Patent 7347043 was granted and assigned to Toyota on March, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The exhaust gas purifier includes a fuel addition valve, an NOx catalytic converter, and a catalyst loaded PM filter. The catalyst temperature of catalyst loaded PM filter is increased to a target temperature by adding fuel to the exhaust gas from fuel addition valve, whereby PM trapped on the filter is purified. When the NOx catalytic converter is deteriorated, the target catalyst temperature of catalyst loaded PM filter is changed to a value larger than the target catalyst temperature when the NOx catalytic converter is in a normal state.