Sliding Mode Observers to Detect and Isolate Faults in a Turbocharged Gasoline Engine

This paper presents a novel model-based algorithm which is able to detect and isolate major faults assigned to the gas exchange path of a gasoline engine both in the intake and exhaust sides. The diagnostics system is developed for detection and isolation of these faults: air leakage fault between the compressor and the air throttle, exhaust manifold pressure sensor fault, wastegate stuck-closed fault and wastegate stuck-open fault. Sliding mode observers (SMOs) are the core detection algorithms utilized in this work. A first order SMO is designed to estimate the turbocharger rotational dynamics. The wastegate displacement dynamics coupled to the exhaust manifold pressure dynamics is estimated using a second order SMO. Verified with experimental data from a modern TC gasoline engine running in a test cell, the two sliding mode observers are then used in a strategy to detect the faults in the gas exchange path. The proposed diagnostics system shows successful results in isolation of the four faults for gasoline engines without requiring a hot-film air-flow meter (HFM).