Methods and systems are provided for regenerating a particulate filter positioned in an exhaust system of an engine of a vehicle. In one example, a method comprises obtaining a first air flow in an intake of the engine and obtaining a second air flow in the intake of the engine, where regeneration of the particulate filter is conducted in response to the first air flow differing from the second air flow by at least a threshold amount, where the first air flow and the second air flow comprise air flow routed from the exhaust system to the intake of the engine. In this way, the particulate filter may be regenerated under conditions where a loading state of the particulate filter is not known.

An in-vehicle controller includes processing circuitry. The processing circuitry stops injection of fuel under a preset fuel cutoff condition including a lockup clutch being in an engagement state. A request for raising heating performance of a heater core is a heater actuation request, and an amount of particulate matter deposited on a filter is a deposition amount. The processing circuitry controls the lockup clutch in a disengagement state when a heater actuation request is generated and the deposition amount is less than a preset deposition amount threshold. The processing circuitry controls the lockup clutch in the engagement state when the heater actuation request is generated and the deposition amount is greater than or equal to the preset deposition amount threshold.

A method and system are provided for assessing engine faults. The method includes measuring actual diesel particulate filter (DPF) soot loading, determining expected DPF soot loading, aid determining that a possible engin component fault is an actual engine component fault by determining that measured actual DPF soot loading exceeds the expected DPF soot loading.

An exhaust gas purification apparatus for an internal combustion engine includes a filter supporting the catalyst with an oxygen storage capacity, an air fuel ratio sensor to detect an air fuel ratio of exhaust gas at the downstream side of the filter, and a controller configured to change an air fuel ratio of exhaust gas flowing into the filter, to estimate an amount of particulate matter deposited in an interior of a partition wall of the filter, estimate a maximum storable oxygen amount of the catalyst from a change of the air fuel ratio of exhaust gas obtained by the air fuel ratio sensor at the time when the air fuel ratio of exhaust gas is changed by the controller, and correct the maximum storable oxygen amount of the catalyst based on the amount of particulate matter deposited in the interior of the partition wall of the filter.

A method is provided for operating an internal combustion engine in a motor vehicle, The internal combustion engine has at least one cylinder with a combustion chamber, a water injection unit with a tank and at least one injection nozzle for directly or indirectly injecting water into the combustion chamber, an exhaust gas system with at least one exhaust gas catalytic converter and a particulate filter device which has a particulate filter for filtering particles out of an exhaust gas flow guided in the exhaust gas system. A control unit is provide for a state monitoring process and for controlling the combustion in the cylinder.

A method for operating a sensor for detecting particles in a measuring gas. The sensor includes a sensor element including a substrate, and at least one first electrode and at least one second electrode situated on the substrate. The first electrode and the second electrode carry out a current and/or voltage measurement in temporally spaced measuring phases, at least during an interruption of a measuring phase a check being carried out as to whether the interrupted measuring phase is continuable, the interrupted measuring phase being identified as continuable, and the sensor being subsequently switched off, if, after an expected trigger time, a value for a current and/or voltage measurement falls below a threshold value, a regeneration of the sensor element for removing particles from the sensor element being carried out, and the sensor being subsequently switched off, if the value for the current and/or voltage measurement exceeds the threshold value.

A method for determining a loading state of a particle filter of a motor vehicle. The method includes detecting a first differential pressure across the particle filter, determining a second differential pressure across the particle filter, and subjecting each of the first differential pressure and the second differential pressure to a filtering process in order to determine a filtered first differential pressure and a filtered second differential pressure. The method further includes subjecting each of the first filtered differential pressure and the second filtered differential pressure to an integration process in order to determine a first integral of the filtered first differential pressure and a second integral of the filtered second differential pressure, synchronizing the first integral and the second integral with one another to provide synchronized integrals, and determining, as the loading state, a ratio which is dependent on the synchronized integrals.

Methods and systems are provided for heating an exhaust particulate filter (PF) to enable filter generation. In one example, a method may include adjusting engine air fuel ratio and injecting secondary air flow upstream of the PF to increase PF temperature. The level of engine air fuel ratio adjustment and the amount of secondary air injection upstream of the PF may be adjusted to account for enrichment induced cooling at a three-way catalyst (TWC) positioned upstream of the PF.

An exhaust filtration system comprises a first pressure sensor and a second pressure sensor, each configured to measure pressure in the exhaust filtration system under low-flow conditions. The exhaust filtration system comprises a third pressure sensor and a fourth pressure sensor, each configured to measure pressure in the exhaust filtration system under high-flow conditions. A flow rate of exhaust gas flowing through the exhaust filtration system is periodically determined. When the flow rate is below a predetermined flow rate threshold, the first and second pressure sensors are used to measure pressure in the exhaust filtration system, and a soot load of the exhaust filtration system is estimated using the pressure measured by the first and second pressure sensors. When the flow rate is above the predetermined flow rate threshold, the third and fourth pressure sensors are used to measure pressure in the exhaust filtration system and a soot load of the exhaust filtration system is estimated using the pressure measured by the third and fourth pressure sensors.

A hybrid vehicle is provided. A vehicle V has a gasoline particulate filter (GPF) provided on an exhaust passage to capture particulate matter (PM) included in exhaust, a generator motor connected to a crank shaft of an engine, an exhaust temperature sensor acquiring a filter temperature correlated with a temperature of the GPF, and an electronic control unit (ECU) performing motor drive control for rotating the crank shaft with the generator motor when a filter temperature is higher than or equal to a PM combustion start temperature and a PM combustion integration amount that is an integration amount of PM combusted in the GPF is less than a PM discharge integration amount.