Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) systems have been introduced to large marine engines in order to reduce NOx formation. Adequate modeling for control design is one of the bottlenecks to design EGR control that also meets emission requirements during transient loading conditions. This paper therefore focuses on deriving and validating a mean-value model of a large two-stroke crosshead diesel engine with EGR. The model introduces a number of amendments and extensions to previous, complex models and shows in theory and practice that a simplified nonlinear model captures all essential dynamics that is needed for EGR control. Our approach is to isolate and reduce the gas composition part of the more complex models using nonlinear model reduction techniques. The result is a control-oriented model (COM) of the oxygen fraction in the scavenge manifold with three molar flows being inputs to the COM, and it is shown how these flows are estimated from signals that are commonly available. The COM is validated by first comparing the output to a simulation of the full model, then by comparing with measurement series from two engines. The control-oriented nonlinear model is shown to be able to replicate the behavior of the scavenge oxygen fraction well over the entire envelope of load and blower speed range that are relevant for EGR. The simplicity of the new model makes it suitable for observer and control design, which are essential steps to meet the emission requirements for marine diesel engines that take effect from 2016.

Taking offspring in a problem of ship emission reduction by exhaust gas recirculation control for large diesel engines, an underlying generic estimation challenge is formulated as a problem of joint state and parameter estimation for a class of multiple-input single-output Hammerstein systems with first order dynamics, sensor delay and a bounded time-varying parameter in the nonlinear part. The paper suggests a novel scheme for this estimation problem that guarantees exponential convergence to an interval that depends on the sensitivity of the system. The system is allowed to be nonlinear parameterized and time dependent, which are characteristics of the industrial problem we study. The approach requires the input nonlinearity to be a sector nonlinearity in the time-varying parameter. Salient features of the approach include simplicity of design and implementation. The efficacy of the adaptive observer is shown on simulated cases, on tests with a large diesel engine on test bed and on tests with a container vessel.Index Terms-Nonlinear control systems, joint state and parameter observer, sensor delay.

A nonlinear adaptive controller is proposed for the exhaust gas recirculation system on large two-stroke diesel engines. The control design is based on a control oriented model of the nonlinear dynamics at hand that incorporates fuel flow and turbocharger speed changes as known disturbances to the exhaust gas recirculation. The paper provides proof of exponential stability for closed loop control of the model given. Difficulties in the system include that certain disturbance levels will make a desired setpoint in O 2 unreachable, for reasons of the physics of the system, and it is proven that the proposed control will make the system converge exponentially to the best achievable state. Simulation examples confirm convergence and good disturbance rejection over relevant operational ranges of the engine.

Document Version Peer reviewed versionLink back to DTU Orbit Citation (APA): Nielsen, K. V., Blanke, M., Eriksson, L., & Vejlgaard-Laursen, M. (2017). Adaptive feedforward control of exhaust recirculation in large diesel engines. Control Engineering Practice, 65, 26-35. AbstractEnvironmental concern has led the International Maritime Organization to restrict NO x emissions from marine diesel engines. Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) systems have been introduced in order to comply to the new standards. Traditional fixed-gain feedback methods are not able to control the EGR system adequately in engine loading transients so alternative methods are needed. This paper presents the design, convergence proofs and experimental validation of an adaptive feedforward controller that significantly improves the performance in loading transients. First the control concept is generalized to a class of first order Hammerstein systems with sensor delay and exponentially converging bounds of the control error are proven analytically. It is then shown how to apply the method to the EGR system of a two-stroke crosshead diesel engine. The controller is validated by closed loop simulation with a mean-value engine model, on an engine test bed and on a vessel operating at sea. A significant reduction of smoke formation during loading transients is observed both visually and with an opacity sensor.

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