Cross-reference to related applications

This patent application claims priority from italian patent application no. 102018000004003 filed on 27/03/2018, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference .

Technical field of the invention

The invention relates to the field of control methods to control the operating point of internal combustion engines. State of the art

It is known that the accelerator pedal allows the driver to cause a variation in the rotation speed of the internal combustion engine.

This evidently is the consequence of a variation in a torque delivered by the internal combustion engine.

Therefore, the accelerator pedal can relate to the operating engine point, namely engine speed/torque, of the internal combustion engine representing, with a relative inclination, a requested torque value or an objective speed of the engine.

The engine speed and the torque are evidently correlated with one another, but, nevertheless, a speed control implies very quick reactions of the internal combustion engine .

The speed control of the internal combustion engine is particularly delicate because of the intrinsic response delay of the engine due to different factors, among which there is the capacitive effect of the intake manifold, which has a slow dynamic.

During a gear shift or a manoeuvre or in case of a sudden insertion of a load, such as a pump or a vehicle compressor, or a sudden change in the slope of the road, the speed control must deliver a response with utmost quickness and precision.

A speed control scheme is based on the fact of calculating a speed error relative to a reference value and of consequently calculating the necessary control variable (the torque) of the controlled system, so as to change the response of the internal combustion engine, in order to reduce or eliminate said error. This evidently is a feedback control.

The typical controller used by the prior art in order to control the speed of the engine is a PI (proportional, integral) controller. In other words, the error between a reference value and the measured or estimated value of the output of the system is corrected through a proportional controller and an integral controller, which, based on said error, generate respective control signals. The sum of the respective outputs, i.e. of the respective generated control signals, is applied to the input of the system so as to cause the output of the system to converge towards the reference value, which, in this specific case, is an engine speed reference.

Using a derivative contribution, thus creating a complete PID, would be extremely advantageous, since the derivative contribution allows for a more immediate response to quick variations of the load and, in general, to external interferences .

A complete PID controller requires the outputs of the P, I and D controllers to be added and the result is applied to the input of the system to be controlled.

The derivative term is an advancing control component, which typically introduces high-frequency dynamics in the system, thus making the controller unstable.

For this reason, the derivative contribution is not usually adopted .

According to a first control scheme, which is aimed at limiting over- and underelongations (under/overshoots) of the system, which are typically due to the integral term, technically known as "anti-windup", the response of the integral contribution is saturated.

According to a second control scheme, which is aimed at limiting over- and underelongations, the integral term can be set to zero (reset) as a function of the sign change of the error, with the result that the internal combustion engine assumes an edgy and unpredictable behaviour.

Summary of the invention

The object of the invention is to provide a control method to control an internal combustion engine, which allows for the implementation of a quick speed control, but, at the same time, is stable and fluid.

The idea on which the invention is based in that of providing a feedback control by means of a PI controller, wherein the derivative contribution is not added to the other contributions, but intervenes in order to change an operating parameter of the integral controller.

In particular, the integral controller comprises a saturator, which saturates the control signal towards the internal combustion engine based on a speed error and based on the derivative of the speed of the internal combustion engine .

With regard to the correlation between the integral controller and the derivative controller, we can say that the first one is a function of the second one, besides being a function of the speed error.

The derivative contribution responds much more quickly than the proportional and integral contributions, but its contribution is used to intervene upon the integrative contribution, minimizing the over- and underelongations of the response of the internal combustion engine, without jeopardizing the stability thereof.

The claims describe preferred embodiments of the invention, thus forming an integral part of the description.

Brief description of the figures

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be best understood upon perusal of the following detailed description of an embodiment thereof (and of relative variants) with reference to the accompanying drawings merely showing non-limiting examples, wherein:

figure 1 shows an example of control diagram based on the invention;

figure 2 shows, in detail, a block of the control diagram of figure 1.

In the figures, the same numbers and the same reference letters indicate the same elements or components.

For the purposes of the invention, the term "second" component does not imply the presence of a "first" component. As a matter of fact, these terms are only used for greater clarity and should not be interpreted in a limiting manner.

Detailed description of embodiments

Figure 1 shows an example of control with a block diagram. The control is carried out in a recursive manner with a discrete time, according to the operating frequency of the processing unit controlling the internal combustion engine. The internal combustion engine is represented, in figure 1, with the block called "Engine".

A revolution sensor, for example a phonic wheel applied to the drive shaft, allows the speed "Speed" of the internal combustion engine to be measured.

Furthermore, the accelerator pedal or any other vehicle device used to set a reference speed, such as for example a robotic transmission or a power takeoff, generates the reference signal Ref in terms of objective speed of the engine .

The measured speed Speed is subtracted from the objective speed Reg, thus generating an error Err by means of the first adder node SI on the left in figure 1.

The same error value is brought to the input of blocks P, I, thus creating a PI control.

The outputs of the controllers P and I converge in the adder node S2 on the right in figure 1 so as to directly control the input of the internal combustion engine Engine. The controllers generally receive, at the input, speed signals and generate control signals concerning the percentage of torque to be delivered by the engine, relative to the nominal torque.

The controller D receives, as an input, the measured speed Speed and the relative output, namely the derivative ASpeed of the measured speed, is brought the to input of the block representing the integral control I .

According to the invention, the derivative controller D helps control a saturator Sat_l with reference to figure 2, which limits the contribution of the integral controller. Therefore, the integrative contribution is saturated according to a function F(Err, ASpeed) of the speed error Err and of the speed derivative.

According to figure 2, the saturation block Sat_l is included in the integrative loop.

An integral controller I (with discrete time) , according to a preferred variant of the invention, can be represented as a memory "Memory" containing a value Int-1 generated by the integral controller I itself at the preceding step (hence, "Int-1" indicates that it is generated at step "-1") , to which, in a iterative manner, by means of the adder node S3, the current value of the speed error Err is added, which is properly multiplied by the integrative coefficient KI, by means of the multiplier node Ml. The result of the addition carried out by the adder node S3 represents the output of the integrative controller I, i.e. the aforesaid control signal, and, at the same time, the input Int-0 of the memory Memory (i.e. at the current step "0"), which stores it for the following integration step.

The saturator Sat_l, according to the invention, is arranged between the adder node S3 and the input of the memory Memory, which represents the output of the integrative controller, so that the limitation is operated not only on the output of the integrative controller, but also on the input of the "Memory" contained in it.

FR2858660 shows the weighing of the input of the integrative block, but it does not show any interaction between the variable speed error and derivative of the speed in the operation of the block itself.. It is no coincidence that, according to figure 1 of the invention, the integral block I has two inputs, whereas the integral block of FR2858660 has one single input, as the input variable is manipulated on the outside of the integral block itself. The result evidently is different.

According to a preferred variant of the invention, the saturator Sat_l carries out a symmetrical saturation relative to zero and the module of the saturation is given by the following formula:

| Saturation | = |K * RadQ { [ exp ( - | Err | / A) ] * [ exp (

I ASpeed | / B ) ] } | Wherein :

- RadQ represents the square root operator

- Exp represents the exponential operator

- | Err | represents the module of the speed error Err

described above

- |ASpeed| represents the module of the engine speed

derivative ASpeed

- K, A and B represent constant values.

The derivative of the engine speed can be expressed by means of Newton's equation:

ASpeed = Cost * [ (Torque delivered by the engine) -

(Resisting torque due to external loads)]

Wherein Cost usually is the reciprocal of the moment of inertia J of the internal combustion engine.

Said external loads include, for example, the slope of the road covered by the vehicle driven by the internal combustion engine or the resisting torque offered by an electric generator, a compressor, a pump.

The block CALC, based on the inputs

- Speed error Err

- Speed derivative ASpeed,

Applied the aforesaid formula, calculating the module of the saturation | Saturation | .

The block CALC has two outputs, each addressed to the two inputs: high and low of the saturator Sat 1. A positive or negative saturation is applied only when the signs of Err and ASpeed are concordant, positive or negative, otherwise + /- 100% of the signal generated by the adder node S3 passes.

A second saturator Sat_2 is preferably arranged between the multiplier node Ml and the adder node S3, so as to limit the control signal to +100% and -100% of the so-called "authority of the actuator". The reasons for the implementation of the second saturator Sat_2 are known to a person skilled in the art and substantially have the aim of avoiding having to uselessly request a performance to the actuator (Engine) exceeding the relative nominal features. In this case, the actuator is the internal combustion engine Engine, which cannot deliver more than the relative nominal torque in the relative speed/nominal torque map. According to a preferred variant of the invention, the aforesaid formula is implemented in the block CALC by means of a look up table, with the advantage of a greater flexibility, as it allows the coefficients of the table itself to be changed, introducing differences of the aforesaid formula from the output, which better suit the specific internal combustion engine. Furthermore, the look up table allows for a reduction of the computing burden. Hereinafter there is an example of a look up table having, as inputs, |ASpeed| and | Err | .

The values shown in the matrix, for example 5 x 5, shown in the previous table are the ones deemed to be ideal for an implementation of the invention. Nevertheless, they can be properly changed.

These values are positive when Err and ASpeed both have a positive sign, otherwise when Err and ASpeed both have a negative sign, each one of the values shown in the table is multiplied by "-1".

In other words, the saturator Sat_l is symmetrical relative to zero and, when the signs are positive, this indicates that the high (positive) portion of the saturator is being manipulated (upper limitation) , vice versa, when the signs are negative, this indicates that the low (negative) portion of the saturator is being limited (lower limitation) . This method can advantageously be implemented by means of an engine control unit ECU of the internal combustion engine, which processes the information concerning the engine speed and the pressing of the accelerator pedal or requests for revolutions made by other devices and consequently controls the internal combustion engine according to what described above.

This invention can be advantageously implemented by means of a computer program comprising coding means for carrying out one or more steps of the method, when the program is run on a computer. Therefore, the scope of protection is extended to said computer program and, furthermore, to means that can be read by a computer and comprise a recorded message, said means that can be read by a computer comprising program coding means for carrying out one or more steps of the method, when the program is run on a computer.

The non-limiting example described above can be subjected to variations, without for this reason going beyond the scope of protection of the invention, comprising all equivalent embodiments for a person skilled in the art.

When reading the description above, a skilled person can carry out the subject-matter of the invention without introducing further manufacturing details. The elements and features contained in the different preferred embodiments, drawings included, can be combined with one another, without for this reason going beyond the scope of protection of this patent application. The information contained in the part concerning the state of art only serves the purpose of better understanding the invention and does not represent a declaration of existence of the items described. Furthermore, if not specifically excluded by the detailed description, the information contained in the part concerning the state of art should be considered as an integral part of the invention.