Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Nippon Soken, Inc.

Mie Sasai

Kazuhiro Wakao

Keiichiro Aoki

Noriyasu Amano

Shuntaro Yoshida

A sensor that detects a fuel property of a mixed fuel of a biofuel and a hydrocarbon fuel includes: a light emitting device that emits light with a wavelength of 250 nm to 400 nm onto the mixed fuel; and a light receiving device that receives light emitted by the mixed fuel under the effect of light from the light emitting device and generates an output corresponding to the received light. When the fuel property is determined, in a case where the mixed fuel is irradiated by light with a predetermined wavelength generated due to voltage application to the light emitting device, the light emitted by the mixed fuel is detected by the light receiving device. The fuel property of the mixed fuel is detected according to the detected light.

Biofuel degradation sensor based on fluorescence measurements

A fuel supply system of an internal combustion engine includes: a pressure adjustment device provided on a fuel flow path that connects a fuel pump and an injector; a return flow path for returning a fuel discharged from the pressure adjustment device to a fuel tank; a fuel property sensor disposed in the return flow path; a fuel pump control portion that actuates the fuel pump at a predetermined programmed timing, when the internal combustion engine is in a stopped state; and a fuel property determination portion that determines a fuel property of the fuel in the fuel tank by using an output value of the fuel property sensor, when the fuel pump is actuated during the stopped state of the internal combustion engine.

Fuel supply system of internal combustion engine

An abnormality detection device for an internal combustion engine is controlled according to properties of employed fuel, and capable of accurately detecting an abnormality in a fuel property sensor, and more particularly, a stuck fuel property sensor. A measurement section of the sensor is housed in a fuel container, which is not disposed in a main flow path of a fuel flow path connecting a fuel pump to an injector, but is disposed apart from the main flow path. Fuel drawn from a fuel tank is introduced into the fuel container. The resulting output value of the sensor is acquired as a first sensor output value. Further, the fuel is discharged from the fuel container. The resulting output value of the sensor is acquired as a second output value. The first and second sensor output values are then used to check for an abnormality in the sensor.

Abnormality detection device for internal combustion engine

An apparatus for detecting abnormality for a fuel property detecting apparatus according to the present invention includes the fuel property detecting apparatus having a sensor part provided on a fuel channel, temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature of the fuel in the vicinity of said sensor part, a heater capable of raising the temperature of the fuel in the vicinity of the sensor part, and abnormality determining means for determining whether or not there is an abnormality in the fuel property detecting apparatus based on the temperature detected by the temperature detecting means when the heater is activated. The abnormality determining means includes fuel flow abnormality determining means for determining whether or not there is an abnormality in the flow of the fuel in the vicinity of the sensor part and failure determining means for determining whether there is a failure of said fuel property detecting apparatus itself.

Apparatus for detecting abnormality for fuel property detecting apparatus

A control apparatus for an internal combustion engine includes: a fuel property sensor which is provided between a fuel tank and a delivery pipe and which detects a component ratio of fuel; a fuel property value calculator that calculates an injector fuel property value for each cylinder using the component ratio detected by the fuel property sensor a period of time ago, which is equal to an amount of time required for the fuel to travel from the fuel property sensor to each fuel injector, as a value corresponding to the present component ratio of the fuel near the corresponding injector; and an engine-restart-time fuel injection amount calculator that calculates a fuel injection amount for each cylinder based on an engine-off duration in a case where the internal combustion engine is restarted after the internal combustion engine is stopped when the injector fuel property value varies from cylinder to cylinder.

Control apparatus for internal combustion engine and control method for internal combustion engine

A rationality diagnostic device for an alcohol concentration sensor includes a capacitance-type remaining fuel amount sensor as a remaining fuel amount sensor disposed in a fuel tank. The capacitance-type remaining fuel amount sensor has such output characteristics that its output value is determined by the amount of fuel remaining in the fuel tank and the alcohol concentration of the fuel. The rationality diagnostic device corrects the output value of the remaining fuel amount sensor in accordance with the output value of the alcohol concentration sensor to eliminate an alcohol-concentration-dependent component from the output value of the remaining fuel amount sensor. The rationality diagnostic device then verifies the accuracy of the corrected output value of the remaining fuel amount sensor to judge whether the rationality of the alcohol concentration sensor is maintained.

Rationality diagnostic device for alcohol concentration sensor

A fuel property determining apparatus is provided that can reduce power consumption in energization of a fuel property sensor by efficiently determining a fuel property as determined by activating the fuel property sensor. Upon starting an internal combustion engine, it is determined whether or not determination is made of the fuel property in a preceding trip. When the fuel property is determined in the preceding trip, a switch is turned ON to activate the fuel property sensor after waiting for a short period of time after the start of the internal combustion engine. When the fuel property is not determined in the preceding trip, the switch is turned ON to activate the fuel property sensor immediately after the start of the internal combustion engine.

Growing community of inventors

Susono, Japan

Mie Sasai