This study examines the dynamics and control of an engine operated with late intake valve closure (LIVC) timings in a dual-fuel combustion mode. The engine features a fuel delivery system in which diesel is direct-injected and natural gas is port-injected. Despite the benefits of LIVC and dual-fuel strategy, combining these two techniques resulted in efficiency losses due to the variability of the combustion process across cylinders. The difference in power production across cylinders ranges from 9% at an IVC of 570°ATDC* to 38% at an IVC of 620 °ATDC and indicates an increasingly uneven fuel distribution as the intake valve remains open longer in the compression stroke. This paper describes an approach for controlling the amount of fuel injected into each cylinders’ port of an inline six- cylinder heavy-duty dual-fuel engine to minimize the variations in fuel distribution across cylinder.
Since measuring the actual fuel reaching each cylinder is not a practical option on stock engines, this study aimed to produce a feedforward control technique. Using a model developed on an engine simulation software, the optimal fuel injection amounts at each cylinder port across 125 operating conditions (consisting of sweeps of five engine speeds, five engine loads, and five IVC timings) were determined by using PI controllers that adjust the amount of fuel injected at each port based on the amount of fuel reaching the cylinders. The results from the PI controller were expressed as a function of the operating condition (engine speed, engine load, and IVC timing); and consequently, could be reproduced without relying on a measurement of the amount of fuel reaching each cylinder. The feedforward control strategy, unlike the PI controller, is easily implementable on a stock engine and significantly reduces the variations in fuel distribution across cylinders.