The purpose of the present invention is to provide a control means which, with respect to injection control of a fuel injection valve, reduces deviation between an injection quantity of fuel injected by the fuel injection valve and a target value, the deviation being caused due to a pressure in a combustion chamber, as an injection timing in a compression stroke of an engine is retarded. The present invention pertains to a fuel injection valve that performs a plurality of injections in one engine cycle, and performs control in such a manner that injection pulse signals and are transmitted to a drive circuit, and from the drive circuit for the fuel injection valve that outputs drive current waveforms for fuel injection, the injection pulse signal in the compression stroke when the injection timing is retarded is shortened.

An intake stroke injection and a compression stroke injection are performed during catalyst warm-up control (upper section in FIG. 7). During the catalyst warm-up control, a discharge period at an electrode portion is set on a retard side of compression top dead center, and an expansion stroke injection is performed during the discharge period. However, when a distance between a spray contour surface and the electrode portion increases, an additional injection (first injection) is performed in advance of the expansion stroke injection (second injection) (lower section in FIG. 7). The additional injection is performed at a timing that is on the retard side of compression top dead center and is on an advance side relative to a start timing of the discharge at the electrode portion.

A control device is configured to perform, when it is estimated that a combustion fluctuation increases, estimation related to an ignition delay for initial flame generated from a discharge spark and an air-fuel mixture containing fuel spray injected by intake stroke injection. When it is estimated that the ignition delay for the initial flame is increased from that before the increase in the combustion fluctuation, an injection amount in expansion stroke injection is reduced in a next time cycle. When it is estimated that the ignition delay for the initial flame is reduced from that before the increase in the combustion fluctuation, the injection amount in expansion stroke injection is increased in a next time cycle.

A characteristic determining device is provided which determines fuel injection characteristics of a plurality of fuel injectors for an internal combustion engine. The characteristic determining device includes a pressure sensor and a plurality of pipes each of which connects between the pressure sensor and one of the fuel injectors. The pressure sensor is designed to have a plurality of pressure inputs from the respective fuel injectors through the pipes and outputs a signal indicative of a level of pressure in each of the fuel injectors. The characteristic determining device analyzes the signals from the first pressure sensor to determine the fuel injection characteristics of the respective fuel injectors. These arrangements result in a simplified structure of the characteristic determining device and a decreased manufacturing cost thereof.

In a method for operating an internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle having an automatic transmission, a torque generated by the internal combustion engine is reduced as a function of an operating state of a drive train of the motor vehicle. As a function of an excess of combustion air occurring when the torque is reduced and supplied to the internal combustion engine by an exhaust gas turbocharger, fuel combustion efficiency in at least one combustion chamber of the internal combustion engine, which is related to the torque generated by the combustion chamber, is reduced. The combustion efficiency is reduced by at least one late post-injection of fuel into the at least one combustion chamber of the internal combustion engine.

A system and method for operating an engine comprises an engine speed sensor generating an engine speed signal, a throttle position sensor generating a throttle position signal, a sensor module comprising at least one of a fuel pressure sensor generating a fuel pressure signal corresponding to a fuel pressure and a fuel temperature sensor generating a fuel temperature signal corresponding to a fuel temperature into the engine. A controller is coupled to the fuel injector, the engine speed sensor and the sensor module. The controller determines a pulse width duration for the fuel injector based on engine speed and throttle position, determining a pulse width correction factor as a function of at least one of the fuel temperature signal and the fuel pressure signal, determining a second pulse width duration based on the first pulse width, and operating the fuel injector with the second pulse width duration.

A system and method for operating an engine comprises an engine speed sensor generating an engine speed signal, a throttle position sensor generating a throttle position signal, a sensor module comprising at least one of a fuel pressure sensor generating a fuel pressure signal corresponding to a fuel pressure and a fuel temperature sensor generating a fuel temperature signal corresponding to a fuel temperature into the engine. A controller is coupled to the fuel injector, the engine speed sensor and the sensor module. The controller determines a pulse width duration for the fuel injector based on engine speed and throttle position, determining a pulse width correction factor as a function of at least one of the fuel temperature signal and the fuel pressure signal, determining a second pulse width duration based on the first pulse width, and operating the fuel injector with the second pulse width duration.

A method, for a direct injection engine, for dividing a fuel injection corresponding to an engine cycle into minimum sub-injections, including: determination of a desired maximum number of sub-injections by dividing a mass of fuel to be injected during the engine cycle by a minimum injectable mass and rounding down to the nearest integer; lower bounding of the desired maximum number by an authorized maximum number of sub-injections; verification that an injection duration, for such a desired maximum number of sub-injections, is less than a duration of a possible injection window and decrementation of the desired maximum number, otherwise iteration until a positive verification.

Systems and methods for determining fuel delay in a fuel injected engine with cylinders that may be deactivated are presented. In one example, the fuel injection delay is determined via a cylinder firing schedule array when the cylinder firing schedule array is available. The fuel injection delay is determined via weighted average of a fuel injection delay of a present engine cycle and a fuel injection delay of a past engine cycle when the cylinder firing schedule array is not available.

Systems and methods for determining fuel delay in a fuel injected engine with cylinders that may be deactivated are presented. In one example, the fuel injection delay is determined via a cylinder firing schedule array when the cylinder firing schedule array is available. The fuel injection delay is determined via weighted average of a fuel injection delay of a present engine cycle and a fuel injection delay of a past engine cycle when the cylinder firing schedule array is not available.