Fuel reform apparatus includes: internal combustion engine including injector and configured so that compression-ignition combustion is carried out in combustion chamber; reform unit interposed in fuel supply path from fuel tank to injector and including reformer reforming fuel stored in fuel tank by oxidation reaction; ignition timing detector detecting ignition timing of fuel in combustion chamber; and controller including CPU and memory. Controller performs: determining whether fuel has been supplied into fuel tank; determining whether reforming is needed based on ignition timing when it is determined that fuel has been supplied; controlling operation of reform unit so as to reform fuel stored in fuel tank to supply to injector when it is determined that reforming is needed; and controlling operation of reform unit so as to supply fuel stored in fuel tank to injector without reforming when it is determined that reforming is not needed.

According to the invention, a method for air path control of a combustion engine is provided, comprising an EGR valve and a VGT turbine. The method comprises providing a cost function of a measured delta pressure between engine intake and exhaust manifold; determining a gradient of the cost function as a function of a delta pressure set point, determining a gradient of a constraint function for estimated NOx emission level, turbine rate; and oxygen level as a function of delta pressure; real time controlling the NOx emission level and delta pressure to respective desired NOx and delta pressure set points by adjusting the EGR valve and/or the VGT turbine, wherein the delta pressure set point is adjusted according to an integration of a selected gradient direction of the cost function selected from the determined one or more of the gradients, wherein the determined gradients are prioritized in the order of turbine rate, oxygen level and NOx emission level; and wherein NOx emission level and or a turbine rate and or oxygen levels are constrained; and wherein the adjusted delta pressure set point is perturbed in an extremum seeking operation on the cost function.

A method for operating an internal combustion engine with a motor, having a moving machine part and at least one machine element which retains the moving machine part and is subject to wear, such as, for example, a supporting, sealing, guiding or the like retaining machine element that is subject to wear during operation relative to the moving machine part, which machine element, because of the wear, is service-life-limiting for the operation of the internal combustion engine, wherein—for the operation of the internal combustion engine, a service-life-limiting time interval until the next maintenance of the internal combustion engine is specified, and—the internal combustion engine has a number of service-life-limiting machine elements, wherein for the at least one service-life-limiting machine element a remaining service life is forecast and the service-life-limiting time interval is determined therefrom.

Systems, devices and methods for diagnosing malfunctioning in a crankcase ventilation (CCV) system are provided. A controller includes a processor and a memory storing instructions that cause the processor to: receive a plurality of pressure values including (i) a first pressure value indicative of a pressure of fluid flowing from a crankcase to a breather assembly of a system, (ii) a second pressure value indicative of a pressure of fluid flowing through a first tube coupled to the breather assembly, and (iii) a third pressure value indicative of a pressure of fluid flowing through a second tube coupled to the breather assembly; determine a pair of pressure differences based on the first pressure value, the second pressure value, and the third pressure value; and detect a malfunctioning in the CCV system based on the pair of pressure differences.

A system and method for controlling an internal combustion engine involving (1) cylinder trapping strategies where one of several pneumatic spring types are dynamically selected for cylinders based at least partially on a predicted number of upcoming skips for each of the cylinders respectively and/or (2) staggering various valvetrain dependent operational engine strategies as operating conditions permit as the internal combustion engine warms up following a cold start.

To provide a controller and a control method for internal combustion engine which can reduce arithmetic load, while suppressing deterioration in the estimation accuracy of the parameter relevant to the combustion state, even if the error component of high frequency is included in the crank angle acceleration. A controller for internal combustion engine, by referring an unburning condition data, calculates a shaft torque in unburning in the vicinity of the top dead center in the burning condition; calculates an external load torque based on calculated shaft torque in unburning and the actual shaft torque in burning in the vicinity of the top dead center; calculates a shaft torque in unburning by referring the unburning condition data; calculates an increment of gas pressure torque by burning based on the shaft torque in unburning, the actual shaft torque in burning, and the external load torque.

A misfire detection device and a misfire detection method for an internal combustion engine, and a memory medium are provided. Cylinders adjacent to the deactivated cylinder include a determined cylinder subject to a determination of whether a misfire has occurred and a cylinder different from the determined cylinder. It is determined that a misfire has occurred in the determined cylinder on condition that a divergence degree between a value of a combustion variable of the cylinder different from the determined cylinder and adjacent to the deactivated cylinder and a value of a combustion variable of the determined cylinder is greater than or equal to a specific amount. Combustion control has been executed in the cylinders adjacent to the deactivated cylinder and the cylinder different from the determined cylinder and adjacent to the deactivated cylinder.

Methods and systems are provided for performing expansion combustion in an engine of a start-stop vehicle. In one example, a method may include, responsive to receiving an auto-start request to restart an engine from an auto-stop, determining a fuel mass to inject into a cylinder for an expansion combustion event based on a duration of the auto-stop, and actuating a spark plug of the cylinder after injecting the determined fuel mass to perform the expansion combustion event. In this way, an air-fuel ratio of the expansion combustion event may be more accurately controlled, resulting in more robust expansion combustion engine restarts.

Systems and methods are described for operating a turbocharger. A current exhaust manifold pressure is determined based on an engine operating condition. A current operating condition of the turbocharger is determined. A surge correction factor is determined based on the current operating condition of the turbocharger. The current exhaust manifold pressure is adjusted based on the surge correction factor.

Lubricant dilution detection systems and methods are disclosed. A method for detecting lubricant dilution for a lubrication system includes detecting a shutdown event of the lubrication system. The method includes measuring lubricant pressure during the shutdown event. The method further includes determining lubricant dilution based on the measured lubricant pressure during the shutdown event. In accordance with a determination that there is lubricant dilution, the method includes outputting an indication of the lubricant dilution.