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:
Apr. 01, 2003
Filed:
Jul. 12, 2000
Applicant:
Inventors:
Paul John King, Loughborough, GB;
Timothy John Kennedy, Daventry, GB;
Assignee:
Ford Global Technologies, Inc., Dearborn, MI (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G01M 1/900 ; G01N 3/3497 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G01M 1/900 ; G01N 3/3497 ;
Abstract
The invention relates to the performance evaluation of an oxygen gas sensor in a motor vehicle, where the oxygen gas sensor is used to measure the oxygen content of the combusted air fuel mixture of a motor vehicle exhaust. The method involves measuring the fall time for the detected oxygen level to fall to a pre-determined lower threshold after the fuel supply to the engine has been cut off, and if the measured fall time exceeds a pre-set time, producing an oxygen sensor degradation signal.