An object of the present invention is to optimally control a recirculation amount of exhaust gas flowing to an engine that includes an exhaust heat recovery device in a main exhaust pipe thereof and performs exhaust gas recirculation from downstream of the exhaust heat recovery device. An engine control device includes an exhaust heat recovery device, an exhaust gas recirculation pipe, an exhaust gas temperature acquisition unit, and an exhaust gas recirculation amount control unit. The exhaust heat recovery device is provided in a main exhaust pipe of an engine and recovers heat from exhaust gas. The exhaust gas recirculation pipe is branched from the main exhaust pipe downstream of the exhaust heat recovery device and recirculates exhaust gas to the engine. The exhaust gas temperature acquisition unit acquires an exhaust gas temperature downstream of the exhaust heat recovery device. The exhaust gas recirculation amount control unit controls a recirculation amount of exhaust gas flowing through the exhaust gas recirculation pipe based on at least the exhaust gas temperature.

An improved electrocatalytic system utilizes an Organic Rankine cycle system to take advantage of exhaust fume heat to convert a working fluid to steam used in a steam expander to generate electricity. The generated electricity is then used in electrolyzing water to produce hydrogen gases used as a supplemental fuel in an internal combustion (IC) engine. Thereby, the improved electrocatalytic system provides an efficient, less costly and retrofittable system for reducing harmful emissions and fossil fuel consumption in vehicles.

First processing and second processing are carried out, wherein in the first processing, the electric power to be supplied to the heat generation element is set to a first electric power in a first period of time such that a temperature inside the heat generation element falls within an allowable temperature range, and in the second processing, at least one of setting the electric power to be supplied to said heat generation element from said power supply to a second electric power smaller than said first electric power, and/or setting the electric power to be supplied to said heat generation element from said power supply to zero, is performed in a second period of time such that the temperature difference inside the heat generation element falls within an allowable temperature difference range.

A method for controlling an exhaust gas purification apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is to improve performance of a three-way catalyst (TWC) purifying exhaust gas exhausted from an engine and includes determining heat load of the three-way catalyst by use of a temperature sensor and an exhaust gas flow rate sensor; measuring oxygen storage capacity (OSC) stored in the three-way catalyst according to the heat load; determining an inflection point by use of change amount of the OSC; and controlling catalyst heating period differently around the inflection point.

A vehicle includes: an internal combustion engine; a filter collecting particulate matter contained in exhaust gas of the internal combustion engine; a heater core configured to be able to heat up a vehicle cabin; and an electronic control unit. The electronic control unit is configured to execute regeneration cut control and heating control. The regeneration cut control is a control for regenerating the filter by stopping a fuel supply to the internal combustion engine and supplying oxygen to the filter in a state where an output shaft of the internal combustion engine rotates. The heating control is a control for bringing the internal combustion engine into a combustion state and heating by the heater core. The electronic control unit is configured not to execute the heating control but to execute the regeneration cut control when the heating control is requested and the regeneration cut control is requested.

A 3-phase driven resistor load bank, electrically connected to an engine-generator-set is controlled to maintain a minimum generator load by turning ON and OFF load-bank heaters for optimal operation of the engine. An operator selects KW power output that best meets electrical load conditions and the load bank converts surplus electrical energy to heat, then cooled by the exhaust gas. The exhaust-gas-cooled resistive heater load bank, mounted in gas flow path, provides a dummy load to the gen-set which allows gen-set to operate at operator defined load level to enhance engine performance and reduce maintenance costs. The gas flow cools the inline resistive heater elements. The 3-phase AC power to the resistor load bank is only switched ON/OFF at zero-crossing points to eliminate electrical noise.

An exhaust gas control apparatus for an internal combustion engine is provided. The exhaust gas control apparatus is equipped with a NOx reduction catalyst, a reducing agent tank, a reducing agent supply device, a booster, a heater, and an electronic control unit. The electronic control unit is configured to perform control of raising a temperature of a reducing agent to a first target temperature such that the reducing agent supplied by the reducing agent supply device is brought into a gas-liquid mixed state in an exhaust passage, when energy of exhaust gas is lower than a first threshold.

The present invention is provided with: a SOx purge control unit that executes catalyst regeneration processing that maintains the temperature of a NOx occlusion/reduction catalyst at a prescribed recovery temperature; a catalyst temperature estimation unit that estimates catalyst temperature on the basis of the amount of unburnt fuel contained in exhaust and of a catalyst heat generation amount; a second exhaust temperature sensor that is arranged further to an exhaust downstream side than the catalyst and that detects exhaust temperature; and a heat generation amount correction value setting unit that, during the execution of the catalyst regeneration processing, on the basis of an estimated catalyst temperature estimated by the catalyst temperature estimation unit and of an actual exhaust temperature detected by the second exhaust temperature sensor, obtains a heat generation amount correction value that is used to correct the heat generation amount of the catalyst.

When the temperature of the exhaust gas flowing into an NSR catalyst exceeds a specific threshold temperature that is determined on the basis of the cetane number of fuel in such a way that the specific threshold temperature is set lower when the cetane number of the fuel is low than when it is high, fuel is supplied to the exhaust gas by fuel supply device to perform an NO.sub.X reduction process for the NSR catalyst. If the quantity of heat generated in the NSR catalyst per unit time is smaller than a specific value while the NO.sub.X reduction process is being performed, the NO.sub.X reduction process in progress is suspended, and the NO.sub.X reduction process is performed later on when the temperature of the exhaust gas flowing into the NSR catalyst exceeds an updated threshold temperature higher than the specific threshold temperature.

An exhaust gas purification apparatus of an internal combustion engine of the invention includes an electrical heating catalyzer. The catalyzer includes a catalyst carrier which produces heat when the catalyst carrier is energized, a pair of electrodes provided on the catalyst carrier, a casing which houses the catalyst carrier and at least one insulation member provided between the catalyst carrier and the casing. The apparatus executes a PM removal control for increasing a temperature of the electrical heating catalyzer by using energy discharged from the engine to an exhaust passage to remove particulate matter from the catalyzer in response to temperature of the particulate matter and an insulation resistance value between the catalyst carrier and the casing satisfying a predetermined removal condition.