Catalytic Method

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to improved systems and methods for controlling emissions from internal combustion engines. In one specific aspect, the present invention relates to improving catalyst converter light-off performance following engine cold start. In another specific aspect, the present invention relates to efficient and effective control of emissions at highway speeds.

2. Brief Description of the Prior Art

Automotive emissions are still a major environmental problem despite major advances in emissions control resulting from the use of catalytic converters. First and most important, pollution is not controlled during the initial sixty to ninety or more seconds of operation after cold starting (weather dependent) required to heat the converter catalyst to an effective operating temperature. In addition, emissions are not controlled at typical high load highway speeds (above the range covered by the Federal Test Procedure (FTP)) at which engines must also run sufficiently fuel rich that effective and efficient operation of the catalytic converter is impaired by the lack of sufficient oxygen. As is well established in the art, an engine must operate within about one percent of the stoichiometric fuel/air ratio if all three exhaust pollutants, hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxide are to be efficiently reacted by the catalytic converter. This typically requires closed loop control using an exhaust gas lambda sensor. Even with as little as one to three percent excess fuel, hydrocarbon emissions can be excessive. No.sub.X control is impaired with less than one percent excess air.

To meet the emission levels required by new regulations such as the California ULEV standards, it is critical that effective and efficient operation of the catalyst be achieved in less than about twenty or thirty seconds after engine starting, especially with larger engines. However, in present converters heating of the catalyst to an effective temperature by hot engine exhaust gases typically takes more than sixty seconds, even with close coupling of the catalyst to the engine. Provided sufficient oxygen is present in the exhaust, the required fast light-off can be achieved by using electrically preheated catalysts, close coupled catalysts with much higher precious metal loadings to reduce light-off temperature or most advantageously the fast light-off catalysts of my U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,933 which have demonstrated fast light-off even without close coupling to the engine. Typically however, during the first thirty or so seconds of operation, the engine operates rich (ie with insufficient air to consume all the fuel, typically with lambda values much lower than 0.95 or even 0.85) resulting in exhaust gas with insufficient oxygen for adequate catalytic conversion of hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide. To achieve efficient conversion of all three pollutants, stoichiometry must be very close to a lambda value of one, with a lambda even as high as about 1.01 (1% excess air) NO.sub.X conversion is minimal and with a lambda of 0.98 (excess fuel) hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide conversion are seriously impaired. Thus, even with the various means which have been developed for rapid catalyst light-off, only partial conversion of hydrocarbons is possible without the presence of sufficient oxygen in the exhaust gases, ie. exhaust gas lambda must be higher than about 0.98.

Efficient means to supply "sufficient" oxygen (hereinafter air) in the exhaust stream has not been developed. For any catalyst to operate at its required conversion level sufficient air must be available. "Sufficient air" is air quantities sufficient to allow achievement of required conversion levels. "Suitable air" is sufficient air that limits cooling of the exhaust gases. Current technology typically provides sufficient air by means of an air pump to add the air needed for conversion to the exhaust gas. Addition of air to the exhaust is difficult to regulate and requires additional engine hardware. Moreover, the air is at ambient temperature and thus tends to cool the exhaust stream to the catalyst, in addition there is often either too little air added to support adequate conversion or too much such that NO.sub.X conversion is impaired.

To avoid the need for air addition, there have been efforts to limit the initial period of low lambda engine operation to less than thirty seconds. Although there has been some success in reducing the duration of low lambda operation for mild ambient air temperatures, engines must start even at winter temperatures and still achieve low emissions. In addition, emissions must also be controlled at highway speeds where very low lambda operation is often needed for engine cooling.

The present invention meets the need to control internal combustion engine emissions during periods of rich operation by providing a method of engine operation which utilizes the engine itself to provide oxygen for catalyst operation during such rich burn operation by balancing rich burn cylinder firings with compensating lean burn firings. The invention offers the advantage over the prior art of allowing for addition of more suitable air to the exhaust, air at a temperature greater than ambient and with greater regulation. Thus, the present invention allows much more rapid light-off of fast light-off or close coupled converter catalysts after engine starting, and also allows for emissions control at high speed/high power conditions for which low lambda operation provides required engine cooling. The latter aspect of this invention is especially important in view of the new USO6 standards which require emissions control at speeds above those for the present FTP test. In the method of the present invention as applied to engine cooling, not only is an engine exhaust composition provided which allows suitable emissions control but all cylinder firings impose less thermal loading than if operated at stoichiometric ratios.

It has now been found that during low lambda operation of multi-cylinder internal combustion engines, such as during cold starting, sufficient air for catalytic conversion of hydrocarbons can be supplied by programming periodic lean or fuel free cycles, without seriously affecting engine operability. With both fuel and air flow monitored by the engine controller, the total fuel flow is controlled such that although the majority of firing cycles may be operated full fuel rich (lambda less than about 0.95), the overall fuel-air ratio is closer to stoichiometric or even slightly on the lean side, thus assuring sufficient air in the exhaust gases for conversion of pollutants. Inasmuch as NO.sub.X production is usually insignificant during the first few seconds after cold starting, it is often desirable to have some excess air during this initial period. Therefore the present invention provides an advantageous method for control of exhaust emissions during full rich burn engine operation.

The FIG. 1 depicts schematically an internal combustion engine with a fuel injection controller for use in the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating the process of the invention.

With a sufficiently fast light-off catalyst, such as the catalysts of U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,933, using the method of the present invention allows provision of sufficient, suitable air in the exhaust gases from the engine to achieve thirty to fifty percent or more conversion of hydrocarbons in as little as twenty seconds or even ten seconds or less after engine starting thus eliminating the need for separate addition of air to the exhaust from the engine. Sixty to ninety percent or more conversion is achievable within about thirty seconds.

As is presently conventional practice, the engine is started with all cylinders operating on the rich side of stoichiometric typically with a lambda of less than 0.90. For the first few revolutions of the engine all cylinders are operated on the rich side of stoichiometry such as to give the most stable operation. In the method of the present invention, once the engine achieves basic stability as indicated for example by a predetermined idle speed or the achievement of a predetermined block temperature, typically within about two to five seconds, the stoichiometry of selected cylinder power strokes is shifted towards the lean side of stoichiometric with the rich burn firings preferably operated at a lambda value of 0.85 or less to assure presence of hydrogen in the exhaust gases. The presence of hyrogen enables catalyst light-off at a lower temperature than otherwise.

Typically, no more than one cylinder per bank is fueled lean during a given revolution of the engine particularly if the engine bank has four or fewer cylinders as in a V6 or V8 engine. Basic stability is typically indicated by achievement of a critical speed sufficient to allow some alteration in the stoichiometry of selected cylinder power strokes (engine dependent).

To maximize exhaust gas temperature during cold engine starting and thus promote faster catalyst light-off, it is often advantageous to initially operate the lean burn firings closer to stoichiometric than the value needed to supply all the oxygen required for complete conversion of pollutants. During the cold start sequence, stoichiometry of the rich burn firing cycles may gradually shift from the initial rich value to a final value closer to stoichiometric where conventional closed loop lambda control takes over as is the normal practice. Thus, during cold starting the amount of excess air needed from lean cylinder firings is correspondingly reduced. However, it may be desirable to maintain the rich burn firings at a high full rich stoichiometry for about ten to fifteen or twenty seconds to provide a more catalytically reactive exhaust composition, i.e. containing a significant concentration of hydrogen. This approach is particularly useful in winter weather conditions. Optimization of the required fuel injection control is engine dependent and readily achievable by those skilled in engine control systems.

For control of emissions when low lambda operation is required for engine cooling, lean burn power strokes permit supplying sufficient oxygen to the exhaust gases for continued control of hydrocarbons without impairment of NO.sub.X control especially if a universal oxygen sensor is used as the lambda sensor. However, for maximum cooling it is often desirable to substitute random or rotating unfueled "power strokes" which may require the use of a catalytic converter with more oxygen storage capacity than would otherwise be required.

Preferably, both individual cylinder and overall stoichiometry are monitored. Although it is especially advantageous to utilize direct in-cylinder injection of fuel to obtain superior control of individual cylinder stoichiometry on each firing cycle in transient operation of the engine, conventional fuel injection techniques may be used.

In the accompanying figures, each cylinder of spark ignition engine 10 are fueled by individual fuel supply lines 11, 12, 13, and 14 such that fueling for each cylinder by fuel injection pump 21 from supply tank 23 is independently controllable by microprocessor based engine controller 22 capable of operating different cylinders at different fuel/air ratios. Such controllers are used on automotive engines for both open and-closed loop control of engine fueling and in addition have been used to achieve traction control by limiting engine output or to minimize vibration and function by controlling the number of fueled cylinders; see for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,172,434; 4,489,695; 4,951,773 and 5,287,279. Controller 22, for example, can be based on a microprocessor such a Compuadd Model 320 with an Intel 80386 processor operating at 20 MHZ.

Controller 22 is coupled to receive information from ambient air temperature sensor 41, camshaft position/engine speed sensor 25, engine block temperature sensor 15, air flow meter 20 and lambda sensor 30, preferably a universal oxygen sensor, in insulated engine exhaust pipe 31. Treated exhaust exits through pipe 33. In accordance with the art, controller 22 is programmed in the conventional manner to control the injection timing using input from position sensor 25 and the air-fuel ratio by control of the amount of fuel injected from injection pump 21 based on the air flow as measured by meter 20 and in normal closed loop control as corrected based on the signal from lambda sensor 30 to maintain lambda between about 0.99 and 1.005. For this invention, however, controller 22 is given an additional operating function. When the engine must operate in a low lambda mode as signaled by block temperature sensor 15 that the block temperature is below a predetermined temperature or above a predetermined safe value, then in addition to evaluating the fuel/air ratio at which the engine is operating using the known values of air flow from sensor 20 as corrected for the air temperature as measured by sensor 41 and the now increased fuel being injected, controller 22 relates this ratio to the oxygen needs of the catalytic converter 32 containing an oxidation catalyst, typically a three way catalyst. Controller 22 then calculates the oxygen deficiency in the exhaust gas 51 during low lambda operation as for example based on a running average of the fuel/air ratio of the full rich firing cycles, such as over the previous three to twenty-five firing cycles, a deficiency in oxygen that limits performance of the catalytic converter 32. Controller 22 will then calculate a make-up air requirement. Controller 22 typically its using stored engine performance data will then calculate an optimum fueling sequence to maximize engine performance whereby selected cylinder power strokes are operated lean or unfueled to provide the necessary air for converter operation. Then, as appropriate, controller 22 directs injection pump 21 to inject a less than stoichiometric amount of fuel (as little as zero) for each selected cylinder power stroke. It is envisioned that the added functioning of Controller 22 would operate during the two dominate operational modes where the engine is running in a low lambda regime- cold engine starting and high load engine operation.

Cold Start Operation

In the cold starting operational mode the invention would operate as follows. On cold starting, the engine would initially operate rich in the conventional manner. For engine starting, controller 22 is programmed to bring the engine to a predetermined idle speed with cylinder combustion stoichiometries as appropriate for the prevailing ambient and engine block temperatures. It should be understood that a warmed up engine or a high ambient temperature requires less fuel enrichment of the combustion air than is needed for very cold starts. At this pre-determined idle speed if the engine is not running at or near stoichiometric, controller 22 would calculate a make-up air requirement based on the known requirements of the catalytic converter 32. Controller 22 would then determine for each cylinder power stroke a specific fuel/air mixture ratio, which for the selected lean cylinder power strokes could be as low a zero, so that air would added to the exhaust gas 51 from the selected power stroke. Controller 22 would then direct injection pump 21 to provide the appropriate amount of fuel or no fuel. When the engine reaches a predetermined temperature, as indicated by temperature sensor 15, at which rich burning cylinders will sustain near stoichiometric operation, conventional stoichiometric operation may be established.

High Speed/High Load Rich-Burn

For high load, high speed operation, needed engine temperature control is achieved without sacrificing emissions control by again operating with combinations of full rich and lean burn or fuel free firing cycles. For such operation, the Controller 22 is programmed to operate with full rich combustion during predetermined engine operating loads or on receipt of a signal from temperature sensor 41 that the engine is running above a pre-determined temperature. Accordingly, upon receiving a signal from block temperature sensor 41 indicating an over temperature condition, controller 22 operates to provide a combination of low lambda (fuel rich) and fuel free cylinder firings to achieve overall near stoichiometric fuel/air ratios along sufficiently rich individual cylinder firings to minimize engine overheating in conjunction with the balancing fuel free firings. Upon reduction of engine temperature to a predetermined temperature, the output signal ceases and all cylinders revert to conventional stoichiometric closed loop control.