Process for monitoring the operativeness of a catalytic converter

摘要

The invention relates to a process for monitoring the operativeness of a catalytic converter used to clean the exhaust gas in an internal combustion engine that is regulated by a lambda sensor through temperature measurement with a heat tone sensor exhibiting a catalytically active coating. The process provides information on both the percentage of individual, non-converted exhaust components and on the current thermal load on the catalytic converter. Readings are taken by the heat tone sensor at time intervals corresponding to the normal regulating frequency of the lambda sensor. This results in a quadratic function in which the height of the amplitude represents the percentage of non-converted individual exhaust components. The mean temperature of the catalytic converter can be inferred by rectifying the quadratic function.