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:
Jan. 08, 2013
Filed:
Sep. 24, 2008
Applicants:
Kaori Yoshida, Susono, JP;
Satoshi Taniguchi, Numazu, JP;
Inventors:
Kaori Yoshida, Susono, JP;
Satoshi Taniguchi, Numazu, JP;
Assignee:
Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Toyota, JP;
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G01N 21/00 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
Abstract
A transmittance sensor that detects the optical transmittance of biofuel is provided on a fuel tank that stores biofuel to be supplied to an internal combustion engine. An ECU periodically acquires the optical transmittance detected by the transmittance sensor, and calculates the amount of change from the previous value. In addition, the ECU calculates a degradation index value indicating the degree of degradation of the biofuel by accumulating the amount of change.