| Patent application number | Description | Published |
|---|
| 20080257311 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR STARTING OR RESTARTING AN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE VIA SELECTIVE COMBUSTION - A selective combustion starting system and method selectively provides a proper amount of fuel to one or more combustion chambers in an internal combustion engine. The particular combustion chambers selected depend upon the state of the piston of the combustion chamber and the volume of the combustion chamber, which is dependent upon the position of the piston. Once proper amounts of fuel have been provided to the one or more combustion chambers, the resulting fuel air mixture in the combustion chambers is ignited and combusts to rotate the crankshaft of the engine to commence normal operation of the engine. | 10-23-2008 |
| 20090131208 | Tensioner With Molded Arm - A tensioner for tensioning a flexible drive means is disclosed which has fewer components than comparable prior art tensioners. The tensioner is less expensive to manufacture and assemble and is easily installed. The tensioner includes a tensioner arm molded from a suitable plastic material and a pivot bushing formed from a different material, the pivot bushing preferably being over molded about the tensioner arm. The pivot bushing and tensioner arm include a series of longitudinal slots to form fingers from the tensioner arm and pivot bushing, the fingers engaging the pivot surface of the pivot shaft about which the arm pivots. A coil spring is used to bias a rotatable member on the tensioner arm into contact with the flexible drive means to be tensioned and a portion of the coil spring engages the fingers to squeeze them to increase the frictional force between the pivot bushing and the pivot surface to dampen the tensioner when the tensioner arm is moved in one direction. A unique thermal management system is also disclosed which employs thermal insulating coatings and thermal dispersant coatings to manage the temperature of the tensioner arm to enhance its expected operating lifetime. | 05-21-2009 |
| 20090191999 | Dust Shield For A Pulley Bearing And A Pulley With A Dust Shield - A dust shield to inhibit the ingress of foreign materials into a pulley bearing is disclosed as is a pulley including such a dust shield. The dust shield is press fit to one side of the bearing such that it is captive during assembly and/or installation of the pulley. A second dust shield can be provided on the opposite side of the bearing to further inhibit the ingress of foreign materials. Preferably, at least one of the dust shields includes a bolt retention feature which holds an installation bolt captive to the pulley prior to installation. The dust shields can be fabricated from selected materials with desired thermal characteristics to insulate the bearing from sources of undesired heat and/or to assist the removal of waste heat from the bearing. | 07-30-2009 |
| 20100065001 | Starter and Accessory Drive System And Method For Hybrid Drive Vehicles - A starter and accessory drive system and method for hybrid drive vehicles is provided. The invention isolates the accessory drive system from the transfer of torque between a starter motor and the crankshaft of the engine. In one embodiment, a dedicated flexible drive member transfers torque from the starter motor to the crankshaft to re-start the engine. In another embodiment, a torque transfer control is employed to selectively apply torque from the starter motor to the accessory drive, to drive the accessories when the engine is stopped, and/or to the engine crankshaft to re-start the engine. In another embodiment of the invention, the accessory drive is isolated from the engine crankshaft and is instead driven by a drive motor on the accessory drive while the engine crankshaft is connected to a starter motor and/or generator which can be energized to re-start the engine. | 03-18-2010 |
| 20100190592 | Vibration Compensating Pulley - A pulley has a hub and a rim. The hub is configured to be mountable on a driving shaft. A driving connection between the hub and rim is provided. In a first embodiment, a drive mechanism is operable to configure the rim between a circular profile and a non-circular profile. The non-circular profile produces a counteracting torque to offset load torques produced by the engine. The drive mechanism can be electrical, inertial, hydraulic or any combination thereof. In a second embodiment, the rim is fixed with a non-circular profile. | 07-29-2010 |
| 20100218588 | System and Method for Calibrating an Absolute Position Sensor - A system and method for calibrating an absolute angular position sensor and/or for providing pre-calibrated absolute angular position sensors comprises comparing, at a pre-elected number of angular positions, the angular position derived from the output of the sensor to the angular position reported by a reference sensor. The difference between the two outputs is used as an error correcting factor for the respective position. In addition to calibrating the sensor to reduce sensor errors, the calibration can also be used to determine the sensor output corresponding to an index position of interest. | 09-02-2010 |
| 20100235138 | Engine Flexible Drive Elongation Measurement - A system and method is provided for determining changes in the angular position of a driven pulley, with respect to a driving pulley, when the driven and driving pulleys are synchronously linked by a flexible drive member such as a toothed belt or a chain. From these determined changes in the angular positions, the system and method can determine the condition of the flexible drive member and can output an appropriate signal when the condition of the flexible drive member has exceed a pre-defined value. Further, the system and method can detect a variety of other undesired conditions in the operation of an engine and/or the relative angular position information can be used to alter operation of the engine to improve the engine's operating efficiency and/or reduce the emissions created during operation of the engine. | 09-16-2010 |
| 20110053729 | Auto-Selecting Two-Ratio Transmission - A pulley assembly with an auto-selecting multi-speed transmission that can be operated in at least two modes depending on the manner in which rotary power is transmitted through the pulley assembly. | 03-03-2011 |
