An internal combustion engine includes an internal combustion engine main body including a plurality of cylinders, a knock sensor provided on each of the plurality of cylinders, a control board including an amplification circuit, and a plurality of cables differing in length and each connecting the knock sensor and the control board. The amplification circuit includes, for each of the plurality of cables, a first charge amplifier connected to a first output terminal of the knock sensor via one of the plurality of cables, a second charge amplifier connected to a second output terminal of the knock sensor via one of the plurality of cables, and a differential amplifier configured to take an output of the first charge amplifier and an output of the second charge amplifier as input.

An internal combustion engine includes an internal combustion engine main body including a plurality of cylinders, a knock sensor provided on each of the plurality of cylinders, a control board including an amplification circuit, and a plurality of cables differing in length and each connecting the knock sensor and the control board. The amplification circuit includes, for each of the plurality of cables, a first charge amplifier connected to a first output terminal of the knock sensor via one of the plurality of cables, a second charge amplifier connected to a second output terminal of the knock sensor via one of the plurality of cables, and a differential amplifier configured to take an output of the first charge amplifier and an output of the second charge amplifier as input.

The objective is to improve driving feeling at a time of acceleration operation or deceleration operation, by recognizing driver's intention of acceleration or deceleration during straight-ahead running. A driving-assistance control apparatus according to the present disclosure includes a straight-running determination unit that determines whether or not a vehicle is running straight, a head-position detection unit that detects a head position of a driver, a driving-posture determination unit that determines the posture of the driver, based on the head position detected by the head-position detection unit, and a driving-assistance control unit that performs acceleration preparation control for raising a reaction speed for acceleration operation or deceleration preparation control for raising a reaction speed for deceleration operation in accordance with an output of the driving-posture determination unit, when the straight-running determination unit determines that a vehicle is running straight.

A multiple fuel tank purge system and method includes providing a pair of fuel tanks, including a main fuel tank for containing impure fuel and a separate, auxiliary fuel tank that contains commercial canned fuel. The engine runs on the impure fuel from the main fuel tank while the engine is in normal use, and then employs a shutdown cycle that switches to the commercial canned fuel from the auxiliary fuel tank for some pre-set time period. This arrangement allows the engine to be purged of the impure fuel (by burning the impure fuel during the shutdown cycle) and replaced by the commercial pre-mixed fuel before the engine is finally shut down. The system may further include a novel fuel cap with a fuel line, a tank within a tank fuel container, and/or an electronically actuated shutdown cycle mechanism.

An engine includes a reformer, a reforming-air adjuster, a reforming-fuel supply unit, a reformed-gas adjuster, and a control unit. The reformer is configured to reform fuel into a reformed gas. When a start signal is input, the control unit controls the reforming-air adjuster and the reforming-fuel supply unit to a reformable state in which the fuel is reformable in the reformer, and the control unit controls the reformed-gas adjuster so that the reformed gas flows through the reformed-gas adjuster with a degree of opening smaller than a normal degree of opening that is a degree of opening of the reformed-gas adjuster when composition of the reformed gas is in a stable state before the composition of the reformed gas becomes in the stable state, for a given period of time including at least a period immediately after the engine starts.

A method and system for operating a vehicle that includes a plurality of engine starting devices and an internal combustion engine is described. In one example, the method determines whether or not to inhibit automatic engine stopping so that a lifespan of an engine starting device may be extended. In one example, the inhibiting is based on a ratio of an actual total number of engine starts generated via the engine starting device to an actual total distance traveled by the vehicle since the engine starting device was installed.

A power system including a variable volume combustion chamber for a two-stroke engine having a controlled exhaust port, a fuel injector to the combustion chamber and an oxygen injector to the combustion chamber. The oxygen injector provides repeated oxygen injection pulses to complete a charge. The controlled exhaust port includes an oscillating rotatably mounted valve. A source of pressurized concentrated oxygen to the oxygen injector is in a closed case having a ceramic fiber membrane. An air inlet and a waste outlet are in communication with a first side of the ceramic fiber membrane. An oxygen outlet is in communication with a second side of the ceramic fiber Ionic transport membrane. The case has a heat transfer surface in communication with the controlled exhaust port from the combustion chamber.

For the functional testing of an arrangement for dynamic fuel consumption measurement, at least two reference flows are produced through successive operation, at different frequencies, of a system pump (6) provided in any case for the regulated fuel flow, and the gradient determined from the reference measured values obtained is compared with the known gradients of the characteristic curve of the system pump (6).

A fuel-supply system has a fuel pump, a pressure controller, a signal output device and a power switch. The pressure controller adjusts the observed fuel pressure of the fuel and may electronically communicate with a motor driving the fuel pump to regulate the supply of fuel from a fuel tank of the fuel-supply system to an engine. In detail, the pressure controller performs feedback control of a voltage applied to the motor such that the pressure of a fuel pumped from the fuel pump approaches to have a first target and/or ideal fuel pressure value. Further, the signal output device outputs the first target fuel pressure value to the pressure controller. Activation of the power switch supplies power, from a power source, to the pressure controller, the motor and the signal output device. Further, the pressure controller may perform feedback control based on a second target fuel pressure value.

There is provided an airflow control device of an internal combustion engine comprising: a plasma actuator provided in an intake passage, a fuel injector for port injection provided in the intake passage so as to inject fuel toward the plasma actuator and a control unit for controlling them. The control unit is configured to actuate the plasma actuator after valve opening of an intake valve, in addition to causing the fuel injector to perform an operation of fuel injection, and causing the plasma actuator to perform an operation in a part of a valve closing period of the intake valve. Furthermore, the control unit includes a determination unit to determine whether or not water has adhered to the plasma actuator, and makes port injection operation and plasma actuator operation be performed only when water has adhered.