The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 12, 1998
Filed:
Jul. 18, 1996
Takuya Matsumoto, Kyoto, JP;
Toru Hashimoto, Kyoto, JP;
Mitsuhiro Miyake, Kyoto, JP;
Hitoshi Kamura, Kyoto, JP;
Toshiro Nomura, Okazaki, JP;
Mitsubishi Jidosha Kogyo Kabushi Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A method and apparatus for detecting faults in a fuel evaporative emission control system, in which the fuel evaporative emission which is admitted from a fuel tank and adsorbed once by a canister is separated from the canister by purge air and sucked into a suction passage of an engine. The fault diagnostic apparatus fluid-tightly closes the fuel tank such that a vacuum is held in the fuel tank, and then detect the presence of a leak in a fuel evaporative emission flow path on the basis of a rate of increase of the pressure in the fuel tank. At the same time, the average value of the pressure in the fuel tank is calculated at regular intervals, and the calculated average value is compared with levels of the pressure in the tank detected within a predetermined period of time, so that the detection of the leak is interrupted depending upon the result of the comparison.