An autonomous vehicle and a method of controlling the vehicle are provided. The vehicle has an accessory powered by an engine with a compressor. An ejector has an inlet positioned to receive compressed air from the air intake system downstream of the compressor, and an outlet positioned to provide compressed air into the air intake system upstream of the compressor. A check valve is positioned between and fluidly connects the canister purge valve and the ejector. A controller is configured to stimulate boosted operation of the engine by activating the accessory and increasing a torque output of the engine to open the second check valve.

A method for predicting the combustion state of an engine sets the operating condition of the engine, calculates the temperature of a highest temperature portion of the cylinder before combustion based on the operating condition, calculates the combustion start timing based on the temperature of the highest temperature portion, calculates the temperature of a lowest temperature portion of the cylinder based on the operating condition and the combustion start timing, and calculates the combustion end timing based on the temperature of the lowest temperature portion. The method calculates the temperature of a wall surface layer portion located adjacent the wall surface in the cylinder based on state changes in a burned portion, an unburned portion, and the wall surface layer portion that constitute a combustion chamber inside of the cylinder, and applies the temperature of the wall surface layer portion as the temperature of the lowest temperature portion.

Methods and systems are provided for operating a cylinder with a series gap igniter coupled to an ion sensing module. In one example, a method may include determining a location of an initial combustion in a cylinder from a series gap igniter based on a pressure rise rate in the cylinder, the ignition spark initiating combustion in the cylinder; and adjusting at least one setting of the cylinder based on the determined location. In this way, combustion stability and efficiency may be increased without increasing a cost and complexity of the engine.

A method for calculating the mass of an overlap gaseous flow (M.sub.OVL), wherein the exhaust pressure is higher than the intake pressure, or in the case of scavenging (SCAV), wherein the intake pressure is higher than the exhaust pressure. The overlap gaseous flow (M.sub.OVL) is the flow which flows, in overlap conditions, through the intake valve and the exhaust valve of a cylinder of an internal combustion engine. At least one intake valve is driven so as to vary the lift (H) of the intake valve in controlled manner. The overlap condition is a condition in which the intake valve and the exhaust valve are both at least partially open. The method comprises calculating the mass of the gaseous flow (M.sub.OVL) which flows through the intake valve and the exhaust valve on the basis of the relation:

M.sub.OVL=PERM*β(P/P.sub.0,n)*P.sub.0/P.sub.0_REF*(T.sub.0_REF/T.sub.0).sup.1/2/n.

A fuel injection control device for an engine is provided. A swirl generator generates a swirl flow inside a combustion chamber. A fuel injector with multiple nozzle holes injects fuel into the combustion chamber, and forms a lean mixture gas inside the combustion chamber. A spark plug ignites the lean mixture gas to cause a portion of the mixture gas to start combustion accompanied by flame propagation, and then combusts by self-ignition. The fuel injector has first and second nozzle holes, and a first atomized fuel spray injected from the first nozzle hole and a second atomized fuel spray injected from the second nozzle hole separate from each other by the swirl flow. The fuel injector performs the fuel injection in an intake stroke, and retards a start timing of the injection when an engine load is high compared to that when the load is low.

An internal combustion engine includes a port injection valve, a direct injection valve, and a forced-induction device. A ratio of an amount of fuel injected from the port injection valve with respect to a total amount of fuel supplied for one fuel combustion in the cylinder is defined as a port injection ratio. The internal combustion engine is controlled such that, in a case in which a condition is satisfied that the forced-induction device is in an operation of performing forced induction and the internal combustion engine is in an engine operation region in which a valve overlap period is greater than zero, the port injection ratio is set to be small and a start timing of fuel injection from the port injection valve is delayed as compared with a case in which the condition is not satisfied.

A control method for an internal combustion engine, the internal combustion engine including a valve timing control mechanism on at least an intake side and configured to control an operation of the valve timing control mechanism on the intake side during acceleration, the method including, calculating a relational expression between an intake valve timing, the intake valve timing being an operation timing of an intake valve, and a cylinder air charge amount in a range in which the intake valve timing can be advanced or retarded within a predetermined calculation cycle from a current value, calculating a target air charge amount, the target air charge amount being a target value of the cylinder air charge amount during the acceleration, based on an operating state of the internal combustion engine, calculating a target value of the intake valve timing corresponding to the target air charge amount from the relational expression for each calculation cycle, and setting a command signal for the valve timing control mechanism on the intake side based on a calculated target value of the intake valve timing.

A coasting regeneration control method of a vehicle equipped with a continuously variable valve duration (CVVD) engine includes: determining, by an engine control unit (ECU), whether a current state of the vehicle satisfies coasting regeneration conditions; and entering, by the ECU, a coasting regeneration mode and performing regenerative braking when the current state of the vehicle satisfies the coasting regeneration conditions, in which when the coasting regeneration mode is entered, a throttle valve is fully opened so that the amount of intake air of the engine is maximized, a CVVD target duration is controlled to be maximized, and a closing time of an intake valve is delayed after a start point of time of a compression stroke, thereby decreasing pumping loss of the engine.

A method to determine the mass of air trapped in each cylinder of an internal combustion engine, which comprises determining, based on a model using measured and/or estimated physical quantities, a value for a first group of reference quantities; determining, based on the model, the actual inner volume of each cylinder as a function of the speed of rotation of the internal combustion engine and of the closing delay angle of the intake valve; and calculating the mass of air trapped in each cylinder as a function of the first group of reference quantities and of the actual inner volume of each cylinder.

A control system for an engine including intake and exhaust valve phase variable devices and a control device is provided. At an engine temperature below a first determination temperature, the control is performed so that an exhaust valve close timing is at or retarded from the exhaust top dead center, an intake valve open timing is retarded from the exhaust valve close timing, and the fuel supply to the combustion chamber starts in an intake stroke on a retarding side of the exhaust valve close timing. At the engine temperature above the first determination temperature and below a second determination temperature, the control is performed so that a negative overlap with both the exhaust and intake valves closed during a period including the exhaust top dead center, or a positive overlap with both the exhaust and intake valves opened during a period including the exhaust top dead center, occurs.