US Patent Issued to Caterpillar on Feb. 25 for "Engine braking strategy using cylinder flow-through path for optimizing braking power" (Illinois Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 26 -- United States Patent no. 12,234,781, issued on Feb. 25, was assigned to Caterpillar Inc. (Peoria, Ill.).

"Engine braking strategy using cylinder flow-through path for optimizing braking power" was invented by Matthew Wolk (Peoria, Ill.), Michael D. Roley (Washington, Ill.), John R. McDonald (Peoria, Ill.), Ry C. Colwell (Dunlap, Ill.) and Quinton Burcar (Chillicothe, Ill.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Operating an engine includes opening and closing exhaust valves in an engine braking timing pattern, charging a first cylinder with air fed directly from an intake manifold, and releasing the directly fed air in a first braking event. Operating the engine further inc...