Inherent limitations and control design for camless engine idle speed dynamics

The idle speed control problem of a spark-ignited engine equipped with a camless valvetrain is considered. The camless valvetrain allows control of the individual intake and exhaust valves of each cylinder and can be used to achieve unthrottled operation, and consequently, optimize the engine performance. We formulate the speed control problem for this engine and show that it exhibits unstable open-loop behaviour with a signi"cant delay in the feedback loop. The instability is intrinsic to the unthrottled operation and speci"c to the camless actuation used to achieve the unthrottled operation. The delay is caused by the discrete combustion process and the sensor/computer/actuator interface. We demonstrate the inherent system limitations associated with the unstable dynamics and the delay and provide insight on the structural (plant) design that can alleviate these limitations. Finally, stabilizing controllers using classical and modern robust design techniques are presented and tested on a nonlinear simulation model. Copyright 2001 JohnWiley & Sons, Ltd.