Denso Corporation

Denso Corpora Tion

Yuusuke Kawamoto

Yuusuke Toudou

Takehito Kimata

Takashi Araki

A gas sensor is equipped with a housing, an insulator retained by an inner periphery of the housing, a sensing device having a front end portion protruding from a front end surface of the insulator, and a protective cover which covers a front end portion of the sensing device. A pump electrode and a sensor electrode are disposed in a front end portion of the solid electrolyte body. The pump electrode is exposed to a measurement gas and regulates the concentration of oxygen in the measurement gas. The sensor electrode is exposed to the measurement gas and measures the concentration of a given gas component in the measurement gas after being regulated in concentration of oxygen by the pump electrode. A base end portion of the sensor electrode in a lengthwise direction is located closer to a base end side of the gas sensor than a front end surface of the housing is. This minimizes a variation in temperature of the sensor electrode and enhances the accuracy in measuring the concentration of the given gas component.

Gas sensor

A gas concentration detection apparatus is provided with a measuring gas chamber, a solid electrolyte body, a pump cell, a sensor cell, a pump cell controller and a sensor cell detection section. The pump cell controller applies an elimination voltage to the pump cell at a start-up point, before a gas concentration is detected. The water in the measuring gas chamber is decomposed and hydrogen is generated by application of the elimination voltage. Oxygen occluded in a sensor electrode of the sensor cell is removed by the hydrogen.

Gas concentration detection apparatus

A gas sensor is equipped with a solid electrolyte body, a pump electrode, a sensor electrode, and a heater. In the gas sensor, a region of the whole of a front end portion of a heater base in which a heating element is disposed is broken down into three regions: an intermediate region defined between a front end and a base end of the sensor electrode, a front end region located closer to a front end side than the intermediate region is, and a base end region located closer to a base end side than the intermediate region is. A resistance value per unit area of a heating element lying in the base end region and a resistance value per unit area of the heating element lying in the front end region is selected to be higher than that of the heating element lying in the intermediate region, thereby keeping the temperature of a region around the sensor electrode at a desired level even when the temperature of gas changes.

A sensor structural body, which is formed by stacking a sensor element and a heater, has a sensor protruding portion that protrudes distalward from a holder. The sensor element includes a solid electrolyte body, a measured-gas space, a reference-gas space, a pump cell, a monitor cell and a sensor cell. A heat-generating portion of the heater is entirely arranged in the sensor protruding portion. The length L (in mm) of a formation region of the heat-generating portion and the length H (in mm) of the sensor protruding portion in a longitudinal direction, in which the sensor protruding portion protrudes from the holder, are set to be in a range that is enclosed by first to fourth reference lines X, X, Xand Xon a two-dimensional coordinate plane whose horizontal and vertical axes respectively indicate the lengths L and H. The first to the fourth reference lines X-Xrespectively represent the relationships of H=L, H=20, H=&#x2212;4.24L+42.71 and H=&#x2212;4.24L+68.6.

Growing community of inventors

Kariya, Japan

Yuusuke Kawamoto