# US 9,194,273 B2 · Apparatus, system, and method for aftertreatment control and diagnostics > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 9,194,273 B2 - Document ID: US9194273B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 13/541,137 - Filed: 2012-07-03 - Published: 2014-01-09 - Granted: 2015-11-24 - Earliest claimed: 2008-10-31 - Assignees: Cummins Inc. - Applicants: John M. Janssen; Frederick H. Lindner; Matthew L. Schneider - Inventors: John M. Janssen; Frederick H. Lindner; Matthew L. Schneider - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US9194273B2 ## CPC - F01N 11/00: Monitoring or diagnostic devices for exhaust-gas treatment apparatus - F01N 3/0814: {combined with catalytic converters, e.g. NOx absorption/storage reduction catalysts} - F01N 3/106: {Auxiliary oxidation catalysts} - F01N 3/206: {Adding periodically or continuously substances to exhaust gases for promoting purification, e.g. catalytic material in liquid form, NOx reducing agents} - F01N 9/005: {using models instead of sensors to determine operating characteristics of exhaust systems, e.g. calculating catalyst temperature instead of measuring it directly} - F01N 3/035: with catalytic reactors - F01N 3/2066: {Selective catalytic reduction [SCR]} - F01N 13/008: {Mounting or arrangement of exhaust sensors in or on exhaust apparatus (sensor arrangements for engine control F02D41/1439)} - F01N 13/009: {having two or more separate purifying devices arranged in series} - F01N 2250/02: filtering and catalytic conversion - F01N 2550/00: Monitoring or diagnosing the deterioration of exhaust systems - F01N 2550/02: Catalytic activity of catalytic converters - F01N 2550/03: of sorbing activity of adsorbents or absorbents - F01N 2550/04: Filtering activity of particulate filters - F01N 2550/05: Systems for adding substances into exhaust - F01N 2560/02: the means being an exhaust gas sensor - F01N 2560/021: for measuring or detecting ammonia NH3 - F01N 2560/05: the means being a particulate sensor - F01N 2560/14: having more than one sensor of one kind - F01N 2610/02: the substance being ammonia or urea - F01N 2900/0416: using the state of a sensor, e.g. of an exhaust gas sensor - F01N 2900/1402: Exhaust gas composition - F01N 2900/1821: Injector parameters - G01M 15/10: by monitoring exhaust gases {or combustion flame} - Y02T 10/40: Engine management systems - F01N: GAS-FLOW SILENCERS OR EXHAUST APPARATUS FOR MACHINES OR ENGINES IN GENERAL; GAS-FLOW SILENCERS OR EXHAUST APPARATUS FOR INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES (arrangements in connection with gas exhaust of propulsion units in vehicles B60K13/00; combustion-air intake silencers specially adapted for, or arranged on, internal-combustion engines F02M35/00; protecting against, or damping, noise in general G10K11/16) - G01M: TESTING STATIC OR DYNAMIC BALANCE OF MACHINES OR STRUCTURES; TESTING OF STRUCTURES OR APPARATUS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR - Y02T: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO TRANSPORTATION ## Abstract A method includes providing an exhaust stream for an internal combustion engine, where the exhaust stream is fluidly coupled to an aftertreatment component. The method includes optically determining an amount of an exhaust gas constituent in the exhaust stream. The method further includes modifying a model stored on a computer readable medium in response to the amount of the exhaust gas constituent. The model is an engine NOx generation model, a catalyst NOx storage model, a catalyst NOx conversion model, a catalyst NO to NO2 conversion model, a catalyst conversion efficiency model, an engine soot generation model, and/or a urea hydrolysis model. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method comprising: providing an exhaust stream for an internal combustion engine, the exhaust stream fluidly coupled to an aftertreatment component; optically determining an amount of exhaust gas constituents in the exhaust stream during the operation of the internal combustion engine, the exhaust gas constituents comprising urea, NO, NO2 and soot; diagnosing the aftertreatment component in response to the amount of the exhaust gas constituents; and wherein diagnosing the aftertreatment component comprises: determining that a soot filter has failed in response to the optically determined amount of soot; and determining a catalyst NO to NO2 conversion effectiveness of an oxidation catalyst in response to the optically determined amount of NO and NO2. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the exhaust gas constituents further comprise NOx, and wherein diagnosing the aftertreatment component comprises determining a catalyst effectiveness. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein diagnosing the aftertreatment component further comprises determining a urea injector compliance. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein diagnosing the aftertreatment component further comprises diagnosing an injected urea composition. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the diagnosing the aftertreatment component further comprises diagnosing a composition sensor. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a size of the soot. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The method of claim 6, wherein diagnosing the aftertreatment component comprises determining that the soot filter has failed in response to the size of the soot exceeding a threshold value. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the exhaust gas constituents at a plurality of spatially divided portions along the exhaust stream and a plurality of radially divided portions around the exhaust stream. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The method of claim 8, wherein diagnosing the aftertreatment component comprises diagnosing at least one condition selected from the conditions consisting of: urea accumulation, urea mal-distribution, a urea injector failure, and a urea hydrolysis failure. ### Claim 10 An apparatus, comprising: a number of optical sensors structured to determine an amount of an exhaust gas constituent in an exhaust stream of an internal combustion engine during the operation of the internal combustion engine, wherein the number of optical sensors are spatially distributed along the exhaust stream to detect the amount of the exhaust gas constituent along the exhaust stream, the exhaust gas constituent comprising an amount of urea; and a controller including a computer processor and a computer readable memory including computer readable code, wherein when the computer readable code is executed by the computer processor it causes the controller to: determine an aftertreatment component diagnosis in response to the amount of urea along the exhaust stream; and modify a urea hydrolysis model to adjust an engine operating parameter in response to the aftertreatment component diagnosis, wherein the aftertreatment component diagnosis comprises at least one of a urea accumulation condition, a urea mal-distribution condition, a urea injector failure condition, and a urea hydrolysis failure condition. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the controller is further structured to diagnose an injected urea composition in response to the exhaust gas constituent. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the number of optical sensors are further positioned to sense radially divided portions of the exhaust stream. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the number of optical sensors includes at least three optical sensors radially distributed about the exhaust stream. ### Claim 14 An apparatus, comprising: an optical sensor structured to determine an amount of an exhaust gas constituent in an exhaust stream of an internal combustion engine during the operation of the internal combustion engine, the exhaust gas constituent comprising an amount of ammonia and an amount of NOx; and a controller including a computer processor and a computer readable memory including computer readable code, wherein when the computer readable code is executed by the computer processor it causes the controller to: determine a component performance description in response to the amount of the exhaust gas constituent determined by the optical sensor, wherein the component performance description includes an ammonia:NOx ratio; and modify at least one of a catalyst NOx storage model and a catalyst NOx conversion model of a NOx conversion catalyst in response to an actual NOx storage rate based on the amount of NOx determined by the optical sensor and the ammonia:NOx ratio to adjust an engine operating parameter in response to the component performance description, and wherein the engine operating parameter comprises a urea injection rate. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the optical sensor includes a number of optical sensors radially distributed around the exhaust stream to sense radially divided portions of the exhaust stream and axially distributed along the exhaust stream to sense axially divided portions of the exhaust stream.