Vehicle having a powertrain control unit that reduces exhaust stream nox pursuant to duty cycle information

Abstract

A vehicle comprising a (diesel or gasoline) engine and aftertreatment system includes a powertrain control unit that identifies engine operating conditions expected to fulfill a demand for output from the engine. A first operating condition is expected to fulfill the demand with an exhaust stream having a first amount of NOx. A second operating condition is expected to fulfill the demand with an exhaust stream having a reduced amount of NOx as compared to the first amount of NOx. The powertrain control unit receives duty cycle information to control the engine to fulfill the demand per the second operating condition, yielding the reduced amount of NOx in the exhaust. Duty cycle information may include vehicle speed, location, a position sensor, a rotation sensor, ambient temperature, a characteristic feature of the duty cycle, dependency of load vs. time, information regarding an historical duty cycle, and temporal dependence of demand.