Particulate measurement apparatus and particulate measurement system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10436752-B2
Application number	US-201715714258-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 25, 2017
Priority date	Sep 28, 2016
Publication date	Oct 8, 2019
Grant date	Oct 8, 2019

Abstract

A particulate measurement apparatus comprises a control section, which provisionally determines in an anomaly determination process that a corona core wire is in a short anomaly state when a linear voltage is equal to or lower than a particular voltage value and increments a sensor anomaly counter CNS or a chassis anomaly counter. The control section determines that the corona core wire is in a short anomaly state when the count value of one of the anomaly counters is equal to or greater than a determination threshold.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A particulate measurement apparatus which is adapted to be electrically connected to a particulate sensor for detecting particulates contained in a target gas and which controls the particulate sensor so as to measure the amount of the particulates contained in the target gas, said particulate sensor including: an ion generation section for generating ions by corona discharge; an electrification chamber into which the target gas is introduced and which electrifies, by using the ions, the particulates contained in the target gas to thereby produce electrified particulates; an ion trapping section which traps the ions generated by the ion generation section but which are not used for the electrification of the particulates; and a metal support which supports the ion generation section, the electrification chamber, and the trapping section in a condition in which the metal support is electrically insulated from the ion generation section, the electrification chamber, and the trapping section, the particulate measurement apparatus comprising:
an isolation transformer for corona discharge which has a primary coil and a secondary coil, and which performs voltage conversion;
a signal line which forms at least a portion of a signal path extending from the trapping section to a line of a secondary-side reference potential which is a reference potential of the secondary coil;
a particulate computation section which computes the amount of the particulates contained in the target gas on the basis of a current value of compensation current supplied to the signal line in accordance with the amount of the electrified particulates discharged from the particulate sensor; and
a corona discharge control section which controls the amount of electric power supplied to the primary coil, on the basis of secondary-side current flowing through the signal path, so as to control ion electric power generated at the secondary coil, wherein
the particulate measurement apparatus is electrically connected to the particulate sensor through a corona cable which includes a corona core wire, an inner shield wire, and an outer shield wire,
the corona core wire forms at least a portion of a path for supplying electric power from the secondary coil to the ion generation section,
the inner shield wire is electrically connected to the trapping section and the signal line in a state in which the inner shield wire is electrically insulated from the corona core wire,
the outer shield wire is electrically connected to the metal support and a line of a primary-side reference potential which is a reference potential of the primary coil in a state in which the outer shield wire is electrically insulated from the corona core wire and the inner shield wire, and
the particulate measurement apparatus further comprises an anomaly determination section which determines whether or not the corona core wire is in a short anomaly state on the basis of a state of control of the amount of electric power supplied to the primary coil by the corona discharge control section, the short anomaly state being an anomalous state in which the corona core wire is electrically connected to the inner shield wire or the outer shield wire.

2. The particulate measurement apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the anomaly determination section determines that the corona core wire is in the short anomaly state when the state of control of the amount of electric power supplied to the primary coil by the corona discharge control section is a voltage drop anomalous control state in which a voltage applied to the primary coil falls within a predetermined voltage drop anomaly range.

3. The particulate measurement apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the anomaly determination section determines that the corona core wire is in the short anomaly state when the voltage drop anomalous control state created by the corona discharge control section continues for a predetermined short anomaly time or longer.

4. The particulate measurement apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the anomaly determination section determines whether the short anomaly state is a primary-side short anomaly or a secondary-side short anomaly on the basis of the current value of the compensation current in addition to the state of control of the amount of electric power supplied to the primary coil by the corona discharge control section,
the primary-side short anomaly is an anomalous state in which the corona core wire is electrically connected to the outer shield wire, and
the secondary-side short anomaly is an anomalous state in which the corona core wire is electrically connected to the inner shield wire.

5. The particulate measurement apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein
the anomaly determination section determines that the short anomaly state is the primary-side short anomaly, in which the corona core wire is electrically connected to the outer shield wire, in the case where the current value of the compensation current falls within a predetermined current increase anomaly range and the state of control of the amount of electric power supplied to the primary coil by the corona discharge control section is a voltage drop anomalous control state in which a voltage applied to the primary coil falls within a predetermined voltage drop anomaly range, and
the anomaly determination section determines that the short anomaly state is the secondary-side short anomaly, in which the corona core wire is electrically connected to the inner shield wire, in the case where the current value of the compensation current does not fall within the current increase anomaly range and the state of control of the amount of electric power supplied to the primary coil by the corona discharge control section is the voltage drop anomalous control state.

6. The particulate measurement apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein
the anomaly determination section determines that the short anomaly state is the primary-side short anomaly, in which the corona core wire is electrically connected to the line of the primary-side reference potential, in the case where a state in which the state of control of the amount of electric power supplied to the primary coil by the corona discharge control section is the voltage drop anomalous control state and the current value of the compensation current falls within the current increase anomaly range continues for a predetermined primary short anomaly time or longer, and
the anomaly determination section determines that the short anomaly state is the secondary-side short anomaly, in which the corona core wire is electrically connected to the line of the secondary-side reference potential, in the case where a state in which the state of control of the amount of electric power supplied to the primary coil by the corona discharge control section is the voltage drop anomalous control state and the current value of the compensation current does not fall within the current increase anomaly range continues for a predetermined secondary short anomaly time or longer.

7. The particulate measurement apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising an informing section which informs that the corona core wire is in the short anomaly state in the case where the anomaly determination section determines that the corona core wire is in the short anomaly state.

8. A particulate measurement system comprising:
a particulate sensor for detecting particulates contained in a target gas; and
the particulate measurement apparatus according to claim 1 which is adapted to be electrically connected to the particulate sensor through a corona cable and which controls the particulate sensor so as to measure the amount of the particulates contained

Assignees

• Ngk Spark Plug Co

Inventors

• Inoue Yoshinori
• Goto Yuichi
• Noda Ryosuke

Classifications

• G01N15/0656

  using electric, e.g. electrostatic methods or magnetic methods (by investigating individual particles G01N15/1031, G01N15/12) · CPC title

• G01N27/68 Primary

  using electric discharge to ionise a gas · CPC title

• G01N2015/0046

  in gas, e.g. smoke · CPC title

• F02D41/1466

  the characteristics being a soot concentration or content · CPC title

• F01N2560/05

  the means being a particulate sensor · CPC title