number of compressions minus one, wherein, in said determining said number of compressions, if said number of compressions is not a whole number, a further step takes place of rounding said number of compressions to an integer above the minimum volume that the pump is capable of delivering divided by the demanded quantity of fuel.

2. The control method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, for inhibiting the fuel pump from receiving the number of subsequent occurrences of demand for fuel: after said determining that the demanded quantity of fuel is below the minimum volume that the pump is capable of delivering, and after said replacing the demanded quantity of fuel with the new demanded quantity of fuel, setting a counter with a value equal to zero; and then in a next iteration, having received a next demand for a next demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed, incrementing the value of the counter by one unit, and a determination is carried out whether the value of the counter thus obtained is lower than said number of compressions, where if, by said determination, the value of the counter is not lower than said number of compressions, then the value of the counter is canceled and the method continues by comparing the next demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed against the minimum volume that the pump is capable of delivering; and if, by said determination, the value of the counter is lower than said number of compressions, then the value of the counter is maintained, and a new demand of a new demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed, having a value of zero, is defined and transmitted to the pump.

3. The control method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pump is of the type having at least two plungers, and the demand for a demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed is transmitted always to one same plunger of said at least two plungers.

4. The control method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pump is of the type having at least two plungers, and each demand for a non-zero demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed is transmitted to alternate ones of said at least two plungers.

5. The control method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the pump is of the type having at least two plungers, and the demand for a demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed is transmitted always to one same plunger of said at least two plungers.

6. The control method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the pump is of the type having at least two plungers, and each demand for a non-zero demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed is transmitted to alternate ones of said at least two plungers.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from reading the following description, given solely by way of nonlimiting example and made with reference to the attached drawing in which the single FIGURE illustrates the main steps in the method for controlling a fuel pump according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

(2) The method described hereinbelow is executed in a control loop, the values from the previous iteration being used as initialization values for the current iteration.

(3) For the first iteration, the method is initialized using a counter CTR_PUMP_DEL of the number of pump compression phases needed in order to achieve at least the minimum volume VFF_Pump_Min that the pump is capable of delivering with the demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed equal to zero, and a number PUMP_DEL_PHA_NEEDED of compressions of a volume equal to the demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed equal to unity.

(4) During a first step 1, the demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed VFF_SP is received for example from a control unit of the internal combustion engine.

(5) During a second step 2, the method determines whether the number PUMP_DEL_PHA_NEEDED of compressions of a volume equal to the demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed in order to achieve the minimum volume VFF_Pump_Min that the pump is capable of delivering is equal to unity.

(6) If it is, then the method continues to a third step 3 during which it determines whether the demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed VFF_SP is below the minimum volume VFF_Pump_Min that the pump is capable of delivering.

(7) If it is not, then the method continues to a fourth step 4, during which the demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed VFF_SP is left unchanged, the number PUMP_DEL_PHA_NEEDED of compressions of a volume equal to the demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed in order to achieve the minimum volume VFF_Pump_Min that the pump is capable of delivering is set equal to 1 and the counter CTR_PUMP_DEL of the number of compression phases of the pump that are needed in order to achieve at least the minimum volume VFF_Pump_Min that the pump is capable of delivering with the demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed is set equal to zero.

(8) In other words, during the fourth step 4 the method determines that the volume to be compressed is above the limit of the minimal volume that the pump is capable of compressing. That being so, the entirety of the volume that is to be compressed can be handled by the pump with no loss of precision.

(9) If, at the end of the third step 3, the demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed VFF_SP is below the minimum volume VFF_Pump_Min that the pump is capable of delivering, the method continues with a fifth step 5 during which a new value for the number PUMP_DEL_PHA_NEEDED of compressions of a volume equal to the demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed needed in order to achieve at least the minimum volume VFF_Pump_Min that the pump is capable of delivering is determined by dividing the minimum volume VFF_Pump_Min that the pump is capable of delivering by the demanded quantity of fuel that is to be compressed VFF_SP.

(10) During a sixth step 6, the method determines whether the number PUMP_DEL_PHA_NEEDED of compressions of a volume equal to the demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed is a whole number.

(11) If it is not, then the number PUMP_DEL_PHA_NEEDED of compressions of a volume equal to the demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed is rounded up to the integer above during a seventh step 7.

(12) At the end of steps 6 or 7, the method continues with an eighth step 8 during which a new demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed VFF_SP_NEW is determined, this being equal to the product of the number PUMP_DEL_PHA_NEEDED of compressions of a volume equal to the demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed times the demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed VFF_SP. The demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed VFF_SP is replaced by the new demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed VFF_SP_NEW. The counter CTR_PUMP_DEL of the number of phases of compression of the pump which are needed in order to achieve at least the minimum volume VFF_Pump_Min that the pump is capable of delivering with the demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed is set equal to zero.

(13) In other words, during the eighth step 8, the method determines that the current demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed VFF_SP is lower than the minimum volume VFF_Pump_Min that the pump is capable of delivering, and cannot therefore be compressed with satisfactory precision. The method then determines how many iterations of the quantity of fuel to be compressed VFF_SP are needed in order to achieve the minimum volume VFF_Pump_Min that the pump is capable of delivering. This value is rounded up to the value above and transmitted to the pump in the form of a new demand. On receipt of this new demand, the pump will thus in a single shot compress the equivalent of several times the current demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed VFF_SP, which is a quantity that can be compressed with precision because it is higher than the minimum volume VFF_Pump_Min that the pump is capable of delivering.

(14) During the next occurrence of the method, it will be determined that the number PUMP_DEL_PHA_NEEDED of compressions of the volume equal to the demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed is higher than unity, and that no compression needs to be performed on this occasion. Because no compression needs to be performed, the demand for a demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed VFF_SP, although received, is not acted upon. That is the purpose of steps 9 to 11 of the method, which will now be described.

(15) If, at the end of step 2, the method has determined that the number PUMP_DEL_PHA_NEEDED of compressions of a volume equal to the demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed in order to achieve the minimum volume VFF_Pump_Min that the pump is capable of delivering is not equal to unity, the method continues with a ninth step 9. During the ninth step 9, the value of the counter CTR_PUMP_DEL of the number of phases of compression of the pump that are needed in order to achieve at least the minimum volume VFF_Pump_Min that the pump is capable of delivering with the demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed is incremented by one unit and the method determines whether the value of the counter CTR_PUMP_DEL of the number of phases of compression of the pump that are needed in order to achieve at least the minimum volume VFF_Pump_Min that the pump is capable of delivering with the demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed thus obtained is lower than the number PUMP_DEL_PHA_NEEDED of compressions of a volume equal to the demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed. If it is not, then the value of the counter CTR_PUMP_DEL of the number of compression phases of the pump that are needed in order to achieve at least the minimum volume VFF_Pump_Min that the pump is capable of delivering with the demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed is canceled.

(16) During a tenth step 10, the method determines whether the value of the counter CTR_PUMP_DEL of the number of phases of compression of the pump which are needed in order to achieve at least the minimum volume VFF_Pump_Min that the pump is capable of delivering with the demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed is equal to zero.

(17) If it is, the method continues at step 3 described above.

(18) If it is not, the method continues with an eleventh step 11 during which a new demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed VFF_SP_NEW, equal to zero, is defined, and the demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed VFF_SP is replaced with the new demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed VFF_SP_NEW.

(19) In other words, during step 9, the counter CTR_PUMP_DEL of the number of phases of compression of the pump is incremented by one unit up to an amount not exceeding the number PUMP_DEL_PHA_NEEDED of compressions of a volume equal to the demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed as determined during a previous iteration. If the counter CTR_PUMP_DEL of the number of phases of compression of the pump becomes higher than the number PUMP_DEL_PHA_NEEDED of compressions of a volume equal to the demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed, that fact leads to the deduction that the present occurrence of the demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed VFF_SP is not covered by the latest compression of fuel. The counter CTR_PUMP_DEL of the number of phases of compression of the pump is then reset to zero, the method continuing at step 3.

(20) In other cases, that means that the demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed VFF_SP is covered by the latest compression of fuel. The demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed VFF_SP is set to zero so that no compression of fuel is performed.

(21) At the end of steps 4, 8 and 11, the method ends with the emission of a demand for a demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed VFF_SP, which is sent to the actuator of the fuel pump.

(22) The control method described hereinabove is applicable to single-plunger or multi-plunger compression pumps. In the case of multi-plunger pumps, the demand for a demanded quantity of fuel to be compressed at the end of steps 4 and 8 can be sent to a single plunger or to a different plunger each time a demand is issued.