Engine control design using globally linearizing control and sliding mode

In this paper the control design methods for spark ignition engine models are discussed. Both single-input single-output (SISO) and multi-input multi-output (MIMO) systems are investigated for the design of an engine control system. A comprehensive comparative study for two classes of non-linear control methods, i.e. globally linearizing control (GLC) and sliding mode control, is given. The simulations results are presented to illustrate the capability and performance of the two kinds of controllers. The results show that the controller applying GLC can give accurate tracking for the engine model without uncertainty and disturbance; however, it fails to keep good tracking performance when uncertainty is considered. In contrast, the controller using the sliding mode is able to achieve the target, which shows that the engine system with the proposed sliding mode controller has good robustness to uncertainty and disturbance. © 2010, The Institute of Measurement and Control. All rights reserved.