Active Damping of Engine Speed Oscillations based on Learning Control

A.T. Zaremba, I.V. Burkov , R.M. Stuntz

Automated Analysis Corporation, 2805 South Industrial, Suite 100

Ann Arbor, MI 48104-6767, U.S.A., email: azaremba@ford.com
St.Petersburg Technical University, 9-3-67 Hlopina str.,
St.Petersburg 194021, Russia, email: burkov@osipenk0.stu.neva.ru
Ford Motor Company, P.O.Box 2053, MD 1170-SRL
Dearborn, MI 48121-2053, U.S.A., email: rstuntz@ford.com

Abstract

In this paper, we present a learning control scheme for

active damping of engine crankshaft oscillations using a supplemental torque source. The scheme comprises a linear
feedback controller and a learning feedforward term which
predicts the engine crankshaft torque. The proposed scheme
is computationally efcient and it does not use an acceleration signal in the learning procedure.

1. Introduction

The using of the supplemental torque source (STS) for

control improvement of the engine idle speed and reducing
of crankshaft speed pulsations have been investigated actively in recent years [1][5].
In [1] the auxiliary control loop providing the external
supplemental torque via an automobile reversible alternator
is used to prevent engine stalling and improve its perforFull-text (PDF)
mance during idling. The idea of an active ywheel is emAvailable from:
Ilya Burkov,
02, 2014
ployed
in [3]Jun
based
on the reversible alternator for reducing
of engine speed oscillations and improving engine idle. A
repetitive learning control is used in [4] to reduce engine vibrations at idle based on the estimations of the angular velocity and angular acceleration. The PI control of the STS is analyzed in [5] for active idle speed regulation and damping of
crankshaft speed oscillations. In paper [6] an original learning scheme based on analysis of the steady-state oscillations
is proposed for iterative identication of state-dependent disturbance torque for high precision electric motors.
In this paper, we utilize a learning control strategy for
active damping of engine crankshaft oscillations using the
STS. The periodicity of engine processes with respect to the
crank angle results in a periodic engine output torque and
crankshaft speed oscillations [7]. This naturally motivates us
to use the learning control strategy when control is adjusted
with each crankshaft rotation utilizing information obtained
from the previous rotation. We consider an asynchronous induction machine (IM) placed on the engine crankshaft as the
source of the control torque. This machine combines alternation function with active ywheel operation which results
in better driveline noise, vibration and harshness (NVH), im-

proved idle and better fuel economy.

There have been a lot of research e orts in developing
learning control of robotic manipulators [8][12]. For a more
detailed survey of the literature on this topic the reader is
referred to [13]. The effects of state disturbances, output
noise, and errors in initial conditions on a class of learning
control algorithms are investigated in [14].
The learning control design is based on the periodicity of the external disturbance torque acting on the system.
The learning feedforward torque is estimated using estimated
learning term from the previous cycle and the speed error
term from the current iteration. In discrete time implementation the second term of the learning procedure has derivativelike action. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed learning control and its robustness with
respect to speed nonzero initial conditions and variations of
the system parameters and external disturbances.
The paper is organized as follows. In Section 2 we
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Full-text statement.
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discuss the dynamic model and control
problem
Main results on the learning control synthesis are given in
Section 3 with system simulation results being presented in
Section 4.
Earlier relevant results obtained by authors on the
adaptive and optimal control of dynamic systems are given
in [15, 16].

2. System dynamic model and control problem

formulation
We consider the dynamic model of the engine rotating
crankshaft under the action of the engine torque
and the
external torque from the supplemental torque source (STS)
device

where
are crankshaft position and speed, respectively;
is the lumped inertia of the ywheel and the alternator rotor
and
is the effective damping coefcient.
The engine torque
is the source of crankshaft
speed pulsations and has complex nonlinear dynamics. Con-

Page 1

sidering the engine processes at steady state the engine

torque can be characterized as a cyclic function in the
crankshaft angle domain. Utilizing the hypothesize that all
engine processes are band-limited the cyclic function
can be expressed in terms of a truncated Fourier series expansion [7]

The equation (5) denes crankshaft speed pulsations

around the idle speed at each crankshaft rotation under periodic disturbance
with a zero average over the period
of rotation.
The controller design problem is as follows: for dynamic
system (5) nd a control law
such that the crankshaft
speed tracks the desired idle speed

where is the number of harmonics, and is a number

of engine ring per revolution ( =2 for a four-stroke cycle
engine).
The control torque is generated by the induction machine which has also complex nonlinear dynamics. The principles of IM control are well understood and the reader is
referred to [17] for details on direct and indirect eld orientation control schemes based on rotor position measurements. In recent years, there are also a lot of research on
advanced control schemes for IM without rotational transducers [18, 19, 20] which have potential to achieve high dynamic performance preserving low cost, high endurance, and
ease of maintenance. At this stage we neglect detailed dynamics of the electric drive and make an assumption that it
can provide the control torque with required amplitude and
bandwidth.
We perform transformation of system equations (1) to
the crank angle domain

where
and is the rotation number.
The controller we design comprises a linear feedback
controller
and a learning feedforward term

Here
where
is a positive feedback gain.
The learning feedforward term predicts ac components
of the engine torque and it is computed at each crankshaft
rotation according to the learning rule. It is selected to be a
periodic function of the crankshaft angle

Substituting (7),(8) into (5) yields

The model (3) is a natural choice for controller development
as the engine torque is a function of the crank angle and the
speed signal is sampled at discrete crank angle intervals as
well.
For dynamic system (3) we consider the problem of active damping of crankshaft oscillations around desired idle
speed where ac components of torque pulsations are dominant.
Linearizing the system (3) around the idle speed , we
obtain the following equation

where
is the crankshaft speed pulsation.
At idle the engine controller regulates the engine torque
in such a way that the average (or dc) component
of
the engine torque compensates for the steady-state load and
damping, and (4) can be rewritten

where
is time-varying (or ac) components
of the engine torque. Henceforth we omit the tilde and consider
as having only ac components.

where
and notation
is used to dene the kinetic momentum of the system at the idle speed.
Let
to be a set of all functions which are -periodic
(
) and n times continuously differentiable. For the functions
we dene the norm
and inner product, respectively, as

Next, we show that dynamic system (10) under periodic disturbance

and control (7)-(9) has steady-state periodic
solution
.
Theorem 1 For any positive gain
and each
a) the system (10) has a periodic solution
;
b) any solution
of (10) exponentially approaches
trajectory as
where is the rotation number.
The proof is given in Appendix A.

Page 2

3. Learning Controller Design

The learning control scheme for system (10) can be

represented in block diagram form in Figure 1 where
is the feedback controller (9), is the learning controller,
is the plant model,
are actual
and desired crankshaft speed signals, and
are the ac components of the engine torque. The learning operator compares actual and desired speed signals and updates the learning term
calculated on the
crankshaft rotation to
.
For a properly designed learning scheme, the learning
term converges to the engine torque
and ideally the gradient type learning rule can be applied

where is a training factor.

The learning process (12) converges for
and
for
it converges after one iteration.
Although we do not know the external disturbance
and cannot use (12) as a learning rule, the scheme (12) can
help us to design another learning procedure. At the beginning of the process the feedback term plays a major role in
speed oscillation damping. Replacing brackets in (12) with
feedback control yields the following learning scheme

where
is a steady-state oscillating solution of the system (7),(10) with a learning term . At initial cycle we
selected the learning term
as equal to zero

The learning scheme (13) is computationally simple and is

based only on the knowledge of the steady-state speed error for each learning feedforward term . For a proper selected feedback gain it takes few rotations for the solution
of (10) to reach steady-state oscillations under a periodic disturbance
.
The control procedure can be summarized in the form of
the following algorithm:
a) Select function
as in (14) and measure a steadystate system oscillation )
over one cycle;
b) Measure and store a term
over one cycle;
c) Calculate
according to (13), increase by one
and return to step .
The main properties of the learning scheme (13) can be
formulated in the form of the following theorem:
Theorem 2 Consider motion of the system (10) with a nonlinear periodic disturbance
under the control (7),(8)
and learning rule (13). If the training factor is selected
such that
then
a) control objective (6) is achieved;

b) the sequence
and furthermore

where

is monotonically decreasing as

is any ideal low pass lter.

The proof is given in Appendix B and is based on ideas

of Theorem 2 in [6].

4. Simulation results

We apply the learning control scheme designed in Section 3 to crankshaft speed oscillation damping at engine idle.
The following values of system parameters are used

The engine torque is approximated (solid line in Figure

3 ) using three harmonics with amplitudes

where the engine torque dc component is selected to balance system damping at idle
.
The system simulation was performed in the Matlab/Simulink environment with learning control block being
incorporated as a language S-Function.
The simulation model includes a discrete position sensor with =75 counts per revolution, an engine torque generator, a speed feedback controller with dynamic compensation. The learning control block represents a discrete model
of dimension with each element of the state vector representing learning control for the xed position of the engine
crankshaft.
Crankshaft speed oscillations for pure feedback control
with feedback gain
and for learning control with
training factor
are given in Figure 2. The speed
oscillations amplitude stays constant in the range -1.4/+.7
for speed feedback control while with learning control it approaches zero after 4 rotations. The multiple harmonics in the engine torque result in more complex behavior
of speed pulsations in the case of learning control. We used
assumption that crankshaft speed is around idle speed which
gives initial condition for simulation
.
Engine torque (17) (solid line) and learning feedforward
torque (dashed line) are given in Figure 3. The learning term
converges to the engine torque ac components after 4 rotations. The rst rotation is used to examine the system dynamic behavior.
To investigate robustness of learning control strategy
with respect to system parameter variations we performed
simulation experiments with 50 less system inertia and
damping. The ywheel inertia is a critical parameter for
speed pulsation reduction in passive ywheel systems. Simulations showed that that learning strategy copes well with
inertia and damping reduction.

Page 3

5. Conclusions

We present a learning control scheme for engine

crankshaft speed oscillations damping at idle which uses
only information about control from the previous cycle for
adjustment of the learning feedforward term. The controller
design is based on the system linearized model and it comprises the feedback controller and the learning term. Simulation experiments showed that crankshaft speed pulsations
approached zero when the learning control was applied.
The learning term provides adequate estimation of the
engine disturbance torque.
To avoid reproducing torque spikes at the beginning
of each rotation the learning scheme was modied to provide smooth transition between rotations. Simulations in
Figures 2 and 3 demonstrate that engine acceleration from
zero to idle speed does not e ect learning torque estimation
and damping of pulsations.
Learning control shows high robustness with respect
to system parameter variations, especially ywheel inertia,
a parameter which is critical for design of passive ywheel
systems. Further work is under way to evaluate the e ects
of actuator dynamics and crankshaft position sensor noise on
learning control performance. Test stand engine experiments
are also being conducted.

6. Acknowledgment

The authors gratefully acknowledge the nancial support and motivation provided by Ford Motor Company and
constructive discussions with our colleagues: Roy Davis,
Rich Hampo, and others.

Next, taking limit of (A1) as

, where is a rotation
number, we can conclude that all solutions of (10) exponentially converges to
which completes the proof.

8. Appendix B

Using (11) we can rewrite (13) as

From (B1) follows

Using (10) and applying integration by parts the second term

in (B2) yields

Substituting (B3) into (B2) we get

From (B4) using (14) we can conclude that sequence

monotonically decreasing and

is

7. Appendix A

Consider a family of solutions of the di erential equation (10)

Let

to be a steady state solution of (A1)

From (B5) it is clear that

which, in turn, leads to statement a) of Theorem 2.

To prove second statement we represent periodic functions
and
in the form of Fourier series expansion

where
where
are complex Fourier coefcients.
Substituting (B7) into (10) we get

and
From (A2) follows that

is

-periodic
and accounting for well-known relations from functional
analysis

Page 4

then, from (B8),(B9) and (B6) follow

Second equality (B10) yields

where
is a minimal integer which is greater than a bandwidth of the low pass lter .
This proves the statement b) of Theorem 2.

References

[1] Kouadio, L.K., Bidan, P., Valentin, N., and Berry,

P., S.I. engine idle control improvement by using automotive reversible alternator, IFAC Preprints for 13th Triennial
World Congress, San Francisco, CA, pp. 93-98, 1996.
[2] Kolmanovsky, I.V., Gilbert, E.G., and Cook, J.A.,
Reference Governors for Supplemental Torque Source Control in Turbocharged Diesel Engines, Proceedings of the
American Control Conference, pp. 652-656,1997.
[3] Gusev, S.V., Johnson, W., and Miller, J.,Active ywheel control based on the method of moment restrictions,
Proceedings of the American Control Conference, 1996.
[4] Kadomukai, Y., Yamakado, M., Nakamura, Y., Murakami, K., and Fukushima, M., Reducing Vibration in
Idling Vehicles by Actively Controlling Electric Machine
Torque, Trans. Jpn. Soc. Mech. Eng., vol. 59, No. 560, C
(1993), pp. 1023-1030.
[5] Zaremba, A.T., and Burkov, I.V., PI control for engine speed oscillations damping, Ford internal report, Dearborn, March 1997.
[6] S.-H. Han, Y.-H. Kim, and I.-J. Ha, Iterative Identication of State-Dependent Disturbance Torque for HighPrecision Velocity Control of Servo Motors,IEEE Trans. on
Automatic Control, vol. 43, No. 5, May 1998, pp. 724-728.
[7] Rizzoni, G., Estimate of Indicated Torque from
Crankshaft Speed Fluctuations: A Model for the Dynamics
of the IC Engine, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 38, No. 3, pp.168-179, 1989.
[8] Arimoto, S., Kawamura, S., and Miyazaki, F., Bettering operation of robots by learning, J. Robot. Syst., vol. 1,
No. 2, pp. 440-447, 1984.
[9] Craig, J.J., Adaptive control of manipulators through
repeated trials, in Proc. Amer. Contr. Conf., San Diego, CA,
June 1984, pp. 1566-1573.
[10] Togai, M., and Yamato, O., Analysis and Design of
an optimal learning control scheme for industrial robots:
A discrete system approach, Proc. of 24th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, 1985, pp.
1399-1404.

[11] Pervozvanskii, A., and Avrachenkov, K., Learning

Control Algorithms: Convergence and Robustness, Proc. of
Austral. Control Conference, 1997.
[12] Kue, T., Nam, K., and Lee, J., An Iterative Learning
Control of Robot Manipulators, IEEE Trans. on Robotics
and Automation, vol. 7, No. 6, December 1991, pp. 835-841.
[13] Moore, K., Dahleh, M., and Bhattacharyya, S., Iterative Learning Control: A Survey and New Results, Journal
of Robotic Systems, vol. 9, No. 5, July 1992, pp. 563-594.
[14] Heinzinger, G., Fenwick, D., Paden, B., and Miyazaki,
F., Stability of Learning Control with Disturbances and Uncertain Initial Conditions, IEEE Trans. on Automatic Control, vol. 37, No. 1, January 1992, pp. 110-114.
[15] Zaremba, A., Adaptive Control of Flexible Link Manipulators Using a Pseudolink Dynamic Model, Dynamics
and Control, 6, 179-198 (1996).
[16] Zaremba, A., Hampo, R., and Hrovat, D., Optimal
Active Suspension design using constrained optimization,
Journal of Sound and Vibration (1997), 207(3), 351-364.
[17] Leonhard, W., Control of Electric Drives, Springer
Verlag, 1984.
[18] Khalil, H.K., Strangas, E.G., and Miller, J.M., A
torque controller for induction motors without rotor position sensor, Intern. Conf. on Electric Machines (ICEM96)
Vigo, Spain, 1996.
[19] Yoo, H.S., and Ha, I.J., A polar coordinate-oriented
method of identifying rotor ux and speed of induction motors without rotational transducers, IEEE Transaction on
Control System Technology, vol. 4, No. 3, May 1996.
[20] Jansen, P.L., Corley, M.J., and Lorenz, R.D., Flux,
position, and velocity estimation in AC machines at zero and
low speed via tracking of high frequency saliencies, in 5th
European Power Electronics (EPE) Conf. Rec., vol. 3, pp.
154-160, Sevilla, Spain, Sept. 19-21, 1995.

u ai
Te
d

+
+

+ -

L
P

Fig. 1. Learning control scheme for engine crankshaft speed

damping.

Speed oscillations rad/sec

Page 5

Feedback control alpha=10

4
2
0

2
4
6

Speed oscillations rad/sec

8
0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

1.4

1.6

1.8

Learning control

1
0

1
2
3
4
0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.2

Time sec

Fig. 2. Speed oscillations for feedback and learning control.

Engine Torque Nm

30

T ngine Nm

20
10
0

10
20

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

1.4

1.6

1.8

Learning Torque Nm

30

Tl earning Nm

20
10
0

10
20
30

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

Time sec

1.2

Fig. 3. Engine torque and learning feedforward torque.

Page 6

Citations

References

20

Active flywheel control based on the method of moment restrictions

[Show abstract]

No preview Conference Paper Jul 1997

S.V. Gusev

W. Johnson

J. Miller

Read

Iterative identification of state-dependent disturbance torque for high-precision velocity

control of servo motors
[Show abstract]

No preview Article Jun 1998 IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control

Seok-Hee Han

Young-Hoon Kim

In-Joong Ha

Read

Estimate of indicated torque from crankshaft speed fluctuations: A model for the dynamics of
the IC engine
[Show abstract]

No preview Article Sep 1989 IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology

Giorgio Rizzoni
Read
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