METHOD FOR OPERATING A NITROGEN OXIDE STORAGE-TYPE CATALYTIC CONVERTER ON A MOTOR VEHICLE TAKING INTO ACCOUNT REGIONAL FUEL QUALITIES

摘要

The fuel qualities for vehicles differ, for example, in Europe on a regional basis. This applies in particular to the sulphur content of the fuel. If vehicles with modern lean engines or with diesel engines which are equipped with nitrogen oxide storage-type catalytic converters in order to reduce the nitrogen oxide content in their exhaust gas pass through regions with a sulphur content in the fuel which is above the sulphur content which is specified for the vehicle, the engine controller will correspondingly frequently initiate desulphurization of the storage-type catalytic converter after the vehicle has been refuelled with this fuel. Any desulphurization entails an increased level of fuel consumption and greater ageing of the catalytic converter. It is proposed to avoid these adverse effects in that in lean motors the engine controller switches to stoichiometric operation in such a case, and in a diesel engine said engine controller prevents the desulphurization. The information about the region in which the vehicle is moving at a particular time can be transmitted to the engine controller by a navigation system.