Flow rate sensor

• US 20040163464A1
• Filed: 02/17/2004
• Published: 08/26/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi Astemo Ltd. (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Hitachi Car Engineering Company Limited (Hitachi, Ltd.), Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Horie, Junichi, Nakada, Keiichi, Watanabe, Izumi
• Granted Patent: US 6,889,545 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 73/204.26
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/187 using a hot wire flow sensor
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 1/6842 with means for influencing the fluid flow
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 1/692 Thin-film arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 1/698 Feedback or rebalancing circuits, e.g. self heated constant temperature flowmeters
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 1/699 by control of a separate heating or cooling element
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 1/72 Devices for measuring pulsing fluid flows
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 5/00 Measuring a proportion of the volume flow

Abstract

A flow rate sensor for detecting, with higher accuracy, the flow rate in a pulsating condition including a large amount of the reverse flow. Upstream temperature sensors and downstream temperature sensors are formed in both sides of a heater, parallel resistors are formed in the external side of a thin film portion (cavity), and the downstream temperature sensors are connected at the contacts. The upstream and downstream temperature sensors are respectively allocated to the four sides of the bridge circuit in the manner that the sensors of the same type are never provided side by side and the electrodes are balanced when the flow rate is zero. The upstream temperature sensor is cooled during the forward flow, while the downstream temperature sensor is influenced by the heater but virtual change is rather small and potential difference between the electrodes becomes larger. During the reverse flow, the downstream temperature sensor is cooled but virtual change is rather small. The upstream temperature sensor is influenced by the heater and heated up to higher temperature. As a result, reverse flow can be detected within a narrower voltage range than that of the prior art because the flow rate characteristics of reverse flow are compressed against those of forward flow.

Claims

1. A flow rate sensor comprising a heater, an upstream temperature sensor allocated in a forward flow side of said heater, and a downstream temperature sensor allocated in a reverse flow side of said heater, wherein a voltage is applied to said upstream temperature sensor and said downstream temperature sensor in order to detect a flow rate using a potential difference generated between said upstream temperature sensor and said downstream temperature sensor,

wherein said upstream temperature sensor and said downstream temperature sensor are provided with different thermal characteristics such that the thermal characteristics of a forward flow where a fluid flows toward said downstream temperature sensor from said upstream temperature sensor are asymmetrical to those of a reverse flow where said fluid having an identical flow rate to that of said forward flow flows toward said upstream temperature sensor from said downstream temperature sensor.

2. A flow rate sensor comprising a heater, an upstream temperature sensor allocated in a forward flow side of said heater, and a downstream temperature sensor allocated in a reverse flow side of said heater, wherein a voltage is applied to said upstream temperature sensor and said downstream temperature sensor in order to detect flow rate using a potential difference generated between said upstream temperature sensor and said downstream temperature sensor,

wherein a potential VF generated between said upstream temperature sensor and said downstream temperature sensor during the forward flow toward said downstream temperature sensor from said upstream temperature sensor and a potential VR generated between said upstream temperature sensor and said downstream temperature sensor during the reverse flow, with the identical flow rate to that of the forward flow, toward said upstream temperature sensor from said downstream temperature sensor satisfy the relationship VF>

VR.

3. A flow rate sensor comprising a thin film portion comprising a heater, an upstream temperature sensor allocated in a forward flow side of said heater and a downstream temperature sensor allocated in a reverse flow side of said heater, wherein a voltage is applied to said upstream temperature sensor and said downstream temperature sensor in order to detect flow rate using a potential difference generated between said upstream temperature sensor and said downstream temperature sensor,

wherein a resistive element is connected in parallel to said downstream temperature sensor at a position such that said resistive element is thermally more isolated from said heater than said downstream temperature sensor is.

4. The flow rate sensor according to claim 3, wherein said resistive element is formed in the external side of said thin film portion.

5. The flow rate sensor according to claim 3, wherein said upstream temperature sensor, said downstream temperature sensor and said resistive element connected in parallel to said downstream temperature sensor are formed of materials having almost equal temperature coefficients of resistance.

6. A flow rate sensor comprising, in the thin film portion, a heater, an upstream temperature sensor allocated in the forward flow side of said heater, and a downstream temperature sensor allocated in the reverse flow side of said heater in order to detect flow rate using potential difference generated between said upstream temperature sensor and said downstream temperature sensor by applying voltages to said upstream temperature sensor and said downstream temperature sensor,

wherein said upstream temperature sensor has the temperature coefficient of resistance TCRu and said downstream temperature sensor has the temperature coefficient of resistance TCRd respectively, in order to satisfy the relationship of TCRr>

TCRd.

7. A flow rate sensor comprising a thin film portion comprising a heater, an upstream temperature sensor allocated in a forward flow side of said heater and a downstream temperature sensor allocated in a reverse flow side of said heater, wherein a voltage is applied to said upstream temperature sensor and said downstream temperature sensor in order to detect flow rate using a potential difference generated between said upstream temperature sensor and said downstream temperature sensor,

wherein said downstream temperature sensor is allocated in a position thermally more isolated from said heater than said upstream temperature sensor and the potential difference generated by the forward flow is asymmetrical to the temperature difference generated by the reverse flow of the same amount as the forward flow.

8. A flow rate sensor comprising a thin film portion comprising a heater, an upstream temperature sensor allocated in a forward flow side of said heater and a downstream temperature sensor allocated in a reverse flow side of said heater, wherein a voltage is applied to said upstream temperature sensor and said downstream temperature sensor in order to detect flow rate using a potential difference generated between said upstream temperature sensor and said downstream temperature sensor, wherein a resistive element connected in parallel to said downstream temperature sensor and the connecting point thereof are allocated in the external side of said thin film portion.

9. The flow rate sensor according to claim 8, wherein fault diagnosis of said flow rate sensor is executed based on potential difference generated in said resistive element when the wiring of said upstream temperature sensor and said downstream temperature sensor formed in said thin film portion is broken.

10. The flow rate sensor according to claim 8, wherein a bridge circuit is formed with a pair of said upstream temperature sensors and a pair of said downstream temperature sensors, and said upstream temperature sensors and said downstream temperature sensors are allocated to the four sides of said bridge so that the temperature sensors of the same type are never connected with each other.

11. A control system for controlling an internal combustion engine using a flow rate signal detected by a flow rate sensor according to any one of claims 8 to 10, wherein the internal combustion engine is controlled using the flow rate signal indicating the flow rate of intake air.