In a process for adapting an amount of reducing agent for a removal of nitrogen oxides from the gases in an exhaust line, a first alignment of the amounts of nitrogen oxides measured by upstream and downstream sensors is performed without injection of agent and with a catalyst of the system emptied of ammonia. A second alignment of the estimated reduction of nitrogen oxides with the measured reduction is performed by a difference between amounts of nitrogen oxides upstream and downstream during a substoichiometric injection of reducing agent without creating a store of ammonia in a catalyst of the system with a first correction of the amount of agent. A third alignment of an estimated efficiency of retaining nitrogen oxides with a efficiency measured by the sensors is performed, this third alignment taking place via a second correction of the amount of reducing agent injected as an adaptive correction.

An internal combustion engine has an exhaust gas aftertreatment system comprising in the given order in the flow direction of the exhaust gas: a device for metering ammonia and/or a compound that can be decomposed to form ammonia into the exhaust gas to be cleaned, as a reducing agent; one or more SCR catalysts, which form a first SCR unit; one or more SCR and/or ammonia oxidation and/or ammonia slip catalysts, which form a second SCR unit; and a NO.sub.x sensor in the exhaust gas tail pipe. An amount, to be metered into the exhaust gas, of ammonia and/or of the decomposable compound is set using the nitrogen oxide concentration in the exhaust gas tail pipe that is determined by the NO.sub.x sensor, and the occurrence or non-occurrence of an ammonia excess in the region of the NO.sub.x sensor can be determined from the sensor signal of the NO.sub.x sensor by evaluating said sensor signal.

A method of controlling a catalytic exhaust system having a first catalytic unit located upstream of a second catalytic unit includes i) providing a relationship between the temperature of the first catalytic unit, an amount of NH3 stored in the second catalytic unit, and a corresponding limit value of the amount of NH3 permitted in the first catalytic unit; ii) measuring or estimating the amount of NH3 in the second catalytic unit; iii) measuring or estimating the temperature of the first catalytic unit; iv) using the relationship and measured/estimated parameters of steps ii and iii to provide the limit value for the amount of NH3 to be stored in the first catalytic unit; and v) using the parameter from iv in the control of the catalytic exhaust system.

An internal combustion engine (1), with an engine regulating device (3) and an exhaust gas aftertreatment device (16) with an SCR catalytic converter (4) for the reduction of at least one NO.sub.x component, and with a catalytic converter regulating device (6), wherein the engine regulating device (3) is prescribed a target value for an NO.sub.x mean value of the NO.sub.x component of the exhaust gases, which mean value results at an outlet point (7) of the exhaust gas aftertreatment device (16) in relation to a predefinable time period, and the engine regulating device (3) is configured at least in one operating mode to continuously calculate an NO.sub.x reference value for the catalytic converter regulating device (6) with consideration of No.sub.x components which have already been emitted and the predefined target value, which reference value is selected in such a way that the predefined target value results at the outlet point of the exhaust gas aftertreatment device (16) at the end of the predefinable time period when the calculated NO.sub.x reference value of the catalytic converter regulating device (6) is fed as NO.sub.x setpoint value to the regulating means.

The invention relates to a method for improving the efficiency of an SCR system of an exhaust gas aftertreatment system (5) of an internal combustion engine (1), and to an internal combustion engine (1), wherein an operating medium is metered in upstream of the SCR catalytic converter (2) of the SCR system in a normal operating mode, wherein the operating medium comprises a reducing agent or can be converted into a reducing agent, wherein the reducing agent is stored at least temporarily in an SCR catalytic converter (2) of the SCR system, wherein the method comprises the following steps: operating of the internal combustion engine (1) in the normal operating mode, defining of a determined control value (6) by way of determining of the mass of an exhaust gas component which is measured overall at a point in the course of the exhaust gas aftertreatment system (5) during a first measurement window, determining of a calculated control value (7) by way of calculating of the mass of the exhaust gas component which occurs overall at the point in the course of the exhaust gas aftertreatment system (5) during the first measurement window, determining of the deviation (8) between the determined control value and the calculated control value, checking whether the determined deviation lies within a predefined deviation range, adapting of the metering quantity of the operating medium if the determined deviation lies outside the deviation range.

Embodiments are directed towards controlling uncontrolled release of ammonia from an engine of a vehicle. An estimated status of the engine is determined prior to an event, such as an estimated load on the engine prior to the vehicle going up a hill. A predictive model of uncontrolled ammonia release is generated for the estimated status. At least one engine-related countermeasure is selected based on the predictive model. If the predictive model of uncontrolled ammonia release with the selected countermeasures satisfies a threshold condition, then the selected engine-related countermeasure is employed.

Embodiments are directed towards controlling uncontrolled release of ammonia from an engine of a vehicle. An estimated status of the engine is determined prior to an event, such as an estimated load on the engine prior to the vehicle going up a hill. A predictive model of uncontrolled ammonia release is generated for the estimated status. At least one engine-related countermeasure is selected based on the predictive model. If the predictive model of uncontrolled ammonia release with the selected countermeasures satisfies a threshold condition, then the selected engine-related countermeasure is employed.

A method for controlling an exhaust gas purification apparatus including a front three-way catalyst (TWC) and a rear TWC that purify the exhaust gas may include determining an oxygen flow rate and a flow rate of a reducing agent introduced into the front TWC, determining the oxygen storage amount of the front TWC based on the oxygen flow rate and the flow rate of the reducing agent flowing into the front TWC, determining a maximum oxygen storage amount of the front TWC, determining a slip oxygen flow rate and a slip reducing agent flow rate of the front TWC, determining an oxygen storage amount of the rear TWC, comparing a rear TWC oxygen storage amount and a target value of the rear TWC oxygen storage amount, and maintaining a catalyst purge of the front TWC when the rear TWC oxygen storage amount is greater than the target value of the rear TWC oxygen storage amount.

A method for controlling an exhaust aftertreatment system for vehicles includes: determining, by a controller, whether or not a designated regeneration operation is finished; accumulating, by the controller, a first amount of NO.sub.x emission measured by a rear end NO.sub.x sensor of an selective catalytic reduction (SCR) apparatus and a second amount of NO.sub.x emission calculated by an NO.sub.x emission amount model respectively for a first reference period of time immediately after the regeneration operation is finished; determining, by the controller, whether or not a difference between an accumulated value of the first amount of NO.sub.x emission and an accumulated value of the second amount of NO.sub.x emission exceeds a reference value when the first reference period of time has elapsed; and correcting, by the controller, a model purification efficiency using a sensor purification efficiency when the difference between the accumulated values exceeds the reference value.

A method for controlling an exhaust aftertreatment system for vehicles includes: determining, by a controller, whether or not a designated regeneration operation is finished; accumulating, by the controller, a first amount of NO.sub.x emission measured by a rear end NO.sub.x sensor of an selective catalytic reduction (SCR) apparatus and a second amount of NO.sub.x emission calculated by an NO.sub.x emission amount model respectively for a first reference period of time immediately after the regeneration operation is finished; determining, by the controller, whether or not a difference between an accumulated value of the first amount of NO.sub.x emission and an accumulated value of the second amount of NO.sub.x emission exceeds a reference value when the first reference period of time has elapsed; and correcting, by the controller, a model purification efficiency using a sensor purification efficiency when the difference between the accumulated values exceeds the reference value.