It is known, for instance, through the patent applications WO 2006/037564 A1, WO 2006/089779 A1, and WO 2006/089780 A1 that a piston combustion engine, equipped with a turbo charger, generates at lower rotational speed a comparatively low torque, because the amount of air delivered, by a conventional turbo charger for a torque increase, into the intake system of the motor depends, determined by the system, on the particular exhaust flow of the combustion engine which drives the turbine of the turbo charger. This phenomenon, known as turbo lag, can be reduced in regard to its characteristic of turbo chargers which have a variable geometry, in which the turbine blades, dependent on the available, driving exhaust gas stream, are designed as adjustable blades. Since the turbo chargers with variable geometry are comparatively expensive to manufacture and can only be driven through complex control and monitoring methods, the motor vehicle industry has a demand for simpler mechanisms and/or methods to achieve also at a lower motor rotational speed, relatively high drive torque of the combustion engine.
Based on this background, it is known through DE 39 06 312 C1, as well as through DE 199 44 946 A1, each presenting a method and a mechanism for a reduction of the so-called turbo lag, where during acceleration of a diesel engine, equipped with a turbo charger, a certain amount of air from a compressed air container is injected into the intake manifold of the motor and where the amount of the injected fuel is matched accordingly. The required compressed air for the motor can hereby be taken from the compressed air storage of a compressed air brake system of a vehicle.
Also known from the earlier mentioned publications WO 2006/089779 A1 and WO 2006/089780 A1 is the use of a special mechanism, designed as a fresh air supply or compressed air supply, respectively, for the reduction of the mentioned turbo lag in a turbo charged combustion engine. This mechanism, positioned in the intake area of the combustion engine, has an air inlet tract as a intake manifold, which has an adjustable throttle and a first end flange for the inflow of the intake air, as well as a second end flange for the outflow in the direction of the cylinders of the motor. The throttle is coupled to an adjustment device which can be driven by a control device for the adjustment. Positioned between the throttle and the second end flange is a compressed air connection with an opening which merges into the pipe-shaped interior of the mechanism. It is also provided that the compressed air connector interacts with a quantity control mechanism which has a valve with closed and randomly opened positions, which can be driven, via an electrical input, by an electric control device. The adjustment device of the throttle is forced to operate by the quantity control mechanism and/or the control device in such a way, in case of a fully open position of the throttle, that a fully closed position is assigned to the quantity control mechanism at that time.
To control the mechanisms for the compressed air injection into the intake system of the combustion engine, known from the WO 2006/089779 A1 and WO 2006/089780 A1, the control device uses torque request signals which originate from the drive pedal, a traction control, a speed control system, and/or an electric stabilization program, or from means which pass on an external torque request to the engine control system.
It is also known from WO 2006/089779 A1 that, in case of the optimum control of the mechanism for the supply of the turbo charged combustion engine with compressed air—or with fresh gas—the control program of the control device in this mechanism knows predetermined parameters about the conditions, when an air injection has to be executed or terminated. For example, it can be taken into consideration that professional truck drivers or bus drivers each have individual drive habits, which require average acceleration parameters. Hence, such a driver can prefer certain shift points when shifting the transmission. These can be recognized by the named control device, and can be stored and processed. The data are used by the control device, for example, for the determination of the duration of the compressed air injection and for the activation of the throttle. It is intended, through this approach, to avoid the unnecessarily and disadvantageously high use of compressed air. It is especially intended hereby that the duration of the compressed air injection and the activation of the throttle are controlled adaptively by the control software in relationship to the frequency of the request of the driver for acceleration.
Also known from WO 2006/037564 A1 is a generic mechanism where the compressed air, taken from the compressed air storage, can also be instantly supplied in front of the intake valve of a cylinder of the combustion engine.
Because the interaction of a generic mechanism for the supply of a turbo charged combustion engine with additional compressed air, in accordance with WO 2006/089779 A1 and the WO 2006/089780 A1, is relatively complex with other mechanisms in the vehicle drive train, an optimal use of such a mechanism requires in a motor vehicle, whether it is a commercial vehicle or passenger vehicle, special control methods which take the particular characteristics and requirements of all these drive train components into consideration. The start procedure of such an equipped vehicle with a start and shift clutch has a particular significance.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds