Abstract
Spark ignition (SI) engines operating at very lean conditions demonstrate significant nonlinear behavior by exhibiting cycle-to-cycle bifurcation of heat release. Past literature suggests that operating an engine under such lean conditions can significantly reduce NO emissions by as much as 30% and improve fuel efficiency by as much as 5%-10%. At lean conditions, the heat release per engine cycle is not close to constant, as it is when these engines operate under stoichiometric conditions where the equivalence ratio is 1.0. A neural network controller employing output feedback has shown ability in simulation to reduce the nonlinear cyclic dispersion observed under lean operating conditions. This neural network (NN) output controller consists of three NNs: a) an NN observer to estimate the states of the engine such as total fuel and air; b) a second NN for generating virtual input; and c) a third NN for generating actual control input. The uniform ultimate boundedness of all closed-loop signals is demonstrated by using the Lyapunov analysis without using the separation principle. Persistency of the excitation condition, the certainty equivalence principle, and the linearity in the unknown parameter assumptions are also relaxed. The controller is implemented for a research engine as a program running on an embeddable PC that communicates with the engine through a custom hardware interface, and the results are similar to those observed in simulation. Experimental results at an equivalence ratio of 0.77 show a drop in NO emissions by around 98% from stoichiometric levels with an improvement of fuel efficiency by 5%. A 30% drop in unburned hydrocarbons from uncontrolled case is observed at this equivalence ratio of 0.77. Similar performance was observed with the controller on a different engine.
Recommended Citation
J. B. Vance et al., "Output Feedback Controller for Operation of Spark Ignition Engines at Lean Conditions Using Neural Networks," IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Mar 2008.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1109/TCST.2007.903368
Department(s)
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Second Department
Computer Science
Third Department
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Sponsor(s)
National Science Foundation (U.S.)
United States. Department of Education
Keywords and Phrases
Adaptive Control; Feedback; Neural Network (NN) Hardware; Neural Networks (NNs); Neurocontrollers; Observers; Output
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
1063-6536
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Final Version
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2008 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 Mar 2008
Included in
Aerospace Engineering Commons, Computer Sciences Commons, Electrical and Computer Engineering Commons, Mechanical Engineering Commons, Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons
