Title: Natural gas engine model for speed and air-fuel control

Authors: Yi Han; Peter Young

Addresses: Engine System Technology Group, Woodward, Inc., Windsor, Co, 80550, USA ' Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA

Abstract: With the low price of natural gas, and its low emissions, significant market growth for natural gas engines is likely in various applications. There are multiple challenges in controlling a natural gas engine, especially a pre-mixed lean burn natural gas engine. In particular, the system dynamics includes long fuel and air transport delays. In terms of natural gas engine control, our main focus is on engine speed control, engine output torque control, air/fuel ratio and emission regulation. In order to facilitate control study and development, we develop a control-oriented turbocharged pre-mixed lean burn natural gas engine mean value model (MVM). This model is designated for natural gas engine controller design, control algorithm development, and first step validation. The model is implemented in the MATLAB^® Simulink^® environment. The model is validated with a 10L natural gas engine for power generation applications.

Keywords: modelling; control systems; natural gas; internal combustion engines; air-fuel ratio control; emission reduction; speed control; torque management; transient study.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMIC.2020.116193

International Journal of Modelling, Identification and Control, 2020 Vol.36 No.2, pp.104 - 115

Received: 28 Nov 2019
Accepted: 22 Jun 2020
Published online: 13 Jul 2021 *

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