Claims:We Claim:

1. A method (10) of controlling a fuel injector, said fuel injector adapted to receive fuel from a fuel reservoir, said method comprising:

receiving (100), by a control unit at least one working parameter of said fuel injector;

receiving (102), by a control unit variation in pressure in said fuel reservoir;

comparing (104), by said control unit ,said variation in pressure with respect to theoretical variation in pressure as stored in a data map of said control unit; and

verifying (106), by said control unit , if said difference between said theoretical variation and said received variation exceeds a threshold.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising training said control unit for verifying if said difference between said theoretical variation and said received variation exceeds said threshold.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising changing by said control unit at least one working parameter so as to enable the difference between said theoretical variations and said received variation to be within threshold.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising indicating on a display device when difference between said theoretical variation and said received variation exceeds said threshold.
The method of claim 1, wherein said working parameter is at least one of pressure of fuel and injection duration.
, Description:Complete Specification:

The following specification describes and ascertains the nature of this invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.
Field of the invention
[0001]This invention relates to the field of fuel injector in a fuel injection system.

Background of the invention
[0002]A fuel injector is used to inject pressurized fuel into the combustion chamber of the engine cylinder. The fuel injector receives fuel from a fuel reservoir which may be a common rail or a fuel distributor block. During injection event, a pressure drop is observed in fuel reservoir. The extent of the drop for a pressure and injection duration gives an indirect indication of the mass-flow happening. Since this value of mass transfer should remain constant for given pressure in the fuel reservoir, injection duration and fuel temperature, any substantial deviation from this drop would indicate injector nozzle wear or nozzle coking.

[0003]Prior art patent application CN109839555 discloses a wear state monitor method, apparatus, and a control unit, the method comprising: When injector in the electromagnetic coil is stopped, the excitation current supplied to the control terminal for shorting the electromagnetic coil, the switch is closed, so that the electromagnetic coil capable of sensing the injector armature assembly of eddy currents caused by alternating magnetic field induced current; Calculated from the electromagnetic coil is stopped, the excitation current is supplied to a time that the induced current flowing through the solenoid coil, the maximum length of time between the moment as the actual valve closing time of the injector, If the actual valve closing time being greater than the reference fuel injector valve closing time, it is determined that the injector valve seat wear has occurred. Using this method, apparatus, and a control unit for a vehicle, able to detect the injector valve seat wear state

Brief description of the accompanying drawing
[0004] Figure 1 illustrates a method of controlling a fuel injector.

Detailed description of the embodiments
[0005] Figure 1 illustrates a method of controlling a fuel injector. The fuel injector is adapted to receive fuel from a fuel reservoir, the method comprises, receiving (100), by a control unit at least one working parameter of the fuel injector. At step 102, the control unit receives variation in pressure in the fuel reservoir. The control unit compares 104 the variation in pressure with respect to theoretical variation in pressure as stored in a data map. The control unit verifies 106, if the difference between the theoretical variation and said received variation exceeds a threshold. In an embodiment the control unit is trained for verifying if the difference between the theoretical variation and the received variation exceeds threshold. In another embodiment the working parameter is changed so as to enable the difference between the theoretical variations and the received variation to be within threshold.

[0006]The working of the fuel injector will be explained in further detail. The fuel injector disclosed herein is used to inject pressurized fuel into the engine cylinder. The fuel injector receives from a fuel reservoir. The function of fuel reservoir is to store fuel under pressure before the fuel is injected into the cylinder via the fuel injector. The fuel injector injects fuel in order to meet the power requirements of the engine. During the injection event, a pressure drop is observed in the fuel reservoir, this pressure drop is because of the fact that when the injector injects fuel into the engine cylinder. Due to wear and tear in the components of the injector, it is observed that the injector may not inject the precise quantity of fuel as required. For example, if the expected quantity of fuel is Xmm3/sec, the injector may inject fuel at a volume that is slightly greater than Xmm3/sec. This is because of wear and tear in the mechanical components of the injector. This may lead to, but not restricted to increase in nozzle-hole diameter and increase in injector dead-volume due to internal wearing. The above mentioned effect of changes in dimensional parameters of the injector may lead to changes in the performance of the injector.

[0007]During working of the proposed method, the control unit receives 100 at least one working parameter of the fuel injector. In an embodiment the working parameter may be at least one of pressure of fuel and injection duration. At step 102, the control unit receives variation in pressure in the fuel reservoir. The variation in pressure may be received from a pressure sensor. At step 104, the control unit compares the variation in pressure with respect to theoretical variation in pressure as stored in a data map of the control unit. The control unit verifies 106 if the difference between the theoretical variation and received variation exceeds threshold. The threshold is defined in the data map of the control unit. The threshold defines the limit up to which a variation in pressure is allowed without affecting the safety of the injector or without compromising on the mileage that needs to be delivered for a given fuel injected quantity. The control unit changes at least one working parameter so as to enable the difference between said theoretical variations and said received variation to be within threshold.

[0008]The above mentioned method may be used to control fuel injection and also to estimate the life of injector. Map based function provides information on actual fuel consumption at a given operating point, Due to real time correction of injection quantity, the following issues can be resolved, given that the deviations are within limits: In cases where higher fuel injection due to injector nozzle wear, with this correction, an increase in mileage may be achieved. In cases of lower fuel injection due to Injector nozzle coking, with this correction, the vehicle will no longer be underpowered. If the deviations exceed the threshold limit, user shall be intimated while subsequent action initiated to protect the engine.

[0009] It should be understood that embodiments explained in the description above are only illustrative and do not limit the scope of this invention. Many such embodiments and other modifications and changes in the embodiment explained in the description are envisaged. The scope of the invention is only limited by the scope of the claims.