US Patent Issued to FCA US on March 18 for "System and method for controlling electrically heated catalyst" (Canadian, American Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 19 -- United States Patent no. 12,253,016, issued on March 18, was assigned to FCA US LLC (Auburn Hills, Mich.).

"System and method for controlling electrically heated catalyst" was invented by Nicholas Firsich (Clarkston, Mich.) and David Pedro (Techumseh, Canada).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A control system for an exhaust system that receives a combusted air/fuel mixture as exhaust from the internal combustion engine includes a catalyst, an electric heating element and a controller. The electric heating element is disposed in the exhaust system upstream of the catalyst and is configured to heat up the exhaust before it enters the catalyst. The controller is configur...