Adaptive Output Feedback Control of Premixed Diesel Combustion using a Discrete Dynamics Model

This paper deals with a combustion control system design problem for premixed diesel engines. Premixed diesel combustions can achieve high thermal efficiency while reducing emissions. However, premixed diesel combustions have low robustness with respect to changes in the environment. The traditional engine control is the feedforward control using look-up table called control map. Therefore, it is difficult to maintain a stable combustion for the premixed diesel combustions. Moreover, making the control map requires a huge number of experiments. In this paper, in order to robustly realize the premixed diesel combustion, a passivity-based adaptive output feedback control system design scheme is proposed based on a discrete dynamics model of the diesel combustion. The proposed method controls the in-cylinder heat release rate at each combustion cycle. The tracking control tests on a practical diesel engine are conducted to confirm the realization of the stable combustion by the proposed feedback controller. Moreover, designing the combustion control system based on an idea of model-based development (MBD) can reduce manpower and cost.