Patent ID: 8720416

Claim:
A method to detect and inhibit an abnormal combustion event in an internal combustion engine, the method comprising: introducing air and fuel into a cylinder of the internal combustion engine; operating the internal combustion engine to produce exhaust gas from the cylinder, the engine operated at a break mean effective pressure greater than or equal to 10 bars at a speed less than or equal to 2,000 revolutions per minute; monitoring the exhaust gas from the cylinder with an oxygen sensor while the internal combustion engine undergoes a pre-ignition combustion event, wherein the air-fuel mixture in the cylinder ignites prior to an introduction of a spark to the cylinder from an igniter; obtaining an output from the oxygen sensor, the output from the oxygen sensor providing an indicator of the pre-ignition combustion event within two revolutions of the engine after the pre-ignition combustion event; and adjusting at least one operating parameter of the internal combustion engine in response to the output of the oxygen sensor, wherein the at least one operating parameter is adjusted to inhibit an occurrence of a subsequent pre-ignition combustion event; wherein the output from the oxygen sensor corresponds to an air-fuel equivalence ratio following the pre-ignition combustion event; and wherein an engine controller uses the output to adjust the at least one operating parameter of the internal combustion engine in response to the output of the oxygen sensor to inhibit the occurrence of the subsequent pre-ignition combustion event.