A method for operating a compression ignition engine includes forming a combustible mixture by mixing generally homogeneously a first fuel and air and introducing this mixture into the at least one cylinder, compressing the combustible mixture with the piston in a compression stroke, injecting a second fuel to the combustible mixture at an injection-time of the second fuel during the compression stroke but before start of combustion, and continuing the compression stroke until combustion starts at those locations in the at least one cylinder where concentration of the second fuel is highest and/or the temperature of the mixture is the highest. Emission of the cylinder and/or mechanical stress of the cylinder caused by the combustion are monitored, and if emissions and/or mechanical stress are above respective predetermined thresholds, individually for the cylinder, the amount and/or the timing of the second fuel injected, and/or temperature of the cylinder charge is changed.

An engine control system includes an engine calibration module that sets fuel injection timing based on one of N cetane number (CN) values, wherein N is an integer greater than one. A combustion noise module generates a combustion noise signal based on cylinder pressure in a compression ignition (CI) engine during combustion. A fuel quality determination module compares the combustion noise signal to N predetermined combustion noise levels corresponding to the N CN values, and that selects the one of the N CN values based on the comparison.

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 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 engine system includes an engine having a combustion chamber, an intake gas passage through which air to be supplied to the combustion chamber flows, an exhaust gas passage through which exhaust gas generated from the combustion chamber flows, a reformer configured to reform the fuel to generate a reformed gas containing hydrogen, a gas supply passage through which air to be supplied to the reformer flows, a bypass passage connected to the gas supply passage and the exhaust gas passage so as to bypass the reformer and through which the fuel having passed through the reformer is circulated to an upstream of the reformer, and a switching valve switched between a normal position that does not allow the fuel having passed through the reformer to flow to the bypass passage and a circulating position that allows the fuel having passed through the reformer to flow to the bypass passage.

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.

The present disclosure belongs to the field of dual-fuel engine combustion systems, in particular to a dual-fuel intelligent combustion system and a control method thereof. The dual-fuel intelligent combustion system comprises a cylinder body, a cylinder cover, a piston, a methanol fuel injector, a diesel injector and ECUs (electronic control units), wherein the cylinder body, the cylinder cover and the piston form a combustion chamber, the cylinder cover is arranged right above the cylinder body, the piston is arranged in the cylinder body, the combustion chamber is provided with an air inlet channel and an air outlet channel, the combustion chamber is internally provided with the methanol fuel injector for injecting alcohol fuel into a cylinder and the diesel injector for injecting ignition fuel diesel into the cylinder, and the methanol fuel injector and the diesel injector are respectively controlled by the two ECUs.

An engine including a main fuel injection valve, a pilot fuel injection valve, a liquid fuel supply rail pipe, and a pilot fuel supply rail pipe. The main fuel injection valve supplies liquid fuel from the liquid fuel supply rail pipe to a combustion chamber during combustion in a diffusion combustion system. The pilot fuel injection valve supplies pilot fuel from the pilot fuel supply rail pipe to the combustion chamber in order to ignite gaseous fuel during combustion in a premixed combustion system. The liquid fuel supply rail pipe is disposed at one side of an imaginary vertical plane including an axis of a crank shaft. The pilot fuel supply rail pipe is disposed at the side of the imaginary vertical plane at which the liquid fuel supply rail pipe is disposed.

An engine including a main fuel injection valve, a pilot fuel injection valve, a liquid fuel supply rail pipe, and a pilot fuel supply rail pipe. The main fuel injection valve supplies liquid fuel from the liquid fuel supply rail pipe to a combustion chamber during combustion in a diffusion combustion system. The pilot fuel injection valve supplies pilot fuel from the pilot fuel supply rail pipe to the combustion chamber in order to ignite gaseous fuel during combustion in a premixed combustion system. The liquid fuel supply rail pipe is disposed at one side of an imaginary vertical plane including an axis of a crank shaft. The pilot fuel supply rail pipe is disposed at the side of the imaginary vertical plane at which the liquid fuel supply rail pipe is disposed.