Apparatus for diagnosing failures and fault conditions in a fuel system of an internal combustion engine

Abstract

A fuel system includes a pair of electronically controllable high pressure fuel pumps operable to supply high pressure fuel from a lower pressure fuel source to a high pressure fuel collection chamber having a pressure sensor associated therewith. The fuel collection chamber feeds an electronically controllable valve operable to dispense the high pressure fuel to a fuel distribution unit supplying fuel to a number of fuel injectors. A control computer is provided for controlling the high pressure fuel pump and valve in response to requested fueling, engine speed and fuel pressure provided by the pressure sensor. The accumulator pressure profile is processed in accordance with various techniques forming part of the present invention for diagnosing pressure sensor in-range failures, fuel pump injector valve blow shut failures and failure of one of the fuel pumps. In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the current fuel pump command signal is compared with a predicted fuel pump command stored in said computer for diagnosing overpumping conditions. The predicted fuel pump command is preferably retrieved from a look up table as a function of engine speed, commanded fuel, and accumulator pressure.