Transient Control of a Multi Cylinder HCCI Engine During a Drive Cycle

This study applies a state feedback-based Closed-Loop Combustion Control (CLCC) using Fast Thermal Management (FTM) on a multi-cylinder Variable Compression Ratio (VCR) engine. At speeds above 1500 rpm is the FTM's bandwidth broadened by using the VCR feature of this engine, according to a predefined map, which is a function of load and engine speed. Below 1500 rpm is the PID-based CLCC using VCR applied instead of the FTM while slow cylinder balancing is effectuated by the FTM. Performance of the two CLCC controllers are evaluated during a European EC2000 drive cycle, while HC, CO and CO2 emissions are measured online by a Fast Response Infrared (FRI) emission equipment. A load and speed map calculated for a 1.6L Opel Astra is used to get reference values for the dynamometer speed and the load control. The drive cycle test is initiated from a hot engine and hence no cold start is included. Commercial RON/MON 92/82 gasoline, which corresponds to US regular, is utilized. The Linear Quadratic Gaussian (LQG) state feedback controller handles most tasks well, but has some difficulty with retarded combustion phasings, where the controller is outside of its design range. A mean fuel mileage of 6.8 L/100 km is achieved, which is an improvement of 13% compared to an equivalent SI simulation using steady state data from the same engine