Ngk Spark Plug Company, Limited

Akiyoshi Kato

Keiji Suzuki

Naoki Yamada

Takuya Takase

Noboru Fujita

A gas sensor control apparatus includes a heater regulating section to control the supply of electricity to a heater included in a gas sensor, an impedance sensing section to sense an impedance of the gas sensor cell, an impedance condition examining section to examine whether the impedance is greater than or equal to an abnormality threshold, a voltage condition examining section to examine whether a maximum effective voltage is applied to the heater, when the impedance is above the abnormality threshold, a duration measuring section to examine whether an application time duration of the maximum effective voltage becomes equal to or longer than a heater overheat preventing time, and a voltage decreasing section to decrease the heater voltage to such a lower effective voltage as to hold the temperature of the cell higher than or equal to 500&#xb0; C. when the application time duration reaches the heater overheat preventing time.

Apparatus and process for gas sensor control

A gas sensor control apparatus includes a heater regulating section to control the supply of electricity to a heater included in a gas sensor, an impedance sensing section to sense an impedance of a cell of the gas sensor, and an impedance condition examining section to examine whether the sensed impedance is greater than or equal to a predetermined abnormality judging threshold. The control apparatus further includes a voltage condition examining section to examine whether a maximum effective voltage is applied to the heater, when the impedance is above the predetermined abnormality judging threshold, a duration measuring section to examine whether an application time duration of the maximum effective voltage becomes equal to or longer than a predetermined heater overheat preventing time, and a voltage decreasing section to decrease the heater application voltage to such a lower effective voltage as to hold the temperature of the cell higher than or equal to 500&#xb0; C. when the application time duration reaches the predetermined heater overheat preventing time.

An anti-seizing agent including: a first solid lubricant containing at least one of bismuth and a bismuth compound; and a second solid lubricant containing at least one of graphite, molybdenum disulfide and boron nitride. The anti-seizing agent satisfies the relationships 20 weight %&#x2266;a&#x2266;90 weight % and 10 weight %&#x2266;d&#x2266;80 weight %, in which a sum of the contents of the first solid lubricant and the second solid lubricant in the anti-seizing agent is taken as 100 weight %, and a represents a content of the first solid lubricant and d represents a content of the second solid lubricant.

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Komaki, Japan

Akiyoshi Kato