Optimal aftertreatment pre-heat strategy for minimum tailpipe NOx around green zones

Green zones are challenging problems for the thermal management systems of hybrid vehicles. This is because within the green zone the engine is turned off, and the only way to keep the aftertreatment system warm is lost. This means that there is a risk of leaving the green zone with a cold and ineffective aftertreatment system, resulting in high emissions.
A thermal management strategy that heats the aftertreatment system prior to turning off the engine, in an optimal way, to reduce the NOx emissions when the engine is restarted, is developed. The strategy is also used to evaluate under what conditions pre-heating is a suitable strategy, by evaluating the performance in simulations using a model of a heavy-duty diesel powertrain and scenario designed for this purpose.
The results show that, for the studied vehicle, pre-heating of the aftertreatment system is an effective strategy to reduce NOx for engine-off events shorter than two hours, and is most effective for engine off events of around 1.5 hours. The results also show that for engine-off events longer than two hours, pre-heating quickly becomes an inefficient strategy. At this point, ammonia storage when the engine is turned off is more important, and pre-heating can even make the results worse, since an increased SCR temperature results in lower ammonia storage before turning off the engine, which is detrimental for NOx conversion during the restart.