Exhaust gas cleaning device for internal combustion engine

An exhaust gas cleaning device for collecting exhaust particulates contained within exhaust gases discharged from an internal combustion engine, and burning off the collected exhaust particulates, comprising:

• a casing provided in an exhaust gas of said internal combustion engine;
• a filter member, within said casing, for collecting exhaust particulates within said exhaust gases;
• an electrically heating member for heating and igniting said exhaust particulates collected by said filter member, which heating member is positioned upstream of said filter member;
• means for detecting an amount of exhaust particulates collected by said filter means;
• a heating member control means for operating said heating member when said detecting means detects a predetermined collected amount of exhaust particulates;
• a by-pass passage for permitting exhaust gases to by-pass said filter member, which communicates with the upstream end portion and the downstream end portion of said casing;
• and
• a valve plate member which can be positioned either for closing said by-pass passage and flowing all of the exhaust gases into said filter member or opening said by-pass passage to flow almost all of the exhaust gases into said by-pass passage while permitting a small amount of exhaust gases to flow into said filter member;
• and
• valve control means for controlling the position of said valve plate member such that the by-pass passage is closed when the particulate amount is under said predetermined amount, and the by-pass passage is opened to a degree determined by the amount of exhaust gas discharged by the engine when the particulate amount is above said predetermined amount.