Patent ID: 7584606

Claim:
A method of assisting the regeneration of a depollution device associated with an oxidation catalyst, and integrated in an exhaust line of a motor vehicle diesel engine, and in which the engine is associated with a common rail for feeding fuel to the cylinders of the engine and adapted, at constant torque, to implement a strategy of regeneration by injecting fuel into the cylinders in at least one postinjection, the method comprising: detecting a request for regeneration and thus for postinjection; detecting that the vehicle accelerator pedal is being raised; acquiring the temperature downstream from the oxidation catalyst; determining, on the basis of said temperature, a maximum duration for applying postinjections during a stage in which the main injections are stopped and the engine is returning to idling as a result of the accelerator pedal being raised; and immediately cutting off the postinjections as soon as the duration of postinjection use has reached the predetermined maximum duration of application during this stage in which the main injections are stopped and the engine is returning to idling as a result of the accelerator pedal being raised, so as to limit the quantities of fuel that are postinjected when temperature levels in the exhaust line are unfavorably low.