Optimization of fuel efficiency and control of diesel electric marine vessels subject to data communication constraints
Contact: Professor J. Tommy Gravdahl

There is a potential for improved efficiency and lowered emissions in combustion engines through the application of information and decision systems for state monitoring, diagnostics and control. We believe that the use of signal and data processing tools on the large amount of data being logged during state supervision of multi cylinder engines in combination with nonlinear control techniques will bring new results to this field. There has been published a vast amount of literature on powertrain control for automotive applications. This is especially the case for various types of internal combustion engines, for an overview see Jeffrey et.al. (2006) or Guzzella and Onder (2004). In this project we will aim for, based on knowledge from automotive systems, improving the fuel efficiency and lowering the environmental emissions from internal combustion engines for marine applications. A further topic will be communication and diagnostic systems for health monitoring of multi cylinder engines. The specifications of a turbocharged engine can, with proper designed control for wastegate and throttle, be made equivalent to the specifications of an engine with equivalent power output, but smaller displacement. This means better fuel economy and lowered emissions. Based on our expertise on control of compression systems, see Gravdahl and Egeland (1999), design of these systems will be investigated. One topic of this project will be lean combustion (natural gas or diesel) engines. There is evidence that running these engines at extreme lean operating conditions can reduce emissions by very large amounts and at the same time improve fuel efficiency. However, the engine exhibits significant cyclic dispersion in heat release, which causes engine instability and poor performance, something that can be remedied by feedback controllers. We believe that we can contribute to this field by drawing on our experience within nonlinear control design. Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) engines show promise for better fuel economy and high efficiency, and automatic control is necessary to time the combustion, see Bengtsson et.al. (2007). The project will also focus on design and analysis of such systems.

• Bengtsson J., P. Strandh, R. Johansson, P. Tunestål, B. Johansson, Hybrid Modelling of Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) Engine Dynamic—A Survey, International Journal of Control, 80:11, pp. 1814-1848, November 2007.
• Jeffrey A. Cook, Jing Sun, Julia H. Buckland, Ilya V. Kolmanovsky, Huei Peng, and Jessy W. Grizzle, Automotive Powertrain Control: A Survey, Asian Journal of Control, Vol. 8, No. 3, pp. 237-260, September 2006.
• Guzzella, and C.H. Onder, Introduction to Modeling and Control of Internal Combustion Engine, Systems, Springer, 2004.
• Gravdahl, J.T. and O. Egeland, «Compressor surge and rotating stall: Modeling and control », Springer Verlag, London, 1999.