Gilles CORDE

Based in Rueil-Malmaison

How did you get to IFP Energies nouvelles ?

In 2001, when I had my PhD in engine control applied to electromechanical-valve technology, and worked as an engine-control research engineer for PSA Peugeot Citroën and then FEV in Germany, I felt I wanted to come back to France and work for a center that combined fundamental research and industrial development. I chose IFP Energies nouvelles because they did exactly that in the field of internal-combustion engines.

Tell us about your job.

I devise algorithms to streamline IC-engine operation, and thereby reduce consumption and polluting emissions. To be precise, these algorithms fine-tune combustion processes to keep engines running optimally even during speed and load transition phases. Developing new-generation IC engines entails co-designing control algorithms to tap the full potential of innovation.

The skills I have been pooling with my colleagues since I took the helm here at the Signal Processing, Automation and Control Department encompass:
- real-time computing applied to real-time model execution and monitoring devices,
- processing geophysical, refining and engine signals (0D, 1D and images),
- controlling processes,
- pilot-control automation.

Tell us about a normal day at work.

It all depends on the sort of project we're working on. But, more often than not, we are working with other research centers around France and Europe, and with automobile manufacturers (on bilateral projects, mainly).

In any case, we liaise a lot with the Energy Applications Techniques Division (we write the algorithms for their engine prototypes). First of all, we translate their specs into algorithmic terms, run it through the simulator phase, and then build our controller onto the bench or prototype.

The simulator phase allows us to develop the controller in step with the actual process. It's getting more real now – which means that experimental calibration phases on testing facilities are getting shorter.

What do you like about your job?

The variety. At IFP Energies nouvelles, research themes evolve a lot and cut across a number of areas. We are looking at gasoline, diesel and hybrid engines, and at automation, signal processing, and real-time computing.

We work side by side with other research divisions, and have access to testing facilities. That means that young researchers can see their simulator findings working on real-life applications pretty much instantly. Which is really rewarding.

Lastly, my job puts me in touch with other laboratories and involves coaching doctoral researchers, so it keeps me in tune with applied research.

What does it take to do your job?

First and foremost, you have to be creative and inquisitive: this is application science, we control physical systems, so we have to understand the issues if we want the algorithm we develop to be as efficient and as reliable as it possibly can be.

Where do you want to go from here?

Right now, I want to take my time coming to terms with my new duties. I have been put in charge of the department that invented engine control – and it's thriving. Algorithmic engine control technology was embryonic when I joined IFP Energies nouvelles. And I had the privilege of watching it all happen – and, to an extent, of making it happen – within IFP Energies nouvelles.

Further information on the Technology, computer science, and applied mathematics division