Disclosed is a method for control a vehicle with a drive system comprising an output shaft of a combustion engine and a planetary gear with a first and a second electrical machine, connected via their rotors to the components of the planetary gear, the vehicle is started by controlling the first electrical machine to achieve a torque thereof, so that the requested torque is transmitted to the planetary gear's output shaft, and controlling the second electrical machine to achieve a torque, so that the desired power to electrical auxiliary aggregates and/or loads in the vehicle, and/or electric energy storage means, if present in the vehicle, for exchange of electric energy with the first and second electrical machine is achieved.

A method is described of supplying liquid to a liquid delivery system in a vehicle. A a replaceable liquid container including a reservoir containing liquid is releasably coupled in the vehicle to provide fluidic communication between the reservoir and a liquid delivery system of the vehicle during operation of the vehicle. The method includes the steps of: (i) prior to establishing liquid communication between the reservoir and the liquid delivery system of a selected vehicle, communicating with a data carrier carried by the container and determining data associated with at least one of the container and its contents; and (ii) using the data in an analysis of suitability of the container and/or content of the container for the selected vehicle and generating a suitability output, and (iii) establishing liquid communication between the reservoir and liquid delivery system of the selected vehicle in dependence on the suitability output.

A method is described of supplying liquid to a liquid delivery system in a vehicle. A a replaceable liquid container including a reservoir containing liquid is releasably coupled in the vehicle to provide fluidic communication between the reservoir and a liquid delivery system of the vehicle during operation of the vehicle. The method includes the steps of: (i) prior to establishing liquid communication between the reservoir and the liquid delivery system of a selected vehicle, communicating with a data carrier carried by the container and determining data associated with at least one of the container and its contents; and (ii) using the data in an analysis of suitability of the container and/or content of the container for the selected vehicle and generating a suitability output, and (iii) establishing liquid communication between the reservoir and liquid delivery system of the selected vehicle in dependence on the suitability output.

A control system for fuel injection by predicting engine noise may include an engine noise predicting device configured to derive a predicted engine noise value in real time by a predicted engine noise coefficient which is pre-stored according to a currently measured combustion pressure value of an engine; and a combustion controller configured to determine a difference between the real-time predicted engine noise value derived by the engine noise predicting device and a target engine noise value for a current operation condition of the engine, and when the engine noise is determined as being degraded due to an abnormal combustion, configured to change the target engine noise value to control fuel injection according to the changed target engine noise value.

A control system for fuel injection by predicting engine noise may include an engine noise predicting device configured to derive a predicted engine noise value in real time by a predicted engine noise coefficient which is pre-stored according to a currently measured combustion pressure value of an engine; and a combustion controller configured to determine a difference between the real-time predicted engine noise value derived by the engine noise predicting device and a target engine noise value for a current operation condition of the engine, and when the engine noise is determined as being degraded due to an abnormal combustion, configured to change the target engine noise value to control fuel injection according to the changed target engine noise value.

An engine maintenance set can be generated via a computerized system using engine status data for an internal combustion engine. The generating can include operating on the engine status data using a set of computer-readable maintenance set generation rules, with the rules correlating an engine maintenance set with a triggering condition. The generating can include determining that the triggering condition is met, with the triggering condition including each of one or more triggering parameters being within one or more corresponding triggering value ranges. The triggering parameters can include at least one engine emission triggering parameter. The generating can further include producing the engine maintenance set using the maintenance set generation rules. The generated engine maintenance set can be issued, with the engine maintenance set including one or more commands to perform one or more maintenance operations to improve efficiency of the engine and/or one or more engine status notifications.

An engine maintenance set can be generated via a computerized system using engine status data for an internal combustion engine. The generating can include operating on the engine status data using a set of computer-readable maintenance set generation rules, with the rules correlating an engine maintenance set with a triggering condition. The generating can include determining that the triggering condition is met, with the triggering condition including each of one or more triggering parameters being within one or more corresponding triggering value ranges. The triggering parameters can include at least one engine emission triggering parameter. The generating can further include producing the engine maintenance set using the maintenance set generation rules. The generated engine maintenance set can be issued, with the engine maintenance set including one or more commands to perform one or more maintenance operations to improve efficiency of the engine and/or one or more engine status notifications.

A method and apparatus for continually and rapidly adjusting the output torque of an engine according to a torque demand uses an active tappet to vary the instant air charge in a combustion chamber. The invention allows substantially efficient combustion throughout the engine operating map. Various methods of changing the charge of air are disclosed.

A method and apparatus for continually and rapidly adjusting the output torque of an engine according to a torque demand uses an active tappet to vary the instant air charge in a combustion chamber. The invention allows substantially efficient combustion throughout the engine operating map. Various methods of changing the charge of air are disclosed.

Based on respective signals from the combustion pressure sensor and a crank angle sensor, heat generation amount data in which a heat generation amount and a crank angle are related to each other is generated, and an estimated heat generation amount is calculated based on a fuel amount in the combustion cycle. When a final value of a heat generation amount in the combustion cycle is smaller than the estimated heat generation amount, the combustion state parameter is calculated based on the heat generation amount data to a crank angle corresponding to the final value of the heat generation amount. When the final value of the heat generation amount is equal to or larger than the estimated heat generation amount, the combustion state parameter is calculated based on the heat generation amount data to a crank angle at which the heat generation amount reaches the estimated heat generation amount.