Main fuel injected from the fuel injector into the combustion chamber is made to auto-ignite. During the compression stroke after injection of the main fuel and before the auto-ignition of the main fuel, first auxiliary fuel and second auxiliary fuel are successively injected from the fuel injector. By controlling the injection timing of the first auxiliary fuel, the ignition timing of the spark plug, and the injection timing of the second auxiliary fuel, the first auxiliary fuel is made to burn by flame propagation combustion by the ignition action of the spark plug, the second auxiliary fuel is made to be injected inside the flame propagation combustion region, and the second auxiliary fuel is made to burn by diffusive combustion before auto-ignition of the main fuel occurs.

Methods and systems are provided for operating a cylinder of an engine including a pre-chamber ignition system during a cold start condition. In one example, a method may include performing a post-injection in the cylinder, and then performing a pre-chamber combustion during an exhaust stroke of the cylinder. In this way, a temperature of a catalyst of the engine may be increased, which may decrease vehicle emissions during the cold start condition.

Autonomous diesel vehicles and control methods thereof are disclosed. An autonomous vehicle may include a peripheral information collecting unit configured to collect peripheral information necessary for autonomous travelling through an image camera and a laser scanner, a main control unit configured to control the autonomous travelling with reference to the peripheral information collected by the peripheral information collecting unit, a passenger monitoring unit configured to check whether a passenger exists inside the vehicle through a sensor and transmit a result of the check to the main control unit, and an engine control unit configured to control driving of an engine and injection of fuel of an injector according to a control instruction of the main control unit. When the passenger is inside the vehicle, the main control unit performs a pilot injection control, and when the passenger is not inside the vehicle, the main control unit omits the pilot injection control.

Provided is a diesel engine capable of regenerating a DPF even during no-load and/or light-load operation. In a DPF regeneration process, opening-degree reduction control S2 for an exhaust-air throttle valve is performed after a start condition S1 of the regeneration process of the DPF in which PM is deposited is satisfied. When exhaust air reaches a temperature equal to or higher than a predetermined after-injection permissible temperature TA, after-injection control is subsequently started S5. Post-injection control is started S7 after the exhaust air reaches a temperature equal to or higher than a predetermined post-injection permissible temperature TP by combustion of after-injection fuel. The PM deposited in the DPF is incinerated by the exhaust air increased in temperature by catalytic combustion of post-injection fuel in a valve downstream-side DOC.

A method for injecting gaseous fuel directly into a combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine in order to heat a catalytic converter, the method including: carrying out a main injection of gaseous fuel directly into the combustion chamber; carrying out a first post-injection following the main injection but prior to an ignition, and following the ignition and preferably following the end of combustion in the combustion chamber, carrying out a second post-injection of gaseous fuel into the combustion chamber.

A control apparatus for an internal combustion engine includes an electronic control unit. The electronic control unit is configured to: execute increasing a temperature of an exhaust gas control apparatus at a second temperature increase speed as a regeneration control when the temperature of the exhaust gas control apparatus is in a second temperature range; control the temperature of an exhaust gas control apparatus during an idle operation so as to be equal to or smaller than the temperature of the exhaust gas control apparatus when the internal combustion engine enters an idle operation state as a temperature increase suppression control when the temperature of the exhaust gas control apparatus during a regeneration control is in the second temperature range and the internal combustion engine is in the idle operation state.

An object is to improve the combustion condition in an internal combustion engine equipped with a supercharger and performing diesel combustion using fuel having a relatively high self-ignition temperature in an operation state in which the engine load is increased or decreased. A control apparatus performs first injection during the compression stroke, causes spray guide combustion to occur, and starts to perform second injection at such a second injection time that combustion of injected fuel is started by flame generated by the spray guide combustion, thereby causing self-ignition and diffusion combustion of fuel to occur. During a response delay period in changing the boost pressure when changing the engine load of the internal combustion engine to a target engine load, the ratio of the quantity of fuel injected by the first injection to the total fuel injection quantity in one combustion cycle is made higher than the ratio of the quantity of fuel injected in the first injection to the total fuel injection quantity in one combustion cycle during the time when the engine load is equal to the target engine load and the actual boost pressure is equal to a target boost pressure corresponding to the target engine load.

An engine control method includes: a first fuel supply step of supplying fuel into the combustion chamber using an injector when a spark plug makes flame in the combustion chamber so that an air-fuel mixture is generated at least around the spark plug, the air-fuel mixture having an air-fuel mass ratio A/F or a gas-fuel mass ratio G/F, in which gas includes air, higher than a stoichiometric air-fuel ratio; after the first fuel supply step, an ignition step of making the flame in the combustion chamber in the compression stroke using the spark plug; and after the ignition step, a second fuel supply step of supplying the fuel into the combustion chamber in the compression stroke using the injector to increase a fuel concentration of the air-fuel mixture in the combustion chamber.

A control apparatus for a gasoline engine having a fuel injection means including an in-cylinder injection valve. The control apparatus comprises a controller configured to, when warming up an exhaust gas purification catalyst provided in an exhaust passage provided of the gasoline engine, control the fuel injection means to conduct one or more main injections, control the in-cylinder injection valve to conduct a post injection, perform a retard correction of an ignition timing at which fuel injected by the one or more main injections is ignited, determine an injection quantity by the one or more main injections and an injection quantity by the post injection such that an air-fuel mixture formed in the cylinder by gasoline fuel injected by the one or more main injections has a predetermined lean air-fuel ratio at which a difference between an actual output torque and a required torque is within a predetermined allowable range.

A ducted combustion system for an internal combustion. The ducted combustion system includes a combustion chamber, a fuel injector in fluid communication with the combustion chamber and configured to inject a sequence of at least two fuel charges into a combustion chamber during a combustion cycle and one or more ducts disposed within the combustion chamber and configured to receive at least a part of the fuel charges.