Method and system for diagnosing deterioration of NOx catalyst

• Main Authors: ISHIHARA, KOUJI, ITOU, HIDETOSHI, ITOU, YASUYUKI
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 16.12.2009
• Subjects: BLASTING; CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TOTRANSPORTATION; COMBUSTION ENGINES; CONTROLLING COMBUSTION ENGINES; ENGINE PLANTS IN GENERAL; GAS-FLOW SILENCERS OR EXHAUST APPARATUS FOR INTERNALCOMBUSTION ENGINES; GAS-FLOW SILENCERS OR EXHAUST APPARATUS FOR MACHINES ORENGINES IN GENERAL; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; HEATING; HOT-GAS OR COMBUSTION-PRODUCT ENGINE PLANTS; LIGHTING; MACHINES OR ENGINES IN GENERAL; MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL; SEPARATION; STEAM ENGINES; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TECHNOLOGIES FOR ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE; TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINSTCLIMATE CHANGE; TRANSPORTING; WEAPONS

A system and method for diagnosing deterioration of a nitrogen oxide (NOx) catalyst for an internal combustion engine. An output signal indicative of concentration of nitrogen oxides (NOx) in exhaust gas passing through the NOx catalyst is generated from a NOx sensor. Rates of change in the detected NOx concentration are calculated a plurality of times over a predetermined period of time after an air/fuel ratio becomes less than a stoichiometric air/fuel ratio. A representative value derived from the calculated rates of change in the detected NOx concentration is compared with a predetermined reference value for determining that the NOx catalyst is deteriorated.