Systems and methods for controlling cylinder combustion in a dual fuel engine using in-cylinder pressure sensing

Abstract

A dual fuel, internal combustion engine system is described herein. The system uses in-cylinder pressure detectors to determine the combustion quality in a particular cylinder. The fuel controller commences a remediation process when a detected pressure indicates or is calculated indicating that an out-of-range pressure-based combustion characteristic is present. A remediation process may be to change the timing of the fuel injectors. The fuel controller can increase or decrease the time a fuel injector for a primary fuel or a pilot fuel is open, making adjustments until the out-of-range pressure-based combustion characteristic is cleared. In another example, the fuel controller can modify the amount of pilot fuel produced and/or the ratio of the pilot fuel to methanol/water in the reactor product can be modified to attempt to clear the out-of-range pressure-based combustion characteristic.