Various embodiments include a method for starting an internal combustion engine comprising: in a first phase after a starting process, setting a throttle valve to a value near to zero so the pressure in the intake tract is lowered below the ambient pressure and injecting a fuel into the intake tract above a rich combustion limit at which the fuel/air mixture would still just be combustible; in a second phase, reducing the fuel mass as a function of the pressure; in a third phase shorter than the second phase, further reducing the fuel mass and increasing the opening of the throttle valve to increase the pressure in the intake tract; and in a fourth phase, increasing the fuel mass as a function of rising pressure in the intake tract.

Disclosed is a transport refrigeration unit (TRU) having: an engine configured to power a refrigeration system of the TRU, the engine including an air intake, the engine within an engine compartment of the TRU; an air management valve (AMV) fluidly coupled to the air intake; a first duct fluidly coupled to the AMV and including a first inlet within the engine compartment; and a second duct fluidly coupled to the AMV and including a second inlet that is exterior to the engine compartment and is configured to receive atmospheric air; wherein: the AMV is configured to modulate air into the engine from the first duct and the second duct, when a temperature of air within the AMV is above the first threshold and the temperature of air within the second duct is below the first threshold, to lower the temperature of air entering the engine to below the first threshold.

Provided is an engine control device capable of, when performing control of an in-cylinder oxygen concentration according to engine operation state, controlling an engine to accurately realize vehicle behavior intended by a driver, while suppressing generation of knock noises due to abnormal combustion. The engine control device comprises: a basic target torque-determining part (61) configured to determine a basic target torque based on a driving state of a vehicle including manipulation of an accelerator pedal; a torque reduction amount-determining part (63) configured to determine a torque reduction amount based on a driving state of the vehicle other than the manipulation of the accelerator pedal; a final target torque-determining part (65) configured to determine a final target torque based on the basic target torque and the torque reduction amount; and an engine control part (69) configured, based on a fuel injection parameter preliminarily set correspondingly to an operation state of an engine, to control a fuel injector to enable the engine to output the final target torque, and, when the final target torque changes correspondingly to a change in the torque reduction amount, to correct the fuel injection parameter.

A blowback air amount is an amount of air that is part of the air that has flowed into a combustion chamber and is blown back into an intake passage before an intake valve closes. If the blowback air amount increases, a controller causes a fuel injection valve to inject fuel by an amount increased with respect to a fuel amount for a case in which the blowback air amount remains constant. The controller sets an increase amount of fuel injected from the fuel injection valve to a greater value when the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio of the fuel injected from the fuel injection valve is small than when the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio of the fuel injected from the fuel injection valve is great.

A blowback air amount is an amount of air that is part of the air that has flowed into a combustion chamber and is blown back into an intake passage before an intake valve closes. If the blowback air amount increases, a controller causes a fuel injection valve to inject fuel by an amount increased with respect to a fuel amount for a case in which the blowback air amount remains constant. The controller sets an increase amount of fuel injected from the fuel injection valve to a greater value when the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio of the fuel injected from the fuel injection valve is small than when the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio of the fuel injected from the fuel injection valve is great.

A method for determining an air volume in a combustion chamber of a fuel-injection internal combustion engine, especially during a load change condition, including synchronizing a throttle valve setpoint signal to an operating state criterion (t.sub.n); determining a curve dynamics of the throttle valve position taking into account the synchronized throttle valve setpoint signal; determining an actual air volume quantity at an ACTUAL time point (t.sub.0); determining a desired time point (t.sub.0+t); predicting a further air volume quantity for the desired time point (t.sub.0+t) and determining a total air volume quantity from the ACTUAL air volume quantity and the further air volume quantity for the desired time point (t.sub.0+t).

A method for determining an air volume in a combustion chamber of a fuel-injection internal combustion engine, especially during a load change condition, including synchronizing a throttle valve setpoint signal to an operating state criterion (t.sub.n); determining a curve dynamics of the throttle valve position taking into account the synchronized throttle valve setpoint signal; determining an actual air volume quantity at an ACTUAL time point (t.sub.0); determining a desired time point (t.sub.0+t); predicting a further air volume quantity for the desired time point (t.sub.0+t) and determining a total air volume quantity from the ACTUAL air volume quantity and the further air volume quantity for the desired time point (t.sub.0+t).

To improve accuracy in misfire determination, a control apparatus for an internal combustion engine that controls an internal combustion engine having a variable compression ratio mechanism capable of changing the compression ratio of the internal combustion engine includes a controller configured to: determine that a misfire occurs if the magnitude of rotational fluctuation of the internal combustion engine is equal to or larger than a misfire criterion value and to make the misfire criterion value larger during the time in which changing of the compression ratio of the internal combustion engine is in progress than during the time in which the compression ratio is not being changed.

To improve accuracy in misfire determination, a control apparatus for an internal combustion engine that controls an internal combustion engine having a variable compression ratio mechanism capable of changing the compression ratio of the internal combustion engine includes a controller configured to: determine that a misfire occurs if the magnitude of rotational fluctuation of the internal combustion engine is equal to or larger than a misfire criterion value and to make the misfire criterion value larger during the time in which changing of the compression ratio of the internal combustion engine is in progress than during the time in which the compression ratio is not being changed.

A method for limiting an air charge of an internal combustion engine. A maximum permissible pre-controlled charge and an exhaust-gas temperature-dependent delta charge are determined by means of a PI controller. A total permissible charge is determined on the basis of the maximum permissible pre-controlled charge and the exhaust-gas temperature-dependent delta-charge, and the air charge of the internal combustion engine is limited by the total permissible charge.