Fuel management system for enhanced operation of a spark ignition gasoline engine. Injectors inject an anti-knock agent such as ethanol directly into a cylinder. It is preferred that the direct injection occur after the inlet valve is closed. It is also preferred that stoichiometric operation with a three way catalyst be used to minimize emissions. In addition, it is also preferred that the anti-knock agents have a heat of vaporization per unit of combustion energy that is at least three times that of gasoline.

An engine system is provided, which includes a vehicle-mounted engine having an injector, a spark plug, and a property adjusting device, an accelerator opening sensor, and a controller. The controller performs a combustion control for controlling the injector, the spark plug, and the property adjusting device so that a target torque set based on a present accelerator opening detected by the accelerator opening sensor is outputted in a specific cycle in the future from a present time by a given delay time. In the combustion control, the controller sets a target load of the engine in the specific cycle based on the present accelerator opening, and sets a combustion transition from the present cycle to the specific cycle by selecting beforehand combustion from the present cycle to the specific cycle, from flame propagation combustion and compressed self-ignition combustion, based on the set target load.

A method of controlling an engine is provided, which includes setting, by a controller, a target torque of the engine in a specific cycle in the future by a given delay time from the present time based on a present accelerator opening. The method includes selecting beforehand, by the controller, combustion in the specific cycle according to the target torque, from flame propagation combustion and compressed self-ignition combustion. The method includes outputting, by the controller, a control signal to a property adjusting device before the specific cycle so that a property inside the cylinder in the specific cycle becomes a property corresponding to the selected combustion. The method includes estimating, by the controller, the property at a timing when an intake valve is closed in the specific cycle. The method includes outputting, by the controller, a control signal corresponding to the estimated property to a spark plug or an injector.

Methods and systems are described for enhanced engine friction generation. The enhanced engine friction generation improves the effectiveness of vehicle braking in deceleration fuel cut-off driving conditions by using engine vacuum and backpressure to temporarily increase engine pumping losses, thereby increasing powertrain drag and increasing deceleration torque to the wheels. The engine vacuum and backpressure may be created by changing the duration of the intake and/or exhaust valves. The system includes a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising adjusting an intake valve time duration or an exhaust valve time duration to increase engine friction to enhance mechanical friction on a drivetrain of a vehicle.

Fuel management system for enhanced operation of a spark ignition gasoline engine. Injectors inject an anti-knock agent such as ethanol directly into a cylinder. It is preferred that the direct injection occur after the inlet valve is closed. It is also preferred that stoichiometric operation with a three way catalyst be used to minimize emissions. In addition, it is also preferred that the anti-knock agents have a heat of vaporization per unit of combustion energy that is at least three times that of gasoline.

The disclosure concerns variable valve timing of a four-stroke ICE. The ICE comprises: an exhaust valve and an intake valve an exhaust camshaft an intake camshaft and a cylinder arrangement. The cylinder arrangement comprises a combustion chamber a cylinder bore and a piston. The control arrangement is configured to: perform a first sequence of changes in the timings of the exhaust and intake camshafts in order to arrive from a first camshaft timing setting at a second camshaft timing setting based on a first current maximum cylinder pressure within the combustion chamber around top dead centre fire and/or around to dead centre gas exchange.

Methods and systems are provided for re-combustion of exhaust in a cylinder of a multi-cylinder engine in order to increase the temperature of the exhaust for enhancing catalytic conversion within the multi-cylinder engine. In one example, a method may include expelling combusted gases from the cylinder into an intake manifold via an intake valve during an exhaust stroke, in order to rebreathe in the combusted gases from the intake manifold via the intake valve in a subsequent intake stroke.

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 method and apparatus according to the invention is described, which in a first mode operates as an internal combustion engine delivering energy and in a second mode operates as a pulsed compression reactor converting electrical energy in the form of chemical compounds. In the second mode, at least one of the generated compounds is collected and temporarily stored.

An engine system is provided, which includes a vehicle-mounted engine having an injector, a spark plug, an intake valve operating mechanism, and an exhaust valve operating mechanism, an accelerator opening sensor, and a controller. The engine is configured to execute flame propagation combustion and compressed self-ignition combustion. The controller performs a combustion control so that a target torque set based on an accelerator opening is realized in a specific cycle in the future from a present time by a given delay time. The controller sets beforehand the combustion mode based on a target load, estimates an in-cylinder property when the intake valve is closed in the present cycle, sets a target in-cylinder property so that the set combustion mode is realized in the specific cycle, and sets a target operating amount of each of the intake and exhaust valve operating mechanisms based on the set target in-cylinder property.