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The phenomenon of fuel-film dynamics for four-stroke small-scale spark-ignition engines is investigated in this paper. A first-order fuel-film model, so-called tau-x model, is used to represent the fuel dynamics. The parameters of fuel-film model, which consists of the portion of fuel that deposited on the manifold wall and the time constant of the fuel evaporation process, are identified using the recursive least squared technique. Performances of the proposed algorithm are evaluated using a nonlinear engine model in Matlab/Simulink. The preliminary simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can accurately be used to identify the parameters of fuel-film model. The experimental data are then utilized to study the characteristics of fuel-film dynamics, and show that the fuel-film dynamics is significantly affected by engine speed, throttle opening, injection timing, and intake temperature.

Due to the nonlinear time-varying nature of the spark-ignition engine, an adaptive multi-input single-output (MISO) controller based on self-tuning regulator (STR) is proposed for idle speed control in this paper. The spark timing and idle air control are simultaneously employed as control inputs for maintaining the desired idle speed, and are designed based on P and PI type STR, respectively. The Recursive Least Square technique is employed to identify the engine as a first-order MISO linear model. Pole placement technique is then used to design the adaptive MISO controller. Performances of the proposed algorithm are evaluated using a nonlinear engine model in Matlab/Simulink. The system parameters with 10% uncertainties are also utilized to perform the associated robustness analysis. Preliminary simulation results show significant reduction of speed deviations under the presence of torque disturbances and model uncertainties.

Fuel film dynamics in the intake manifold are considered to develop air fuel ratio (AFR) control strategy with on-line system identification for a V2 engine in this paper. A1000 cc four-stroke two-cylinder, water-cooled port injection SI engine is used as the target engine to develop the engine model in Matlab/Simulink. The model which consists of charging, fueling, combustion, friction, and engine rotational dynamics is used to verify the proposed AFR control. Since the fuel film dynamics changes with different engine operating conditions, the fuel film parameters are often listed as look-up tables for fuel film dynamics calculation in the conventional AFR control. However, those parameters might be inaccurate during transient engine operation. Different intake port temperature will affect the accuracy of those fuel film parameters as well. In order to solve this problem, recursive least square (RLS) is used to identify those parameters on-line.

Butanol is deemed as the potential alternative fuel for future development, and the previous researches show poor injection spray atomization when high butanol concentration blended fuel applying on stock small scooter engines. In this research, a platform is built to observe the spray atomization phenomena with 2.5kg/cm2 (2.452bar) 、 3.5kg/cm2(3.433bar) injection pressures and various n-butanol volume percent concentration blended fuels, B60, B80 and B100. After that, engine experiments are undergone with above conditions under wide open throttle (WOT) with stoichiometric air fuel ratio (AFR) at 4000rpm. The experiment results are analyzed and discussed from different aspects eventually. Injection spray observation shows that worse spray atomization appears accompanied with higher concentration blended fuel. But when the injection pressure increases, higher shear force acting on the injection spray improves the breakup of fuel and enhances the effect of fuel spray atomization.

This study focuses on developing a cranking torque reduction strategy for a motorcycle with idling-stop system. At first, experiments are done to measure the electric current consumption of starting motor which is then converted into cranking torque by the motor torque constant. The experimental results also indicate that the piston position, after the engine is stopped, always remains at the bottom dead center of compression stroke. This will further increase the cranking torque for the next engine start due to static friction and compression pressure. This paper, therefore, proposes to retrofit the original generator of motorcycle as a motor/generator with the same operation power. The motor/generator could be worked in motor mode to assist the starting motor to crank the engine, and hence the instantaneous power provided by the starting motor could be reduced to extend its life time.

This paper develops an adaptive idle speed control strategy for a V2, 1000 cc four-stroke, water-cooled, port injection SI engine. In order to verify the proposed strategy, the non-dimensional engine model including charging and torque dynamics is established in Matlab/Simulink software based on previously experimental verification. The integration of dynamics above will be a multi-input-single-output (MISO) system, which inputs are throttle angle and spark advance angle, and the output is engine speed. The proposed adaptive controller is developed on the model-based structure. The system parameters are updated by recursive least square (RLS) method so the system is able to represent the actual operation. The updated system parameters adjust control gain by derivation of closed-loop gain and pole placement.

This paper established a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) system for developing the engine management system (EMS) of a motorcycle, which combines xPC target real-time simulator and PC based controller. An engine model of 125cc four-stroke gasoline engine that included the calculation of cylinder pressure is employed to be a control plant. A proposed control strategy developed with application of this HIL is verified to be superior to the conventional EMS of motorcycles. The proposed controller can send fuel injection and spark ignition control signals every two revolutions accurately via stroke identification method. During the engine running period, perhaps the ignition coil or other electronic equipment will conduct noise that interfere crankshaft tooth signal. Therefore, a Kalman filter is designed to improve the robustness of controller. Under interference, the performance of proposed controller is more satisfied than that without Kalman filter.

In order to study the noise effect of the crank angle sensor on electronic fuel injection (EFI) control system, a Kalman filter with stroke identification is employed to estimate the crankshaft rotational dynamics. Estimated crank angle and speed are then used for EFI system. A 125 c.c. scooter engine verified by the experimental data is used to design the Kalman filter. A simulation model, which consists of nonlinear engine dynamics, powertrain dynamics, tire dynamics, and pitch-plane motorcycle dynamics, is established in Matlab/Simulink to evaluate the performance of the Kalman filter at various noise conditions.

For a conventional scooter engine, not only the crankshaft position estimation is insufficient based on the one-tooth crankshaft wheel, but also the speed measurement might be contaminated by sensor noise easily. The authors propose a technique using Kalman filter to estimate crankshaft position and engine speed for digital ignition control of a scooter engine. A 125cc engine model, which is verified by the experimental data of the target engine, will be used to design the Kalman filter. A simulation model, which consists of nonlinear engine dynamics, powertrain dynamics, tire dynamics, and pitch plane dynamics, is used to evaluate the performance of proposed estimation algorithm with different tooth numbers of crankshaft wheel and various noise conditions.

This paper develops an engine model for the model-in-the-loop (MIL) and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) application to shorten the time duration and reduce the costs of developing and verifying the engine management system (EMS). The target engine is a 1.0L V-type two cylinder water-cooled spark-ignition engine. The engine model is developed using a so-called modulization method, which includes to: (1) separate the sub-models according to the different physical phenomena; (2) collect the sub-models to establish a library; (3) execute the component modules based on a pre-determined sequence by a more flexible way. The engine model is then applied in MIL structure for testing and verifying the control strategies in the developed EMS. After all strategies are verified, the HIL structure is constructed by a hardware controller and a virtual engine in the xPC target. The execution time-step of engine model is analyzed to keep enough accuracy and numeric stability for real-time simulation.

In order to reduce engine control strategy development time and cost, the Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) simulation technology is developed. This paper establishes a simulation model and control platform based on the HIL structure for studying control strategy development and verification. A 125c.c. engine model verified by the experimental data is established in Matlab/Simulink, which is used as a virtual engine and then implemented in the xPC real-time system. The Motorola MC 68376 controller chip provides control signals included injection duration/timing and ignition timing for the virtual engine. A PCI-6024E input/output board is used as an interface between the controller and the virtual engine. A simulation model, which consists of engine, powertrain, tire, and pitch plane dynamics, is used to evaluate the response of engine dynamics and longitudinal dynamics via HIL simulation.

In this research, with proposed design of hydraulic-controlled variable valve lift system, a feed pump is used to supply the low-pressure oil into the hydraulic pump which will compress low-pressure oil as high-pressure oil and pumps the high-pressure oil into the hydraulic cylinder. In the meanwhile, the intake valve opened in accordance with the plunger is pushed by the hydraulic cylinder. To achieve the change of intake valve lift, a DC motor connected with the control rack that is used for controlling oil-drain time of the hydraulic pump. In addition, a solenoid valve is installed in order that the intake valve will be closed quickly without controlling the drain flow when the maximum valve lift is reached. Commonly, the throttle is not required with variable valve lift system, but the throttle is kept for engine start. Hence, except for engine cranking condition, the throttle maintains in wide open (WOT) under different test conditions.

In this paper, the off-line analysis method is applied to develop three-way catalytic converter (TWC) diagnostic strategy including oxygen sensor (O2 sensor) diagnostic strategy with common narrow band oxygen sensor (EGO sensor) in Matlab/Simulink software. Moreover, Mototron ECU (Engine Control Unit) is used for monitoring catalyst deterioration. However, aged catalyst is difficult to possess so the different catalytic conversion efficiency (CCE) is simulated by using exhaust by-pass valve. The CEC (China Engine Corporation) 1L V2, four stroke, water-cooled engine is selected as target engine to conduct engine dynamometer test. After making sure O2 sensor operates normally, the catalyst diagnostic strategy test is executed. The experimental result shows that the catalyst deterioration accurately can be detected when the failure phenomenon takes place.

Range extender (RE), combined by an engine and a generator, charges the battery on the electric vehicle. Power management strategy of a range extended electric vehicle (REEV) will determine the required charging power according to battery state of charge (SOC) and driver demands. The charging power demand will be further converted into required operation torque and rotational speed demands from engine. Torque-based engine management system (EMS) is, therefore, required to receive the torque command from power management strategy for controlling the engine at required torque. This research develops a torque-based EMS for a RE engine which is a 125cc four-stroke semi-direct injection engine and fueled by liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The RE engine is operated to provide stable power output for driving generator, so we only select two operating points for this engine. The first operating point is for higher power output and better fuel economy.

For vehicles with intake manifold absolute pressure (MAP) sensor, the intake air mass is obtained using speed-density method. Since the analog MAP signal will contain high frequency noise with uncertain amplitude, the MAP value obtained in the engine management system using angle based sampling will result in MAP value variation even for engine steady-state operation. In order to properly obtain a MAP value under nonlinear time-varying characteristics, a MAP estimation method based on a closed-loop model is proposed. First, an adaptive two-input single-output intake manifold model is constructed. The Recursive Least Square technique is utilized to on-line identify the intake manifold model with throttle opening angle and engine speed as inputs. The identified intake manifold model is then employed to estimate the MAP using the Kalman Filter.

This work studies the potential to use nanoparticles as additives in lubrication oil to improve friction and wear properties. The friction coefficient, electrical contact resistance and wear depth are experimentally measuring using a reciprocating sliding tribo-tester at various temperatures, contact pressures and sliding velocities. The test results show that the nanoparticle as additive in base oil can reduce friction and wear by up to 50% in mixed and boundary regimes, but in a commercial engine oil, it has a relatively minor effect. The material properties, size and shape of nanoparticles affect their tribological properties. The mechanisms of friction and wear behavior improved are briefly discussed.

A heat transfer model for small-scale spark-ignition engines has been proposed by authors in previous study. However, this model is only based on single engine, it may not be suitable for the others. In order to improve the accuracy of predicted heat transfer rate for different small-scale engines, another heat transfer model using Stanton number based on two engines is proposed. Prediction results of instantaneous heat flux and global heat transfer based on the proposed model are compared with the experimental results and prediction results of previous model. It is found that the proposed model has prediction results closer to the measured data than the previous models.

In order to improve the performance of a small gasoline engine, a part of oxygen is added to the intake air when the engine is operated at wide open throttle. The combustion process can be enhanced by using an oxidant that contains a higher proportion of oxygen than that in normal air. This paper studies the combustion characteristics and engine performance of such engine. Engine testing is performed on a 50 cc four-stroke spark-ignition engine with the oxygen concentration of intake air ranging from 21% to 25% by volume. The engine torque is increased with increasing oxygen concentration. The HC and CO emissions are decreased with oxygen enrichment, but the NOx emission is increased.

The on-board diagnostic (OBD) technologies for automobiles have been well-developed; however, it could not be carried out on motorcycles directly since the operation conditions are quite different between automobiles and motorcycles. In this research, we propose a misfire detection strategy for motorcycles based on the characteristics of crankshaft rotational dynamics. At first, experiments were done on a 125cc motorcycle to investigate the variation of instantaneous crankshaft rotational speed in power stroke while the misfire events are injected at different engine operation conditions. In order to generate misfire events for the engine, a misfire generator is established for providing specific misfire rates. If a misfire takes place at higher engine speed, the instantaneous rotational speed will decline continuously during power stroke due to higher friction losses, which leads to the reduction of average crankshaft rotational speed as well.

A Hybrid Electric Motorcycle (HEM) with a direct-driven wheel motor is proposed in this paper. The rear wheel is driven by an internal combustion engine and a powertrain system of a traditional motorcycle with minor modifications. The front wheel is driven by a direct-driven wheel motor. The proposed HEM is a parallel configuration. Both wheels can supply tractive forces simultaneously to drive the motorcycle when necessary. A rule-based structure is used to design the power split controller of the proposed HEM. Fuel economy of the proposed design will be evaluated by a dynamic simulation model in Matlab/Simulink using ECE-R40 driving cycle.