METHOD AND DEVICE FOR DIAGNOSING THE OPERATING STATE OF A PARTICULATE FILTER
The invention relates to a device for diagnosing the operating state of a particulate filter (10) mounted in an exhaust line (9) of an internal combustion engine (1), comprising: - means (14) for determining the pressure difference between the inlet and the outlet of the particulate filter; - means (16) for determining the loading state of the particulate filter; and - a central unit (11) provided with means (18) for evaluating a diagnostic parameter on the basis of the pressure difference between the inlet and the outlet of the particulate filter (10) and storage means (19) for storing a set of values representative of the pressure difference between the inlet and the outlet of a particulate filter in normal operation as a function of the filter loading state and the volumetric flow rate of exhaust gas, in order to calculate the diagnostic parameter from the pressure difference between the inlet and the outlet of the particulate filter (10) and a corresponding pressure difference value taken from the storage means.