Individual cylinder characteristic estimation for a spark injection engine (Q1398390)

Engine control policies are mostly based on the assumption that all injectors have the same behaviour independent of location and aging. In practice, injectors do vary and age. To determine variations around a nominal value, tight tolerances are imposed at the manufacturing process. Even if that process is tightly controlled, an air-to-fuel (A/F) ratio needed to satisfy emission constraints is difficult to achieve due to aging and even slight mismatch among different injectors. To devise control policies that take into account behaviour differences among injectors, it is necessary to estimate injector characteristics from measurements that are taken on the engine during its lifetime. In this paper, an estimation technique for injector characteristics is presented which is based on a set of measurements that can be carried out making use of the sensors present in the car, i.e., intake manifold pressure, crank-shaft speed, throttle-valve plate angle, injection timings and exhaust A/F ratio, which is measured by a single exhaust-gas-oxygen (UEGO) sensor placed at the exhaust pipe output.