NOx sensor diagnostic for an exhaust aftertreatment system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9784166-B2
Application number	US-201414586174-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 30, 2014
Priority date	Dec 30, 2014
Publication date	Oct 10, 2017
Grant date	Oct 10, 2017

Abstract

A method for diagnosing NOx sensors in an exhaust aftertreatment system includes suspending reductant dosing in an exhaust aftertreatment system; purging a reductant deposit in a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system of the exhaust aftertreatment system; adjusting at least one of an ignition timing and an engine speed for an engine to adjust an engine out nitrogen oxide (NOx) amount; receiving measured SCR inlet NOx data from a SCR inlet NOx sensor and measured SCR outlet NOx data from a SCR outlet NOx sensor; determining a phase shift between the measured SCR inlet and SCR outlet NOx data; applying the determined phase shift to the SCR outlet NOx data; and determining a diagnostic feature based on the SCR inlet NOx data and the phase shifted SCR outlet NOx data regarding a state of the SCR inlet and outlet NOx sensors.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus, comprising:
a dosing module structured to suspend dosing in an exhaust aftertreatment system; an engine module structured to provide a command to an engine to affect an engine out nitrogen oxide (NOx) amount;
a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) inlet NOx module structured to interpret a measured SCR inlet NOx data from a SCR inlet NOx sensor;
a SCR outlet NOx module structured to interpret a measured SCR outlet NOx data from a SCR outlet NOx sensor;
a phase correction module structured to determine a phase shift between the measured SCR inlet NOx data and the measured SCR outlet NOx data and apply the phase shift to the measured SCR outlet NOx amount data; and
a system diagnostic module structured to determine a diagnostic feature based on the SCR inlet NOx data and the phase shifted SCR outlet NOx data, wherein the system diagnostic module is structured to determine a state of the SCR inlet and outlet NOx sensors based on the diagnostic feature, and notify a user of the state of the SCR inlet and outlet NOx sensors, the state including at least one of an operational state and that at least one of the SCR inlet and outlet NOx sensors are faulty.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein the diagnostic feature includes a first diagnostic feature and a second diagnostic feature;
wherein the first diagnostic feature is a gain diagnostic feature, the gain diagnostic feature representing a slope of a best fit line for the phase shifted SCR outlet NOx data and the SCR inlet NOx data; and
wherein second diagnostic feature is a correlation coefficient diagnostic feature that provides an indication of a linear relationship for the SCR inlet NOx data and the phase shifted SCR outlet NOx data.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the system diagnostic module is structured to determine that at least one of the SCR inlet NOx sensor and the SCR outlet NOx sensor are in a faulty state based on the correlation coefficient diagnostic feature being less than or equal to a stuck in-range correlation coefficient diagnostic feature threshold.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the correlation coefficient diagnostic threshold is zero.

5. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the system diagnostic module is structured to determine that a faulty state exists with at least one of the SCR inlet and outlet NOx sensors based on the gain diagnostic feature being within a set of high in-range gain diagnostic feature parameters and the correlation diagnostic feature being greater than or equal to an in-range correlation coefficient diagnostic feature threshold.

6. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the system diagnostic module is structured to determine that a faulty state exists with at least one of the SCR inlet and outlet NOx sensors based on the gain diagnostic feature being at least one of greater than or equal to a high out-of-range gain diagnostic feature parameter and within a set of low out-of-range gain diagnostic feature parameters and the correlation diagnostic feature being greater than or equal to an out-of-range correlation coefficient diagnostic feature threshold.

7. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the system diagnostic module is structured to determine that a faulty state exists with at least one of the SCR inlet and outlet NOx sensors based on the gain diagnostic feature falling within a set of low in-range gain diagnostic feature parameters and the correlation diagnostic feature being greater than or equal to an in-range correlation coefficient diagnostic feature threshold.

8. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the system diagnostic module is structured to determine that the SCR inlet and outlet NOx sensors are in the operational state based on the correlation coefficient diagnostic feature being greater than or equal to an operational correlation coefficient diagnostic feature threshold and the gain diagnostic feature being within a set of operational gain diagnostic feature parameters.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the operational correlation coefficient diagnostic feature threshold is 0.98 and the set of operational gain diagnostic feature parameters is 0.90 to 1.10.

10. A system, comprising: an engine;
an exhaust aftertreatment system in exhaust gas receiving communication with the engine, wherein the exhaust aftertreatment system includes having a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system; and
a controller communicably coupled to the engine and the exhaust aftertreatment system, the controller configured to:
adjust a nitrogen oxide (NOx) amount out of the engine that is then received by the SCR system;
interpret a measured SCR inlet NOx data from a SCR inlet NOx sensor and a measured SCR outlet NOx data from a SCR outlet NOx sensor;
determine a phase shift between the measured SCR inlet and SCR outlet NOx data;
apply the determined phase shift to the SCR outlet NOx data; and
determine a diagnostic feature based on the SCR inlet NOx data and the phase shifted SCR outlet NOx data regarding a state of the SCR inlet and outlet NOx sensors, and notify a user of the state of the SCR inlet and outlet NOx sensors, the state including at least one of an operational state and that at least one of the SCR inlet and outlet NOx sensors are faulty.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the phase shift represents a duration for an amount of exhaust gas to travel from the SCR inlet NOx sensor to the SCR outlet NOx sensor.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the diagnostic feature includes a first diagnostic feature and a second diagnostic feature, wherein the first diagnostic feature is a gain diagnostic feature and the second diagnostic feature is a correlation coefficient diagnostic feature.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the gain diagnostic feature includes a slope of a best fit line for the phase shifted SCR outlet NOx data and the SCR inlet NOx data.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the correlation coefficient diagnostic feature provides an indication of a linear relationship for the SCR inlet NOx data and the phase shifted SCR outlet NOx data.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the system diagnostic module is structured to determine that the SCR inlet and outlet NOx sensors are in an operational state based on the gain diagnostic feature being within a set of operational gain diagnostic feature parameters and the correlation diagnostic feature being greater than or equal to an operational correlation coefficient diagnostic feature threshold.

Assignees

• Cummins Inc
• Cummins Inc

Inventors

• Osburn Andrew W
• Ferguson Christopher
• Hall Tony James
• Liimatta Brian P

Classifications

• Y02T10/47

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• Y02T10/24

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• F01N3/2066

  Selective catalytic reduction [SCR] · CPC title

• F01N2550/02

  Catalytic activity of catalytic converters · CPC title

• F01N2560/14

  having more than one sensor of one kind · CPC title