Model-based control of a turbocharged diesel engine with high- and low-pressure exhaust gas recirculation

Modern Diesel engines fulfil challenging requirements for emission limits, fuel consumption and ride comfort by numerous modular combinable components and mechatronical actuators. These components are utilised for precondition and aftertreatment of air, fuel and exhaust gas, which is involved in the combustion process. In this dissertation a methodology for a model-based function development with semi-physical engine models for control of air path quantities of an exemplary Diesel engine with high-pressure (HP-EGR) and low-pressure exhaust gas recirculation (LP-EGR) is developed. In this framework for function development black-box models for stationary and dynamical emission formation are utilised to optimise reference values for the air path control and to rate the developed control scheme with regard to the cumulated driving cycle emissions of the new European driving cycle (NEDC). A combination of HP-EGR and LP-EGR represents a novel approach to significantly lower the particulate and NOx emissions of Diesel engines. A semi-physical mean value engine model with lumped parameters is the base to analyse the system properties of the complex air path. In doing so, the additional LP-EGR shows only minor influences to the quantities charge air pressure and HP-EGR, while there are significant influences of these quantities on the LP-EGR mass flow rate. Furthermore, the LP-EGR is characterised by significant gas propagation times in the intake and exhaust system. These delays are modelled by a gas composition model, which is incorporated into the control scheme. NOx and particulate emissions as well as engine torque are stationary modelled by local polynomial models with input quantities of the combustion process. These quantities are air mass flow rate, charge air pressure, intake temperature and crank angle of 50% mass fraction burned. A bilinear interpolation between engine speed and injection quantity transforms local polynomial models into global models. Models for the dynamical emission formation are given by considering the combustion as a batch process. Consequently all dynamics are included in the quantities of the cylinder charge at intake valve closing and the emission measurement dynamics. Thus, a combination of a dynamical gas composition model, stationary emission models and models for the emission measurement dynamics yield the dynamical course of the engine emissions. The investigated system properties and the emission models deliver the control variables charge air pressure, air content and intake temperature for the engine with VGT-turbocharger, HP- and LP-EGR. A stationary optimisation with regard to emissions and engine torque delivers reference values for the air path control and further shows the potential of the LP-EGR to lower the emissions. Due to the multi-variable characteristics of the air path with different dynamics, there are increased dynamical emissions at engine transients. These dynamical emissions are lowered by dynamical optimised reference values for the air path control. Generally, the air path is a strongly nonlinear process and the multitude of engine variants and engine operation modes result in a trade-off between achievable control quality, control robustness and number of control parameter sets. A semi-physical feedforward control, which is based upon parameterised model relationships of the mean value engine model delivers a good response to setpoint changes. Thus, the disturbance rejection can be achieved by relatively simple controllers. This results in an significantly lower application effort of control parameters and allows by its modular structure to exchange engine components without the drawback to completely re-parameterise the control parameters. A reference value transformation with modelled states of the gas composition model compensates long gas propagation times in the intake and exhaust system and delivers an optimal air content in the cylinder charge. All control concepts are validated with measurements at the engine test bench. Finally, the derived control concepts for the LP-EGR are compared to the classical HP-EGR control with regard to the cumulated driving cycle emissions. In this investigation the proportion of stationary and dynamical emissions is clearly quantified. In a nutshell this dissertation is an important contribution for model-based optimisation and function development for the air path control of Diesel engines. The given combination of models for dynamical emission formation, dynamically optimised reference values for the air path control and semi-physical control design are a holistic framework to master the complexity and variance of future Diesel and gasoline engines

The Use of Exhaust Gas Recirculation for Ensuring the Environmental Performance of Marine Diesel Engines

The article deals with the operational features of internal combustion engines of marine vessels during their operation in special environmental areas – Nitrogen Oxide Emission Control Areas. According to the requirements of Annex VI MARPOL, during the operation of marine diesel engines in these areas the content of nitrogen oxides in the exhaust gases should be less than 3.4 g/(kW×h). The article touches upon the possible technical measures to ensure the maintenance of the required level of nitrogen oxide emissions in the exhaust gases of marine diesel engines. The authors propose to use an exhaust gas recirculation system, with a certain amount of gases supplied back to the cylinder after preliminary cooling and mixing with air, which reduces the maximum combustion temperature to values that prevent the formation of nitrogen oxides. The experiment proved that the recirculation of exhaust gases in the 4.7 ... 18.8% range helps to reduce the concentration of nitrogen oxides in exhaust gases by 19.5 ... 48.8%. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure values that meet the requirements of international organizations aimed at protecting the air from pollution and allowing the use of marine vessels in areas of increased environmental control

Meta-heuristic algorithms in car engine design: a literature survey

Meta-heuristic algorithms are often inspired by natural phenomena, including the evolution of species in Darwinian natural selection theory, ant behaviors in biology, flock behaviors of some birds, and annealing in metallurgy. Due to their great potential in solving difficult optimization problems, meta-heuristic algorithms have found their way into automobile engine design. There are different optimization problems arising in different areas of car engine management including calibration, control system, fault diagnosis, and modeling. In this paper we review the state-of-the-art applications of different meta-heuristic algorithms in engine management systems. The review covers a wide range of research, including the application of meta-heuristic algorithms in engine calibration, optimizing engine control systems, engine fault diagnosis, and optimizing different parts of engines and modeling. The meta-heuristic algorithms reviewed in this paper include evolutionary algorithms, evolution strategy, evolutionary programming, genetic programming, differential evolution, estimation of distribution algorithm, ant colony optimization, particle swarm optimization, memetic algorithms, and artificial immune system

Emission Modelling and Model-Based Optimisation of the Engine Control

Modern Diesel engines require a model based optimisation of the engine control to fully exploit the additional degrees of freedom of modern engines. For identification of combustion engines, different experimental model structures are presented and compared to each other. The local adaptive model approach LOPOMOT is derived from the the local linear model approach LOLIMOT and an adaptive polynomial approach. Further regarded model structures are the in automotive industry well known look-up tables and the individual approximators kernel models. The model structures are generally presented and are rated with regard to applications in an electronic control unit. For the identification of the combustion engine, the combustion outputs NOx, soot and the engine torque are regarded. Experimental models are presented for measurements from the engine test bed. Stationary and dynamic effects are modelled separately, to avoid the influence of measurement dynamics. Thus, stationary measurements can be applied to identify the combustion models. The connection of these stationary combustion models to a dynamic air path model enables a dynamic overall simulation of the Diesel engine. The stationary and the dynamic model qualities are demonstrated using measurements from the engine test bed. The models are then applied for a stationary and a dynamic optimisation of control functions for the engine control unit. At first a local optimisation is presented for the stationary optimisation, which shows the Pareto front of the emissions NOx and soot. The subsequent global optimisation minimises the fuel consumption over a test cycle and formulates the emission limits as constraints. Initial values for the global optimisation are taken from the results of the local optimisation. Finally, a robust global optimisation is presented, which regards model uncertainties and variations due to series tolerances. For the dynamic optimisation, the trajectories of the air path actuators are optimised for a typical acceleration event. Because of the high computationally effort, such an optimisation can not be performed during engine operation, but it enables conclusions about suitable control structures. Thereafter, a smoke limitation based on the soot model is presented. This model based smoke limitation requires no additional calibration effort, but the model parameters are difficult to interpret. Therefore, a simplification to an open loop control structure with look-up tables is shown, which enables a manual fine tuning of the maps. This dissertation contributes to the model based optimisation of engine control functions and presents new modelling and optimisation approaches. Furthermore, new model structures are compared to the in automotive industry well known look-up tables and assets and drawbacks are discussed

Intelligent and Efficient Transport Systems

The aim of this book is to present a number of digital and technology solutions to real-world problems across transportation sectors and infrastructures. Nine chapters have been well prepared and organized with the core topics as follows: -A guideline to evaluate the energy efficiency of a vehicle -A guideline to design and evaluate an electric propulsion system -Potential opportunities for intelligent transportation systems and smart cities -The importance of system control and energy-power management in transportation systems and infrastructures -Bespoke modeling tools and real-time simulation platforms for transportation system development This book will be useful to a wide range of audiences: university staff and students, engineers, and business people working in relevant fields