The successful utilization of a diesel particulate filter (DPF) to reduce particulate matter (PM) in a passenger car diesel engine necessitates a periodic regeneration of the DPF catalyst without deterioration of the drivability and emission control performance. For successful active DPF regeneration, the exhaust gas temperature should be over 500 °C to oxidize the soot loaded in the DPF. Previous research increased the exhaust gas temperature by applying early and late post fuel injection with a look-up table (LUT) based feedforward control implemented into the engine management system (EMS). However, this method requires enormous calibration work to find the optimal timing and quantity of the main, early, and late post fuel injection with less certainty of accurate torque control. To address this issue, we propose a cylinder pressure based multiple fuel injection (MFI) control method for active DPF regeneration. The feedback control of the indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP), lambda, and DPF upstream temperature was applied to precisely control the injection quantity of the main, early, and late post fuel injection. To determine their fuel injection timings, a mass fraction burned 60% after location of the rate of heat release maximum (MFB60aLoROHRmax) was proposed based on the cylinder pressure information. The proposed control method was implemented in an in-house EMS and validated at several engine operating conditions. During the regeneration period, the exhaust gas temperature tracked the desired temperature, and the engine torque fluctuation was minimized with minimal PM and NOx emissions.
Nanostructure changes in diesel soot during NO2–O2 oxidation under diesel particulate filter-like conditions toward filter regeneration
