Advantages of Diesel Engine Control Using In-Cylinder Pressure Information for Closed Loop Control

Increasing emissions regulations, diagnostics capability, and other demands in vehicle refinement, have led to the need for increasingly complex engine control systems. These demands have led to in-cylinder combustion control, especially for the diesel engine. Diesel engine combustion relies heavily on the auto-ignition process. Therefore accurate control of this process is important and will become even more important for HCCI-engines.

This paper discusses the configuration of a diesel engine for in-cylinder combustion control. It describes the digital evaluation of the cylinder pressure signal and the computation of the physical parameters necessary for proper combustion analysis, along with methods for using the calculated combustion parameter for engine control.

The paper demonstrates the advantages of electronic engine control combined with in-cylinder pressure information. The paper also addresses some of the future challenges of engine control.