Lean combustion method for a reciprocating internal combustion engine

A lean combustion method for a four-stroke reciprocating internal combustion engine having a cylinder, in which a combustion chamber is delimited by a cylinder head and a piston is moveable in a reciprocating manner to vary a volume of the combustion chamber, a fuel being introduceable directly into the combustion chamber, wherein at least one charge cycle intake valve and one charge cycle exhaust valve are provided for a charge cycle, an intermediate compression being settable in the combustion chamber at a charge cycle top dead center, and a main compression being settable at an ignition top dead center, after an expansion phase comprising the steps of:

• closing the charge cycle exhaust valve before the charge cycle top dead center;
• introducing a pilot quantity of fuel in the intermediate compression and compressing the pilot quantity of fuel and a residual exhaust gas in the cylinder for forming at least one of intermediate products and complete combustion products;
• opening the charge cycle intake valve after the charge cycle top dead center and introducing an intake gas in an intake phase into the combustion chamber;
• introducing a main quantity of a fuel into the combustion chamber during at least one of the intake phase and the main compression phase, and closing the charge cycle intake valve;
• compressing the intake gas and the fuel in the main compression phase;
• igniting a mixture of the intake gas and fuel formed in the combustion chamber;
• expanding, opening the charge cycle exhaust valve and, in the expansion phase, pushing out a partial quantity of an exhaust gas formed by a combustion;
• wherein a controlled conversion of the pilot quantity of fuel to said at least one of the intermediate products and the complete combustion products is carried out by at least one of the following:
• introducing the pilot quantity of fuel at a latest by the charge cycle top dead center;
• setting a maximal intermediate-compression temperature by varying a closing point-in-time of the charge cycle exhaust valve;
• setting a maximal intermediate-compression temperature by varying an opening point-in-time of the charge cycle intake valve before the charge cycle top dead center;
• and
• varying a mass of the pilot quantity of the fuel,
• wherein the introducing of the pilot quantity of the fuel occurs immediately after the closing of the charge cycle exhaust valve, and
• wherein the pilot quantity of fuel is at a maximum 50% of a total quantity of fuel.