Nonlinear feedforward controller design of gasoline engine air-path system for reducing engine torque overshoot

In gasoline engines, the amount of fresh air in the cylinder becomes temporarily excessive owing to the slow response in exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) gas under a high EGR ratio. This phenomenon should be avoided, as it causes an engine torque overshoot because the amount of fuel also increases to follow the stoichiometric ratio, and can cause discomfort to the driver. In this study, we investigate reducing torque overshoot using a feedforward controller, which is a simple and effective method for improving the response of a control system. The feedforward controller is typically designed based on the inverse of the plant model. However, designing a feedforward controller for a high-order and nonlinear plant, such as an engine air-path system, can be challenging. Therefore, we exploit the fact that if a given nonlinear system satisfies the flatness property, a feedforward controller based on the inverse model can be easily obtained. The effectiveness of the proposed feedforward controller is evaluated through simulations.