Patent ID: 8826647

Claim:
An exhaust system, comprising: a particulate filter that includes an electric heater; and an electronic control module including operative logic which when implemented estimates a stress level of a substrate of the particulate filter, and is configured to: estimate the stress level of the particulate filter substrate; generate a signal indicative of the estimated stress level; evaluate whether the estimated stress level signal is below a predetermined threshold; determine a regeneration stage based on the stress level signal evaluation; generate an early stage regeneration signal if the estimated stress level signal is determined to be below the predetermined threshold; perform an early stage regeneration, based on the early stage regeneration signal, by flowing current to a first zone of the electric heater; generate a late stage regeneration signal when the early stage regeneration is complete; and perform a late stage regeneration, based on the late stage regeneration signal, by flowing current to a second zone of the heater.