Gas Concentration Sensor, Motor Vehicle Having A Gas Concentration Sensor, And Method For Measuring Gas Concentration
AssigneeContinental Automotive GmbH
InventorsTobias Bernat, Armin Hollstein
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A motor vehicle having a gas concentration sensor and a method for measuring gas concentration using the gas concentration sensor the gas concentration sensor having a sound transmitter, a sound receiver and a control device by which a phase shift between the sound signal transmitted by the sound transmitter and a sound signal received by the sound receiver can be controlled to a predefinable phase shift. A change in a composition of a gas mixture can be detected by an analysis unit on the basis of a change in frequency of the sound signal relative to a frequency of a reference sound signal.
Claims17
-15. (canceled)
A gas concentration sensor, comprising:
- a sound transmitter configured to emit a sound signal;
- a sound receiver configured to receive the sound signal emitted by the sound transmitter;
- a control device, which comprises a PLL circuit, configured to adjust a phase shift to a predefinable phase shift between the sound signal emitted by the sound transmitter and the sound signal received by the sound receiver;
- a phase comparator, with the PLL circuit configured to adjust a frequency of the emitted sound signal with respect to the received signal;
- and
- an evaluation unit configured to determine a change in a composition of a gas mixture based at least in part on a change in frequency of the sound signal relative to a frequency of a reference sound signal;
- and
- wherein the phase comparator compares the emitted sound signal and the received sound signal to determine whether the frequency of the emitted sound signal has to increase, decrease, or remain constant for the phase shift to correspond to the predefinable phase shift.
A method for measuring gas concentration using a gas concentration sensor, comprising:
- emitting a sound signal with a sound transmitter;
- receiving the emitted sound signal with a sound receiver;
- adjusting a phase shift between the emitted sound signal and the received sound signal to a predefinable phase shift by a control device comprising a PLL circuit;
- and
- determining a change in a composition of a gas mixture based on a change in frequency of the sound signal with an evaluation unit;
- adjusting the frequency of the emitted sound signal by a phase comparator to a predefinable phase shift relative to the received emitted sound signal;
- and
- comparing, by the phase comparator, the emitted sound signal and the received sound signal to determine whether the frequency of the emitted sound signal has to increase, decrease, or remain constant for the phase shift to correspond to the predefinable phase shift.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.