Patent ID: 6976355

Claim:
An exhaust-gas cleaning device for an engine, said exhaust-gas cleaning device comprising: an HC-adsorbing catalytic converter disposed in an exhaust passage, the HC-adsorbing catalytic converter including: an HC-adsorbing material which adsorbs HC contained in exhaust gas and releases adsorbed HC as temperature increases; an oxygen storage material which occludes oxygen when the concentration of oxygen in the exhaust gas is high and releases occluded oxygen as the oxygen concentration drops; and an oxidizing catalytic metal which oxidizes HC released from the HC-adsorbing material; and an oxygen concentration controller which controls the oxygen concentration in the exhaust gas on the upstream side of the HC-adsorbing catalytic converter in such a manner that oxygen is released from the oxygen storage material when the engine is in an operating condition in which HC is released from the HC-adsorbing material, said oxygen concentration controller including an air-fuel ratio controller for controlling average air-fuel ratio in a combustion chamber of the engine, wherein the air-fuel ratio controller controls the engine in such a manner that a value corresponding to the ratio between the oxygen concentration and the concentration of a reducing agent contained in the exhaust gas flowing into the HC-adsorbing catalytic converter becomes appropriate for creating an exhaust gas atmosphere which is obtained by burning a mixture at an average air-fuel ratio between 13.5 and 14.5 in the combustion chamber so that oxygen is released from the oxygen storage material when the engine is in the operating condition in which HC is released from the HC-adsorbing material.