Optimal control of a diesel engine with EGR and VGT

To fulfill todays requirements on emissions from engines, SCANIA has developed an engine with EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) and VGT (Variable Geometry Turbine). This gives two extra control signals to take into consideration. Open loop optimal control is used to investigate how these two actuators should be controlled to minimize emissions and fuel consumption. A cost function, consisting of the errors between the most important variables and their set points, has been used in the minimization. The variables are the torque, the EGR mass fraction, the oxygen/fuel ratio and the pumping losses. From studies of the two control signals in different transients in the engine, information of how to control the VGT and EGR in the optimal way is found. The result from the optimal control has been compared with a PID simulation and has showed a better way to control the signals. The mayor reason why the optimal control is better than a PID controller is the ability to use future values from the transients