Patent ID: 7823377

Claim:
System for controlling the operation of a motor vehicle diesel engine associated with depollution means comprising an oxidation catalyst and arranged in an exhaust line of this engine, this catalyst having at least a non-initialized operating state and an initialized operating state, and this engine being also associated with means for supplying fuel to the cylinders thereof according to at least one injection during their expansion phase, wherein said system comprises: a single temperature sensor placed in the exhaust line of the engine downstream of the catalyst to measure the temperature downstream of the catalyst; and means for controlling the means for supplying fuel to the cylinders adapted to control the commutation of the phasing and/or of the amount of fuel injected during the expansion phase between a first initialization value of the catalyst and a second initialized operating state-maintaining value as a function of the measurement of the temperature downstream of the catalyst, wherein the control means comprise: means for estimating the operating state of the catalyst as a function of the temperature downstream of the catalyst; and driving means adapted to drive the commutation between said first and second initialization and initialized state-maintaining values as a function of the operating state of the catalyst estimated according to a predetermined commutation law, and wherein the means for estimating the operating state of the catalyst comprise: means for forming the time derivative of the temperature measurement downstream of the catalyst; and means forming a derivative/temperature map adapted to estimate the operating state of the catalyst as a function of the localization of the temperature measurement downstream of the catalyst and of its derivative, in a predetermined derivative/temperature map zone including at least (i) a first operating zone, representative of the non-initialized operating state of the catalyst, and (ii) a second operating zone, representative of the initialized operating state of the catalyst.