An ignition timing control device for an internal combustion engine including: a setting unit configured to set a target ignition timing of the internal combustion engine based on a reference ignition timing and an advance correction amount; a start determination unit configured to determine, based on change in an alcohol concentration, whether or not the fuel injected from a fuel injection valve starts to switch from a first fuel to a second fuel higher in the alcohol concentration than the first fuel; a completion determination unit configured to determine whether or not switching to the second fuel is completed; a restriction unit configured to restrict the advance correction amount during a switching period to the advance correction amount corresponding to the alcohol concentration of the first fuel or lower; and a cancel unit configured to cancel restriction of the advance correction amount after the completion of the switching is determined.

A fuel valve includes a housing, a nozzle with nozzle holes opening to a volume inside the nozzle at the front end of the housing, a gaseous fuel inlet port in the housing connected to high pressure gaseous fuel, an axially displaceable valve needle received in a longitudinal bore in the housing, and rests on a valve seat in a closed position and has lift from the valve seat in an open position, the valve seat placed between a fuel chamber and an outlet port, the fuel chamber connected to the fuel inlet port, the outlet port connected to the volume in the nozzle, an actuator system for moving the needle between the closed and open positions, an ignition liquid inlet port connected to high pressure ignition liquid, and a conduit connecting the ignition liquid inlet port to the fuel chamber, the conduit including a fixed flow restriction.

Fuel management system for enhanced operation of a spark ignition gasoline engine. Injectors inject an anti-knock agent such as ethanol directly into a cylinder. It is preferred that the direct injection occur after the inlet valve is closed. It is also preferred that stoichiometric operation with a three way catalyst be used to minimize emissions. In addition, it is also preferred that the anti-knock agents have a heat of vaporization per unit of combustion energy that is at least three times that of gasoline.

An object of this invention is, in an internal combustion engine having of in-cylinder direct injection and port injection, to enable the early elimination of a difference between fuel concentrations of fuel injected from different injection valves that can arise when a mixing ratio of different kinds of fuel contained in the fuel that is used changes significantly. To achieve this, the control device of this invention normally controls a fuel injection amount of each injection valve in accordance with the operating state of the internal combustion engine, while a change arose in the mixing ratio of different kinds of fuel contained in the fuel that is used or while there is a possibility for such a change, the control device controls a fuel injection amount of each injection valve so that fuel is temporarily injected from both the in-cylinder injection valve and the port injection valve.

A dual fumigation homogeneous charge compression ignition (DF-HCCI) engine runs on low volatility internal combustion (IC) engine fuel such as diesel in combination with another IC engine fuel, both simultaneously fumigated in engine intake air stream. Both fumigated fuels mix with engine intake air and they are inducted together, at the same time, into engine combustion chamber where homogeneous charge compression ignition combustion takes place. Fumigation of two fuels, in which one fuel has low volatility, is done by a novel dual fuel fumigation system comprising of at least one ultrasonic atomizer. Combustion phasing control is done by varying proportions of fumigated fuels, EGR rate, and EGR temperature and additionally by controlling engine intake air temperature. Engine intake air is controlled to a desirable temperature by heat exchanger utilizing heat from engine and/or exhaust gas. A controller monitors inputs from relevant sensors and, based on these inputs, adjusts fumigation rates of fuels, EGR rates, EGR temperature and engine intake air temperature.

One exemplary embodiment is a system comprising a multi-fuel engine structured to selectably combust varying proportions of a first type of fuel and a second type of fuel, and an electronic control system structured to control the provision of at least one of the first type of fuel and the second type of fuel to the engine using a multi-factor cost optimization. The multi-factor cost optimization may account for a plurality of factors including one or more environment factors, location factors, mission factors, warranty factors, operator-specified factors and/or fleet-specified factors.

A fuel injection control apparatus for an internal combustion engine having cylinders each of which includes a fuel injection valve and an intake valve, includes an intake valve controller, a parameter acquiring device, and an injection quantity correcting device. The intake valve controller performs an effective-compression-ratio reducing operation. The parameter acquiring device acquires a correction parameter including at least one of a rotational speed of the internal combustion engine, the valve closing timing of the intake valve, and an intake parameter indicating an intake fresh air amount flowing into the cylinders through an intake system. The injection quantity correcting device corrects a fuel injection quantity for the fuel injection valve in accordance with the acquired correction parameter to suppress variations among air/fuel ratios of air fuel mixtures in the cylinders while the intake valve controller performs the effective-compression-ratio reducing operation.

A fuel separation system includes a fuel separator configured to receive a fuel stream and separate the fuel stream, based on a volatility of the fuel stream, into a vapor stream defined by a first auto-ignition characteristic value and a first liquid stream defined by a second auto-ignition characteristic value, the second auto-ignition characteristic value greater than the first auto-ignition characteristic value; and a control system communicably coupled to the fuel separator and operable to receive an input from an engine, the input including an engine operating condition, the control system configured to adjust an operating parameter of the fuel separator, based at least in part on the engine operating condition, to vary at least one of the first or second auto-ignition characteristic values.

Premixed engines have ignition issues when engine speed and load are below a predetermined range. An ignition apparatus for igniting a premixed charge in a gaseous-fuelled internal combustion engine comprises an ignition device associated with a combustion chamber of the internal combustion engine. There is at least one of a dilutant injector for introducing a diluting agent that forms a stratified charge around the ignition device and an enrichment injector for introducing gaseous fuel that forms a stratified charge around the ignition device. An electronic controller is operatively connected with the ignition device and the at least one of the dilutant injector and the enrichment injector and programed to at least one of actuate the dilutant injector to introduce the diluting agent when the ignition device decreases a local air-fuel equivalence ratio around the ignition device below a predetermined threshold; and actuate the enrichment injector to introduce the gaseous fuel to decrease the local air-fuel equivalence ratio when engine load and engine speed are below a predetermined threshold engine load and speed range and when the ignition device does not affect the local air-fuel equivalence around the ignition device.

Systems and methods for controlling a fuel system associated with a propulsion system of a vehicle are provided. The method includes receiving, by a processor, a concentration of Ethanol in a fuel in the fuel system. The fuel system includes at least two fuel injection systems. The method includes determining, by the processor, a change in the concentration of Ethanol in the fuel exceeds a fuel concentration threshold, and determining, by the processor, the fuel with the change in the concentration of Ethanol has reached a divergence defined between the at least two fuel injection systems. The method includes determining, by the processor, a volume ratio between the at least two fuel injection systems, and outputting one or more control signals, by the processor, to command the at least two fuel injection systems based on the volume ratio.