Spark ignition engine torque management

Presented in this paper is a robust feedback controller design procedure to regulate the torque of a spark ignition engine equipped with an electronic throttle mass air flow controller. To this end, a system level model of engine torque production is experimentally determined. Next, a crank-angle domain H_∞ controller is designed to control the engine torque with zero steady state errors while addressing the nonlinear system characteristics and pure delay. The controller design methodology applied to the torque control problem is presented and an interpretation of the controller provided. The engine dynamometer data acquired from a Ford 4.6L V8 engine demonstrates the H_∞ controller successfully rejects the noise and disturbances while meeting transient and steady state performance objectives.