Probability density diagnostic metric for an integrated three-way catalyst controller and monitor

An integrated model-based methodology for three-way automotive catalyst control and diagnostic monitoring is presented in this work. The catalyst controller and monitor both utilize a limited integrator catalyst oxygen storage model with an adaptive integral gain. This adaptive catalyst gain, which is a measure of the catalyst oxygen storage capacity, is used by the controller to provide information on the dynamic catalyst behaviour and by the diagnostic monitor to provide information on long-term catalyst deactivation and short-term emission control device failure. A statistical classification technique based on the fraction of time that the catalyst gain values in a moving window are within a threshold of zero is employed as the test metric for on-board diagnostic monitoring. The performance of the catalyst monitor is demonstrated with experimental vehicle test data from a 4.6 1 ULEV II gasoline engine operated over a series of Environmental Protection Agency Federal Test Procedure drive cycles with differently aged catalysts. Preliminary results indicate that it is possible to perform very accurate discrimination between catalyst operation, even near the on-board diagnostic detection threshold, using this technique.