Spark advance setting in spark-ignited engines is used to place the in-cylinder pressure curve relative to the top dead center. A feedback scheme, not a calibration scheme, based on ionization current is proposed here. It is thus related to pressure sensor feedback schemes, that have reported good results, but have not yet been proved cost effective, due to the cost of the pressure sensor. The method proposed here is very cost-effective, since it uses exactly the same hardware and instrumentation (already used in production cars) that is used to utilize the spark plug as a sensor to detect misfire and as a sensor for knock control. A key idea in the method is to use parameterized functions to describe the ionization current. These parameterized functions are used to separate out the different phases of the ionization current. Special emphasis is laid on getting a correct description of the pressure development. The results are validated on a SAAB 2.3 l production engine by direct comparison with an in-cylinder pressure sensor (used only for validation, not for control), but also by using a physical model relating the ionization current to the pressure.

With the aim at spark advance control, a method for estimating the peak pressure position (PPP) from the ionization current has previously been developed and off-line validated. To implement the concept on an engine a real-time platform is needed. A hardware platform, that consists of a PC, an electronic engine control unit (ECU), and a synchronization circuit, is described. The platform synchronizes the data acquisition with the engine and the functionality is validated. Also a refined interpretation algorithm for estimating the PPP is described and validated to give a good estimate. The algorithm is suitable for implementation on the described real-time platform.

The main result of this paper is a real-time closed loop demonstration of spark advance control by interpretation of ionization current signals. The advantages of such a system is quantified. The ionization current, obtained by using the spark plug as a sensor, is rich on information, but the signal is also complex. A key step in our method is to use parameterized functions to describe the ionization current. The results are validated on a SAAB 2.3 l, normally aspirated, production engine, showing that the placement of the pressure trace relative to TDC is controlled using only the ionization current for feedback.

By directly measuring in-cylinder parameters and adjusting the spark advance, the engine efficiency can be maximized. A feedback scheme for spark-advance control using the ionization current as sensed variable has earlier been presented. One issue is to verify that the algorithm works when the environmental conditions changes the burn rate. Humidity significantly affects the burn rate and active water injection is used to slow down the combustion giving a peak pressure position (PPP) that occurs too late. The ionization current based feedback-scheme adjusts the spark advance, and moves the PPP back to optimum. An additional result is that the engine efficiency can be increased by combining active supply of water to the combustion and the spark-advance control scheme.

IEEE Control Systems: Special Issue on Powertrain Control, October 1998 Combustion engines are highly engineered complex system. Many variables like engine speed and load are measured, but there are many other variables influencing engine performance that are not measured. One such variable that strongly influences efficiency and power is air humidity. Even with such varying unmeasured variables, it is well known that a skilled human mechanic can diagnose and fine tune a car according to the environment and circumstances at a certain place and day. Inspired by these skills in combination with the development of computing power, it is possible to think of virtual engine-doctors and virtual engine-fine-tuners. Here an ion-sense engine-fine-tuner has been developed based on spark advance feed-back control using ionization current interpretation. It is shown, as a main result, that it can control the engine back to its optimal operation even when subjected to humidity in the intake air.

Heat release analysis by using a pressure sensor signal is a well recognized technique for evaluation of the combustion event, and also for combustion diagnostics. The analysis includes tuning of several parameters in order to accurately explain measured data. This work presents and investigates a systematic method for estimating parameters in heat release models and minimizing the arbitrary choices. In order for the procedure to be systematic there are also the requirements on the model, that it includes no inherent ambiguities, like over-parameterization with respect to the parameters and to the information contained in the measurements. The fundamental question is which parameters, in the heat release model, that can be identified by using only cylinder pressure data. The parameter estimation is based on established techniques, that constructs a predictor for the model and then minimizes a least-squares objective function of the prediction error. The study is performed on data measured on a SAAB 2.3 liter, four stroke four cylinder, normally aspirated, gasoline engine.

Most of todays spark-advance controllers operate in open loop but there are several benefits of using feed-back or adaptive schemes based on variables deduced from the cylinder pressure. A systematic study of how different engine conditions change the deduced variables, at optimal ignition timing, is performed. The analysis is performed using a one-zone heat-release model and varying the model parameters. The deduced variables that are studied are: position of the pressure peak, mass fraction burned levels of 30%, 45%, 50%, and 90%, and the pressure ratio. For MBT timing the position for 45% mass fraction burned changed least under a large variety of changes in burn rate. Cycle-to-cycle variations do not have a significant effect and it suffices to evaluate the mean values for the burn rate parameters. The pressure ratio produces values similar to the mass fraction burned and requires no separate treatment.