Controller for plant

• US 8,965,664 B2
• Filed: 03/27/2009
• Issued: 02/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Yasui, Yuji, Nakajima, Koichi, Fischer, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Vo, Hieu T
• Application Number:
  US13/259,021
• Publication Number:
  US 20120014838A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,160 Days
• Field of Search: 701/106, 701/53, 701/57, 701/59, 701/99, 701/108, 701/102, 701/115, 123/568.11, 123/568.16, 123/568.21, 602/76, 602/85, 602/95, 603/01
• US Class Current: 701/106
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2041/143 the control loop including a non-linear model or compensator
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/0062 Estimating, calculating or determining the internal EGR rate, amount or flow
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/1402 Adaptive control
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/1405 Neural network control
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/1456 with sensor output signal being linear or quasi-linear with the concentration of oxygen
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/1458 with determination means using an estimation
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/1463 of the exhaust gases downstream of exhaust gas treatment apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 13/041 in which a variable is automatically adjusted to optimise the performance
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/40 Engine management systems

Abstract

A controller for a plant that controls a controlled variable for the plant in accordance with estimated values, allowing to reduce any error in the estimated values that is caused by solid variation or aging of the plant. A controller for an exhaust emission control system has an estimated Inert-EGR value calculation section (711) to calculate the estimated value IEGR_HAT for the Inert-EGR amount on the basis of an input vector U through a neural network, an estimated LAF sensor output value calculation section (712) to calculate the estimated value Φ_HAT for an exhaust air-fuel ratio correlating with the Inert-EGR amount on the basis of the input vector U through the neural network, an LAF sensor (34) to detect the exhaust air-fuel ratio, and a nonlinear adaptive corrector (713) to calculate the adaptive input U_VNS such that the estimated error E_HAT between the detected value Φ_ACT from the LAF sensor (34) and the estimated output value Φ_HAT of the LAF sensor (34) is minimized.

Claims

1. A control device for a plant, comprising:

a first estimated value calculating means for calculating an estimated value of a first physical quantity, which is at least one of a plurality of physical quantities indicating a state of the plant, by way of a predetermined algorithm based on a plurality of inputs;

a second estimated value calculating means for calculating an estimated value of a second physical quantity, which correlates with the first physical quantity, by way of a predetermined algorithm based on a plurality of inputs;

a detection means for detecting the second physical quantity; and

an adaptive input calculating means for calculating an adaptive input to be mutually inputted to the first estimated value calculating means and the second estimated value calculating means, so that deviation between a detected value of the second physical quantity detected by way of the detection means and the estimated value of the second physical quantity calculated by way of the second estimated value calculating means becomes a minimum,

wherein a predetermined control variable of the plant is controlled based on the estimated value of the first physical quantity.

2. A control device for a plant according to claim 1, wherein the algorithm of the first estimated value calculating means and the algorithm of the second estimated value calculating means are each a neural network configured by joining a plurality of neurons that output according to a predetermined function.

3. A control device for a plant according to claim 2, wherein data related to a physical quantity at a plurality of different times are included in a plurality of inputs to the first estimated value calculating means and a plurality of inputs to the second estimated value calculating means, respectively.

4. A control device for a plant according to claim 1,

wherein the adaptive input calculating means includes:

a weighting function setting means for defining a plurality of regions overlapping each other in a space in which at least one among a plurality of inputs to the first estimated value calculating means and a plurality of inputs to the second estimated value calculating means is defined as a reference parameter, and the reference parameter is set as a base thereof, and for setting a plurality of weighting functions that is normalized to have a value that is not “

0”

in each of the regions, respectively;

a corrected value calculating means for calculating a corrected value (U_ij) in each of the regions so that a product of a value of the weighting functions and the deviation become a minimum; and

a determination means for determining an adaptive input based on a sum total of products of the value of the weighting functions and the corrected value over all of the regions.

5. A control device for a plant according to claim 1,

wherein the plant is an exhaust purification system of an internal combustion engine including an exhaust recirculation device that recirculates a portion of exhaust flowing through an exhaust system of the internal combustion engine to an intake system of the internal combustion engine, and

wherein the first physical quantity of the plant includes a parameter related to exhaust to be recirculated in the internal combustion engine by way of the exhaust recirculation device.

6. A control device for a plant according to claim 5,

wherein the exhaust recirculation device includes an exhaust recirculation channel that recirculates a portion of exhaust flowing through the exhaust system to the intake system, and an exhaust recirculation control valve that is provided in the exhaust recirculation channel;

and

wherein the control device further comprises a controller that determines an operation amount of the exhaust recirculation control valve so that the estimated value of the parameter related to exhaust to be recirculated matches a predetermined target value.

7. A control device for a plant according to claim 5, wherein the second physical quantity is an air/fuel ratio of exhaust flowing through the exhaust system.

8. A control device for a plant according to claim 1,

wherein the plant is an exhaust purification system for an internal combustion engine, including:

a selective reduction catalyst that is provided in an exhaust system of the internal combustion engine and reduces NOx flowing through the exhaust system under the presence of a reducing agent; and

a reducing agent supply means for supplying a reducing agent or an additive serving as a source of the reducing agent into the exhaust system on an upstream side of the selective reduction catalyst, and

wherein the first physical quantity of the plant includes a parameter related to NOx in exhaust flowing into the selective reduction catalyst.

9. A control device for a plant according to claim 8, further comprising a controller that determines a supply amount of the reducing agent or the additive from the reducing agent supply means, based on an estimated value of the parameter related to NOx in the exhaust.

10. A control device for a plant according to claim 8, wherein the second physical quantity is an air/fuel ratio of exhaust flowing through the exhaust system.

11. A control device according to claim 1,

wherein the plant is an exhaust purification system of an internal combustion engine including:

a NOx purification catalyst that is provided in an exhaust system of the internal combustion engine, adsorbs or occludes NOx in exhaust when an air/fuel mixture combusting in the internal combustion engine is set to be leaner than a theoretical air/fuel ratio, and reduces the NOx thus adsorbed or occluded under a reducing atmosphere; and

a reducing means for executing reducing control processing to make the exhaust flowing into the NOx purification catalyst a reducing atmosphere, and

wherein the first physical quantity of the plant includes a parameter related to NOx in exhaust flowing into the NOx purification catalyst, and a parameter related to a reducing component in exhaust flowing into the NOx purification catalyst.

12. A control device according to claim 11, further comprising a controller that instructs execution of the reducing control processing based on estimated values of the parameter related to NOx and the parameter related to the reducing component.

13. A control device for a plant according to claim 11, wherein the second physical quantity is an air/fuel ratio of exhaust flowing through the exhaust system.