Control of diesel engines

This article is intended to give control engineers an overview of models and controls of diesel engines. The main emphasis is on the engine's torque generation, including all necessary ancillary devices (turbocharger, injection-system, etc.), pollutant emission and model-based controls. The paper gives a brief introduction of the basic working principles and the salient features of diesel engines and their main differences to Otto (gasoline or spark-ignited) engines are shown. The most important control tasks are then identified and their implications on engine performance are analyzed. An overview of the current state-of-the-art in industrial diesel control applications is given. It also discusses models for the simulation of transient macroscopic effects, and how these models can be simplified to be useful for controller synthesis. Finally. an outlook on possible future control issues and their role in diesel engine evolution is presented.