High-Precision, Robust Cascade Model for Closed-Loop Control of Ceramic Glow Plug Surface Temperature in a Diesel Engine

A closed-loop control of a glow plug in a diesel engine is a solution to replace a table-based regulation algorithm to minimise application effort and increase robustness. This paper proposes a method to develop a robust, real-time and accurate temperature model to be used with a model-based temperature controller. Analytical models provide a priori knowledge to the design and optimisation of steady-state temperature estimation for the nonlinear part of a Hammerstein-type dynamic model. Accuracy and robustness are improved compared to those of a classical multivariate nonlinear regression model and an artificial neural network model. Experimental results of a preliminary controller based on the developed model on a test bench and in a test vehicle show excellent dynamic accuracy.