Open-loop combustion timing control of a Spark-Ignited engine

In this paper, we propose a control strategy to improve the combustion efficiency of spark-ignited engines. More precisely, we adapt the spark ignition time according to variations of thermodynamic conditions of the combustion chamber during transients. Sensitivity of a simple proposed combustion model (ordinary differential equations governing the flame propagation phenomenon) is used to compute an open-loop control law. An end-point matching condition is formulated to guarantee that the middle of combustion occurs at an optimal time. Simulation results stress the relevance of the approach.