Method for adapting valve timings of an internal combustion engine

A non-transitory computer readable medium having a computer program, which is executable by a processor, comprising:

• a program code arrangement having program code for adapting valve timings of an internal combustion engine, by performing the following:
• selecting instantaneous operating points of the internal combustion engine by comparison to specified operating points;
• ascertaining a cylinder charge of at least one cylinder of the internal combustion engine at each of the selected operating points;
• ascertaining a charge error for each selected operating point from the difference between each ascertained cylinder charge and an expected value of the cylinder charge for the particular operating point;
• comparing the ascertained charge errors to expected charge errors;
• and
• ascertaining an adaptation value of the valve timings from the result of the comparison, the ascertaining including determining a best fit straight line through correlation values, and calculating a slope of the best fit straight line, the adaptation value being based on the slope of the best fit straight line, wherein the correlation values represent correlations between the charge errors at the selected operating points and sensitivities of the cylinder charge per 1° crankshaft timing error.

An electronic control unit for adapting valve timings of an internal combustion engine, comprising:

• an electronic control arrangement for adapting the valve timings of the internal combustion engine, by performing the following:
• selecting instantaneous operating points of the internal combustion engine by comparison to specified operating points;
• ascertaining a cylinder charge of at least one cylinder of the internal combustion engine at each of the selected operating points;
• ascertaining a charge error for each selected operating point from the difference between each ascertained cylinder charge and an expected value of the cylinder charge for the particular operating point;
• comparing the ascertained charge errors to expected charge errors;
• and
• ascertaining an adaptation value of the valve timings from the result of the comparison, the ascertaining including determining a best fit straight line through correlation values, and calculating a slope of the best fit straight line, the adaptation value being based on the slope of the best fit straight line, wherein the correlation values represent correlations between the charge errors at the selected operating points and sensitivities of the cylinder charge per 1° crankshaft timing error.