A temperature estimation module applied to a control apparatus for an internal combustion engine is configured to execute a virtual temperature estimation process that estimates a virtual temperature, which is a temperature of an exhaust purifying device under an assumption that a dither control process is not executed, based on an operation point of the internal combustion engine during execution of the dither control process. The temperature estimation module is further configured to execute an actual temperature estimation process that estimates an actual temperature of the exhaust purifying device based on a difference between the air-fuel ratio of a rich combustion cylinder and the air-fuel ratio of a lean combustion cylinder and based on the operation point of the internal combustion engine during execution of the dither control process.

This exhaust purification system includes: a pump disposed in an exhaust-side purge passage to supply air or purge gas purged from a canister to a catalyst; a three-way valve disposed upstream of the pump in the exhaust-side purge passage and configured to switch the exhaust-side purge passage between a communicating state allowing the pump to communicate with the canister and an atmosphere open state allowing the pump to communicate with the atmosphere; a flow control valve disposed downstream of the pump and configured to control a flow rate of air to be supplied to the catalyst; and a controller configured to, when a request to regenerate the catalyst occurs, control a purge valve, the pump, the three-way valve, and the flow control valve to supply, to the catalyst, purge gas purged from the canister and air by a necessary amount to burn particulates trapped in the catalyst.

In an opposed-piston engine which includes a catalytic aftertreatment device in its exhaust system an exhaust gas condition indicating a catalyst temperature of the aftertreatment device is monitored. When the catalyst temperature is near or below a light-off temperature, a catalyst light-off procedure is executed to elevate the temperature of the catalyst.

A controller for an internal combustion engine is configured to execute a dither control process and a filter temperature calculating process. In the dither control process, on condition that an execution request for a regeneration process of the filter is made, fuel injection valves are operated such that at least one of the cylinders is a lean combustion cylinder, and at least another one of the cylinders is a rich combustion cylinder. The filter temperature calculating process is a process of calculating the temperature of the filter to be lower when a target value of an average value of the exhaust air-fuel ratio in a predetermined period by the dither control is leaner than the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio than when the target value is the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio.

A skip fire control that relies on a combination of a torque request, exhaust temperature, and air-fuel ratio in determining firing density is described. Also, skipped firing opportunities may either pump or not pump air into an exhaust system, allowing an exhaust gas temperature in the exhaust system to be controlled or modulated. The present invention is also related to Dynamic Skip Fire (DSF), where a decision to either fire or skip cylinders is made every firing opportunity.

Start-up method for heating a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) module in a hybrid propulsion system of a vehicle, comprising an electric motor operatively connected to an internal combustion engine producing exhaust gas, both electric motor and internal combustion engine being operable to power said vehicle, and said internal combustion engine being in fluid communication with an exhaust aftertreatment system having an exhaust passage and comprising the SCR module, said SCR module being disposed in said exhaust passage downstream of said engine and said electric motor, the method comprising the steps of: operating the engine in a start-up mode with a torque restriction on the engine, allowing the SCR module to convert NOx emission; supplying a surplus amount of a reducing agent to the exhaust gas at a position between the engine and the SCR module, the surplus amount of the reducing agent being larger than a required amount of reducing agent for converting NOx emission from the engine; heating said SCR module to a working temperature; and terminating the start-up mode, thereby terminating the torque restriction on the engine and the supply of the surplus amount of the reducing agent.

A method is presented for facilitating oxygen vacancy generation in a resistive random access memory (RRAM) device. The method includes forming a RRAM stack having a first electrode and at least one sacrificial layer, encapsulating the RRAM stack with a dielectric layer, constructing a via resulting in removal of the at least one sacrificial layer of the RRAM stack, the via extending to a high-k dielectric layer of the RRAM stack, and forming a second electrode in the via such that the second electrode extends laterally into cavities defined by the removal of the at least one sacrificial layer.

A PM amount estimation device is applied to a filter that collects PM in the exhaust gas discharged to an exhaust passage of an internal combustion engine. A storage device stores mapping data which is data defining a mapping that outputs the PM amount collected by the filter. The mapping has at least one of an intake air temperature variable and a wall surface variable, and a flow rate variable as inputs. The intake air temperature variable relates to the temperature of air drawn into the engine. The wall surface variable relates to a cylinder wall surface temperature of the engine. The flow rate variable indicates the flow rate of the fluid entering the filter. The execution device calculates the PM amount based on the output of the mapping having the acquired data as an input.

A storage device stores mapping data and association data. The mapping data defines a mapping that outputs an estimated value of the temperature of a catalyst using a warm-up operation amount variable and the previous value of the estimated value as an input. The association data associates the integrated value of an intake air amount of an internal combustion engine from the startup of the engine and the temperature of the catalyst. The execution device repeatedly calculates the estimated value based on the output of the mapping. When the correspondence relationship between the integrated value and the estimated value is different from the correspondence relationship between the integrated value and the temperature of the catalyst in the association data, the warm-up process is determined to have an anomaly.

An in-vehicle control device carries out fuel cut-off for stopping fuel injection from a fuel injection valve when a prescribed fuel cut-off condition including that a lockup clutch with which a torque converter is equipped is engaged and that an accelerator is off is fulfilled. Besides, the in-vehicle control device performs a fuel cut-off suspension process for carrying out fuel injection from the fuel injection valve and releasing the lockup clutch when there is a request to suspend fuel cut-off with the accelerator off. Also, the in-vehicle control device performs a speed increase process for performing shift control of an automatic transmission such that the rotational speed of a turbine impeller with which the torque converter is equipped becomes higher while the fuel cut-off suspension process is performed than when fuel cut-off is carried out.