Patent ID: 8661790

Claim:
An exhaust gas treatment system for an internal combustion engine, comprising: an exhaust gas conduit in fluid communication with, and configured to receive an exhaust gas from the internal combustion engine, the exhaust gas containing oxides of nitrogen (“NO x ”); an upstream selective catalytic reduction (“SCR”) device in fluid communication with the exhaust gas conduit and configured to receive the exhaust gas; an electrically heated catalyst (“EHC”) device in fluid communication with the exhaust gas conduit and configured to receive the exhaust gas, the EHC device located downstream of the upstream SCR device and selectively activated to produce heat, the EHC device including a monolith; an oxidation catalyst (“OC”) device in fluid communication with the exhaust gas conduit, the OC device selectively heated by the EHC device, and wherein at least one of the monolith of the EHC device and the OC device have a NO x adsorber catalyst disposed thereon for adsorbing NO x below a threshold temperature and substantially releasing NO x above the threshold temperature; a downstream SCR device in fluid communication with the exhaust gas conduit and configured to receive the exhaust gas, the downstream SCR device being located downstream of the OC device, the downstream SCR device including a downstream SCR activation temperature based on a downstream SCR temperature profile, the downstream SCR activation temperature indicating the downstream SCR device is within a specified range of a respective-light-off temperature of the downstream SCR device; and a control module in communication with the EHC device, the control module comprising: a computer processor; a control logic for determining the downstream SCR temperature profile; a control logic for activating the EHC device if the downstream SCR temperature profile is above the downstream SCR activation temperature; and a control logic for deactivating the EHC device if the OC temperature is above the threshold temperature.