Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

Jeffrey C Buchholz

Gary L Eesley

Gregory B DeMaggio

Jeffery A Sell

Tungsten halogen lamps require a fill pressure of several atmospheres. To verify the fill pressure at the time of manufacture the pressure is indirectly measured by first measuring the speed of sound within the lamp. A shock wave is produced within the lamp by rapidly heating a lamp filament or producing an arc between two adjacent filaments and measuring the time required for the shock wave to sequentially disturb two spaced light beams passing through the lamp. The speed of sound is determined from the measured time and the pressure is calculated from the speed of sound.

Measurement of fill gas pressure in light bulbs

In the preferred embodiment, an electrochemical method of detecting the presence of tetraalkyl lead (or other organometallic antiknock additive) in an automotive gasoline sample comprises contacting the gasoline with an immiscible methanol solution containing KOH, which solution is the electrolyte of an electrochemical cell. The cell includes a stainless steel anode and a zinc cathode. Tetraalkyl lead is extracted from the sample into the methanol solution and metallic lead is deposited onto the zinc cathode. Thus, the lead deposit is evidence of the presence of tetraalkyl lead in the gasoline. The method is preferably adapted to be carried out on board a vehicle to monitor the fuel used therein. Devices are presented which are adapted to be incorporated into the fuel tank or fuel line of a vehicle for detecting tetraalkyl lead by this method. In one embodiment, the detection device features a cathode comprising two closely spaced zinc surfaces. A predetermined amount of lead forms a continuous deposit between the zinc surfaces, which deposit is readily detected by a decrease in the electrical resistance between the zinc surfaces.

On-board detection of antiknock compounds in automotive gasoline and

Both junctions of a thin film thermocouple are formed on one side of a glass substrate. That side of the substrate is exposed to the diesel engine oil the soot content of which is to be measured. A light source on the other side of the substrate has its radiation directed through the substrate to a location at one of the junctions so that the light is absorbed by the oil adjacent that junction to a degree determined by its soot content. The temperature of the oil and the adjacent junction are increased by an amount dependent on the soot concentration and the thermocouple output is therefore a measure of the soot concentration in the engine oil.

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Detroit, MI, United States of America

Jeffrey C Buchholz