A method for sensing a closing time of an injector using an artificial neural network may include: sensing, by a controller, a voltage generated by an injector; performing, by the controller, a preprocess to derive an input matrix using variation characteristics of the voltage; and performing, by the controller, a closing time prediction to derive a closing time of the injector by an artificial neural network model including an input layer including the input matrix, a hidden layer, and an output layer.

An object is to enable stable diesel combustion in an internal combustion engine using a fuel having a relatively high self-ignition temperature. In the internal combustion engine, pre-injection and ignition of pre-spray fuel are performed, and thereafter main injection is performed to cause a portion of main-injected fuel to be burned by diffusion combustion. Injection ports of a fuel injection valve are provided in such a way that the quantity of the main injected fuel injected to a predetermined region defined by a predetermined angle equal to or smaller than 90 degrees about the fuel injection valve from the location of an ignition device in the direction of rotation of the swirl is relatively small.

An object of the invention is to reduce the amount of smoke generated and to improve the stability of diesel combustion in cases where an EGR apparatus is used in an internal combustion engine that performs diesel combustion using fuel having a relatively high self-ignition temperature. A control apparatus performs first injection at a first injection time during the compression stroke, causes spray guide combustion to occur, and starts to perform second injection at such a second injection time that causes combustion of injected fuel to be started by flame generated by the spray guide combustion, thereby causing self-ignition and diffusion combustion of fuel to occur. The apparatus changes the ratio of the first injected fuel quantity to the total fuel injection quantity and the ratio of the second injected fuel quantity to the total fuel injection quantity for the same total fuel injection quantity in one combustion cycle, based on the EGR rate in the intake air.

A method for injecting gaseous fuel directly into a combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine in order to heat a catalytic converter, the method including: carrying out a main injection of gaseous fuel directly into the combustion chamber; carrying out a first post-injection following the main injection but prior to an ignition, and following the ignition and preferably following the end of combustion in the combustion chamber, carrying out a second post-injection of gaseous fuel into the combustion chamber.

A method for operating an internal combustion engine, in which fuel is supplied to the internal combustion engine by a rotary pump, and the speed of the pump and/or the electrical current for feeding the pump (pump current) is controlled in accordance with a requirement variable, taking into account a determination specification. When in an overrun mode, a calibration is carried out and the speed of the pump is detected and is maintained during the calibration step. Once the triggering pressure for a calibration valve, arranged on the high-pressure side of the pump, has been reached, the pump current is detected and the determined speed and the determined pump current are used to calibrate the determination specification. A calibration in the overrun mode is performed without alteration to the speed of the fuel pump. This prevents a variable behaviour of the fuel pump which might produce undesired operating conditions.

The invention relates to a control device applied to a cylinder injection type of the engine (10). The control device carries out a fuel injection while changing a penetration force of the injected fuel by changing a maximum value of a lift amount of the valve body (22) of the injector (20). Further, the control device controls an ignition timing on the basis of the engine operation state. The control device changes an end timing of a preceding injection carried out immediately before the ignition timing such that a time period between the end timing of the preceding injection and the ignition timing under a state where a first value is set as the maximum value of the valve body lift amount in the preceding injection, is longer than a time period between the end timing of the preceding injection and the ignition timing under a state that a second value larger than the first value is set as the maximum value of the valve body lift amount in the preceding injection.

Methods and systems are provided for adjusting operation of fuel injectors of an internal combustion engine to reduce injector ticking noise during direct injection fuel rail pressure release. The method includes first reducing a significant part of the direct injection fuel rail pressure via a mechanical high pressure pump relief valve and only if further pressure relief is required then intermittently activating the direct injector to inject in small amount of fuel. Due to the reduced frequency of activation and small pulse-widths, the impact force transmitted from injectors to cylinder head is small thereby reducing the objectionable ticking noise.

An engine control method includes a step of setting combustion mode in which a first combustion mode in which a mixed gas is combusted by propagating flame or a second combustion mode in which the mixed gas is combusted by self-ignition is selected, a step of setting air-fuel ratio mode in which a lean first air-fuel ratio mode or a second air-fuel ratio mode equal to or richer than a theoretical air-fuel ratio is selected, a step of setting torque reduction in which a torque reduction amount by which a torque generated by an engine is reduced based on a steer angle of a steering wheel, and a suppressing step in which reducing the torque generated by the engine based on the torque reduction amount set in the step of setting torque reduction is suppressed.

A method is provided for determining exhaust mass flow through a diesel particulate filter (DPF) in an engine arrangement including an engine and an exhaust after treatment system (EATS) comprising the DPF. The method comprises determining soot loading and soot distribution in the DPF, measuring pressure drop over the DPF, measuring pressure in the DPF, measuring temperature in the DPF, and determining exhaust mass flow through the DPF as a function of the measured pressure drop, the measured pressure, the measured temperature, and the soot loading and soot distribution. An arrangement is also provided for determining exhaust mass flow through a diesel particulate filter. A method for controlling one or more engine components, and an engine, are also provided.

A device for a common rail diesel engine can control an engine phase when the engine is stopped so the engine can be restarted quickly. An engine phase determining means determines an engine phase based on a crank angle and an angle of a camshaft, an engine stop position determining means stores a stopping time spent from the issuance of an engine stop request to the stop of the engine and obtains an engine phase when the engine is stopped based on the engine phase, resulting when the engine stop is requested, and the stopping time, and an at-time-of-stopping injector control means controls fuel injected from the fuel injectors so the engine phase obtained by the engine stop position determining means when the engine is stopped after making the engine stop request allows a piston in a specific cylinder to stop at a bottom dead center of a compression stroke.