Control of Magnetoelectric Load to Maintain Stable Compression Ratio for Free Piston Linear Engine Systems.

The free piston linear engine system (FPLE) is considered as a promising powerplant, which has the advantages such as compact structure, short transfer path and variable compression ratio (CR) because the crank connecting rod is removed. However, the absence of crank-connecting rod inevitably produces uncertainty to the stable operation of the FPLE. A control system of the piston motion regulating for the FPLE is necessary. In this paper, the nonlinear dynamic model simulating the piston motion in a dual-piston FPLE is derived based on energy and force balance. The feasibility of the dynamic model is verified by experiment and simulation results. Based on instability mechanism analysis, a magnetoelectric load controller with motion stroke feedback is designed to maintain the piston position in a predefined CR by regulating the magnetoelectric force. The proposed magnetoelectric load controller is shown to have good control performance for the FPLE. The piston is always stabilized at the predefined position after a short adjustment time. The time of eliminating disturbance for the operation process is less than the start process. Furthermore, the increase in disturbance will result in the increase of time for adjustment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]