• International Journal of Automotive Technology
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.697-704
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• 2007

Recently, a variable valve timing system has been widely adopted in internal combustion engine in order to improve the fuel economy and torque at low engine speed. In addition, it is known that varying valve timing according to the various engine operations could reduce exhaust gas, especially NOx, because of residual gas by valve overlap. In this study, to improve the low exhaust gas and fuel economy at part load condition, the residual gas and back flow of exhaust gas due to valve overlap were calculated computationally. Moreover, the characteristics of engine performances and NOx formations were investigated with the experiment of combination of intake and exhaust valve timing condition. Under these various valve operating conditions, the effects of both the positive valve overlap and negative valve overlap(valve underlap) were examined simultaneously. Finally, the characteristics of cyclic THC emission were analyzed by using Fast Response FID(FR-FID) in the cylinder, intake port and exhaust port positions. Besides, the effect of the different gradients of the valve timing change on engine performance was investigated and an optimum control strategy was suggested.

• International Journal of Automotive Technology
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.555-562
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• 2007

The Variable Valve Timing(VVT) system for high performance is a key technology used in newly developed engines. The system realizes higher torque, better fuel economy, and lower emissions by allowing an additional degree of freedom in valve timing during engine operation. In this study, a model-based control method is proposed to enable a fast and precise VVT control system that is robust with respect to manufacturing tolerances and aging. The VVT system is modeled by a third-order nonlinear state equation intended to account for nonlinearities of the system. Based on the model, a controller is designed for position control of the VVT system. The sliding mode theory is applied to controller design to overcome model uncertainties and unknown disturbances. The experimental results suggest that the proposed sliding mode controller is capable of improving tracking performance. In addition, the sliding mode controller is robust to battery voltage disturbance.