An Application of Crabon Canister Modeling to Air Fuel Ratio Control and Idle By-Pass Control

Due to the stringent emission regulations, On-Board Diagnostics II (OBD II) and the requirement of enhanced evaporative emissions test procedure, an aggressive canister purge control strategy is required for automotive vehicles. The enhanced evaporative emissions test procedure has forced car manufacturer to purge the carbon canister in the vehicle idle condition so that production vehicles meet the SHED and hot soak test requirements. This not only worsens the idle speed quality but also tends to increase exhaust emission levels. Using analytical models of evaporative air and fuel, feed-forward control strategy for both idle by-pass air and air to fuel ratio can be improved. This paper demonstrates an application of evaporative system modeling to the idle air and air to fuel ratio control. Using the evaporative air model along with the on-line estimation of the fuel level at the carbon canister, purge can be done aggressively without sacrificing either the idle quality or the air to fuel ratio control.