An automotive vehicle includes an internal combustion engine that combusts an air/fuel mixture thereby generating exhaust gas containing particulate matter, and an exhaust after-treatment component that collects the particulate matter. A regeneration system burns off the collected particulate matter thereby regenerating the exhaust after-treatment component. A controller obtains a model of the combustion that is based on a kinetic controlled combustion phase and a mixing controlled combustion phase, and determines a point on the model with respect to current engine conditions that indicates an amount of the particulate matter in the exhaust gas.

An object of the disclosure is to prevent the sensing accuracy of an exhaust gas sensor from being deteriorated by the effect of electromagnetic waves in an exhaust gas purification system for an internal combustion engine that is configured to apply electromagnetic waves to the exhaust gas purification device provided in an exhaust passage of the internal combustion engine. The disclosure is applied to an exhaust gas purification system for an internal combustion engine including an exhaust gas sensor located within the range of radiation of electromagnetic waves from a radiating device that radiates electromagnetic waves of a specific frequency to an exhaust gas purification device. The system suspends the radiation of electromagnetic waves from the radiating device during a sampling period in which sampling of the output value of the exhaust gas sensor is performed, even when a specific condition for performing the radiation is met.

An exhaust gas purifier is disposed in an exhaust gas passage of an engine, and includes: a DPF for capturing PM contained in exhaust gas; an SCR catalyst provided downstream of the DPF in a direction of flow of the exhaust gas, and for reducing NO.sub.x contained in the exhaust gas for purification in the presence of NH.sub.3; an inj ection unit provided between the DPF and the SCR catalyst, and for supplying urea to the SCR catalyst so as to supply NH.sub.3 to the SCR catalyst; and an AMOX provided downstream of the SCR catalyst in the direction of flow of the exhaust gas, and for removing NH.sub.3 having passed through the SCR catalyst. The DPF does not contain Pt or Pd, and contains Rh. The AMOX contains Pt.

A honeycomb structure body is constituted of a circumferential region including the outermost circumference in a cross section of the honeycomb structure body which is perpendicular to an extending direction of cells, and a central region excluding the circumferential region. The circumferential region includes a specific circumferential region in which pressure loss with soot when an amount of the deposited soot is 4 g/L is higher than the pressure loss with soot of the central region as much as 15% or more and in which an open frontal area of the circumferential region is the same as or larger than an open frontal area of the central region. In the cross section of the honeycomb structure body, a ratio of an area of the specific circumferential region is 5% or more to a total area of the circumferential region and the central region.

A particulate filter for use in an exhaust aftertreatment system includes a ceramic substrate and an ash layer deposited atop the ceramic substrate. The ash layer has a uniform ash density of at least 0.4 g/L of the ceramic substrate. A method of depositing ash layers in a particulate filter of an exhaust aftertreatment system includes providing a ceramic substrate, preconditioning the ceramic substrate, depositing at least one ash layer atop the ceramic substrate during the preconditioning, monitoring uptake of soot into the particulate filter by measuring an increase in pressure drop across the particulate filter.

A fine particle detector includes: a casing part configured to accommodate an object to be heated; an electromagnetic wave generating part configured to generate electromagnetic waves of different frequencies; at least one power sensor configured to measure powers, from the casing part, of the electromagnetic waves that have entered into the casing part; and a fine particle detection controlling part configured to determine, based on the powers of the electromagnetic waves of the different frequencies measured by the at least one power sensor, whether an accumulated amount of fine particles accumulated in the object to be heated is greater than or equal to a predetermined accumulated amount.

A plugged honeycomb structure includes a plurality of honeycomb segments, a bonding layer, and plugging portions plugging open ends of cells of the honeycomb segments. The honeycomb segments include circumferential segments and central segments. The circumferential segments include at least one specific circumferential segment in which pressure loss with soot when an amount of the deposited soot is 4 g/L is higher than the pressure loss with soot of the central segment as much as 15% or more and in which an open frontal area of the circumferential segment is the same as or larger than an open frontal area of the central segment. In a cross section of a honeycomb structure body which is perpendicular to an extending direction of the cells, a ratio of an area of the specific circumferential segment is 4% or more to a total area of the circumferential segments and the central segments.

An exhaust gas purification device for a vehicle includes a tubular enclosure having a central axis, a purification member for exhaust gases housed in the tubular enclosure, an electric heating member housed in the tubular enclosure, and a power source electrically powering the electric heating member. The electric heating member comprises a heating plate made from an electrically conductive material extending in a plane substantially perpendicular to the central axis. The heating plate has a solid center and at least two branches, each branch extending in a spiral from the solid center to a free end located near the tubular enclosure. The heating plate is permeable to the exhaust gases and comprises a network of passages for the exhaust gas generating a turbulent flow of the exhaust gases through the heating plate.

A particulate filter, including: a pillar-shaped honeycomb structure portion having a plurality of first cells extending from a first end face to a second end face, the first end face being open and the second end face being plugged, and a plurality of second cells extending from the first end face to the second end face, the first end face being plugged and the second end face being open, in which the first cells and the second cells are alternately arranged adjacent to each other with porous partition walls interposed therebetween; and a low thermal conductive layer covering a part or the whole of an outer peripheral side surface of the pillar-shaped honeycomb structure portion, the thermal conductivity in a thickness direction of the low thermal conductive layer being 0.6 W/(m.Math.K) or less.

A method for regenerating an exhaust gas filter on which soot is deposited, including sequentially conducting: a step 1 of impregnating the filter with a liquid having 50% by mass or more of a component having a boiling point of 550 C. or less when an ambient temperature in the filter is at least 40 C. lower than the boiling point; a step 2 of raising the ambient temperature in the filter after the impregnation to a temperature equal to or higher than the boiling point of the component; and a step 3 of supplying an oxygen-containing gas at a temperature exceeding 550 C. to the filter to burn the soot.