A method to control an exhaust gas after-treatment system for an exhaust system of an internal combustion engine having at least one catalytic converter and a burner, which is suited to introduce exhaust gases into an exhaust duct so as to speed up the heating of said at least one catalytic converter; the method entails inserting an indicator in a dashboard of a vehicle provided with the internal combustion engine so that it provides a driver of the vehicle with indications concerning the burner; and keeping the indicator turned on during a starting step, during which the temperature of said at least one catalytic converter is lower than an activation temperature.

Methods and system are provided to heat a catalyst of an after-treatment system for a vehicle. The after-treatment system comprises a heating module having a plurality of heating elements. Each of the plurality of heating elements is independently operable to provide thermal energy to the catalyst of the after-treatment system. One or more of the heating elements of the heating module are selectively operated to provide heat to the catalyst based on an operational parameter of the after-treatment system.

A method of providing a heating cycle for an after-treatment system is described. The method comprises initiating a pre-charge cycle of a DCDC converter and determining a temperature of the after-treatment system. In response to determining the temperature of the after-treatment system is below a threshold temperature and the pre-charge is complete, the method further comprises operating a solid-state switch to electrically connect a high voltage power source to a heating element to of the after-treatment system, and heating the after-treatment system with the heating element until the after-treatment system reaches the threshold temperature.

Systems and methods for operating a hybrid vehicle are presented. In one example, electric current may be supplied to or withheld from a positive temperature coefficient (PTC) heater and an electrically heated catalyst. In particular, electric current may be delivered to the PTC heater and withheld from the electrically heated catalyst, or vice-versa, in response to a catalyst temperature and battery state of charge.

In a control apparatus, a heater adjuster performs a regeneration task of causing a heater to heat a sensing member of a particulate matter sensor to burn particulate matter deposited on the sensing member to thereby remove the particulate matter from the sensing member. The heater adjuster performs a deposition reduction task of maintaining, for a predetermined duration, a temperature of the sensing member at a deposition reduction temperature that reduces additional particulate-matter deposition on the sensing member. The predetermined duration is defined from completion of a regeneration task to a time when an environmental condition around the particulate matter sensor is determined to be stable. The heater adjuster stops the heater from heating the sensing member if a condition determiner determines that the environmental condition around the particulate matter sensor is stable.

A method for preconditioning at least a part of an engine system of a vehicle. The engine system includes an engine and an exhaust aftertreatment system, EATS. The method providing predicted vehicle operational information comprising a vehicle operational initialization time and predicted engine operation, determining whether or not cold-start emissions of the predicted engine operation achieves a threshold criterium, in response to achieving the threshold criterium, preconditioning at least a part of the engine system such that at least said part of the engine system is preconditioned at a time of the vehicle operational initialization time.

Methods and system are provided to heat a catalyst of an after-treatment system for a vehicle. The after-treatment system comprises a heating module having a plurality of heating elements. Each of the plurality of heating elements is independently operable to provide thermal energy to the catalyst of the after-treatment system. One or more of the heating elements of the heating module are selectively operated to provide heat to the catalyst based on an operational parameter of the after-treatment system.

A process is provided for regenerating an exhaust gas after-treatment device in an exhaust line of an internal combustion engine arrangement, the exhaust line including a particle filter. The process includes identifying when soot loading of the particle filter exceeds a predetermined level. After that, temperature of exhaust gases at the particle filter is maintained within a first temperature range until at least one of a predetermined period of time has lapsed or a determination is made that soot loading of the particle filter is below the predetermined level. After that, the temperature of the exhaust gases at the particle filter is increased to within a second temperature range above the first temperature range. An internal combustion engine arrangement is also disclosed.

An EHC line leakage diagnosis method can operate a heater of an oxygen detector when satisfying one or more conditions of an engine off time, a coolant temperature, and an outside air temperature by a diagnosis controller upon the key-on of the non-operation of an engine, and then, determine the normality or abnormality of a temperature drop using a change in a temperature value of a signal value and the temperature value detected by the oxygen detector after an air pump is driven, and then confirm the leakage of an exhaust line and a line on the rear end portion of an EHC valve of an air line using the number of times of the occurrence of the abnormality of the temperature drop, and can perform the failure diagnosis without generating the exhaust gas by not operating an engine.

A diagnostic module for diagnosing a particulate matter sensor in a vehicle includes a sensor mode selection module, a heater power detector, and a protection tube diagnostic module. The sensor mode selection module selects a regeneration mode for the particulate matter sensor from among a plurality of operation modes. The regeneration mode regenerates the particulate matter sensor. The heater power detector determines a voltage output based on a voltage applied to the particulate matter sensor. The voltage output corresponds to operation of the particulate matter sensor in the selected mode. The protection tube diagnostic module performs a diagnostic of the particulate matter sensor. The protection tube diagnostic module selectively diagnoses a fault in the particulate matter sensor based on the voltage output determined during the regeneration mode and a regeneration power threshold.