This application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-255612 filed on Nov. 23, 2011, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure relates to a fuel-pressure-sensor diagnosis device, which diagnoses whether a fuel pressure sensor detecting a fuel pressure is faulty.
According to JP-2006-77709A (US-2006-0054149A1), a fuel pressure sensor detecting a pressure of a fuel supplied to a fuel injector is used for a fuel injection system which distributes the high-pressed fuel from a common rail (accumulator container) to the fuel injector provided in each cylinder of an internal combustion engine. Besides, the fuel pressure sensor is mounted to the common rail for controlling a pressure in the common rail (rail pressure) so that a detection value of the fuel pressure sensor is equal to a target value. It is diagnosed by the following method whether an abnormality (malfunction) occurs in the fuel pressure sensor.
When the fuel is injected from the fuel injector, the rail pressure descends. Therefore, it is diagnosed that the abnormality (malfunction) occurs in the fuel pressure sensor when a decreasing amount of the detection value of the fuel pressure sensor due to a fuel injection significantly deviates from a specified decreasing amount (standard decreasing amount).
A fuel pressure sensor outputs an output level signal, which is represented by a solid line L1 in
The present disclosure is made in view of the above matter, and it is an object of the present disclosure to provide a fuel-pressure-sensor diagnosis device which can diagnose whether an offset abnormality of a fuel pressure sensor occurs.
The present disclosure is applied to a fuel injection system having a plurality of fuel injectors provided to each cylinder of an internal combustion engine, an accumulator accumulating a high-pressure fuel and distributing the fuel to the fuel injectors, a fuel pressure sensor detecting a fuel pressure in a fuel supply passage from the accumulator to an injection port of the fuel injector, and a control portion controlling the fuel injectors by using a computed result which is computed based on a detected value change of the fuel pressure sensor in a fuel injection from a injection port.
The fuel pressure sensor abnormality diagnosis device includes an abnormality-diagnosis portion diagnosing whether there are abnormal in two fuel pressure sensors which are selected from the plurality of fuel pressure sensors in a manner that pulsation values of detected values of the selected sensors are in a specified range by comparing the detected values.
In the fuel injection system in which a fuel injection state is computed based on a detected value change of the fuel pressure sensor, it is preferable that one fuel pressure sensor is provided to each cylinder so that the fuel injection state of each cylinder is computed based on the detected value of the fuel pressure sensor. When the offset abnormality happens in one of the sensors, the detected values are greatly apart from each other. Thus, the offset abnormality can be detected by comparing the detected value of the fuel pressure sensor from each other. In addition, when the detected values change due to a fuel injection, the offset abnormality cannot be detected.
According to the present disclosure, two fuel pressure sensors are selected from the plurality of the fuel pressure sensors so that pulsation values of the detected values are in a specified range. The diagnosis whether there is an offset abnormality can be made by comparing the detected values of the selected fuel pressure sensors.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent from the following detailed description made with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings:
Hereafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described according to the drawings. The following embodiments are specific examples, and the present disclosure is not limited to these embodiments.
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described. A diagnostic apparatus for a fuel injector is applied to an internal combustion engine (diesel engine) having four cylinders #1-#4.
First, a fuel injection system of the engine including the fuel injector 10 will be explained. A fuel in a fuel tank 40 is pumped up by a high-pressure pump 41 and is accumulated in a common-rail (accumulator) 42 to be supplied to each fuel injector 10 (#1-#4). Each fuel injector 10 (#1-#4) performs a fuel injection sequentially in a predetermined order. In the present embodiment, the fuel injector #1, the fuel injector #3, the fuel injector #4, and the fuel injector #2 perform fuel injections in this order.
The high-pressure fuel pump 41 is a plunger pump which intermittently discharges high-pressure fuel. Since the fuel pump 41 is driven by the engine through the crankshaft, the fuel pump 41 discharges the fuel predetermined times while the fuel injectors 10 inject the fuel in the above order.
The fuel injector 10 is comprised of a body 11, a needle valve body 12, an electronical actuator 13 and the like. The body 11 defines a high-pressure passage 11a and an injection port 11b. The needle valve body 12 is accommodated in the body 11 to open/close the injection port 11b.
The body 11 defines a backpressure chamber 11c with which the high-pressure passage 11a and a low-pressure passage 11d communicate. The electronical actuator 13 controlled by the ECU 30 activating a control valve 14 so as to switch a communicating state between the high-pressure passage 11a, the low-pressure passage 11d and the backpressure chamber 11c.
When the control valve 14 is activated so that the backpressure chamber 11c is communicated with the low-pressure passage 11d, a fuel pressure in the backpressure chamber 11c descends. Then, the valve body 12 is lift-up (opening valve operation), thereby the injection port 11b is opened. Therefore, the high-pressed fuel supplied from a common rail 42 to the high-pressure passage 11a is injected toward a combustion chamber through the injection port 11b. When the control valve 14 is activated so that the backpressure chamber 11c is communicated with the high-pressure passage 11a, the fuel pressure in the backpressure chamber 11c ascends. Then, the valve body 12 is lift-down (closing valve operation), thereby the injection port 11b is closed. Thus, the fuel injection is stopped.
The fuel pressure sensor 20 includes a stem 21 (load cell) and a pressure sensor element 22. The stem 21 is provided to the body 11. The stem 21 has a diaphragm 21a which elastically deforms in response to high fuel pressure in the high-pressure passage 11a. The pressure sensor element 22 is disposed on the diaphragm 21a to transmit a pressure detection signal depending on an elastic deformation of the diaphragm 21a toward the ECU 30.
The fuel pressure sensor 20 is mounted to each fuel injector 10. Hereinafter, the fuel injector 10 mounted to the cylinder #1 is referred to as the fuel injector #1, and the fuel pressure sensor 20 mounted to the fuel injector #1 is referred to as a sensor #1. As the same, the fuel injectors (#2-#4) and the fuel pressure sensors (#2-#4) are respectively referred to as fuel injectors (#2-#4) and sensors (#2-#4).
The ECU 30 has a microcomputer which computes a target fuel injection condition, such as the number of fuel injections, a fuel-injection-start time, a fuel-injection-end time, and a fuel injection quantity. For example, the microcomputer stores an optimum fuel-injection condition with respect to the engine load and the engine speed in a fuel-injection condition map. Then, based on the current engine load and the engine speed, the target fuel-injection condition is computed in view of the fuel-injection condition map.
The fuel-injection-command signals t1, t2, tq (refer to
Referring to
For example, in a case that the fuel injector #1 mounted to the cylinder #1 injects the fuel, a variation in fuel pressure due to a fuel injection is detected as a fuel pressure waveform (refer to
The detected value of the sensor #1 shown by the fuel pressure waveform in
The fuel pressure waveform correlates with the injection-rate waveform shown in
Therefore, correlation coefficients indicating the above correlations are previously obtained by a pre-test. By using the correlation coefficients, the injection-rate parameters “td”, “te”, Rmax are computed based on the inflection points P1, P3 and the pressure decreasing amount P. Moreover, the injection-rate waveform can be measured based on the injection-rate parameter “td”, “te”, Rmax. An injection amount can be computed based on an area of the measured injection-rate waveform (refer to a dotted area of
Thus, by using the detected value of the fuel pressure sensor 20, an actual injection state (injection-rate parameters “ta”, “te”, Rmax and injection amount) relative to the fuel-injection-command signals can be computed and learned. Based on the learning value, the fuel-injection-command signals corresponding to a target injection state are established. The ECU 30 (control portion) feedback controls the fuel-injection-command signals based on the actual injection state. The actual injection state can be accurately controlled in such a manner as to agree with the target injection state, even if an aged deterioration is advanced such as clog or wear in the injection port 11b. Especially, the fuel-injection-command period tq is feedback controlled based on the injection-rate parameters so that the actual injection amount agrees with the target injection amount.
In the following description, a cylinder in which a fuel injection is currently performed is referred to as an injection cylinder and a cylinder in which no fuel injection is currently performed is referred to as a non-injection cylinder. Further, the fuel pressure sensor 20 provided in the injection cylinder is referred to as an injection sensor and the fuel pressure sensor 20 provided in the non-injection cylinder is referred to as a non-injection sensor.
The fuel pressure waveform Wa (refer to
Even in a case that the fuel pump 41 supplies no fuel while the fuel injector 10 injects the fuel, the fuel pressure in the fuel injection system decreases immediately after the fuel injector 10 injects the fuel. Thus, the fuel pressure waveform Wa descends in the fuel injection system. That is, the fuel pressure waveform Wa includes a waveform Wb representing a fuel pressure variation due to a fuel injection and a waveform Wud (refer to
In view of a fact that the non-injection pressure waveform Wu (Wud) detected by the non-injection-cylinder pressure sensor 20 represents a fuel pressure variation in the common-rail 42, the non-injection pressure waveform Wu (Wud) is subtracted from the injection pressure waveform Wa detected by the injection-cylinder pressure sensor 20 to obtain the injection waveform Wb. The fuel pressure waveform shown in
Moreover, in a case that a multiple-injection is performed, a pressure pulsation Wc due to a prior injection, which is shown in
When the fuel pressure sensor 20 further deteriorates with age, a characteristic abnormality that a slope of the output voltage characteristic becomes different (refer to dotted lines L2), and a characteristic abnormality (offset abnormality) that the output voltage is shifted by a specified amount (refer to dashed-dotted lines L3) may occur. The above characteristic abnormalities may be detected by comparing two detected values of two fuel pressure sensors which are selected from a plurality of fuel pressure sensors 20 of which pulsation values of the detected values are in a specified range.
A dashed-dotted line in
The above combinations include the fuel pressure sensor (current sensor) 20 provided in the fuel injector (current injector) 10 which will inject the fuel this time, and the fuel pressure sensor (next sensor) 20 provided in the fuel injector (next injector) 10 which will inject the fuel next time. The ECU 30 selects both the current sensor 20 and the next sensor 20 as diagnose objects for diagnosing whether abnormalities occur therein.
It is preferable that a detection timing for the detected values P#1 to P#4 by the current sensor 20 is just before the inflection point P1 occurs in the fuel pressure waveform of the current injector 10. For example, the detected values P#1 to P#4 at a timing of the injection-start-command point t1, or at a timing of a specified time period before the injection-start-command point t1 are used for the diagnosis. Further, it is preferable that a detection timing for the detected values P#1 to P#4 by the next sensor 20 is as the same as the detection timing of the current sensor 20.
When the characteristic abnormalities occur in one of the selected fuel pressure sensors, the detected values are greatly apart from each other. Therefore, the ECU 30 can detect the abnormalities occurring in the fuel pressure sensor 20. Specifically, the ECU 30 diagnoses whether the abnormalities occur according to a result of whether a differential pressure between the detected value of the current sensor 20 and the detected value of the next sensor 20 is larger than or equal to a predetermined threshold value Pth. Based on the diagnosis results of pairs “A” to “D”, the fuel pressure sensor which is diagnosed as most abnormal among the other fuel pressure sensors is diagnosed as abnormal (faulty).
An example of a method of the above identification will be described.
In S10 (abnormality-diagnose portion), the ECU 30 implements the abnormality-diagnosis for each pair to compare the pressure difference with the threshold value Pth. In S20 (abnormal sensor identification portion), the ECU 30 identifies which sensor (most-abnormal sensor) has the largest diagnosis number information.
In S30, the ECU 30 determines whether the number of the most-abnormal sensor(s) is larger than “1”. When the number of the most-abnormal sensor(s) is smaller than or equal to “1” (S30: NO), the ECU 30 proceeds to S40. In S40, the ECU 30 determines whether an abnormal sensor exists. When no abnormal sensor exists (S40: NO), the ECU 30 proceeds to S50. In S50, the ECU 30 diagnoses that all the sensors #1 to #4 are normal. When the abnormal sensor exists (S40: YES), the ECU 30 proceeds to S60. In S60, the ECU 30 diagnoses that the relevant sensor (most-abnormal sensor) is abnormal.
When the number of the most-abnormal sensor(s) is larger than “1” (S30: YES), the ECU 30 proceeds to S70. In S70, the ECU 30 determines whether the numbers of diagnosis of all the sensors are not the same. When the numbers of diagnosis of all the sensors are not the same (S70: YES), the ECU 30 proceeds to S80. In S80, the ECU 30 diagnoses that the relevant sensors (most-abnormal sensor) are abnormal.
When the numbers of diagnosis of all the sensors are the same (S70: NO), the ECU 30 proceeds to S90. In S90, the ECU 30 implements a comparing abnormality-diagnosis.
Hereinafter, the comparing abnormality-diagnosis will be described. In a case where a specified time period is passed after the engine is stopped, the ECU 30 obtains the detected values of the sensors #1 to #4 when the fuel pressure is nearly equal to the atmosphere pressure. The ECU 30 computes deviation values for the detected values with respect to the atmosphere pressure. When one of the deviation values is larger than a specified value, the sensor having the above deviation value is diagnosed to be abnormal. Thus, the ECU 30 can diagnose whether each sensor is abnormal. In this case, the above comparing abnormality-diagnosis can only be implemented when the engine is stopped.
The ECU 30 can implement the abnormality-diagnosis in S50, S60, and S80 even when the engine is operating. Since the abnormality-diagnosis is diagnosed by comparing two detected values, the abnormality-diagnosis can be diagnosed not only by the slope of the output voltage characteristic but also by the offset abnormality.
Further, according to diagnosis results of the combinations (pairs “A” to “D”) of the selected sensors, the abnormal sensor(s) can be diagnosed by the majority.
Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the current sensor 20 and the next sensor 20 are selected as the diagnosing objects. Therefore, a diagnosing accuracy can be improved since the abnormality-diagnosis is implemented by using the detected values when an affect of the pressure pulsation We becomes smaller.
According to the first embodiment, the ECU 30 determines whether the abnormal sensor exists by the majority based on the diagnosis number information. According to a second embodiment, when the diagnosis for pairs “A” to “D” are implemented in S10, the ECU 30 (comparing portion) diagnoses a maximum-detected-value sensor (comparing information). Then, the ECU 30 identifies the abnormal sensor based on the diagnosis number information and the comparing information.
According to the diagnosis result shown in
As the above description, even in a case where the ECU 30 can not diagnose which sensor is abnormal by the diagnosis number information, the ECU 30 can diagnose which sensor is abnormal based on both the diagnosis number information and the comparing information, according to the present embodiment.
The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, but may be performed, for example, in the following manner. Further, the characteristic configuration of each embodiment can be combined.
(1) The present disclosure may apply to a fuel injection system in which a fuel pressure sensor 20 is provided to any one of the fuel injectors 10 and no fuel pressure sensor 20 is provided to the other fuel injectors 10.
For example, two fuel pressure sensors 20 are provided to two fuel injectors 10 among the four fuel injectors 10 respectively provided to four cylinders in a four-cylinder engine. In this case, it is preferable that the abnormality-diagnosis shown in S10 of
(2) It is not limited that a pair of the current sensor 20 and the next sensor 20 is selected as the diagnosing object. The diagnosis object may be a pair of the current sensor 20 and a next-next sensor 20, or may be a pair of the next sensor 20 and the next-next sensor 20. The next-next sensor 20 is the fuel pressure sensor 20 provided in the fuel injector 10 which will inject fuel successively the next. It is required that the pressure pulsation of the detected value of the selected sensor is in the specified range. Therefore, it is forbidden to select the sensor provided to the fuel injector 10 which is currently injecting the fuel. It is required that the sensor in a case where a specified time period passed after the inflection point P4 is selected.
The fuel pressure sensor 20 can be arranged at any place in a fuel supply passage between an outlet 42a of the common-rail 42 and the injection port 11b. For example, the fuel pressure sensor 22 can be arranged in a high-pressure pipe 42b connecting the common-rail 42 and the fuel injector 10. The fuel supply passage of each cylinder and the common rail 42 corresponds to a fuel flowing passage leading from the accumulator container to the injection port of each cylinder.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2011-255612 | Nov 2011 | JP | national |