Approach for controlling particulate matter in an engine

Abstract

A method of operating a diesel engine and an emission control system including a diesel particulate filter comprising of The inventors herein have realized that accurate particulate matter information for controlling processes and parameters may be realized by a method for operating an engine comprising of correlating a measured property associated with a carbon nanostructure layer to an amount of particulate matter from an exhaust stream of the engine, wherein the carbon nanostructure includes a plurality of carbon nanostructures, and adjusting engine operation based on the amount of particulate matter.

1 - 15 . (canceled) 
     
     
         16 . An apparatus for sensing, comprising:
 a substrate;   a carbon nanostructure layer deposited on the substrate comprising a plurality of carbon nanostructures defining one or more openings for receiving a constituent;   a functional group attached to the at least two carbon nanostructures for modifying a property associated with the carbon nanostructures, where the functional group is a water soluble group; and
 at least two conducting elements in electrical communication with the carbon nanostructure layer configured to detect an electrical property associated with the carbon nanostructure layer. 
   
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 16 , where the carbon nanostructure layer is a mesh. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 16 , where the carbon nanostructures are single wall nanotubes. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 16 , where the functional group is poly amino benzo-sulfonic group. 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 16 , further comprising an electronic circuit in electrical communication with the at least two conducting elements configured to correlate the detected electrical property associated with the carbon nanostructure layer to a measure of the constituent at the openings defined by the carbon nanostructure layer.