One embodiment is a system comprising an internal combustion engine having one or more non-dedicated cylinders and one or more dedicated EGR cylinders configured to provide EGR to the engine via an EGR loop, a first spark plug coupled to each of the one or more non-dedicated cylinders, and a second spark plug coupled to each of the one or more dedicated EGR cylinders, wherein the second spark plug has a physical or dimensional characteristic that is different from the first spark plug. In certain forms each of the non-dedicated cylinders has only one of a first type of spark plug and each of the dedicated EGR cylinders has only one of a second type of spark plug. One or more of the characteristics that may vary between the first and second types of spark plugs include spark gap, electrode diameter, heat range, and ion sensing capability.

An electronic engine timing system that includes at least (1) an engine position sensor that includes a diametric magnet and two or more hall effect sensors configured and positioned to sense diametric magnet position, (2) sensor data receiving circuitry configured for receiving sensory input, including at least input from the engine position sensor; and (3) control circuitry configured to control firing of one or more cylinders of the engine at least in part by calculating one or more timing advance positions for one or more cylinders of the engine and by causing the one or more cylinders to fire according to the one or more calculated timing advance positions, the control circuitry further configured to calculate the one or more timing advance positions for the one or more cylinders separately from one another based at least in part on input from the engine position sensor.

According to one or more embodiments presently described, a method of operating an internal combustion engine that includes injecting fuel into a combustion chamber to form an air-fuel mixture, where the combustion chamber includes a cylinder head, cylinder sidewalls, and a piston that reciprocates within the cylinder sidewalls. The method may also include detecting pre-ignition of the air-fuel mixture during a detected intake or compression stroke of the piston, determining that a super knock condition could occur, and mitigating formation of a super knock condition by deploying a super knock countermeasure within the detected compression stroke.

A system includes an internal combustion engine having a number of cylinders, with at least one of the cylinder(s) being a primary EGR cylinder that is dedicated to provided EGR flow during at least some operating conditions. A controller is structured to control combustion conditions in the cylinders in response to one or more operating conditions associated with the engine.

An electronic engine timing system that includes at least (1) an engine position sensor that includes a diametric magnet and two or more hall effect sensors configured and positioned to sense diametric magnet position, (2) sensor data receiving circuitry configured for receiving sensory input, including at least input from the engine position sensor; and (3) control circuitry configured to control firing of one or more cylinders of the engine at least in part by calculating one or more timing advance positions for one or more cylinders of the engine and by causing the one or more cylinders to fire according to the one or more calculated timing advance positions, the control circuitry further configured to calculate the one or more timing advance positions for the one or more cylinders separately from one another based at least in part on input from the engine position sensor.

The objective is to provide an internal-combustion-engine controller that can diagnose, at low cost and in real time, respective combustion states of a subsidiary-chamber-type internal combustion engine. An internal-combustion-engine controller according to the present disclosure controls an internal combustion engine having a main combustion chamber and a subsidiary combustion chamber from which a combustion gas is injected into the main combustion chamber through an orifice provided between the main combustion chamber and the subsidiary combustion chamber to ignite a fuel-air mixture in the main combustion chamber; the internal-combustion-engine controller includes an ion detector that detects an ion in the in the subsidiary combustion chamber and a diagnosis and control device that controls fuel supply to the internal combustion engine and diagnoses a combustion state in the main combustion chamber or in the subsidiary combustion chamber, based on an amount of an ion detected by the ion detector.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide an engine control device with which it is possible to minimize decreases in combustion speed even when the EGR rate has been increased. The present invention is an engine control device for: controlling an engine provided with an injector for injecting fuel directly into a cylinder, an ignition device for igniting the injected fuel, and an EGR means capable of recycling combustion gas and varying the EGR rate of the recycling combustion gas; and commanding the injector to perform multiple injections during one cycle, wherein a command is given to perform a control for increasing the injection quantity per compression stroke relative to the total injection quantity in one cycle so that the injection quantity per compression stroke is greater when the EGR rate is high than when the EGR rate is low, and/or a control for increasing the number of injections per compression stroke relative to the total number of injections in one cycle so that the number of injections per compression stroke is greater when the EGR rate is high than when the EGR rate is low.

A method for operating a combustion engine is disclosed. In an embodiment, the method includes: generating several sparks to ignite a fuel-air mixture in a combustion chamber by an ignition device of the combustion engine, determining a combustion duration of at least one of the sparks, detecting a deviation of an actual operation from a target operation of the combustion engine at least depending on the combustion duration, compensating for the deviation by implementing at least one measure which influences a combustion of the fuel-air mixture in the combustion chamber, determining the combustion duration of the chronological first of the sparks, allocating the first spark to a first spark type or to a second spark type depending on the combustion duration, and implementing the at least one measure if at least one value which characterizes a frequency of one of the spark types exceeds a threshold value.

Methods and systems are provided for adjusting spark and/or fuel injection to a cylinder based on late combustion, partial burn, or misfire in a neighboring cylinder. In one example, a method may include deactivating spark and fuel injection to a second cylinder receiving exhaust residuals from combustion in a first cylinder, the first cylinder experiencing a misfire or late combustion event. Mitigating actions are performed in the second cylinder before the occurrence of a pre-ignition event.

This invention relates to an engine for a vehicle using alternative fuel, preferably gas, comprising an engine (5) having a spark ignited ignition system (2) wherein said ignition system (2) includes misfire detection by means of a sensor device (4) providing information to a control system (20), connected to or within said ignition system (2), and wherein said combustion includes diluted operation to optimize emissions wherein said sensor device (4) includes an ion sensing measurement means (40) arranged to measure an ion current in said engine (5) and that said ignition system (2) has a built-in function to detect misfiring through an analysis of the ion current of the engine (5) during combustion.