Airpath strategy for experimental transient control of a diesel HCCI engine

A motion planning based control strategy is proposed for the airpath control of turbocharged Diesel engines using exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). The considered model uses simple balance equations. The fully actuated dynamics are easily inverted, yielding straightforward open-loop control laws. This approach is complemented by experimentally derived look-up tables to cast the drivers requests into transients between operating points. Estimation of required variables is addressed and experimental tests are reported on a 4-cylinder engine in Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) mode. Conclusions stress the possibility of taking into account the non-minimum phase effects of this system by a simple, yet efficient in practice, control law. Observed transients are accurate and fast.