Optimal Cold-Start Control of a Gasoline Engine

This article analyzes the influence of the ignition retardation on the fuel consumption, the cumulative tailpipe hydrocarbon emissions, and the temperature inside the three-way catalytic converter in a gasoline direct injection engine operated under idling conditions. A dedicated cylinder-individual, model-based, multivariable controller was used in experiments in order to isolate the effect of the ignition retardation on the hydrocarbon emissions as much as possible. An optimal control problem for a gasoline engine at a cold-start is formulated, which is used to interpret the experimental data obtained. The corresponding goal is to minimize the fuel consumption during an initial idling phase of a fixed duration while guaranteeing that the three-way catalytic converter reaches a sufficiently high final temperature and at the same time making sure that the cumulative hydrocarbon emissions stay below a given limit. The experimental data indicates that the engine should be operated with maximum ignition retardation in order to reach any temperature inside the three-way catalytic converter as quickly as possible concurrently with minimum tailpipe emissions and with the minimum possible fuel consumption.