An engine-control-unit-in-the-loop simulator of a common-rail diesel engine for cylinder-pressure-based control

A non-linear dynamic model of the common-rail direct-injection (CRDI) diesel engine was proposed and verified through engine tests. Typical engine models used in control applications do not compute the pressure within the cylinder. This is, however, not ideal for cases when the model needs to be run over a wide range of operating conditions, or if the controller uses the cylinder pressure itself as a measured variable. The developed engine model includes in-cylinder pressure dynamics as the heart of the cylinder-by-cylinder engine model (CCEM). The inclusion of cylinder pressure dynamics makes it possible to reflect precisely the influence of the changes in inputs, and thus the applicable operating range of the engine model is expanded. Moreover, a cylinder-pressure-based control algorithm call be developed and easily evaluated on this model. Based on the CCEM, a distributed electronic-control-unit-in-the-loop simulation platform was developed for the CRDI diesel engine.