Advanced Electronics for a Clean Diesel Engine Management System 2006-21-0059

With the economic development of countries around the world led by BRICs(Brazil, Russia, India, China), the total number of automobiles in the world continues to rise. From the standpoint of preserving limited petroleum resources and reducing CO₂ emissions, improved fuel consumption is necessary if we are to continue enjoying the use of automobiles. In Europe, significant development of diesel engine technology as a power source for automobiles has taken place to reduce fuel consumption and to enhance the “Fun to Drive” experience, and market share of diesel engines has increased in this area. However, with increasing environmental awareness worldwide, all areas of the globe are seeing tightened regulations for not only fuel consumption, but also exhaust emissions, including those for PM(Particulate Matter) and NOx. Of these regulations, the requirement for vehicles to satisfy the US Tier 2 Bin 5 rating, regardless of whether they are gasoline or dieselpowered, is the most stringent.

Under these circumstances, if we are to see diesel engines continue to be used for their low fuel consumption and high output while becoming a clean primary power source, controlling the total cost of systems that lower exhaust emissions becomes a critical issue.

To control exhaust emissions at a low cost requires a sophisticated system with precise fuel injection control, corrective control using sensors, and air management that controls combustion temperature to control raw emissions from the engine, along with simple aftertreatment methods.

To realize these complex control strategies within a short period of time, highly sophisticated electronic engineering techniques and model-based research and development are necessary.

This paper describes system architecture and control strategies making use of the latest ECU technologies mentioned above, which can comply with the US Tier 2 Bin 5.