DOSING CONTROL SYSTEMS AND METHODS

• US 20110047971A1
• Filed: 06/08/2010
• Published: 03/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations Incorporated (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Shetney, Justin A., Mullins, Jason Daniel, Darr, Rebecca J., Crawford, Kyle E., Jasinkiewicz, Paul
• Granted Patent: US 8,413,427 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 60/274
• CPC Class Codes: F01N 2610/02 the substance being ammonia or urea
• CPC Class Codes: F01N 2610/10 the substance being heated, e.g. by heating tank or supply line of the added substance
• CPC Class Codes: F01N 2610/1433 Pumps
• CPC Class Codes: F01N 2610/144 Control thereof
• CPC Class Codes: F01N 2900/0408 using a feed-back loop
• CPC Class Codes: F01N 2900/1821 Injector parameters
• CPC Class Codes: F01N 3/208 Control of selective catalytic reduction [SCR], e.g. dosing of reducing agent
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 50/20 Air quality improvement or preservation, e.g. vehicle emission control or emission reduction by using catalytic converters
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/12 Improving ICE efficiencies

Abstract

A dosing control system for a vehicle includes a pump control module and an enabling/disabling module. The pump control module controls a pump that provides dosing agent to a dosing agent injector located upstream of a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalyst in an exhaust system. The enabling/disabling module disables the pump for a predetermined melting period after engine startup when the dosing agent is frozen and selectively activates the pump during the predetermined melting period to cool the dosing agent injector when a tip temperature of the dosing agent injector is greater than a predetermined temperature.

Claims

1. A dosing control system for a vehicle, comprising:

a pump control module that controls a pump that provides dosing agent to a dosing agent injector located upstream of a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalyst in an exhaust system; and

an enabling/disabling module that disables the pump for a predetermined melting period after engine startup when the dosing agent is frozen and that selectively activates the pump during the predetermined melting period to cool the dosing agent injector when a tip temperature of the dosing agent injector is greater than a predetermined temperature.

2. The dosing control system of claim 1 wherein the enabling/disabling module disables the pump when the tip temperature is greater than the predetermined temperature for more than a predetermined period.

3. The dosing control system of claim 1 further comprising an injector control module that controls injection of the dosing agent,

wherein the enabling/disabling module disables the injection of the dosing agent during the predetermined melting period when the dosing agent is frozen and selectively enables the injection of dosing agent during the predetermined melting period.

4. The dosing control system of claim 3 further comprising:

a monitoring module that monitors an amount of dosing agent injected during a particulate filter regeneration that occurs during the predetermined melting period; and

a dosing reduction module that selectively reduces the injection of dosing agent after the particulate filter regeneration based on the amount.

5. The dosing control system of claim 4 further comprising a savings module that determines a saved amount of dosing agent injected during the reduced injection,

wherein the dosing reduction module selectively reduces the injection of the dosing agent further based on the saved amount.

6. The dosing control system of claim 5 wherein the dosing reduction module reduces the injection of dosing agent based on a difference between the amount and the saved amount.

7. The dosing control system of claim 4 wherein the dosing reduction module selectively reduces the injection of dosing agent further based on an initial temperature within a dosing agent tank measured when the dosing agent is frozen.

8. The dosing control system of claim 3 wherein the enabling/disabling module selectively enables the injection of dosing agent based on the tip temperature.

9. The dosing control system of claim 8 wherein the enabling/disabling module selectively enables the injection of dosing agent when the tip temperature is greater than a predetermined temperature.

10. The dosing control system of claim 1 further comprising a temperature estimation module that estimates the tip temperature based on an exhaust temperature measured between an oxidation catalyst and a particulate filter, an exhaust flow rate, and an amount of dosing agent injected.

11. A dosing control method for a vehicle, comprising:

controlling a pump that provides dosing agent to a dosing agent injector located upstream of a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalyst in an exhaust system;

disabling the pump for a predetermined melting period after engine startup when the dosing agent is frozen;

and selectively activating the pump during the predetermined melting period and cooling the dosing agent injector when a tip temperature of the dosing agent injector is greater than a predetermined temperature.

12. The dosing control method of claim 11 further comprising disabling the pump when the tip temperature is greater than the predetermined temperature for more than a predetermined period.

13. The dosing control method of claim 11 further comprising:

controlling injection of the dosing agent;

disabling the injection of the dosing agent during the predetermined melting period when the dosing agent is frozen; and

selectively injecting dosing agent during the predetermined melting period.

14. The dosing control method of claim 13 further comprising:

monitoring an amount of dosing agent injected during a particulate filter regeneration that occurs during the predetermined melting period; and

selectively reducing the injection of dosing agent after the particulate filter regeneration based on the amount.

15. The dosing control method of claim 14 further comprising:

determining a saved amount of dosing agent injected during the reduced injection; and

selectively reducing the injection of the dosing agent further based on the saved amount.

16. The dosing control method of claim 15 further comprising reducing the injection of dosing agent based on a difference between the amount and the saved amount.

17. The dosing control method of claim 14 further comprising selectively reducing the injection of dosing agent further based on an initial temperature within a dosing agent tank measured when the dosing agent is frozen.

18. The dosing control method of claim 13 further comprising selectively enabling the injection of dosing agent based on the tip temperature.

19. The dosing control method of claim 18 further comprising injecting the dosing agent when the tip temperature is greater than a predetermined temperature.

20. The dosing control method of claim 11 further comprising estimating the tip temperature based on an exhaust temperature measured between an oxidation catalyst and a particulate filter, an exhaust flow rate, and an amount of dosing agent injected.