Model predictive control of a dual fuel engine integrated with waste heat recovery used for electric power in buildings.

Waste heat recovery (WHR) system uses the thermal energy from the exhaust gases of an internal combustion engine (ICE) to assist in the electricity generated by the ICE generator in buildings. This paper presents a model predictive control (MPC) framework to minimize the fuel consumption of an ICE by integrating it with a WHR system. To this end, a control oriented model of a WHR system is developed and then integrated to a control oriented model of a turbocharged dual fuel diesel‐natural gas ICE. The ICE model is derived based on experimental data collected from a 6.7 L Cummins ISB engine modified for dual fuel operation. The designed MPC framework optimizes the ICE combustion, turbocharger, and organic Rankine cycle (ORC) system in the WHR to minimize fuel consumption of the ICE. The designed control framework also allows to meet time‐varying exhaust gas temperature requirements of the ICE to meet exhaust emission constraints. The results show that the optimal operation of the WHR and the ICE reduces the fuel consumption of the ICE by 6.7%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]