A two-time-scale infinite-adsorption model of three way catalytic converters during the warm-up phase

New regulations for emission control require the improvement of the system composed by spark ignition internal combustion engine and three-way catalyt ic converter (TWC). In particular, an important problem is to minimize harm ful emissions during the transient warm-up phase where the TWC is not worki ng yet and, hence, a large amount of pollutants are emitted in the air. Tow ard this goal we present a dynamical thermo-chemical TWC model simple enoug h for the design and test of warm-lip control strategies. The model is obta ined through art asymptotic approximation of a more detailed model, i.e., b y letting the adsorption coefficient between gas and substrate tend to infi nity. Further; we present a fast integration algorithm based partly on a "m ethod of linear" space-discretization, partly on the ''method of characteri stics'' for ''quasi linear" hyperbolic partial differential equations, the separation being allowed by a two time scale analysis of the system. The mo del has been identified, through a purposely designed genetic algorithm, an d validated on experimental data.