Search Results

Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) engine concept has the potential to be high efficient and to produce low NOx and particulate matter emissions. However, the problem of controlling the combustion over the entire load/speed range limits its practical application. The HCCI combustion is controlled by chemical kinetics of the charge mixture, with no influence of the flame diffusion or turbulent propagation. Therefore, to achieve a successful control of the HCCI process, the composition, temperature and pressure of the charge mixture at IVC point have to be controlled. The use of the variable valve timing strategy that enables quick changes in the amount of trapped hot exhaust gases shows the potential for the control of the HCCI combustion.

Homogenous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) combustion phasing and stability provides a challenging control problem over conventional combustion technologies of Spark Ignition (SI) and Compression Ignition (CI). Due to the auto ignition nature of the HCCI combustion there are no direct methods for actuation, the combustion and the phasing relies on indirect methods. This in itself creates a nonlinear dynamic problem between the relationships of control actuators and the combustion behavior. In order to control the process, an accurate feedback signal is necessary to determine the state of the actual combustion process. Ideally to ensure that combustion remains stable and phased correctly an in-cylinder feedback of each cylinder for multi cylinder engines would be preferable. Feedback has been seen in studies using piezoelectric pressure sensors for visually monitoring the pressure in the combustion chamber. This is expensive and requires redesign of the combustion chamber.