Cold Engine Transient Fuel Control Experiments in a Port Fuel Injected CFR Engine

Air-fuel mixture preparation is particularly challenging during cold engine throttle transients due to poor fuel vaporization and transport delays in port fuel injected (PFI) engines. In this study, a PFI Cooperative Fuels Research engine is used to evaluate torque and measure in cylinder and exhaust CO, CO2 and unburned hydrocarbons during throttle transients at various early stages of engine warm-up. Fast flame ionization detectors and non-dispersive infra-red fast CO and CO₂ detectors are used to provide detailed cycle-by-cycle analysis. Torque after cold throttle transients is found to be comparable to steady state torque due to allowable spark advance. However, cold transients produce up to 4 times the unburned hydrocarbons when compared to steady state operation. Finally, the x-tau fuel control model is evaluated in this challenging operating regime and is found to provide poor transient fuel control due to excessive fueling.