Patent ID: 8402747

Claim:
A method for heating at least one catalytic converter arranged in an exhaust gas channel of an internal combustion engine, comprising the step of combining, during a predetermined time interval including a plurality of consecutive combustion cycles of the engine: at least one chemical heating measure including non-combusted fuel, which causes a temperature of the catalytic converter to increase above an original engine operating point essentially by introduction of additional chemical energy into the exhaust gas channel, with at least one thermal heating measure, which causes the temperature of the catalytic converter to increase above the original engine operating point essentially by introduction of additional thermal energy into the exhaust gas channel, so that a major fraction of the additional chemical energy is introduced into the exhaust channel during the interval before a major fraction of the additional thermal energy is introduced into the exhaust channel; wherein the at least one chemical heating measure and the at least one thermal heating measure are performed with a temporal overlap; and wherein, during the interval, increasing the additional thermal energy being introduced into the exhaust channel while simultaneously decreasing the additional chemical energy being introduced into the exhaust channel, wherein the increasing of the additional thermal energy being introduced into the exhaust channel and the simultaneous decreasing of the additional chemical energy being introduced into the exhaust channel are conducted gradually.