Method and device for operating a particle sensor

Abstract

The invention relates to a particle sensor (20) for determining a particle content in a gas flow, wherein the particle sensor (20) has, on the surface thereof, at least two interlocking interdigital IDE electrodes (23) and a heating element (26), separated from the IDE electrodes (23) by an insulating layer (21), by means of which heating element the particle sensor (20) can be heated in a regeneration phase and a soot load on the particle sensor can thus be removed, and by means of which particle sensor, in a diagnostic phase during the regeneration phase, a current is measured by intermittently applying a measurement voltage to the IDE electrodes (23) and, based on the chronological progression and size thereof, a functional inspection of the particle sensor (20) is carried out. During the regeneration phase, additional operating phases are introduced, in which, outside of the diagnostic phase (50), ions are specifically moved by intermittently applying specific voltage potentials different from zero volts to the IDE electrodes (23).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.