Physical Modeling and Control of a Multi-Cylinder HCCI Engine

Homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) is one of the most promising piston-engine concepts for the future, providing significantly improved efficiency and emissions characteristics relative to current technologies. This paper presents a framework for controlling a multi-cylinder HCCI engine with exhaust recompression and direct injection of fuel into the cylinder. A physical model is used to describe the HCCI process, with the model states being closely linked to the thermodynamic state of the cylinder constituents. Separability between the effects of the control inputs on the desired outputs provides an opportunity to develop a simple linear control scheme, where the fuel is used to control the work output and the valve timings are used to control the phasing of combustion. Experimental results show good tracking of both the work output and combustion phasing over a wide operating region. In addition, the controller is able to balance out differences between cylinders, and reduce the cycle-to-cycle variability of combustion.