Systems and methods for determining amount of liquid and gaseous fuel
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsThomas G. Leone, Mark Allen Dearth
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method may comprise, on board a vehicle and executed by a vehicle controller, determining a liquid volume based on a fuel level sensor, determining a gas volume based on the liquid volume, the liquid volume comprising first and second fuels, the gas volume comprising the second fuel, determining a second fuel solubility in the first fuel based on a fuel temperature sensor, determining first and second fuel quantities based on the second fuel solubility, and adjusting engine operation based on the first and second fuel quantities.
Claims20
A method, comprising:
- on board a vehicle and executed by a vehicle controller,
- determining a liquid volume based on a fuel level sensor;
- determining a gas volume based on the liquid volume, the liquid volume comprising first and second fuels, the gas volume comprising the second fuel;
- determining a second fuel solubility in the first fuel based on a fuel temperature sensor;
- determining first and second fuel quantities based on the second fuel solubility;
- and
- adjusting engine operation based on the first and second fuel quantities.
A method for an engine having a controller, comprising providing the controller with instructions executable to:
- during a first condition,
- determining a second fuel solubility in a first fuel based on a fuel temperature sensor and a fuel pressure sensor,
- determining first and second fuel quantities in a fuel tank based on the second fuel solubility, and
- adjusting first and second fuel indicators based on the first and second fuel quantities.
A fuel system, comprising:
- a fuel tank on board a vehicle, the fuel tank comprising a liquid fuel and a gaseous fuel stored therein;
- a liquid fuel level sensor and a temperature sensor and a pressure sensor positioned at the fuel tank;
- and
- a controller, with executable instructions to,
- during a first condition,
- measure a volume of the liquid fuel in the fuel tank with the liquid fuel level sensor, wherein the liquid fuel comprises a first fuel and a second fuel;
- measure a pressure of the fuel tank with the pressure sensor;
- measure a temperature of the fuel tank with the temperature sensor;
- based on the volume of the liquid fuel, calculate a volume of the gaseous fuel in the fuel tank, wherein the gaseous fuel comprises essentially the second fuel;
- determine a solubility of the second fuel in the first fuel based on the pressure and the temperature;
- and
- based on the solubility of the second fuel in the first fuel, determining a quantity of the first fuel and a quantity of the second fuel in the fuel tank.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.