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A method and apparatus are provided for controlling the torque or fuel quantity limit to an internal combustion engine such as a diesel engine, at least partly as a function of the sensed level of smoke in the exhaust gas stream of the engine. An open-loop preliminary fuel quantity limit signal is p

A method and apparatus are provided for controlling the torque or fuel quantity limit to an internal combustion engine such as a diesel engine, at least partly as a function of the sensed level of smoke in the exhaust gas stream of the engine. An open-loop preliminary fuel quantity limit signal is provided as a function of engine speed. The actual smoke level is compared with a smoke limit value for the particular operating condition, and an error signal indicates the sense and possibly the magnitude of any difference. The error signal is the basis of a compensating signal which is added to the open-loop preliminary fuel quantity limit signal such that the resulting fuel quantity limit signal provides for maximum torque without exceeding the smoke limit. The smoke level is obtained by a direct measurement of the particulate level or the like in the exhaust gas stream. An alarm may be provided for indicating when the actual smoke level exceeds some threshold relative to the smoke limit.

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Apparatus for controlling the maximum fuel supply quantity to an internal combustion engine emitting an exhaust gas stream which may contain electrically-charged particulate, including fuel supply means responsive to a fuel quantity demand input and to a fuel quantity limit signal for supplying to t

Apparatus for controlling the maximum fuel supply quantity to an internal combustion engine emitting an exhaust gas stream which may contain electrically-charged particulate, including fuel supply means responsive to a fuel quantity demand input and to a fuel quantity limit signal for supplying to the engine the demanded quantity of fuel within the quantity limit, comprising: a probe adapted to be mounted in operative association with the exhaust gas stream at a sensing station downstream of the engine for inductively sensing the electrically charged particulate in the exhaust gas stream to provide an electrical signal indicative of the particulate level in the exhaust gas stream; circuit means responsive to said electrical signal indicative of the particulate level in the exhaust gas stream and to a predetermined correlation between a said particulate level signal and an opacity-derived smoke level signal for providing a sensed smoke level signal scaled to an opacity-derived smoke value, said predetermined correlation between a said particulate level signal and an opacity-derived smoke level signal being determined for a particular fuel and wherein said circuit means is further responsive to a predetermined set of engine operating conditions each time the engine is operated to modify said predetermined correlation as needed to compensate for variations in engine fuel characteristics; means for providing said fuel quantity demand input; and signal generating means responsive to engine operating condition signals including at least said sensed smoke level signal for providing said fuel quantity limit signal.