Heater control apparatus and heater control method of fuel filter for vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9879641-B2
Application number	US-201514960060-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 4, 2015
Priority date	Aug 25, 2015
Publication date	Jan 30, 2018
Grant date	Jan 30, 2018

Abstract

A heater control apparatus of a fuel filter for a vehicle includes a heater mounted within a fuel filter; a relay for a heater power source supplying or interrupting power of a battery to or from the heater; a fuel temperature detection sensor mounted on an engine and detecting a temperature of a fuel; and an engine electronic control unit (ECU) for switching on and off the relay based on a detection signal of the fuel temperature detection sensor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A heater control apparatus of a fuel filter for a vehicle, comprising:
a heater mounted within a fuel filter;
a relay for a heater power source supplying or interrupting power of a battery to or from the heater;
a fuel temperature detection sensor mounted on an engine and detecting a temperature of a fuel;
a voltage measurement sensor for measuring a voltage of the battery connected to the engine ECU; and
an engine electronic control unit (ECU) for switching on and off the relay based on a detection signal of the fuel temperature detection sensor,
wherein the engine ECU switches off the relay if a heater operation time is longer than a predetermined time,
wherein a battery voltage signal detected by the voltage measurement sensor is input to the engine ECU, and if a battery voltage indicated by the battery voltage signal is lower than a predetermined voltage for the predetermined time, the engine ECU switches off the relay.

2. The heater control apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a timer for measuring an operation time of the heater is further connected to the engine ECU.

3. The heater control apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a cooling water temperature sensor or an exterior air temperature sensor is further connected to the engine ECU.

4. A heater control method of a fuel filter for a vehicle, comprising:
detecting a temperature of a fuel that passes through a fuel filter from a fuel tank and is supplied to an engine by a fuel temperature detection sensor mounted on the engine;
switching on and off a relay for a heater power source, and switching on the relay if the temperature of the fuel is lower than a reference temperature and switching off the relay if the temperature of the fuel is higher than the reference temperature, by an engine ECU that receives a detection signal of the fuel temperature detection sensor;
switching off the relay by the engine ECU when an operation time of the heater is longer than a predetermined time; and
switching off the relay by the engine ECU when a voltage of a battery that is the heater power source is lower than a predetermined voltage for the predetermined time.

5. The heater control method of claim 4 , further comprising:
adopting a temperature of engine cooling water or a temperature of the exterior air as a switching on/off determination factor of the relay for a heater power source, by the engine ECU when the temperature of the fuel does not rise to a reference temperature or higher for a predetermined time after the operation of the heater.

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Kia Motors Corp

Inventors

• Ham Chang Ho
• Ryoo Dong Myoung

Classifications

• F02D2041/2093

  detecting short circuits · CPC title

• F02D2200/0606

  Fuel temperature · CPC title

• Y02T10/126

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• F02D41/221

  relating to the failure of actuators or electrically driven elements · CPC title

• F02D41/22

  Safety or indicating devices for abnormal conditions {(in air/fuel ratio feedback systems F02D41/1495, in electric control linkage F02D11/107, in purge control systems F02M25/0809)} · CPC title