[Title of the Invention]

Apparatus and Method for Controlling Cam [Technical Field]

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for controlling a cam, wherein, when the cam maintains a holding state, the holding PWM (pulse width modulation) range, in which the PWM moves slightly such that linearity is not ensured, is calculated and then applied to the cam control.

[Background Art of the Invention]

In order to trap air and fuel inside a cylinder and combust same, an intake valve and exhaust valve have to open and close at the right time and position, and the control of such an intake valve and exhaust valve is chiefly implemented by a method in which a PWM signal is applied to the engine oil and a solenoid valve.

A system for manipulating the advance/retardation of a cam using engine oil reacts sensitively to the pressure and temperature of the oil. During such control, the responsiveness of the cam, which has a major influence on engine performance, depends entirely on PWM control, and, in such instances, it can happen that responsiveness is lacking or permanent deviation from the target position occurs due to the PWM, which is set for each and every condition, being insufficient or excessive.

The root cause of this phenomenon is because the PWM diagram for controlling the cam is not perfectly linear and, in particular, there is a marked problem in the holding PWM region for maintaining the current position. The abovementioned background art cannot necessarily be called prior art disclosed to the general public before the filing date of the present invention, as the background art is technical information possessed by the inventors in order to derive the present invention or acquired during the process of deriving the present invention.

[Prior Art Documents]

[Patent Documents]

(Patent Document 1) Korean Unexamined Patent Publication KR 2014-0111615 A

[Details of the Invention]

[Problem to be Solved]

The present invention has been conceived in order to solve the abovementioned problems and/or limitations. In one aspect, the objective of the present invention is to improve engine performance on the basis of correct responsiveness by accurately calculating the PWM required when changing the cam position; wherein, when the cam maintains a holding state, the holding PWM (pulse width modulation) range, in which the PWM moves slightly such that linearity is not ensured, is calculated and then applied to the cam control.

[Means of Solving the Problem]

A cam control method according to an embodiment of the present invention is a method for controlling a cam by means of an ECU (electronic control unit) and may comprise the steps of: learning a holding region in which linearity is not ensured by performing an operation of increasing or decreasing a PWM signal when the cam maintains a holding state; and based on the results of the learning, generating a final PWM signal, which is a sum of a minimum PWM signal for the cam to leave the holding region and a control PWM signal for the cam to reach a desired position, and outputting the final PWM signal to an oil control valve.

The method may further comprise the step of the ECU starting the learning when the cam operates normally, by detecting a phase of the cam received from a cam position sensor.

The learning step may comprise the steps of: increasing the PWM signal if the cam is positioned in a target area; halting the increase of the PWM signal the instant a position of the cam changes whilst increasing the PWM signal, and storing the PWM signal, the increase of which has been halted, as a holding advance region for corresponding engine conditions; decreasing the PWM signal in the holding advance region; halting the decrease of the PWM signal the instant the position of the cam changes whilst decreasing the PWM signal, and storing the PWM signal, the decrease of which has been halted, as a holding retard region for corresponding engine conditions; and defining an average of the PWM signal in the holding advance region and the PWM signal in the holding retard region as a learned value of the holding region.

The step of storing the PWM signal as a holding advance region may comprise the steps of : halting the increase of the PWM signal the instant the position of the cam changes whilst increasing the PWM signal, in order to stop a movement of the cam; decreasing the PWM signal by a certain amount in order to maintain a holding of the cam; and storing the PWM signal, which has been decreased by the certain amount, as the holding advance region for the corresponding engine conditions.

The step of storing the PWM signal as a holding retard region may comprise the steps of : halting the decrease of the PWM signal the instant the position of the cam changes whilst decreasing the PWM signal, in order to stop a movement of the cam; increasing the PWM signal by a certain amount in order to maintain a holding of the cam; and storing the PWM signal, which has been increased by the certain amount, as the holding retard region for the corresponding engine conditions.

An apparatus for controlling a cam according to an embodiment of the present invention is an apparatus for controlling a cam by means of an ECU (electronic control unit) , and may comprise a learning unit for learning a holding region in which linearity is not ensured by performing an operation of increasing or decreasing a PWM signal when the cam maintains a holding state; and a control unit which, based on results of the learning, generates a final PWM signal, which is a sum of a minimum PWM signal for the cam to leave the holding region and a control PWM signal for the cam to reach a desired position, and outputs the final PWM signal to an oil control valve.

The apparatus further comprises a cam position sensor for detecting a phase of the cam, and the learning unit may start learning when the cam operates normally by detecting the phase of the cam received from the cam position sensor.

The learning unit may increase the PWM signal if the cam is positioned in a target area; halt the increase of the PWM signal the instant a position of the cam changes whilst increasing the PWM signal, and store the PWM signal, the increase of which has been halted, as a holding advance region for corresponding engine conditions; decrease the PWM signal in the holding advance region; halt the decrease of the PWM signal the instant the position of the cam changes whilst decreasing the PWM signal, and store the PWM signal, the decrease of which has been halted, as a holding retard region for corresponding engine conditions; and define an average of the PWM signal in the holding advance region and the PWM signal in the holding retard region as a learned value of the holding region. The learning unit may, during the storing as the holding advance region, halt the increase of the PWM signal the instant the position of the cam changes whilst increasing the PWM signal, in order to stop a movement of the cam; decreases the PWM signal by a certain amount in order to maintain the holding of the cam; and store the PWM signal, which has been decreased by the certain amount, as the holding advance region for the corresponding engine conditions.

The learning unit may, during the storing as the holding retard region, halt the decrease of the PWM signal the instant the position of the cam changes whilst decreasing the PWM signal, in order to stop a movement of the cam; increases the PWM signal by a certain amount in order to maintain a holding of the cam; and store the PWM signal, which has been increased by the certain amount, as the holding retard region for the corresponding engine conditions .

As well as the above, other methods, other systems and a computer program for executing the method for realizing the present invention may be further provided.

Other aspects, features, and advantages aside from the ones mentioned above are made clear in the drawings, claims and detailed description of the Invention below.

[Advantages of the Invention]

According to the embodiments, it is possible to improve engine performance on the basis of correct responsiveness by accurately calculating the PWM required when changing the cam position; wherein, when the cam maintains a holding state, the holding PWM range, in which the PWM moves slightly such that linearity is not ensured, is calculated and then applied to the cam control. The advantages of the present invention are not limited to those mentioned above, and other unmentioned advantages should be clearly understandable to a person skilled in the art from the disclosure below.

[Brief Description of the Drawings]

FIG. 1 is a drawing which has been drawn to describe, in general terms, the cam control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a drawing which has been drawn to describe, in general terms, the holding region of the cam control apparatus of FIG.

1.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the cam control method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Detailed Disclosure for Implementing the Invention]

The advantages and features of the present invention and method for achieving same will be made clear with reference to the accompanying drawings together with the embodiments described in detail. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments set forth below and may be realised in various different forms, and should be understood to include all modifications, equivalents and substitutions which are included in the concept and technical scope of the present invention. The embodiments set forth below are provided to fully disclose the present invention and to allow a person skilled in the technical field to which the present invention belongs to be fully aware of the scope of the invention. In the description of the present invention, when it is considered that the detailed description of related well-known features may obfuscate key features of the present invention, detailed description thereof has been omitted

Terms used in the present application are merely used to describe specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the present invention. Singular expressions encompass singular and plural expressions unless made evident otherwise from context. In the present application, terms such as "comprising" or "having" are intended to indicate the presence of a feature, number, step, operation, constituent element, component or combination thereof mentioned in the specification, and should be understood to not exclude the presence, or the ability to add, one or more other features or numbers, steps, operations, constituent elements, components or combinations thereof. Terms such as first and second may be used to describe various constituent elements, but these constituent elements are not to be limited by such terms. These terms are used only to differentiate one constituent element from another constituent element.

Hereinbelow, embodiments according to the present invention are described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, and, in the description with reference to the accompanying drawings, the same or corresponding constituent elements have the same figure reference numeral, and duplicate descriptions of same are omitted.

Throughout the description, an ECU refers to an electronic control unit. It is to be appreciated that the electronic control unit includes an engine control unit.

FIG. 1 is a drawing which has been drawn to describe, in general terms, the cam control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a drawing which has been drawn to describe, in general terms, the holding region of the cam control apparatus of FIG. 1. With reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the cam control apparatus may comprise: an oil control valve (110); a hydraulic circuit (120); a cam (130); a lock pin (140) ; an ECU (200) ; and a cam position sensor (300) .

The oil control valve (OCV) (110) can play the role of changing the direction of a fluid passage along which engine oil, which is supplied from an oil pump (not shown) goes to a variable valve timing unit (WT) upon receiving control from the ECU (200), thereby controlling the valve opening/closing times. Oil passage control with respect to the hydraulic circuit (120) can be achieved by connecting the hydraulic circuit (120), which is joined to the cam (130) that controls the intake valve and exhaust valve to the oil control valve (110), and by providing the lock pin (140), which fixes the cam (130) in the most retarded and most advanced operating positions, on the hydraulic circuit (120) , such that the position of a spool (or plunger) of the oil control valve (110) is moved by a PWM duty signal output from the ECU (200) .

When the ECU (200) applies the PWM signal to the oil control valve (100) , the position of the spool (or plunger) of the oil control valve (110) moves to a target position, at which time, the position of the cam (130) can be controlled to be a parking (or detent) , retard, holding, or advance position in accordance with the hydraulic circuit (120) of the oil. This is to say, depending on the position of the spool (or plunger) of the oil control valve (110), the hydraulic circuit (120) is changed and at the same time operation of the WT unit can take place.

Here, the responsiveness of the cam (130) depends entirely on control of the PWM signal, and, in such instances, it can happen that responsiveness is lacking or permanent deviation from the target position occurs due to the PWM signal, which has been set for each and every condition, being insufficient or excessive. The root cause of this phenomenon is because the PWM diagram for controlling the cam (130) is not perfectly linear and, in particular, there is a marked problem in the holding PWM region for maintaining the current position.

Hence, in the present embodiments, engine performance is to be improved on the basis of correct responsiveness by accurately calculating the PWM required when changing the cam (130) position; wherein, when the cam (130) maintains a holding state, the holding PWM range, in which the PWM signal moves slightly such that linearity is not ensured, is calculated and then applied to the cam (130) control.

In the present embodiment, the ECU (200) which controls the cam (130) may comprise: a learning unit (210); and a control unit (220) .

The learning unit (210) can learn the holding region in which linearity is not ensured, by performing an operation of increasing or decreasing the PWM signal when the cam (130) maintains a holding state. Here, the cam position sensor (300) detects the phase of the cam (130) so as to transmit a corresponding signal to the learning unit (210) when the cam (130) operates normally, and, when the cam (130) operates normally, the learning unit (210) can start learning.

The learning unit (210) can increase the PWM signal if the cam (130) is maintained in the holding state and is at the same time positioned in a target area. Here, increasing the PWM signal may include increasing a high region in a PWM signal comprising a high region and a low region.

The learning unit (210) can halt the increase of the PWM signal the instant the position of the cam (130) changes whilst increasing the PWM signal, which is to say, the instant the position of the cam (130) leaves a pre-set target (holding advance edge in FIG. 2) , in order to stop the movement of the cam (130), and can decrease the PWM signal by a certain amount in order to maintain the holding of the cam (130), and then can store the PWM signal, which has been decreased by the certain amount, as a holding advance region for corresponding engine conditions . When storage of the PWM signal for the holding advance region is completed, the learning unit (210) may decrease the PWM signal for the holding advance region. Here, decreasing the PWM signal may include decreasing a high region in a PWM signal comprising said high region and a low region.

The learning unit (210) can halt the decrease of the PWM signal the instant the position of the cam (130) changes whilst decreasing the PWM signal in a holding advance region, which is to say, the instant the position of the cam (130) leaves a pre set target (holding retard edge in FIG. 2) in order to stop the movement of the cam (130), and can increase the PWM signal by a certain amount in order to maintain the holding of the cam (130), and then can store the PWM signal, which has been increased by the certain amount, as a holding retard region for corresponding engine conditions.

For convenience of explanation, the present embodiment has disclosed that the learning unit (210) proceeds in sequence from advance to retardation during holding region learning, but there is not necessarily any need to learn in the sequence from advance to retardation and it is also possible for learning to take place in a sequence from retardation to advance.

The learning unit (210) may define the average of the PWM signal in the holding advance region and the PWM signal in holding retard region as a learned value of the holding region. Here, the learned value of the holding region may comprise the PWM range of the holding region in which linearity is not ensured. Based on the results of learning of the learning unit (210), the control unit (220) can generate a final PWM signal, which is the sum of a minimum PWM signal for the cam (130) to leave the holding region and a control PWM signal for the cam (130) to reach a desired position, and can output same to an oil control valve (110) . Accordingly, the PWM required when changing the position of the cam (130) can promote improvement of engine performance on the basis of quick responsiveness by accurately computing the PWM required when changing the position of the cam (130) as the sum of a minimum PWM signal for leaving the holding region and a control PWM signal for reaching a desired position.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the cam control method according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the description below, description of those parts where the description with respect to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 would be duplicated are omitted.

Referring to FIG. 3, in step S301, the ECU (200) receives a signal from the cam position sensor (300) so as to check whether the cam (130) operates normally.

In step S303, the ECU (200) receives the phase of the cam (130) from the cam position sensor (300) so as to start learning when the cam operates normally.

In step S305, the ECU (200) determines whether the position of the cam (130) is the target area when the cam (130) maintains a holding state.

In step S307, when the position of the cam (130) is the target area, the ECU (200) increases the PWM signal so as to output same to the oil control valve (110) . Here, increasing the PWM signal may include increasing a high region in a PWM signal comprising said high region and a low region.

In step S309, the ECU (200) determines whether the position of the cam (130) has left the pre-set target whilst increasing the PWM signal.

In step S311, when the position of the cam (130) has left the pre-set target, the ECU (200) halts the increase of the PWM signal the instant the position of the cam (130) leaves the pre- set target, which is to say, the instant the position of the cam (130) changes, in order to stop the movement of the cam (130), and decreases the PWM signal by a certain amount in order to maintain the holding of the cam (130), and then stores the PWM signal, which has been decreased by the certain amount, as a holding advance region for corresponding engine conditions.

In step S313, when storage of the PWM signal with respect to the holding advance region is completed, the ECU (200) decreases the PWM signal in the holding advance region. Here, decreasing the PWM signal may include decreasing a high region in a PWM signal comprising said high region and a low region.

In step S315, the ECU (200) determines whether the position of the cam (130) has left the pre-set target whilst decreasing the PWM signal in the holding advance region.

In step S317, when the position of the cam (130) has left the pre-set target, the ECU (200) halts the decrease of the PWM signal the instant the position of the cam (130) leaves the target, which is to say, the instant the position of the cam (130) changes in order to stop the movement of the cam (130) , and increases the PWM signal by a certain amount in order to maintain the holding of the cam (130), and then stores the PWM signal, which has been increased by a certain amount, as a holding retardation region for corresponding engine conditions.

In step S319, the ECU (200) defines the average of the PWM signal in the holding advance region and the PWM signal in holding retard region as a learned value of the holding region.

In step S321, the ECU (200) sets the final PWM signal, which is required when changing the position of the cam (130) subsequently to a value which is the sum of a minimum PWM signal for leaving the holding region and a control PWM signal for reaching a desired position. The embodiment according to the present invention described above may be implemented in the form of a computer program which can be executed through various constituent elements in a computer, and such a computer program may be recorded on a computer-readable medium. In such a case, the medium may comprise hardware devices specially configured to store and execute program commands, including: magnetic media such as hard discs, floppy discs, and magnetic tapes; optical recording media such as CD-ROMs and DVDs; magneto-optical medium such as floptical discs; and ROM, RAM and flash memories.

Meanwhile, the computer program may be one which is specifically designed and configured for the present invention or one which is available and well-known to a person skilled in the field of computer software. Examples of the computer program can include machine language code such as that created by means of a compiler, as well as high-level language code which can be executed by means of a computer by using an interpreter or the like.

In the specification of the present invention (in particular in the claims) the use of the word "the" and similar demonstrative wording may entail both the singular and the plural. Furthermore, when a range is mentioned in the present invention, this includes any invention in which individual values belonging to the range have been applied (unless there is a statement to the contrary) , and this is the same as for statements of individual values constituting ranges in the detailed description of the invention. With respect to the steps which constitute the method according to the present invention, said steps may be performed in any appropriate order unless the order is clearly stated or there is a statement to the contrary. In all events, the present invention is not limited by the disclosed order of the steps. The use of all the embodiments or illustrative wording (for example, etc.) in the present invention is simply in order to describe the present invention in detail, but the scope of the present invention is not limited by the above embodiments or illustrative wordings since they are not delimited by the claims. Furthermore, a person skilled in the art will be able to understand that various amendments, combinations and modifications can be implemented in accordance with design conditions and other factors within scope of the attached claims or equivalents thereof .

Accordingly, the concept of the present invention is not defined so as to be limited to the described embodiments; and the scope of the concept of the present invention encompasses not only the claims below but also an entire scope in which changes equal to the claims or equivalently modified therefrom are made.

[Description of the Reference Numerals]

110: Oil control valve

120: Hydraulic circuit

130: Cam

140 : Lock pin

200: ECU

210: Learning unit

220: Control unit

300: Cam position sensor