Patent ID: 7640727

Claim:
A combustion control apparatus for an internal combustion engine, comprising: an exhaust purifier in an exhaust passage of the internal combustion engine; a combustion controlling actuator to cause main combustion, and to cause preliminary combustion prior to the main combustion; and a controller to control fuel injection to produce the preliminary combustion, and to control fuel injection to start the main combustion after an end of the preliminary combustion; wherein the combustion controlling actuator includes a fuel injector to inject fuel directly into a combustion chamber of the engine; and the controller is configured to perform a preliminary fuel injection to produce the preliminary combustion at or near top dead center, and to perform a main fuel injection to start the main combustion after the preliminary combustion is finished such that a premixed combustion process is predominant in the main combustion, the preliminary fuel injection being immediately prior to the main fuel injection, and wherein the controller is configured to perform the preliminary fuel injection at such a timing as to cause a heat releasing process of the preliminary combustion to start before compression top dead center and to end after compression top dead center.