Patent ID: 6978759

Claim:
A start-up control device of an internal combustion engine which operates on a four-stroke cycle constituted by an intake stroke, a compression stroke, an expansion stroke, and an exhaust stroke, the engine comprising a combustion chamber, a fuel injector which injects fuel directly into the combustion chamber, and a spark plug which ignites an air-fuel mixture inside the combustion chamber, the engine performing a start-up operation by cranking by a starter motor and performing a warm-up operation following the start-up operation, the control device comprising: a sensor which detects an engine rotation speed; and a programmable controller programmed to: set a stratified combustion start-up period; control the fuel injector to inject fuel in the compression stroke from the beginning of the cranking to the end of the stratified combustion start-up period; determine whether or not the engine rotation speed is greater than a predetermined rotation speed; control the fuel injector to stop injecting fuel in the compression stroke in order to cause the engine to shift from the start-up operation to the warm-up operation when the engine rotation speed exceeds the predetermined rotation speed during the stratified combustion start-up period; and control the fuel injector to stop injecting fuel in the compression stroke at the end of the stratified combustion start-up period and to inject fuel in the intake stroke in order to cause the engine to continue the start-up operation when the engine rotation speed does not exceed the predetermined rotation speed during the stratified combustion start-up period.