Methods and systems are provided for maintaining combustion stability in a multi-fuel engine. In one example, a system may include first and second fuel systems to deliver liquid and gaseous fuels, respectively, to at least one cylinder of the engine, and a controller. The controller may be configured to supply the gaseous fuel to the at least one cylinder, inject the liquid fuel to the at least one cylinder to compression ignite the liquid fuel and combust the gaseous fuel in the at least one cylinder, and retard an injection timing of the injection of the liquid fuel based on a measured parameter associated with auto-ignition of end gases subsequent to the compression-ignition of the liquid fuel. In some examples, the controller may further be configured to adjust an amount of the gaseous fuel relative to an amount of the liquid fuel based on the measured parameter.

Methods and systems are provided for maintaining combustion stability in a multi-fuel engine. In one example, a system may include first and second fuel systems to deliver liquid and gaseous fuels, respectively, to at least one cylinder of the engine, and a controller. The controller may be configured to supply the gaseous fuel to the at least one cylinder, inject the liquid fuel to the at least one cylinder to compression ignite the liquid fuel and combust the gaseous fuel in the at least one cylinder, and retard an injection timing of the injection of the liquid fuel based on a measured parameter associated with auto-ignition of end gases subsequent to the compression-ignition of the liquid fuel. In some examples, the controller may further be configured to adjust an amount of the gaseous fuel relative to an amount of the liquid fuel based on the measured parameter.

A dual-fuel supply system (100) for direct injection for engines of heavy vehicles, comprising: a supply line of a combustible liquid (160); a supply line of a combustible gas (170); a plurality of injectors (150) in fluid communication with the supply line of the combustible liquid (160) and with the supply line of the combustible gas (170); a pressure regulator device (1) for regulating the combustible gas; an electronic control unit (ECU) configured to control the supply of combustible liquid and of the combustible gas to the injectors (150), the electronic control unit (ECU) being configured to control the pressure regulator device (1) to track a reference pressure (p.sub.target) according to a feedback logic.

The invention relates to a fuel injector (1) for operating with combustible gas. The fuel injector has a plurality of combustible-gas nozzle valve elements (9), and the stroke of each of the combustible-gas nozzle valve elements can be controlled by means of a paired hydraulic piston control assembly (55) of the fuel injector, wherein each piston control assembly is formed by two control chambers (59, 61) and a piston section (63) on the combustible-gas nozzle valve element paired with the piston control assembly, said piston section separating the control chambers in such a way that their volumes can be varied, and the fuel injector is designed to control the stroke of the combustible-gas nozzle valve elements in tandem using a 3/2-way valve (67), by means of which the hydraulic pressure in one of the two control chambers of the piston control assemblies is controlled.

A system, apparatus, and method for controlling an engine system can provide fuel reactivity compensation control for an engine of the engine system. Pilot fuel quantity supplied to the engine can be controlled using a nitrous oxide (NOx) error. Likewise, air-to-fuel ratio (AFR) for the engine can be controlled using the NOx error. Each of a pilot fuel offset and an AFR control trim can be generated using the NOx error. The pilot fuel offset and the AFR control trim can be used to control the pilot fuel quantity and the AFR, respectively.

An igniter for a dual fuel engine includes an igniter body having spray outlets formed in a nozzle and arranged in a plurality of outlet sets. The igniter further includes a plurality of outlet checks each movable in the igniter body to open and close the spray outlets in a respective one of the plurality of outlet sets, and spark electrodes mounted to the igniter body and forming a spark gap. The outlet sets vary set-to-set in at least one of spray angle, spray outlet number, or spray outlet size. Related methodology is disclosed.

In certain embodiments, Lube Oil Controlled Ignition (LOCI) Engine Combustion overcomes the drawbacks of known combustion technologies. First, lubricating oil is already part of any combustion engine; hence, there is no need to carry a secondary fuel and to have to depend on an additional fuel system as in the case of dual-fuel technologies. Second, the ignition and the start of combustion rely on the controlled autoignition of the lubricating oil preventing the occurrence of abnormal combustion as experienced with the Spark Ignition technology. Third, LOCI combustion is characterized by the traveling of a premixed flame; hence, it has a controllable duration resulting in a wide engine load-speed window unlike the Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition technology where the engine load-speed window is narrow. Adaptive Intake Valve Closure may be used to control in-cylinder compression temperature to be high enough to realize the consistent auto ignition of the lubricating oil mist.

In certain embodiments, Lube Oil Controlled Ignition (LOCI) Engine Combustion overcomes the drawbacks of known combustion technologies. First, lubricating oil is already part of any combustion engine; hence, there is no need to carry a secondary fuel and to have to depend on an additional fuel system as in the case of dual-fuel technologies. Second, the ignition and the start of combustion rely on the controlled autoignition of the lubricating oil preventing the occurrence of abnormal combustion as experienced with the Spark Ignition technology. Third, LOCI combustion is characterized by the traveling of a premixed flame; hence, it has a controllable duration resulting in a wide engine load-speed window unlike the Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition technology where the engine load-speed window is narrow. Adaptive Intake Valve Closure may be used to control in-cylinder compression temperature to be high enough to realize the consistent auto ignition of the lubricating oil mist.

The present invention relates to a method for operating an internal combustion engine provided as a medium-speed gas engine or dual fuel engine in a gas fuel mode. The method comprises the step of directly injecting a gas fuel into a combustion chamber of the engine at a maximum injection pressure that is lower than a compression-end pressure of the engine.

An engine control unit of a multi-fuel is provided. The engine consumes a mixture of a first combustion fuel and a second combustion fuel. The engine control unit includes hardware circuitry that includes one or more processors configured to calculate an autoignition delay of the mixture of the air and the second combustion fuel based on current operating conditions of the multi-fuel engine. The one or more processors also are configured to calculate an upper limit on an amount of the second combustion fuel that is supplied to the multi-fuel engine based on the autoignition delay that is calculated.