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Real-Time Closed-Loop Control of a Light-Duty RCCI 2017-01-0767

Engine During Transient Operations Published 03/28/2017

Jayant Kumar Arora and Mahdi Shahbakhti

Michigan Technological University

CITATION: Arora, J. and Shahbakhti, M., "Real-Time Closed-Loop Control of a Light-Duty RCCI Engine During Transient
Operations," SAE Technical Paper 2017-01-0767, 2017, doi:10.4271/2017-01-0767.

Copyright © 2017 SAE International

Abstract timing can be controlled. Owing to this factor, RCCI provides

better combustion control capabilities as well as better or similar
Real-time control of Reactivity Controlled Compression Ignition
load range compared to other low temperature combustion modes
(RCCI) during engine load and speed transient operation is
such as Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI),
challenging, since RCCI combustion phasing depends on nonlinear
Partially Premixed Charge Compression Ignition (PPCI), and
thermo-kinetic reactions that are controlled by dual-fuel reactivity
Premixed Charge Compression Ignition (PCCI). Various studies
gradients. This paper discusses the design and implementation of a
have been carried out to investigate the benefits of RCCI
real-time closed-loop combustion controller to maintain optimum
combustion in terms of efficiency, emissions, and load range
combustion phasing during RCCI transient operations. New
expansion [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9], but only a few experimental
algorithms for real-time in-cylinder pressure analysis and
studies have been carried out for control and optimization of RCCI
combustion phasing calculations are developed and embedded on a
combustion during transient operation [10,11].
Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) to compute RCCI
combustion and performance metrics on cycle-by-cycle basis. This
This paper mainly concentrates on two aspects of closed-loop
cycle-by-cycle data is then used as a feedback to the combustion
combustion control required during transient RCCI engine
controller, which is implemented on a real-time processor.
operations. First, an experimental study is conducted to understand
and explore the main combustion control variables and the way
A computationally efficient algorithm is introduced for detecting
they can be used for control purposes. Second, the paper delves
Start of Combustion (SOC) for the High Temperature Heat Release
into design, instrumentation and implementation of a combustion
(HTHR) or main-stage heat release. This identified SOC and
analysis system, utilizing a cost effective Field Programmable Gate
HTHR are then utilized to calculate the main-stage CA50 (i.e.,
Array (FPGA), for providing real-time feedback to the controller.
crank angle of 50% cumulative heat release). The designed RCCI
Figure 1 highlights the various studies that have been done with
controller simultaneously adjusts CA50 and Indicated Mean
respect to dual-fuel combustion control as well as for combustion
Effective Pressure (IMEP) during engine transient operations. For
feedback system design and ways those approaches have been
controlling CA50, either Premixed Ratio (PR) or Start of Injection
further explored and implemented as part of this study to realize
(SOI) timing of high reactive fuel is utilized. The selection
closed-loop combustion control of an RCCI engine.
between PR and SOI is done based on the experimental sensitivity
analysis. For controlling IMEP, total fuel quantity is controlled to
Olsson et. al. [12] implemented a closed-loop combustion phasing
obtain the desired engine load. The experimental validation results
controller utilizing a sensitivity function of CA50 towards the fuel
show that the designed RCCI controller can maintain desired CA50
reactivity based on the experimental data for HCCI dual-fuel
during engine load transients and also reach to a desired IMEP
operation. The sensitivity function estimated the sensitivity of the
within 2-4 engine cycles.
fuel blend towards the CA50 for operating conditions and
accordingly gain scheduled the Proportional Integral Derivative
Introduction (PID) controller to achieve the required CA50 with a better
response time. A similar approach was taken by Maurya and
RCCI combustion is a premixed compression ignition mode that
Agarwal [16], where a simple manually tuned PID was utilized to
utilizes in-cylinder blending of two fuels with different auto-
vary the fuel blend so as to control CA50. The controller also
ignition characteristics (e.g., diesel and gasoline) to create
varied the fuel-energy and fuel blend to limit Pressure Rise Rate
reactivity stratification such that heat release rate and combustion
(PRR) and also maintain a desired limit for Coefficient of Variation
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of IMEP COVIMEP ≤3.5%. Strandh et. al. [13] showed a
comparative study of manually tuned PID control and Linear
Quadratic Gaussian (LQG) model-based control for controlling
combustion phasing of a dual-fuel HCCI engine. For the feedback
of combustion metrics, ion-current measurements were utilized.
Ott et. al. [17] used a PID controller derived from a discrete-
linearized engine model to control the direct injection timing and
quantity of diesel fuel for controlling combustion phasing and peak
in-cylinder pressure of a natural gas-diesel fueled engine where
natural gas was port-injected. Wu et. al. [11] used simulation
studies to design an open-loop strategy of utilizing pre-calibrated
tables for Port Fuel Injection (PFI), which would compensate for
fueling delay during transients and thus provided a stable response
for CA50.
In this study, an FPGA is utilized for its cost effectiveness and a
very high throughput capability. Previous studies to implement fast
and computationally efficient algorithms for real-time control
applications are highlighted in Figure 1. Wilhelmsson et. al. [18]
presented a simplified heat release model and showed the results
for its Hardware in Loop (HIL) implementation on an FPGA. Asad
and Zheng [14] carried out an error analysis on the various models
utilized for combustion timing calculations with respect to
different types of combustion strategies. In addition, they
developed a pressure departure ratio-based algorithm for mass
fraction burn estimation that utilized comparison between motoring
Figure 1. Background of prior experimental studies in dual-fuel combustion control and the proposed approach in this study [11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19]
curves and firing curves. This required the motoring curves to be
stored in the memory of the hardware such that they could be
accessed during real-time calculation. Lehrheuer et. al. [15]
highlighted the benefits of an FPGA for closed-loop control
applications by describing and implementing an in-cycle closed-
loop controller for HCCI combustion. The study in reference [15]
utilized a Mass Fraction Burn (MFB)-based model for CA50
calculations and analyzed accuracy of the results against a
commercial combustion analyzer.
This paper explores a new experimental approach for dual-fuel
combustion control and combines it with the benefits of an FPGA
for real-time combustion analysis. This work proposes a
computationally efficient and easily implementable SOC
identification model, which is then utilized for MFB calculations
and CA50 estimation for combustion feedback purposes. For the
control purposes, a sensitivity map of CA50 as a function of SOI
and PR is created and this map is then utilized as the commanding
factor in controlling the CA50 by varying either SOI or PR. The
paper is divided into three main parts. The first part introduces and
details the engine experimental setup. The second part includes
sections describing the methodology for calculating combustion
timing and also the approach taken for control and operation of the
RCCI engine. The last part of the paper discusses results of
combustion timing calculation algorithms and the RCCI closed-
loop controller.
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Experimental Setup

Figure 2. Experimental engine setup

Table 1. Engine specifications Table 2. FPGA board and I/O specifications

A stock GM 2.0L Ecotec turbocharged Gasoline Direct Engine (GDI)

is modified and instrumented to work in RCCI mode. Figure 2 shows
the experimental test setup and Table 1 lists the specifications of the
engine. The turbocharger on the engine is not used. All the tests
Figure 3. Designed control setup and Data Acquisition (DAQ) system for the shown in this paper are carried out at naturally aspirated engine
RCCI engine conditions, with no Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR). Intake air
temperature is controlled using two in-line air heaters. The engine
throttle body is controlled to operate the engine in Spark Ignition (SI)
combustion mode for warming up the engine. Details about engine
instrumentation can be found in [20, 21, 22]. For controlling the
engine and various actuators, dSPACE® MicroAutobox II and
RapidPro modules are utilized. The engine speed is regulated by a
343 kW AC dynamometer, which in turn is controlled using National
Instruments (NI) LabVIEW system. The details of various feedback
and control parameters are shown in Figure 3. A sampling frequency
of 1 kHz is used for all the commands/feedbacks, except for
in-cylinder pressure and engine crank angle. In-cylinder pressure is
Figure 4. Real-time FPGA system setup
sampled every Crank Angle Degree (CAD). Details of the FPGA and
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the I/O hardware are shown in Figure 4 and Table 2. The two main
signals needed for combustion analysis are in-cylinder pressure and
engine crank angle. The in-cylinder pressure is measured using a
PCB Piezotronics 115A04 transducer. Pressure signal is pegged using
a Manifold Absolute Pressure (MAP) sensor near the end of intake
stroke. All the algorithms for combustion analysis are designed,
tested, and programmed on the FPGA utilizing Matlab-Simulink® and
Xilinx Simulink Generator (XSG®) tools. An overview of the model
embedded in the FPGA is explained in the Appendix. More details
about the engine experimental setup are found in [23,24].
A low-pass Butterworth filter is designed based on the spectral
analysis of the pressure traces. This filter is only applied for off-line
post-processing of the in-cylinder pressure data presented in this
paper. Details of the filter design are found in [25].
Combustion Phasing Calculation
Figure 5. Proposed algorithm to calculate combustion phasing
While carrying out the on-line heat release calculations, the main
challenge is the computation capabilities of the hardware as well as
the implementation simplicity of the algorithm. Keeping this in mind,
the algorithm for on-line combustion phasing calculations is
developed. Conventionally, combustion phasing calculations are done
using common heat release models [26] or reduced order models
[27]. A reduced heat release model is presented by Eq. (1) and is
referred to as the Apparent Heat Release Rate (AHRR) model:
(1)
Where is the gross heat release rate and γ is the ratio of specific
heats ( ). The term dP in Eq. (1) amplifies the noise of the measured
in-cylinder signal, and also increases implementation complexity of the
model. Thus a different approach is utilized to calculate combustion
phasing, as shown by the flowchart in Figure 5. The proposed approach
includes three main parts, as detailed in the following sections.
I: SOC Identification
In conventional approaches, the start of combustion is identified as
the crank angle where the heat release curve rises to positive values
[14]. In the current work, a new computationally efficient algorithm
is developed for identifying SOC for RCCI, where fuel injection
occurs early in the compression stroke. Owing to the early fuel
injection and also depending on the fuel type, we might observe
multi-stage heat release phenomenon. In this study n-heptane/
iso-octane fuel blends are used and as shown in Figure 6, both
single-stage and two-stage heat release phenomenons are observed.
From Figure 6(a), it can be seen that there are two peaks in the heat
release curve, a Low Temperature Heat Release (LTHR) and a High
Temperature Heat Release (HTHR). If the conventional method is
used, it will identify the start of LTHR to be the SOC. As per the
control requirement, we need to identify the SOC for HTHR
(main-stage) and thereby calculate combustion phasing for the
main-stage of heat release. Thus all the results shown for the CA50
control are for the main-stage heat release.
In addition, there will be another case where the SOI is retarded
towards TDC and therefore no two-stage heat release phenomenon
might occur, as shown in Figure 6(b). Thus it is necessary to come up
with an algorithm that can address both single-stage and two-stage
heat release behaviors.
As shown in the log-PV Figure 7(a), the PV curve departs from a
straight line during the combustion period. The SOC can be identified
as the point where this departure happens, that is where the
magnitude of slope increases [28]. The slope of this straight line is
the polytropic index (n), which can be calculated by using Eq. (2):
(2)
For identifying the SOC, a threshold value for polytropic index of
compression is selected based on the experimental data. As seen from
Figure 7 (b) and (c), when a two-stage heat release occurs, the
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polytropic index values also increases during the LTHR region. To
address this issue, a window-based algorithm is developed so as to
bypass the LTHR peak. A window of 3 CAD is selected based on
experimental data, as it is enough to bypass the LTHR peak with the
selected threshold value. If the value of polytropic index of
compression is higher than the threshold value during this window of
3 CAD, then the point is identified as the SOC. The algorithm is
successfully verified off-line for both single-stage and two-stage heat
release behaviors. A similar approach to find SOC based on Heat
Release (HR) threshold was also tested, but the results were not
satisfactory. There were two main problems associated with the HR
based approach. First, it was difficult to decide a threshold especially
in the cases that were affected by charge cooling effect, due to direct
injection of fuel near TDC. The thresholds would vary with SOI and
fuel quantity (Figure 8), and thus would be hard to define. Second, as
mentioned the polytropic-based SOC algorithm has been used over a
3 CAD window to bypass the LTHR region; it was difficult to define
such limits for the HR algorithm, as compared to the SOC algorithm
at different engine conditions (Figure 8).
a. SOI 80 CAD bTDC, PR 20, Engine speed 800 RPM, TInt,Air 80°C, PInt,Air 95 kPa
b. SOI 20 CAD bTDC, PR 20,Engine speed 800 RPM, TInt,Air 80°C, PInt,Air 95 kPa
Figure 6. (a) Two-stage versus (b) One-stage heat release in RCCI combustion
It should be noted that the threshold values in Figure 5 are designed
for the engine in this study. For selecting these thresholds, various
experimental results at different engine conditions were conducted.
These threshold values provided the best correlation with post-
processed SOC results. These thresholds need to be modified for
different engine designs, e.g. different compression ratio, piston shape,
etc. If these thresholds are selected properly, the SOC algorithm
provides a computationally efficient and easy way to identify SOC.
II: EOC Identification
End Of Combustion (EOC) is defined as the first zero crossing of the
heat release curve, after the main-stage of heat release. Estimation of
the EOC by this approach gives an error for the CA50 calculation in
cases where high diffusion type combustion occurs [14]. To avoid
this, an approach similar to the SOC identification algorithm is
designed. A window-based algorithm is developed such that if the
rate of heat release goes below 1 J/CAD during the 3 CAD window,
the first instance is identified as the EOC. This algorithm is tested and
validated off-line. The heat release calculations are done utilizing a
modified version of the AHRR model by Wilhelmsson et. al. [18] and
is represented by Eq (3):
Figure 7. SOC Identification in log PV diagram. Engine speed 800 RPM,
TInt,Air 80°C, PInt,Air 95 kPa, PR 20, SOI 80 CAD bTDC
Figure 8. Polytropic index and heat release trace for four different engine
operating points. Test conditions for each operating point are listed in the
Appendix.
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EGR is utilized in the tests. The only parameters that are varied
during the operation are total Fuel Quantity (FQ), fuel blend ratio,
and SOI of the high reactivity fuel i.e., n-heptane. The fuel blend
ratio is commanded in terms of Premixed Ratio (PR) which is defined
as the fuel energy of premixed fuel over total fuel energy and is
(3) calculated by Eq. (5):

where, Qnet is net heat release, θ is the instantaneous crank angle and
θstart is the crank angle where the calculation of heat release begins
from. For the ease of algorithmic implementation, θstart is taken at
(5)
Intake Valve Closing (IVC) in this study.
where m is mass of fuel, LHV is lower heating value of the fuel, Iso
III: CA50 Calculation - oct and nHep denote iso-octane and n-heptane fuels, respectively.
For the real-time combustion feedback control, real-time calculation
of combustion phasing parameters are crucial. Here, Rassweiler-
Withrow [29] model is used to calculate Mass Fraction Burn (MFB)
because this model is computationally efficient and easy to
implement on a FPGA [30]. The MFB is then used to estimate
CA50. Even though CA50 is the crank angle for 50% heat release, it
can still be well represented by 50% MFB [14, 15]. The Rassweiler-
Withrow model for MFB estimation is represented by Eq (4):

(4)

where xb is the MFB, soc denotes the start of combustion, eoc is

the end of combustion and n is the polytropic index. Given the
Rassweiler-Withrow model provides an estimate for MFB rather
than heat release, it is necessary to analyze for what conditions this
model will calculate CA50 with minimum error. A study by Asad
and Zheng [14] analyzed the errors between the CA50 calculated
using reduced heat release model and Rassweiler-Withrow for
different combustion strategies. The maximum error occurred when
multiple fuel injections are carried out, especially with multiple
very late fuel injections for after-treatment soot destruction. The
results in reference [14] showed that there will be a very small
error in calculating real-time CA50 by utilizing the MFB model in
comparison to that from the heat release model for the LTC
combustion type in this paper. Figure 9 shows a comparison of heat
release and MFB profile investigated as part of this study. As can
be seen from Figure 9, heat release has a similar trend as that in the
MFB profile.
After finding SOC and EOC via algorithms in Figure 5, the Psoc, Peoc
and volume are then used to calculate MFB and estimate CA50 by
utilizing Eq. (4). The results will be shown later in Results and
Discussions section.
RCCI Operation and Control
As discussed in the experimental section, for operating and
controlling the engine in RCCI combustion mode, dSPACE®
MicroAutobox II and RapidPro modules are utilized. The
MicroAutobox II comprises of a real-time processor where all the
algorithms as well as strategies for commanding the modules of
RapidPro are embedded. The engine utilizes stock CR of 9.2:1.
Owing to this, IVC is kept near to BDC to achieve maximum
effective compression ratio. In addition, as previously mentioned, no
Figure 9. Comparison of cumulative heat release and MFB. Engine speed: 800
RPM, intake air temperature: 60°C, intake air pressure: 95 kPa, SOI: 30 CAD
bTDC, PR: 20, Total FQ: 22 mg/cycle.
Table 3. Engine test conditions for SOI and PR sweeps
Similar to other LTC modes, RCCI is affected by in-cylinder
temperature history, temperature, and quantity of the residual gases
[10, 23]. For countering these effects, so as to maintain an optimum
combustion phasing and desired engine load, the aforementioned
control parameters including PR, SOI and total FQ are varied. To
achieve this, two closed-loop controllers are designed for controlling
load (IMEP) and combustion phasing (CA50), respectively. The
control of IMEP is done by varying total FQ. Contrary to this, CA50
can be controlled using two parameters including PR and SOI. Thus,
it is important to determine a criteria based on which either PR or
SOI is used for CA50 control. To this end, a study is done for SOI
sweeps for different PRs and intake boundary conditions at a constant
engine speed. The results are shown in Figure 10 and the test
conditions are listed in Table 3. Based on the maps in Figure 10 the
sensitivity of CA50 with respect to SOI and PR is calculated.
Sensitivity ( ) w.r.t. SOI is defined by Eq (6). Similarly it can
be defined w.r.t. PR. Based on whichever sensitivity is higher, the
corresponding parameter is used to control the CA50; that is, if
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, then SCA50 = 1 and SPR = 0 In addition, the only

range of interest in the map is the area where the target CA50 is
located (Fig.10). For instance, if CA50 of 4 CAD aTDC is targeted,
as it offers the highest indicated thermal efficiency (ηInd,Th) at this
engine speed, the area of interest (4 ± 4 CAD) is marked within the
dotted lines as shown in Figure 10(b). This region is selected based
on optimum PRRs, COVIMEP and ηInd,Th. Saturation limits for the
controller are also decided based on this region. If we refer to the
region marked as R1 in Figure 10(b), just by observing the contour it
can be commented that CA50 is more sensitive to SOI compared to
PR. Thus it would be better to use SOI as the control parameter to
adjust CA50 in those engine operating regions. Similarly region
marked as R2 clearly shows that CA50 is more sensitive to PR,
compared to SOI. In a previous approach for dual-fuel HCCI control,
Olsson et. al. [12] utilized fuel blend as the main control parameter to
control or maintain targeted CA50. Owing to this, gain scheduled
PIDs were needed as the sensitivity of CA50 towards fuel blend
varied from very high to low values, depending on the engine
operating region. But in case of RCCI, with availability of another
strong control variable (i.e., SOI), the need of gain scheduling is not
required. The approach in this paper should be suitable to control the
CA50 by utilizing only one set of PID gains.

(6)

The maximum thermal efficiency, peak in-cylinder pressure

(safety), combustion noise (MPRR < 5 bar/CAD), and combustion
stability (COVIMEP < 5%) have been considered through the
optimized maps, as shown in Figure 11. Saturation limits are put
for operational constraints (peak pressure, noise as well as
COVIMEP). As CA50 becomes more sensitive to a certain control
parameter, it’s highly likely that this parameter can even destabilize
the controller and thereby causes misfires or heavy knock. In light Figure 10. SOI and PR sweeps at (a) 40 °C and (b) 60 °C intake air
of this, proper saturation limits are selected and set in the temperatures. The engine operating conditions are listed in Table 3. Details of
controller strategy. These saturation limits are decided based on the individual points in the map are provided in the Appendix.
quality and response of tracking requirements. For example, in
case of IMEP control, saturation limit for the controller is decided In addition, the only area of interest in the map in Figure 10 would be
based on the COVIMEP limit during steady and transient operating where the desired CA50 is located (e.g., CA50= 4 to 10 CAD aTDC),
regions. For a proper control strategy it is necessary that a so generating sensitivity map for the full CA50 range will not be
controller provides good disturbance rejection along with tracking needed. This would further reduce the hardware requirements from
capability. To this end, a feedforward strategy is used in the point of view of needed engine maps for the engine control for
combination with PI controllers. In addition, the utilized PR and the full operating range.
SOI engine map in the feedforward control action helps to stabilize
Table 4. Engine test conditions for CA50 and IMEP Validation
the combustion control action, since they will avoid control actions
beyond the engine stability limits. Figure 11 shows the structure of
the proposed RCCI combustion controller. The base values of
proportional gains are decided based on their effect on the
controlled output for a unit change in the control variable. Final
values for proportional and integral gains are found by manually
tuning the controller on the engine.
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Results and Discussions
CA50 Validation
To execute validation of the on-line algorithms, steady state tests are
carried out in RCCI mode. All the analysis is carried out on the
cylinder #1. The engine operating conditions are listed in Table 4.
The signals coming from the in-cylinder pressure transducer could
either be tapped into the FPGA module for getting real-time
combustion feedback or acquired by the commercial combustion
analyzer for post-processing the combustion parameters. Due to this
limitation, the test runs have to be repeated. The boundary conditions
are kept as close as possible to make the comparison meaningful.
Figure 12 shows the comparison of real-time main-stage CA50
and post-processed CA50. The RCCI controller also controls
engine load; therefore feedback of IMEP is required. Thus the
algorithm for IMEP is also embedded on the FPGA. Results
comparing IMEP from post-processing and FPGA are shown in
Figure 13. For offline post-processing to caluclate the main-stage
CA50, the AHRR model is used. This is done as the commercial
combustion analyzer also uses this model for real-time
calculations and thus gives a more realistic validation of the
results. An average error of 1 CAD is found between the post-
processed and on-line calculated CA50 results (Fig. 12). The
resolution of crank angle measurement is 1 CAD and is equal to
the mean error. This confirms very good accuracy of the designed
real-time algorithms to calculate CA50. Only for the test point 10,
a maximum error of 4 CAD is observed. This could be attributed
to the fact that data is not being collected and processed
simultaneously. In addition, the error in calculating on-line IMEP
is less than 26 kPa (i.e., 5% relative error)
Control Results
Based on the controller strategy discussed in the RCCI operation
and control section, two load switches are carried out. From the
previous experimental study [23] on the same test setup, lower PRs
were needed for lower loads where as higher PRs were required at
higher engine loads. As can be seen from Figure 14, for the lower
Figure 11. Proposed control structure to adjust RCCI engine load and combustion phasing.Subscripts include - Bk: Feedback; Fwd: Feedforward; Trgt: Target;
Cmd: Command
load region (i.e; IMEP = 450 kPa), the SOI and PR corresponds to
the R1 region of Figure 10(b). Therefore, for controlling CA50 in
that operating range SOI is varied. Similarly for the higher load
(i.e; IMEP = 700 kPa), where higher PR and advanced SOI are
needed, R2 region in Figure 10(b) is applicable; thus, PR is utilized
to control CA50. A similar approach is used for the test run 2 (Fig.
15) which is carried out at 1300 RPM. Both experimental runs
show that controller is able to maintain the optimum CA50 (Fig.
14(b) and Fig. 15(b)), especially during the load switch. For IMEP
tracking (Fig. 14(a) and Fig. 15(a)), it takes around 2-4 engine
cycles to reach the desired value. This lag is mainly due to the
transient fueling response of the low pressure PFI rail. This lag can
be removed by incorporating fuel dynamics model [11,31] within
the controller strategy, which can command the fuel injectors such
that to compensate for transient fuel dynamics.
The controller action is further highlighted in Figure 16. Note that
this is a next engine cycle controller. IMEP and CA50 shown at (n
+ 1th) engine cycle is for the nth engine cycle. Therefore, there will
always be a lag of 1 cycle during control. As can also be seen in
Figure 16(a1,a2), when a SOI switch occurs on the 211th cycle,
CA50 changes for the 212th cycle. From the controller’s aspect, as
the CA50 retards beyond 5 CAD, SOI advances so as to advance
the CA50. Similarly, as shown in Figure 16(b1,b2), as the CA50
advances, PR initially increases to retard CA50. After a few
cycles, as CA50 retards beyond 5 CAD, PR starts to reduce. This
also highlights the delay caused by the PFI fueling. PR values as
shown in the figure are commanded values and not the actual fuel
PR that enters the cylinder. When the PR changes, in this case
from 20 to 48, the actual PR will be less than the commanded
values. In such a case, a more reactive fuel will enter the cylinder,
which will eventually advance CA50 (as shown in this case). To
compensate this, the controller increases the PR command. After a
few cycles when PFI fueling stabilizes, PR command will become
equal to the actual PR and thus would make the fuel mixture less
reactive and thus retarding the CA50, which can be again seen in
the Figure 16. This highlights the importance of a fuel dynamics
model, which would be able to predict these delays and thus allow
the controller to stabilize faster.
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Figure 12. CA50 Validation. Test conditions are listed in Table 4. Details of
individual points in the figure are provided in the Appendix.
Figure 13. IMEP Validation. Test conditions are listed in Table 4. Details of
individual points in the figure are provided in the Appendix.
Figure 14. Controller test results-Run 1. Engine Speed: 1000 RPM, intake air
temperature: 60°C, intake air pressure: 95 kPA, Target CA50 : 4 CAD aTDC
Summary and Conclusion
This study centered on development of a real-time RCCI combustion
controller for transient engine load operations. An SOC identification
algorithm using values of polytropic index was developed and
validated. This was then utilized to calculate CA50 using a MFB
model. The algorithms were embedded in an FPGA for carrying out
real-time combustion phasing calculations. The experimental
validation results showed that the real-time CA50 and IMEP values
from the FPGA had average errors of 1 CAD and 15 kPa,
respectively, compared to the post-processed results. Thus real-time
FPGA values could be used for CA50 and IMEP feedback controls.
Figure 15. Controller test results-Run 2. Engine Speed: 1300 RPM, intake air
temperature: 60°C, intake air pressure: 95 kPA, Target CA50 : 5 CAD aTDC
An RCCI combustion controller was designed that consisted of two
feedback PI controllers and a feedforward controller. The controller
utilized SOI as well as PR to control CA50 based on their
experimental sensitivity towards CA50. The designed RCCI
controller was implemented and verified on a light duty 2-liter RCCI
engine. The experimental results showed that the controller was able
to maintain the target CA50 during engine load transients. The
designed controller could reach to the required IMEP within 2-4
engine cycles. Overall, the experimental results in this study
demonstrated that closed-loop combustion control combined with
feedforward engine maps can be effectively utilized to control and
maintain optimum CA50 for RCCI transient load operations.
Future Work
Despite achieving good tracking results by utilizing two PI
controllers, it is still important to incorporate physical dynamic
models into the control design, as they can replace the need for
feedforward maps and also improve the controller’s disturbance
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rejection performance. In addition, as seen from the IMEP response
during transients, the PFI dynamics can not be compensated by using
a PI controller. Thus future work includes developing model-based
RCCI controllers [32,33] and design of a PFI transient fuel
compensator. In addition, engine-out emissions, combustion noise,
combustion stability, and safety can be directly incorporated as
constraints in the design of optimal RCCI combustion controller.
Figure 16. Zoomed-in view of the controller action during Run-2 SOI switch
(a1,a2) and PR switch (b1,b2) in Figure 15.
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Acknowledgments
This work was partially supported by the United States National
Science Foundation under Grant No. 1434273. The authors gratefully
acknowledge Naga Nithin Teja Kondipati, Dr. Hamit Solmaz, Paul
Dice, Kauhsik Kannan and students of Energy Mechatronics
Laboratory at Michigan Technological University for their assistance
in preparing the engine setup and experimentation. In addition, the
authors thank Xilinx® Inc. for providing XSG software license to
program and embed the combustion feedback system onto the FPGA.
Nomenclature
Symbols
- Gross chemical heat release rate ( )
λ - Air Fuel Ratio (-)

24. Kondipati N.. “Experimental study, modelling and controller Cp - Constant pressure specific heat ( )
design for an RCCI engine”. Master’s thesis, Michigan Cv - Constant volume specific heat ( )
Technological University, 2016. CA50 - Crank angle of 50% heat release (CADaTDC)
25. Kannan K.. “An experimental investigation of low temperature eoc - End of combustion (CADaTDC)
combustion engines in a light duty engine”. Master’s thesis,
FQ - Total Fuel Quantity ( )
Michigan Technological University, 2016.
θ - Instantaneous crank angle (CAD)
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Release Analysis of Engine Pressure Data," SAE Technical LHVIso-oct - Lower heating value of Iso-octane ( )
Paper 841359, 1984, doi:10.4271/841359. LHVnHep - Lower heating value of n-Heptane ( )
27. Bengtsson J., Strandh P., Johansson R., Tunestål P., mIso-oct - Mass of Iso-octane (mg)
and Johansson B.. “Closed-loop combustion control of mnHep - Mass of n-Heptane (mg)
homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engine
xb - Fuel mas fraction burnt (-)
dynamics”. International Journal of Adaptive Control and
Signal Processing, 18(2):167-179, 2004. Qnet - Net heat release (J)

28. Heywood J.B.. “Internal combustion engine fundamentals”. n - Polytropic index (-)
chpt:9, Mcgraw-hill New York, 1988. P - Pressure (kPa)
29. Rassweiler, G. and Withrow, L., "Motion Pictures of Engine γ - Ratio of specific heats (-)
Flames Correlated with Pressure Cards," SAE Technical Paper soc - Start of combustion (CADaTDC)
380139, 1938, doi:10.4271/380139.
V - Volume (m3)
30. Telborn K.. “A real-time platform for closed-loop control and
crank angle based measurement”. Master’s thesis, Linköping Abbreviations
University, 2002.
AHRR - Apparent Heat Release Rate
31. Shahbakhti, M. and Koch, C., "Dynamic Modeling of HCCI
aTDC - After Top Dead Center
Combustion Timing in Transient Fueling Operation," SAE Int. J.
Engines 2(1):1098-1113, 2009, doi:10.4271/2009-01-1136. BDC - Bottom Dead Center

32. Khodadadi S.K. and Shahbakhti M.. “Dynamic Modeling and bTDC - Before Top Dead Center
Controller Design of Combustion Phasing of an RCCI Engine”. CA50 - Crank Angle for 50% cumulative heat release
2016 ASME Dynamic Systems Control Conference, 10 pages, CAD - Crank Angle Degree
Oct. 12-14, 2016, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
CI - Compression Ignition
33. Khodadadi S.K., Shahbakhti M., Bharath A.N., and Reitz R.D..
CR - Compression Ratio
“Modeling of Combustion Phasing of a Reactivity-Controlled
Compression Ignition Engine for Control Applications”. Int. J. COV - Coefficient of Variation
of Engine Research, Vol. 17, Issue 4, Pages 421-435, 2016. DAQ - Data Acquisition
DI - Direct Injection
Contact Information ECU - Electronic Control Unit
Jayant Kumar Arora EGR - Exhaust Gas Recirculation
jkarora@mtu.edu EOC - End of Combustion
FPGA - Field Programmable Gate Array
Dr. Mahdi Shahbakhti
mahdish@mtu.edu FQ - Fuel Quantity
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GDI - Gasoline Direct Injection PCCI - Premixed Charge Compression Ignition

HCCI - Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition PP - Peak Pressure
HIL - Hardware in the Loop LPP - Location of Peak Pressure
HR - Heat Release PFI - Port Fuel Injection
HRR - Heat Release Rate PID - Proportional Integral Derivative
HTHR - High Temperature Heat Release PPCI - Partially Premixed Charge Compression Ignition PR
IMEP - Indicated Mean Effective Pressure Premixed Ratio

I/O - Input/Output PRR - Pressure Rise Rate

IVC - Intake Valve Closing RCCI - Reactivity Controlled Compression Ignition

LQG - Linear Quadratic Gaussian SI - Spark Ignition

LTC - Low Temperature Combustion SOC - Start of Combustion

LTHR - Low Temperature Heat Release SOI - Start of Injection

MAP - Manifold Absolute Pressure TDC - Top Dead Center

MFB - Mass Fraction Burn XSG - Xilinx Simulink Generator

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APPENDIX

I: MODEL EMBEDDED ON FPGA

The schematic of the designed FPGA software for calculating real-time combustion phasing metrics (SOC, CA50, EOC, Location of Peak Pressure
(LPP)), Peak Pressure (PP), and engine load (IMEP) is illustrated in Figure 17.

Figure 17. Designed FPGA software layer structure for real-time feedback control of RCCI combustion

II: TEST CONDITIONS

Table 5. Engine test conditions for Fig-8

Table 6. Engine test conditions for Fig-10 (a)

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Table 7. Engine test conditions for Fig-10 (b)

Table 8. Engine test conditions for Fig-12 & 13

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http://papers.sae.org/2017-01-0767