Methods and systems are provided for accurately determining the composition of a knock control fluid using sensors already present in the engine system. An intake or an exhaust oxygen sensor is used to estimate the water and the alcohol content of a knock control fluid that is direct injected into an engine cylinder responsive to an indication of abnormal combustion. A change in the pumping current of the oxygen sensor due to the water content of the knock control fluid is distinguished from a change in the pumping current of the oxygen sensor due to the alcohol content of the knock control fluid.

An apparatus for controlling a gasoline-diesel complex combustion engine includes an engine generating driving torque by burning gasoline fuel and diesel fuel, a driving information detector for detecting driving information of the engine, and a controller for controlling a diesel injector such that diesel fuel is injected as a single injection or a split injection based on a driving region and a knock intensity included within the driving information.

A portable flexible fuel generator, having an engine, includes: a cylinder and a spark plug in the cylinder, a primary fuel tank fluidly connected to the cylinder, an air intake path fluidly connecting atmosphere to the cylinder, a start module including a starting fuel tank holder and a starting fuel line, where the starting fuel line is fluidly connected to the air intake path, a coolant path which provide a flow path for coolant to cool the cylinder, and a thermal controller along the coolant path. Furthermore, the engine has full cylinder cooling.

The present disclosure relates to a miniaturized fuel laboratory system that makes use of a housing, a processor housed within the housing, and a fuel inlet port supported from the housing for receiving a quantity of fuel to be used as a fuel test sample. The system may also have at least one fuel sensor housed in the housing in communication with the fuel inlet port for receiving the fuel test sample and carrying out combustion thereof. An electronic component may be housed in the housing, which enables communication with an external remote subsystem. A database may be incorporated which contains at least one of stored fuel characteristics or stored fuel analysis models, accessible by the processor. The processor may use fuel oxidation information generated by the fuel sensor, and at least one of the stored fuel characteristics or stored combustion models, to determine at least one fuel characteristic of the fuel test sample.

A first engine fuel, for example diesel fuel, is reformed (preferably via steam reforming) to produce syngas for use as a second engine fuel, with the fuels then both being used in an internal combustion engine to perform Reactivity Controlled Compression Ignition (RCCI). The syngas is produced and supplied to the engine as a supercritical fluid, thereby avoiding the pumping losses that would occur if syngas was pressurized for supply/injection. The reforming is done by a reformer which is provided as a unit with the engine (e.g., both the engine and reformer are onboard a vehicle), thereby effectively allowing use of a single fuel for RCCI engine operation.

A vehicular propulsion system, a vehicular fuel system and a method of operating an internal combustion engine. A separation unit that makes up a part of the fuel system includes one or more adsorbent-based chambers such that the separation unit may selectively receive and separate at least a portion of onboard fuel into octane-enhanced and cetane-enhanced fuel components. A supply tank includes three compartments where the first contains the onboard fuel, the second receives a vaporized adsorbate from the separation unit and condenses at least a part of it into one of an octane-rich fuel component or a cetane-rich fuel component, while the third may either store the condensed and enriched fuel component or help condense more of the vaporized adsorbate. The condensing takes place through heat exchange between the onboard fuel and the vaporized adsorbate that are present within the various compartments of the supply tank. A controller may be used to determine a particular operational condition of the internal combustion engine such that the onboard fuel can be sent to one or more combustion chambers within the internal combustion engine without first passing through the separation unit, or instead to the separation unit in situations where the internal combustion engine may require an octane-rich or cetane-rich mixture.

A method of estimating antiknock properties of a multi-fuel injection internal combustion engine includes: acquiring a first antiknock property-correlated parameter value while only a first fuel having a low octane rating is injected in a first load range; estimating a first antiknock property of the first fuel based on the first antiknock property-correlated parameter value; acquiring a second antiknock property-correlated parameter value while the first fuel and a second fuel which has a high octane rating higher than the low octane rating are injected in a second load range higher than the first load range; and estimating a second antiknock property of the second fuel based on the second antiknock property-correlated parameter value and the first antiknock property of the first fuel.

A vehicular propulsion system, a vehicular fuel system and a method of operating an internal combustion engine. A separation unit that makes up a part of the fuel system includes one or more adsorbent-based chambers such that the separation unit may selectively receive and separate at least a portion of onboard fuel into octane-enhanced and cetane-enhanced components. Regeneration of an adsorbate takes place through a heat exchange relation with existing system infrastructure. A controller may be used to determine a particular operational condition of the internal combustion engine such that the onboard fuel can be sent to one or more combustion chambers within the internal combustion engine without first passing through the separation unit, or instead to the separation unit in situations where the internal combustion engine may require an octane-rich or cetane-rich mixture, where adsorbed and remainder portions taken from the separation unit may be stored in separate tanks for later mixing and use within the combustion chamber.

A vehicular propulsion system, a vehicular fuel system and a method of producing fuel for an internal combustion engine. A separation unit that makes up a part of the fuel system includes one or more adsorbent-based reaction chambers to selectively receive and separate at least a portion of onboard fuel into octane-enhanced and cetane-enhanced components. Regeneration of an adsorbate takes place through interaction with a solvent, while subsequent separation allows the solvent to be reused. A controller may be used to determine a particular operational condition of the internal combustion engine such that the onboard fuel can be sent to one or more combustion chambers within the internal combustion engine without first passing through the separation unit, or instead to the separation unit in situations where the internal combustion engine may require an octane-rich or cetane-rich mixture.

A vehicular propulsion system, a vehicular fuel system and a method of operating an internal combustion engine. A separation unit that makes up a part of the fuel system may selectively receive and separate at least a portion of onboard fuel and a flowable adsorbent in order to separate the fuel into octane-enhanced and cetane-enhanced fuel components. A controller may be used to determine a particular operating condition of the internal combustion engine such that the onboard fuel can be sent to one or more combustion chambers within the internal combustion engine without first passing through the separation unit during one operating condition, or instead to the separation unit in situations where the internal combustion engine may require an octane-rich or cetane-rich mixture in another operating condition.