Advanced Control on Multi-Mode Combustion Diesel Engines during Transient Operations

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Fuel economy and engine emissions are critical issues in transportation sector worldwide. To effectively handle these issues, advanced combustion modes, such as HCCI (homogeneous charge compression ignition), LTC (low temperature combustion), PCCI (premixed charge compression ignition), have shown substantial advantages by allowing engines to operate near their peak efficiency. According to the recent annual progress report from the U.S. Department of Energy, using advanced combustion modes has the potential to increase the fuel efficiency of heavy duty engine to as high as 55%, and that of the light-duty vehicle to the range of 35% to 50%. To achieve a broad adoption of advanced combustion, two important barriers in control must be overcome. One is that advanced combustion mode typically occurs with auto-ignition (i.e., lack of an explicit start of combustion indicator), and thus requires a more comprehensive consideration and control of the in-cylinder conditions. The other challenge lies in the control of transients when combustion modes change due to different engine operation conditions. Critical to engine efficiency and safety are well-shaped trajectories which avoid undesired intermediate combustion during the transient operations. This proposed research will focus on solving these challenges by: 1. Developing robust in-cylinder condition modeling and estimation methods, which can effectively extract the in-cylinder condition information by readily available measurements from the intake/exhaust manifolds; 2. Investigating the advanced combustion modes and transient dynamics; 3. Implementing a novel nonlinear transient control methodology, referred to as Non-Equilibrium Transient Trajectory Shaping (NETTS), to tackle undesirable transient effects in combustion mode switchings.