A controller for an internal combustion engine that has a port injection valve and is capable of running on a gasoline/alcohol mixed fuel comprises: load detecting means that detects a load during operation of the internal combustion engine; alcohol concentration detecting means that detects an alcohol concentration of the mixed fuel; and synchronous fuel injection increasing means that increases a fuel injection amount in a synchronous injection period in response to the load when the load detected by the load detecting means is higher than a predetermined load value and the alcohol concentration detected by the alcohol concentration detecting means is higher than a predetermined concentration value, the synchronous injection period being a period in which a period in which an intake valve is opened and a period in which the mixed fuel is injected from the port injection valve overlap with each other.

A control device is configured to, in a case that an internal combustion engine is made to start up before travel start of a vehicle in a parked state, when an auxiliary battery has at least a predetermined value of battery voltage, make the internal combustion engine start up after executing fuel heating processing for heating fuel by glow plugs to which electric power is transmitted, or when the battery voltage of the auxiliary battery is less than the predetermined value, execute the fuel heating processing after executing charge processing for charging the auxiliary battery using a main battery and then start up the internal combustion engine.

A method for starting a direct-injection internal combustion engine of a vehicle includes: rotating the high-pressure injection pump by a starter; measuring fuel pressure delivered by the pump, taken at two successive compression top dead centers of the pump operating in maximum output mode; establishing the pressure gradient of the fuel, on an angular reference system, based on the two successive pressure measurements; comparing the established gradient with a predefined bijective table that respectively matches a plurality of quantities of fuel to be injected and a plurality of pressure gradients; and adapting the quantity of fuel injected during the starting phase before the engine reaches steady operating speed, depending on the result of the comparison, in order to inject a quantity of fuel that corresponds, in the predefined bijective table, to the established pressure gradient, upon authorization of the first injection given by the engine control unit.

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.

A control device is configured to, in a case that an internal combustion engine is made to start up before travel start of a vehicle in a parked state, when an auxiliary battery has at least a predetermined value of battery voltage, make the internal combustion engine start up after executing fuel heating processing for heating fuel by glow plugs to which electric power is transmitted, or when the battery voltage of the auxiliary battery is less than the predetermined value, execute the fuel heating processing after executing charge processing for charging the auxiliary battery using a main battery and then start up the internal combustion engine.

A fuel pump has a pump function of sucking fuel in a fuel tank and discharging fuel, and a detection function of detecting a capacitance correlated to a concentration of alcohol in fuel in the fuel tank. The fuel pump includes a pump main body that is received in the fuel tank to perform the pump function, a housing electrode that covers the pump main body in the fuel tank, and an outside electrode that is located outside of the housing electrode in the fuel tank. A gap is formed between the outside electrode and the housing electrode to give the capacitance.

A method for operating an internal combustion engine may include: measuring dynamic pressure oscillations in the inlet tract at a defined operating point during normal operation; generating a corresponding pressure oscillation signal; determining a crankshaft phase angle; determining an actual phase position using the pressure oscillation signal by discrete Fourier transformation; determining a chemical composition of the fuel using the determined actual phase position and reference phase positions of the same signal frequency for different fuel compositions; and adjusting operating parameters of the internal combustion engine based on the determined chemical composition.

An example method for operating an internal combustion engine may include: measuring pressure oscillations for a cylinder in the inlet tract at a defined operating point during normal operation; generating a corresponding oscillation signal; determining a crankshaft phase angle corresponding to the oscillation signal; and from the pressure oscillation signal, using discrete Fourier transformation to calculate the actual phase position of a selected signal frequency; determining a further comparison phase position in the same way from the selected signal frequency in the absence of fuel injection; calculating an actual phase position difference; on the basis of the difference, taking into consideration reference phase position differences of the same signal frequency for different fuel compositions, to identify a fuel composition of the presently used fuel; and adapting operating parameters of the engine based on the identified composition.

Methods and systems are providing for improving zero flow lubrication (ZFL) of a high pressure fuel pump coupled to direct fuel injectors via a direct injection fuel rail. A ZFL transfer function for the fuel pump is learned while fuel is at non-nominal fuel bulk modulus conditions and corrected for variations from a nominal fuel bulk modulus estimate. When zero flow lubrication of the pump is requested, the pump is operated with a duty cycle based on the learned transfer function and an instantaneous estimate of the fuel bulk modulus to compensate for differences in fuel condition from the nominal fuel bulk modulus estimate.

Methods and systems are provided for cleaning an exhaust particulate filter by routing air via the exhaust particulate filter during a vehicle-off condition. In one example, during vehicle-off conditions, a turbocharger may be reverse rotated via an electric motor or an engine may be reverse rotated via an electric machine to route air via the exhaust particulate filter and the soot collected from the particulate filter may then be deposited on an air filter coupled to the intake manifold. During a subsequent engine start, the soot from the intake air filter may be routed to the engine cylinders for combustion.