Controlled Injection of Compressed Air in Marine Diesel Engine Intake for Improved Load Acceptance

This paper addresses the improvement of load acceptance and the reduction of smoke emissions in a turbocharged marine diesel engine, during transient operation involving rapid load increases. The engine models were derived with system identification methods. Model Predictive Control provided the optimal quantity of injected air in the engine while minimizing smoke density (opacity), with constraint not to exceed a limit in intake manifold pressure, in order to avoid surge in the compressor. The effectiveness of the proposed control system was verified with transient response experiments on a full-scale marine diesel test engine. Results from various engine parameters comparing the standard operation without air injection showed improvement in transient loading.