In a control system for an internal combustion engine, a control unit controls a throttle valve provided in an intake pipe and/or an on-off valve provided in an exhaust gas recirculation pipe when an ignition switch is turned on, in such a manner that an opening degree of the throttle valve and/or an opening degree of the on-off valve is made to be larger than that of a condition before the ignition switch is turned on. In the above Ig-on control, in which the throttle valve and/or the on-off valve is largely opened, a piston is reciprocated in order that gas in a combustion chamber is discharged to an outside of the combustion chamber.

An engine system includes an air handling and fuel system whose states are managed by a reference managing unit. The engine system has a plurality of sensors whose sensor signals at least partially define a current state of the engine system. The reference managing unit includes a controller which controls the air handling and fuel system of the engine system as well as a processing unit coupled to the sensors and the controller. The processing unit includes an agent which learns a policy function that is trained to process the current state, determines air handling references and fuel system references by using the policy function after receiving the current state as an input, and outputs the air handling references and fuel system references to the controller. Then, the agent receives a next state and a reward value from the processing unit and updates the policy function using a policy evaluation algorithm and a policy improvement algorithm based on the received reward value. Subsequently, the controller controls the air handling and fuel system of the engine in response to receiving the air handling references and the fuel system references.

An engine system includes an air handling control unit which controls a plurality of air handling actuators responsible for maintaining flow of air and exhaust gas within the engine system. The engine system has a plurality of sensors whose sensor signals at least partially define a current state of the engine system. The air handling control unit includes a controller which controls the air handling actuators of the engine system as well as a processing unit coupled to the sensors and the controller. The processing unit includes an agent which learns a policy function that is trained to process the current state, determines a control signal to send to the controller by using the policy function after receiving the current state as an input, and outputs the control signal to the controller. Then, the agent receives a next state and a reward value from the processing unit and updates the policy function using a policy evaluation algorithm and a policy improvement algorithm based on the received reward value. Subsequently, the controller controls the air handling actuators in response to receiving the control signal. In one aspect of the embodiment, the control signal is a command signal for the air handling actuators.

Provided is a control device for an internal combustion engine, which can ensure a stable combustion state of the internal combustion engine even under a high-humidity environment condition, thereby improving the merchantability. The control device for the internal combustion engine includes an ECU (electronic control unit). The ECU calculates a basic target EGR amount according to an operating state of the internal combustion engine, calculates a water vapor amount in air drawn into an intake passage of the internal combustion engine, calculates an EGR conversion amount by using the water vapor amount, calculates a target EGR amount by subtracting the EGR conversion amount from the basic target EGR amount, and controls internal EGR and external EGR of the internal combustion engine by using the target EGR amount.

A control system includes an electronic control unit including a feedback controller and a reference governor. The feedback controller is configured to determine a value of control input such that a value of control output approximates a target value. The reference governor is configured to calculate, with a prediction model, a predicted maximum value of an overshoot amount of the control output that overshoots from the target value. The prediction model is derived assuming that an n-th delay (n is a natural number) occurs in a response of the control output. The reference governor is configured to calculate the target value by correcting the provisional target value of the control output based on the predicted maximum value so as to increase a degree of satisfaction of a constraint condition with regard to the control output.

Unique engine controls and apparatuses, methods and systems relating to the same are disclosed. One embodiment is method which utilizes an in-cylinder [O2] mass fraction model to generate exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) fraction references for both transient and steady state operating conditions. Further embodiments, forms, objects, features, advantages, aspects, and benefits shall become apparent from the following description and drawings.

A control device for an engine includes a valve-stopping mechanism 14b which holds intake and exhaust valves 41, 51 of the first and the fourth cylinders (idle cylinders) of four cylinders in closed states, a throttle valve control unit 115, an ignition period control unit 113, and an ECU 110 which controls the valve-stopping mechanism 14b, the throttle valve control unit 115, and the ignition period control unit 113. The ECU 110 sets a retard amount of the ignition period of the idle cylinder behind the basic ignition period at least in starting the all-cylinder operation in accordance with an amount of burned gas existing in the idle cylinder in switching to the all-cylinder operation from the reduced-cylinder operation.

An engine system incorporating an engine, one or more sensors, and a controller. The controller may be connected to the one or more sensors and the engine. The one or more sensors may be configured to sense one or more parameters related to operation of the engine. The controller may incorporate an air-path state estimator configured to estimate one or more air-path state parameters in the engine based on values of one or more parameters sensed by the sensors. The controller may have an on-line and an off-line portion, where the on-line portion may incorporate the air-path state estimator and the off-line portion may configure and/or calibrate a model for the air-path state estimator.

A compression ignition gasoline engine includes a fuel injection valve for injecting fuel containing gasoline as a main component into a cylinder; an EGR device operative to perform high-temperature EGR of introducing burnt gas generated in the cylinder into the cylinder at a high temperature; an octane number determination unit for determining whether fuel injected from the fuel injection valve has a prescribed octane number; and a combustion control unit for controlling the fuel injection valve and the EGR device in such a way that HCCI combustion occurs within the cylinder. The combustion control unit controls the EGR device, in at least a partial load operating range in which HCCI combustion is performed, in such a way that the EGR rate increases, as compared with a case where fuel is determined to have a prescribed octane number, when fuel is determined not to have a prescribed octane number.

A method and apparatus for calculating an internal exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) amount of an engine include a continuously variable valve duration (CVVD) apparatus. The internal EGR amount is calculated by correcting a backflow gas amount based on a valve duration changed by operation of the continuously variable valve duration apparatus during valve overlap of an intake valve or an exhaust valve.