Malfunction detecting method for a vehicle fuel level sensor
AssigneeHyundai Motor Company
InventorsYoun-Soo Kim, Je-Young Seo
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention provides a fuel level sensor malfunction detecting method and system for a vehicle. In the method and system the rate of change in the opening of the throttle valve and the detection of a transmission kick-down are conditions for determining the malfunction of the fuel level sensor, thereby making it possible to detect a malfunctioning fuel level sensor more accurately.
Claims14
A fuel level sensor malfunction detecting method for a vehicle, comprising:
- the:
- concluding that monitoring conditions are satisfied;
- counting a time period during which (a) the fuel level comes within a target range and (b) a difference between maximum and minimum values of the fuel level is less than a first minimum value;
- concluding a change rate of opening of a throttle valve has shown a value greater than a target value during the counted time period;
- accumulating malfunction occurrences if the change rate of the throttle valve opening was greater than the target value;
- and
- concluding that the fuel level sensor has malfunctioned if the accumulated malfunction occurrences are greater than a maximum malfunction value.
A fuel level sensor malfunction detecting method for a vehicle, comprising:
- concluding that monitoring conditions are satisfied;
- counting a time period during which (a) the fuel level comes within a target range and (b) a difference between maximum and minimum values of the fuel level is less than a minimum value;
- concluding a change rate of a throttle valve opening was greater than a target value, or detecting a kick-down during the counted time period;
- accumulating malfunction occurrences if the change rate of the throttle valve opening was greater than the target value and the kick-down was detected;
- and
- concluding that the fuel level sensor is malfunctioning if the accumulated malfunction occurrences are greater than a maximum malfunction value.
A method for detecting a failed fuel level sensor in a vehicle, comprising:
- determining whether a fuel level sensor output is within a target range;
- determining that a difference between a maximum and a minimum fuel level sensor output is below a minimum value;
- monitoring the fuel level sensor and a throttle valve opening sensor for a time period wherein the vehicle is moving;
- accumulating a malfunction if, during the time period, the throttle valve opening sensor registered a rate of change greater than a target rate;
- and
- concluding that the fuel level sensor is malfunctioning if the accumulated malfunctions exceed a maximum malfunction value.
A system for detecting the malfunction of a fuel level sensor, comprising:
- a fuel level sensor generating a signal representative of fuel level;
- a throttle position sensor generating a signal representative of throttle position;
- a battery voltage sensor generating a signal representative of battery voltage;
- a vehicle speed sensor generating a signal representative of vehicle speed;
- and
- an electronic control receiving said signals and unit programmed with instructions for determining if the fuel level sensor is malfunctioning based on said signals.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.