A method for regulating or controlling the temperature of a sheathed-element glow plug in a heating phase of the sheathed-element glow plug, where a temperature value is determined as a function of a resistance of the sheathed-element glow plug. To render possible the regulation or control of the temperature of the sheathed-element glow plug also during a transient temperature distribution within the sheathed-element glow plug, the resistance used for determining the temperature value during a transient thermal response within the sheathed-element glow plug is calculated with the aid of a physical model.

A method of calculating an ammonia (NH3) mass generated in a lean NOx trap (LNT) of an exhaust purification device includes sequentially calculating a NH3 mass flow at a downstream of each slice from a first slice to an n-th slice, and integrating the NH3 mass flow at the downstream of the n-th slice over a predetermined time, wherein the calculation of the NH3 mass flow at the downstream of the i-th slice comprises calculating a NH3 mass flow flowing into the i-th slice, calculating a NH3 mass flow generated at the i-th slice, and adding the NH3 mass flow generated at the i-th slice to a value obtained by subtracting the NH3 mass flow used to reduce the NOx and the O2 at the i-th slice from the NH3 mass flow flowing into the i-th slice.

An engine assembly includes a control module configured to receive a torque request and an engine configured to produce an output torque in response to the torque request. The control module includes a processor and tangible, non-transitory memory on which is recorded instructions for executing a method for supervisory model predictive control. The control module includes a multi-layered structure with an upper-level (“UL”) optimizer module configured to optimize at least one system-level objective and a lower-level (“LL”) tracking control module configured to maintain at least one tracking parameter. The multi-layered structure is characterized by a decoupled cost function such that the UL optimizer module minimizes an upper-level cost function (CF.sub.UL) and the LL tracking control module minimizes a lower-level cost function (CF.sub.LL). The system-level objective may include minimizing fuel consumption of the engine and the tracking parameter may include delivering the torque requested to engine.

Systems and methods for operating an engine with deactivating and non-deactivating valves are presented. In one example, estimates of engine fuel consumption for operating the engine with a plurality of cylinder modes or patterns while a transmission is engaged in different gears are determined and are used as a basis for deactivating engine cylinders.

A system includes an engine configured to generate power to drive a load. The system also includes a power augmentation system configured to augment a power output of the engine when the power augmentation system is activated. Additionally, the system includes a controller operatively coupled to the power augmentation system. The controller is configured to estimate a potential change in the power output of the engine caused by activation of the power augmentation system using a power augmentation model and an engine performance model.

Methods and systems are provided for integrating a VCR engine with a CVT transmission. Responsive to a driver demand, a controller may determine whether to maintain a current compression ratio or transition to an alternate compression ratio based on the fuel economy benefit of the transition and further based on any engine limitations that may be incurred at the engine speed-load following the transition. To improve the net fuel economy benefit while addressing the engine limitation, a compression ratio transition may be combined with a CVT adjusted engine speed-load regime, while maintaining engine power output.

An apparatus and method for controlling a fuel injection system of an internal combustion engine is disclosed. Each fuel injector in the system is operated to perform a predetermined injection pattern per engine cycle. A signal representative of a fuel pressure within the fuel rail during the operation of the fuel injectors is sampled. A Fourier analysis of the fuel rail pressure signal is performed to determine one or more harmonic components thereof. The determined harmonic components of the fuel rail pressure signal are used to calculate a dynamic fuel quantity that flows through a fuel injector during an injection pulse of the injection pattern. A fuel quantity actually injected by the fuel injector during the injection pulse as a function of the dynamic fuel quantity is calculated.

A torque requesting module generates a first torque request for a spark ignition engine based on driver input. A torque conversion module converts the first torque request into a second torque request. A setpoint control module generates air and exhaust setpoints for the spark ignition engine based on the second torque request. A model predictive control (MPC) module identifies sets of possible target values based on the air and exhaust setpoints, generates predicted parameters based on a model of the spark ignition engine and the sets of possible target values, respectively, selects one of the sets of possible target values based on the predicted parameters, and sets target values based on the possible target values of the selected one of the sets. A throttle actuator module controls opening of a throttle valve based on a first one of the target values.

A method for controlling an internal combustion engine using a controller that controls an air flow path by adjusting at least one of a variable geometry turbine (VGT) and an exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) flow rate during engine operation. The method determines inputs, such as engine speed and fuel rate from the sensor data, and employs a switch based gain-scheduled explicit model predictive controller (MPC) responsive to the inputs to determine the air flow path.

A control device includes a feedback controller that determines an operation amount of an actuator by feedback control such that an actual value of a state quantity becomes closer to a target value, and a reference governor that modifies the target value such that an amount of change in the state quantity per unit time is equal to or less than an upper limit value β. The reference governor calculates a modified target value by adding one of 2ζβ/ω.sub.n and β/{(T.sub.2/T.sub.1).sup.T.sup.2.sup./(T.sup.1.sup.−T.sup.2.sup.)−(T.sub.2/T.sub.1).sup.T.sup.1.sup./(T.sup.1.sup.−T.sup.2.sup.)} to a current value of the state quantity (ζ, ω.sub.n: an attenuation coefficient, a natural angular frequency of a model formula in a case where a dynamic characteristic of a closed-loop system is modeled as a dead time plus second-order vibration system, T.sub.1, T.sub.2 =−ω.sub.n.sup.−1(−ζ±√{square root over ((ζ.sup.2−1))}.sup.−1), and determines the smaller one of the modified target value and an original target value as a final target value of the state quantity.