A method for accelerating a vehicle from rest. The method includes receiving a mode indication indicating a launch control mode selected; receiving a brake-on indication; controlling the engine according to a launch control strategy; determining an accelerator position; for an accelerator position greater than zero, controlling the engine to: increase open a throttle valve and control the engine to limit engine torque output; receiving a brake-off indication; controlling the engine according to the standard control strategy, controlling the engine according to the standard control strategy with the braking system having been released causing the vehicle to accelerate from rest, a first rate of acceleration from rest of the vehicle being greater than a second rate of acceleration from rest of the vehicle for corresponding changes in accelerator position, the first rate corresponding to accelerating from rest after controlling the engine according to the standard and launch control strategies.

Provided is a control device of an internal combustion engine capable of increasing the temperature of a catalyst and the temperature of coolant more efficient1y than a conventional waste heat control device. A control device acquires a coolant temperature T_cw and a catalyst temperature T_cat of an exhaust system and controls an ignition timing θ of the internal combustion engine. The control device executes coolant heating control for increasing the energy distribution from the internal combustion engine to the coolant when the coolant temperature T_cw is equal to or less than a first threshold, and catalyst heating control for increasing the energy distribution from the internal combustion engine to the exhaust gas when the catalyst temperature T_cat is equal to or less than a second threshold.

An internal combustion engine having an engine control configured to operate in first and second operating modes. The first operating mode is configured to leave as many ignition devices deactivated per cycle in dependence on the currently present power demand. The second operating mode is configured to reduce a risk of deflagration due to unburned gas-air mixture present in an exhaust stroke. After a first number (N.sub.1) of cycles, for a second number (N.sub.2) of cycles, the second operating mode has more piston-cylinder units produce power per cycle than required for the currently present power demand. After the second number (N.sub.2) of cycles, for a third number (N.sub.3) of cycles, in dependence on a currently present power demand per cycle, the second operating mode has so many piston-cylinder units produce power that this results in a torque of the crankshaft adapted to the currently present power demand.

An internal combustion engine with a plurality of cylinders is a drive device in which the drive torque available can be reduced. The ignition timing which is set at the internal combustion engine is adjusted in the retarded direction starting from an initial ignition timing until the ignition timing corresponds to a threshold ignition timing. To reduce the drive torque further, at least one cylinder, among the plurality of cylinders, is deactivated by suspending fuel injection into the cylinder, and the remaining cylinder(s) continue to be operated with fuel injection using the ignition timing. The remaining cylinders of the internal combustion engine which continue to be operated are supplied with a quantity of fuel which is larger in comparison with an initial quantity of fuel present before the cylinder deactivation, to set a substoichiometric fuel/oxygen ratio.

Engine controllers and control schemes are provided for managing engine state transitions requiring increased compressor pressure ratios in turbocharged engines. In some circumstances, turbo lag can be mitigated by initially transitioning the engine to an intermediate engine state that directly or indirectly increases airflow through the engine and turbocharger relative to what would be possible if the engine were immediately commanded to operate at the target engine state. After reaching a point where the desired torque is actually generated at the intermediate engine state, the operational settings are gradually reduced to the target effective firing density while increasing the operational compressor pressure ratio to the target compressor ratio.

Methods are provided for reducing exhaust gas emissions during a cold-start of an engine. In one example, a method may include generating a flame front in an exhaust port of an exhaust system, heating exhaust gas flowing into an emission control device of the exhaust system and thereby expediting the approach to a light-off temperature of the emission control device, and directing the flame front back to the cylinder as part of a combustion stroke of the four-stroke engine cycle.

Methods and systems are provided for an engine for adjusting cylinder parameter settings to optimize engine output during a transient mode. In one example, a method may include adjusting cylinder parameter settings, including a cam timing setting, a spark timing setting, and a fuel injection timing setting based on a chamber temperature in response to a rate of fuel injection acceleration being greater than a positive threshold, thus indicating the engine is in the transient mode.

An engine system is provided, which includes a vehicle-mounted engine having an injector, a spark plug, and a property adjusting device, an accelerator opening sensor, and a controller. The controller performs a combustion control for controlling the injector, the spark plug, and the property adjusting device so that a target torque set based on a present accelerator opening detected by the accelerator opening sensor is outputted in a specific cycle in the future from a present time by a given delay time. In the combustion control, the controller sets a target load of the engine in the specific cycle based on the present accelerator opening, and sets a combustion transition from the present cycle to the specific cycle by selecting beforehand combustion from the present cycle to the specific cycle, from flame propagation combustion and compressed self-ignition combustion, based on the set target load.

An internal combustion engine (1) operating in cycles, having: a plurality of piston-cylinder units (2), wherein each piston-cylinder unit (2) of the plurality of piston-cylinder units (2) is assigned an ignition device (3) which can be controlled regarding activation and selection of an ignition timing by an engine control (4), wherein a piston-cylinder unit (2), when the ignition device (3) is activated, produces a power by combustion of a gas-air mixture, which can be transmitted as a torque to a crankshaft (5) of the internal combustion engine (1) an intake stroke (6) and an exhaust stroke (7), each coupled to the plurality of piston-cylinder units (2) a supply device (8) for supplying a gas-air mixture under a boost pressure to the intake stroke (6) a signal detection device (9) for acquiring at least one signal which represents a power demand on the internal combustion engine (1) or from which a power demand on the internal combustion engine (1) can be calculated an engine control (4) for actuating actuators of the internal combustion engine (1), wherein the at least one signal can be fed to the engine control (4), and the engine control (4) is configured in a first operating mode to leave as many ignition devices (8) deactivated per cycle of the internal combustion engine in dependence on the currently present power demand, that the power of those piston-cylinder units (2), the ignition devices (8) of which are activated, results in a torque of the crankshaft (5) of the internal combustion engine (1) adapted to the currently present power demand
wherein the engine control (4) is configured to, in a second operating mode, for reducing a risk of deflagration due to unburned gas-air mixture present in the exhaust stroke (7) after a first number (N.sub.1) of cycles of the internal combustion engine (1), for a second number (N.sub.2) of cycles of the internal combustion engine (1), to have more piston-cylinder units (2) produce power per cycle by activating the assigned ignition devices (8) than would be required for the currently present power demand after the second number (N.sub.2) of cycles of the internal combustion engine (1), for a third number (N.sub.3) of cycles of the internal combustion engine (1), in dependence on a currently present power demand per cycle of the internal combustion engine (1), to have so many piston-cylinder units (2) produce power by activation of the assigned ignit

A variety of methods and arrangements are described for controlling transitions between firing fractions during skip fire and potentially variable displacement operation of an engine. In general, cam first transition strategies are described in which the cam phase is changed to, or close to a target cam phase before a corresponding firing fraction change is implemented. When the cam phase change associated with a desired firing fraction change is relatively large, the firing fraction change is divided into a series of two or more firing fraction change steps—with each step using a cam first transition approach. A number of intermediate target selection schemes are described as well.