An attachment structure of a particulate sensor for attaching the particulate sensor to a sensor attachment portion fixed to a gas flow pipe, the particulate sensor detecting the amount of particulates contained in a gas under measurement flowing through the gas flow pipe,
- wherein the particulate sensor includes a tubular sensor main body extending in an axial direction and which can be attached to and detached from the sensor attachment portion,
- wherein the sensor main body has a pipe interior disposition portion which is a portion of the sensor main body located on a forward end side in the axial direction and has the shape of a tube extending in the axial direction and which is disposed in the gas flow pipe when the particulate sensor is attached to the sensor attachment portion,
- wherein the pipe interior disposition portion has one or more gas introduction openings which penetrate a wall portion of the pipe interior disposition portion and through which the gas under measurement is introduced into the sensor main body,
- wherein the one or more gas introduction openings are formed in the pipe interior disposition portion such that, when an outer circumferential surface of the pipe interior disposition portion is viewed in a circumferential direction, a circumferential region of the pipe interior disposition portion which includes all the one or more gas introduction openings extends halfway or less in the circumferential direction of the pipe interior disposition portion,
- wherein the particulate sensor has a sensor-side positioning portion which determines the circumferential position of the sensor main body with respect to the sensor attachment portion when the particulate sensor is attached to the sensor attachment portion, and
- wherein the sensor attachment portion has a pipe-side positioning portion which conforms to the sensor-side positioning portion and is configured such that, when the particulate sensor is attached to the sensor attachment portion with the sensor-side positioning portion and the pipe-side positioning portion being mated with each other, the circumferential position of the sensor main body with respect to the sensor attachment portion is always set to a fixed circumferential position,
- whereby, when the particulate sensor is attached to the sensor attachment portion with the sensor-side positioning portion and the pipe-side positioning portion being mated with each other, the circumferential position of each of the one or more gas introduction openings within the gas flow pipe is always set to a fixed first circumferential position.