System for detecting a leakage in an intake line of an internal combustion engine

Abstract

A system for detecting a leakage/failure in in an intake line of an internal combustion engine comprising an intake line (IL) and an exhaust line (EL), means (HFM) for measuring or for estimating a quantity of fresh air ({dot over (m)}) entering said intake line (IL), means for measuring or for estimating a quantity of fuel ({dot over (m)}) injected in the engine (E), measurement or estimation means (λ and/or NOx), on the exhaust line, adapted to provide a first value (λ) of an air/fuel ratio introduced in the internal combustion engine (E), the system comprising processing means (ECU) adapted to calculate a second value (λ) of said air/fuel ratio, calculated on the basis of the measured and estimated quantities of fresh air ({dot over (m)}) and fuel ({dot over (m)}) to calculate an error (λ) between the first and the second value (λ−λ) and to detect a condition of leakage/failure if said error is outside a predefined interval [λ−, λ+] containing the value zero.