Method for determining the oxygen concentration O2 in a gas flow

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10323583-B2
Application number	US-201514733701-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 8, 2015
Priority date	Jan 25, 2011
Publication date	Jun 18, 2019
Grant date	Jun 18, 2019

Abstract

Embodiments for determining oxygen concentration using an oxygen sensor are provided. In one example, a method for determining oxygen concentration O2 in a gas flow of an internal combustion engine which is equipped with an engine controller and an oxygen sensor comprises determining the oxygen concentration O2,sens of the gas flow in a ceramic measurement cell of the sensor by current ISens which is detected by measurement and which flows when a constant voltage USens is applied and maintained, and correcting the oxygen concentration based on a pressure pSens at the measurement cell. In this way, the measured oxygen concentration may be corrected based on the pressure of the air at the sensor.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for determining oxygen concentration O 2 in a gas flow of an internal combustion engine which is equipped with an engine controller and an oxygen sensor, comprising:
determining an oxygen concentration O 2,sens of the gas flow in a ceramic measurement cell of the oxygen sensor by current I Sens which is detected by measurement and which flows when a constant voltage U Sens is applied and maintained;
correcting the determined oxygen concentration based on a pressure p Sens at the measurement cell; and
if exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) is enabled, adjusting an opening of an EGR valve coupled to a low pressure EGR line based on the corrected oxygen concentration.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the pressure p Sens is detected by measurement via a pressure sensor.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the pressure P Sens is determined mathematically by a model.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein correcting the determined oxygen concentration further comprises correcting the determined oxygen concentration based on a variation of sensitivity of the oxygen sensor.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4 , wherein correcting the determined oxygen concentration further comprises correcting the determined oxygen concentration based on a dimensionless factor C adap , with which the variation of the sensitivity of the oxygen sensor is compensated.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5 , wherein correcting the determined oxygen concentration further comprises correcting the determined oxygen concentration based on a predefinable reference pressure p 0 , the determined oxygen concentration O 2,sens provided as an output signal by the oxygen sensor, and a pressure factor K p with which a deviation of pressure p Sens from the reference pressure p 0 is compensated.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the factors C adap and K p are determined during calibration by the engine controller.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the calibration is carried out in an operating state of the internal combustion engine in which a corrected oxygen concentration O 2,cor in the gas flow is known.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the calibration is carried out when the corrected oxygen concentration O 2,cor in the gas flow corresponds to an oxygen concentration O 2,atm in ambient air.

10. The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the calibration is carried out in an overrun mode of the internal combustion engine.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the calibration is carried out n working cycles after the internal combustion engine starts the overrun mode.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11 , wherein, to carry out the calibration, value ranges for the factors C adap and K p are predefined.

13. A system for an engine, comprising:
an oxygen sensor including:
a ceramic measurement cell;
a pressure sensor for measurement of a pressure p Sens at the ceramic measurement cell; and

an engine controller including instructions to:
apply a constant voltage U Sens to the ceramic measurement cell;
while applying the constant voltage U Sens to the ceramic measurement cell, measure a current I Sens flowing in the measurement cell to determine an oxygen concentration O 2 of a gas flow of the engine;
measure the pressure p Sens at the ceramic measurement cell with the pressure sensor;
correct the determined oxygen concentration based on the pressure measurement; and
adjust an exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) valve in response to the corrected oxygen concentration.

14. The system as claimed in claim 13 , wherein a temperature sensor is provided at the ceramic measurement cell, and wherein the EGR valve is coupled to a low pressure exhaust gas recirculation (LP EGR) system.

15. The system as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the oxygen sensor is provided in an intake system of the engine, wherein the intake system is equipped with a compressor of an exhaust-gas turbocharger and with a charge-air cooler arranged downstream of the compressor, and wherein the oxygen sensor and the pressure sensor are arranged between the compressor and the charge-air cooler.

16. A system, comprising:
a supercharged engine including an LP-EGR system and an HP-EGR system, and an LP-EGR valve;
an oxygen sensor coupled in an intake of the engine;
an intake pressure sensor; and
a controller with non-transitory instructions stored in memory correcting a measured intake air oxygen concentration with at least a measured pressure of intake air and, if the LP-EGR system is enabled, adjusting the LP-EGR valve based on the corrected measured intake air oxygen concentration.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the instructions further include instructions for:
if the HP-EGR system is enabled, adjusting an HP-EGR valve based on estimated HP-EGR flow; and
if only the LP-EGR system is enabled, adjusting a fuel injection amount based on the measured pressure of the intake air to maintain a desired combustion air-fuel ratio.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein correcting the measured intake air oxygen concentration further comprises correcting the measured intake air oxygen concentration based on a pressure factor and a variation factor.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein correcting the measured intake air oxygen concentration based on the pressure factor and the variation factor further comprises setting the pressure factor and the variation factor during select conditions including known intake air oxygen concentration.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the select conditions comprise deceleration fuel shut-off.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Vigild Christian Winge
• Roettger Daniel
• Kuske Andreas

Classifications

• F02D41/2474

  Characteristics of sensors · CPC title

• F02D41/1456

  with sensor output signal being linear or quasi-linear with the concentration of oxygen · CPC title

• G01M15/104

  using oxygen or lambda-sensors (testing catalytic converters F01N3/18, F01N11/007) · CPC title

• F02D21/08 Primary

  the other gas being the exhaust gas of engine · CPC title

• F02D41/1448 Primary

  the characteristics being an exhaust gas pressure · CPC title