An exhaust purification system comprising an exhaust purification catalyst, a downstream side air-fuel ratio sensor, and a control device performing air-fuel ratio control for controlling an air-fuel ratio of exhaust gas and abnormality diagnosis control for diagnosing the downstream side air-fuel ratio sensor. In the air-fuel ratio control, the control device alternately and repeatedly switches the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas flowing into the exhaust purification catalyst between a rich air-fuel ratio and a lean air-fuel ratio. In the abnormality diagnosis control, the control device judges that the downstream side air-fuel ratio sensor has become abnormal when the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas is made the rich air-fuel ratio by the air-fuel control and the output air-fuel ratio of the downstream side air-fuel ratio sensor changes from an air-fuel ratio richer than a predetermined lean judged air-fuel ratio to an lean air-fuel ratio.

When the air fuel ratio dither control is carried out, an air fuel ratio of a mixture in each of one or more lean cylinders and one or more rich cylinders is controlled so that an average value of an air fuel ratio of exhaust gas flowing into the three-way catalyst becomes a predetermined target exhaust gas air fuel ratio. At this time, the air fuel ratio dither control is carried out by setting, as the one or more rich cylinders, at least a cylinder for which a degree of uniformity of the flow speed distribution of exhaust gas, which is a degree of uniformity of the flow speed distribution of exhaust gas discharged from that cylinder on a cross section of the three-way catalyst, is the lowest in the cylinder group of an internal combustion engine.

An exhaust purification system of an internal combustion engine which has a plurality of cylinders is comprised of an exhaust purification catalyst, a downstream side air-fuel ratio sensor, and a control device which controls the average air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas and the combustion air-fuel ratios of the cylinders. The control device performs average air-fuel ratio control where it alternately controls the average air-fuel ratio between the rich air-fuel ratio and the lean air-fuel ratio and inter-cylinder air-fuel ratio control where it controls the combustion air-fuel ratios of the cylinders so that the combustion air-fuel ratio becomes the rich air-fuel ratio at least at one cylinder among the plurality of cylinders even when the average air-fuel ratio is controlled to the lean air-fuel ratio by average air-fuel ratio control. In average air-fuel ratio control, the average air-fuel ratio is controlled so that the lean shift amount when controlling the average air-fuel ratio to the lean air-fuel ratio becomes smaller than the rich shift amount when controlling the average air-fuel ratio to the rich air-fuel ratio.

The invention relates to a method to heat exhaust gases to a selected specific temperature by fuel injection control in an internal combustion engine (112), which engine comprises a control unit (115) registering the currently requested load and determining a required fuel amount in response to the requested load. The method involves registering low load operation of the internal combustion engine; registering an input from at least one exhaust after-treatment system (121) sensor indicating a detected condition; determining an exhaust temperature requirement for the detected condition and calculating a target exhaust temperature; selecting a group of cylinders to be regulated for achieving the target exhaust temperature; calculating a ratio for desired 1.sup.st and 2.sup.nd fuel amounts to be injected alternately in consecutive induction strokes for the selected group of cylinders to achieve the target exhaust temperature; wherein the ratio defines an offset between an increased 1.sup.st fuel amount to be injected in a cylinder of the selected group of cylinders for every second induction stroke, and a reduced 2.sup.nd fuel amount to be injected for the intermediate induction strokes.

When an amount of PM trapped by a GPF is large and a request for regeneration is made, a CPU determines whether an execution condition for executing a temperature increasing process is satisfied. At a point in time t1, at which the execution condition is satisfied, the CPU executes a scavenging process to assign 1 to a condition satisfaction flag Ftr, cause the air-fuel ratio of air-fuel mixture in cylinders #1, #3, and #4 to be the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio, and stop a combustion operation in a cylinder #2. After a point in time t2, which is after a combustion cycle, the CPU executes a temperature increasing process. The temperature increasing process causes the air-fuel ratio of the air-fuel mixture in the cylinders #1, #3, and #4 to be richer than the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio, and stops the combustion operation in the cylinder #2.

The invention relates to a method to heat exhaust gases to a selected specific temperature by fuel injection control in an internal combustion engine (112), which engine comprises a control unit (115) registering the currently requested load and determining a required fuel amount in response to the requested load. The method involves registering low load operation of the internal combustion engine; registering an input from at least one exhaust after-treatment system (121) sensor indicating a detected condition; determining an exhaust temperature requirement for the detected condition and calculating a target exhaust temperature; selecting a group of cylinders to be regulated for achieving the target exhaust temperature; calculating a ratio for desired 1.sup.st and 2.sup.nd fuel amounts to be injected alternately in consecutive induction strokes for the selected group of cylinders to achieve the target exhaust temperature; wherein the ratio defines an offset between an increased 1.sup.st fuel amount to be injected in a cylinder of the selected group of cylinders for every second induction stroke, and a reduced 2.sup.nd fuel amount to be injected for the intermediate induction strokes.

When an amount of PM trapped by a GPF is large and a request for regeneration is made, a CPU determines whether an execution condition for executing a temperature increasing process is satisfied. At a point in time t1, at which the execution condition is satisfied, the CPU executes a scavenging process to assign 1 to a condition satisfaction flag Ftr, cause the air-fuel ratio of air-fuel mixture in cylinders #1, #3, and #4 to be the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio, and stop a combustion operation in a cylinder #2. After a point in time t2, which is after a combustion cycle, the CPU executes a temperature increasing process. The temperature increasing process causes the air-fuel ratio of the air-fuel mixture in the cylinders #1, #3, and #4 to be richer than the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio, and stops the combustion operation in the cylinder #2.

A method for operating a drive device having a drive unit producing exhaust gas and an exhaust gas posttreatment device designed as a vehicle catalytic converter for posttreatment of the exhaust gas. A first measured value describing the residual oxygen content in the exhaust gas is measured by a first lambda sensor arranged upstream of the exhaust gas posttreatment device and a second measured value describing the residual oxygen content in the exhaust gas is measured by a second lambda sensor arranged downstream of the exhaust gas posttreatment device. The combustion air ratio of a fuel-air mixture used to operate the drive unit is set during an at least temporarily performed normal operating mode on the basis of the first measured value, the second measured value, and a threshold value for the second measured value.

A method for operating a drive device having a drive unit producing exhaust gas and an exhaust gas posttreatment device designed as a vehicle catalytic converter for posttreatment of the exhaust gas. A first measured value describing the residual oxygen content in the exhaust gas is measured by a first lambda sensor arranged upstream of the exhaust gas posttreatment device and a second measured value describing the residual oxygen content in the exhaust gas is measured by a second lambda sensor arranged downstream of the exhaust gas posttreatment device. The combustion air ratio of a fuel-air mixture used to operate the drive unit is set during an at least temporarily performed normal operating mode on the basis of the first measured value, the second measured value, and a threshold value for the second measured value.

A control system of an internal combustion engine comprises an air-fuel ratio sensor 40, 41 detecting an air-fuel ratio of exhaust gas, a current detecting device 61 detecting an output current of the air-fuel ratio sensor, a voltage applying device 60 applying voltage to the air-fuel ratio sensor, and a voltage control part 81 configured to control voltage applied to the air-fuel ratio sensor through the voltage applying device. The voltage control part is configured to set the applied voltage to a reference voltage determined so that the output current becomes zero when an air-fuel ratio of inflowing exhaust gas flowing into the air-fuel ratio sensor is a stoichiometric air-fuel ratio, and correct the reference voltage so that the output current detected by the current detecting device becomes zero when it is judged that the air-fuel ratio of the inflowing exhaust gas is the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio.