Rich spike is carried out in an efficient manner. In an exhaust gas purification apparatus for an internal combustion engine which performs lean burn operation, the apparatus includes an NOx storage reduction catalyst, a controller to carry out rich spike, to calculate a storage amount of NOx, to calculate a storage amount of nitrates, and calculate a nitrate ratio, wherein the controller controls a timing at which the rich spike is carried out, based on the nitrate ratio.

Various embodiments may include a method for monitoring a nitrogen oxide trap comprising: monitoring a storage capacity of the nitrogen oxide trap; deactivating nitrogen oxide trap regeneration based on the monitored storage capacity; and upon a predetermined event, reactivating nitrogen oxide trap regeneration.

An exhaust purification system includes a NOx-occlusion-reduction-type catalyst that occludes NOx in exhaust in a lean state and reduces and purifies the occluded NOx in exhaust in a rich state, and a NOx purge rich control unit that executes NOx purge of reducing and purifying the occluded NOx by putting the exhaust into the rich state by fuel injection control, where a catalyst temperature of the NOx-occlusion-reduction-type catalyst is equal to or higher than a catalyst temperature threshold value and a NOx occlusion amount of the NOx-occlusion-reduction-type catalyst is equal to or higher than an NOx occlusion amount threshold value, and executes the NOx purge when the catalyst temperature is lower than a catalyst temperature threshold value.

Systems, apparatuses, and methods include an upstream exhaust analysis circuit structured to determine a characteristic of an exhaust gas stream entering a nitrous oxide (NOx) storage catalyst; a prediction circuit structured to predict a downstream NOx concentration of an exhaust gas stream exiting the NOx storage catalyst based on a model of a NOx storage capacity or a dynamic response of the NOx storage catalyst; a downstream exhaust analysis circuit structured to determine a downstream NOx concentration of the exhaust gas stream exiting the NOx storage catalyst; and a comparison circuit structured to compare the predicted downstream NOx concentration to the determined downstream NOx concentration, and determine a health of the NOx storage catalyst based on the comparison.

According to one or more embodiments described herein, an exhaust system for treating exhaust gas from an internal combustion engine in a motor vehicle includes a passive NOx absorber (PNA) device, and a model-based controller that controls an amount of NOx stored by the PNA device. Controlling of the amount of NOx stored includes computing a predicted NOx storage level of the PNA device using a prediction model of the PNA device, and in response to the predicted NOx storage level of the PNA device being greater than a predetermined cold-start threshold, raising a temperature of the exhaust gas by changing an operation of the internal combustion engine.

There is provided a technology pertaining to abnormality diagnosis of an NSR catalyst that enables the diagnosis that the NSR catalyst is abnormal to be made even when the degree of deterioration of the NSR catalyst is relatively small yet. An abnormality diagnosis apparatus is applied to an exhaust gas purification apparatus having an NSR catalyst and a fuel addition valve. The abnormality diagnosis apparatus includes a controller configured to perform a specific fuel addition process and diagnose the NSR catalyst. The controller starts the specific fuel addition process when the NSR catalyst is in a specific start condition, and diagnoses the NSR catalyst on the basis of the quantity of NOx flowing out of the NSR catalyst over a specific period in the period from when the specific fuel addition process is started to when the temperature of the NSR catalyst reaches the thermal desorption temperature.

Rich spike is carried out in an efficient manner. In an exhaust gas purification apparatus for an internal combustion engine which performs lean burn operation, the apparatus includes an NOx storage reduction catalyst, a controller to carry out rich spike, to calculate a storage amount of NOx, to calculate a storage amount of nitrates, and calculate a nitrate ratio, wherein the controller controls a timing at which the rich spike is carried out, based on the nitrate ratio.

A control apparatus for an internal combustion engine having an exhaust gas purification device which is arranged in an exhaust passage and includes a NOx storage reduction (NSR) catalyst. The control apparatus, when the air fuel ratio of the air-fuel mixture is shifted from a lean air fuel ratio to the stoichiometric air fuel ratio, determines a predetermined NO.sub.x amount so as to be larger when the temperature detected by the first detection unit is high in comparison with when the detected temperature is low, and when the storage amount of NO.sub.x in the NSR catalyst is larger than the predetermined NO.sub.x amount, performs the rich spike processing and then controls the air fuel ratio to the stoichiometric air fuel ratio, whereas when otherwise, controls the air fuel ratio to the stoichiometric air fuel ratio without performing the rich spike processing.

A method is disclosed for operating an internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle in which exhaust gas from the internal combustion engine is fed to at least one catalytic converter in an emission control system of the motor vehicle. A power that the internal combustion engine can supply is adjusted via a control device of the motor vehicle as a function of an emission of at least one pollutant contained in the exhaust gas into an environment of the motor vehicle. A quantity of a volumetric percentage of the at least one catalytic converter causing the at least one pollutant to be converted is ascertained, and the power supplied by the internal combustion engine is adjusted as a function of said quantity of the volumetric percentage.

A twin charged engine is provided comprising a catalytic converter; a first compressor which, when operated, increases engine load; a second compressor which extracts energy from the exhaust gases to increase the overall engine efficiency; and a controller configured to operate one of at least two modes. A first mode is a standard operating mode in which the system is configured to optimise the efficiency of running of the engine. A second mode is for use under special conditions.