Patent ID: 11905871
Assignee: VITESCO TECHNOLOGIES GMBH
Field: Chemical engineering (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC F  B  Y | IPC B  F

Claim 9:
10. An apparatus for heating a catalytic converter arranged in an exhaust-gas tract of an internal combustion engine, the apparatus comprising:
an electric heating device; and
a temperature sensor arranged in a region of the catalytic converter adjacent to the heating device;
an air conveying device supplying a secondary air mass flow into the exhaust-gas tract at a point upstream of the catalytic converter; and
an electronic control unit programmed to:
activate the electric heating device with a specified heating power at a time before the internal combustion engine is started;
monitor the catalyst temperature in a region of the catalytic converter adjacent the heating device;
before the catalyst temperature has reached a predetermined first threshold value, suppler a secondary air mass flow with a first flow rate is supplied into the exhaust-gas tract upstream of the catalytic converter; and
after the catalyst temperature has reached the predetermined first threshold value, increase the secondary air mass flow to a second flow rate greater than the first flow rate.