An EKF-based observer for sensorless valve control in camless internal combustion engine

Camless internal combustion engines offer improvements over traditional engines in terms of torque performance reduction of emissions, reduction of pumping losses, fuel economy. Theoretically, electromagnetic valve actuators offer the highest potentials for improving efficiency due to their control flexibility. Sensorless control is one of the most important issues with regard to real implementation of this new technology. This paper proposes an observer based on an extended Kalman filter to realize a sensorless control. Current is measured while position as well as velocity of the electromagnetic valve are estimated. Real data from a valve actuator prototype are used to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.