Method for controlling internal combustion engine and device for controlling internal combustion engine
AssigneeNissan Motor Co., Ltd.
InventorRyo Echigo
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A vehicle (1) is a hybrid vehicle including a traveling mode to travel only with the driving force of a drive motor (5). Vehicle (1) is mounted with an internal combustion engine (10) capable of being operated at an air-fuel ratio leaner than the theoretical air-fuel ratio. The operation of internal combustion engine (10) is controlled by a control unit (41). Control unit (41) is configured to determine whether to stop internal combustion engine (10) in an operation state, in consideration of the NOx adsorption ratio of a downstream-side exhaust purification catalyst (33) provided in an exhaust passage (31) of internal combustion engine (10).
Claims10
A method for controlling an internal combustion engine mounted on a hybrid vehicle configured to travel only with a driving force generated by a drive motor, wherein the internal combustion engine is configured to be selectively operated at an air-fuel ratio leaner than a theoretical air-fuel ratio, the method comprising:
- determining whether to stop operation of the internal combustion engine in an operation state at the lean air-fuel ratio, based on a NOx adsorption ratio of a NOx purification catalyst provided in an exhaust passage of the internal combustion engine,
- wherein a determination condition for stopping operation of the internal combustion engine is set to be lower as the NOx adsorption ratio is higher, and
- wherein the determination condition includes setting a vehicle electric power consumption threshold such that the higher the NOx adsorption ratio is, the higher the vehicle electric power consumption threshold is, and when an electric power consumption of the hybrid vehicle is smaller than the vehicle electric power consumption threshold, the operation of the internal combustion engine is stopped.
A device for controlling an internal combustion engine, comprising:
- the internal combustion engine mounted on a hybrid vehicle configured to travel only with a driving force generated by a drive motor, wherein the internal combustion engine is configured to be selectively operated at an air-fuel ratio leaner than a theoretical air-fuel ratio;
- and
- a control unit for controlling the internal combustion engine, wherein the control unit is configured to:
- determine whether to stop operation of the internal combustion engine in an operation state at the lean air-fuel ratio, based on a NOx adsorption ratio of a NOx purification catalyst provided in an exhaust passage of the internal combustion engine,
- set a determination condition for stopping operation of the internal combustion engine to be lower as the NOx adsorption ratio is higher,
- determine a vehicle electric power consumption threshold for stopping operation of the internal combustion engine such that the higher the NOx adsorption ratio is, the higher the vehicle electric power consumption threshold is, and
- stop the internal combustion engine in response to a determination that an electric power consumption of the hybrid vehicle is smaller than the vehicle electric power consumption threshold.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.