VAPOR PROCESSING APPARATUS

• US 20120097269A1
• Filed: 09/30/2011
• Published: 04/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Kitamoto, Masakazu, HORIBA, Ayumu
• Granted Patent: US 8,739,767 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 137/551
• CPC Class Codes: F02M 25/0854 Details of the absorption canister
• CPC Class Codes: F02M 25/0872 Details of the fuel vapour pipes or conduits
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/8158 With indicator, register, recorder, alarm or inspection means

Abstract

A vapor processing apparatus includes a tank-inner-pressure detector, an atmospheric-pressure detector, a canister, a control valve and a controller. The tank-inner-pressure detector is configured to detect tank inner pressure of a fuel tank retaining fuel to be supplied to an engine. The atmospheric-pressure detector is configured to detect atmospheric pressure. The canister is configured to adsorb and collect vapor generated in the fuel tank. The control valve is disposed in a vapor channel connected to the fuel tank. The controller is configured to control opening and closing of the control valve based on a value detected by the tank-inner-pressure detector, a value detected by the atmospheric-pressure detector, and a correction value learned in advance, when in a predetermined state.

Claims

1. A vapor processing apparatus comprising:

a tank-inner-pressure detector configured to detect tank inner pressure of a fuel tank retaining fuel to be supplied to an engine;

an atmospheric-pressure detector configured to detect atmospheric pressure;

a canister configured to adsorb and collect vapor generated in the fuel tank;

a control valve disposed in a vapor channel connected to the fuel tank; and

a controller configured to control opening and closing of the control valve based on a value detected by the tank-inner-pressure detector, a value detected by the atmospheric-pressure detector, and a correction value learned in advance, when in a predetermined state.

2. The vapor processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to calculate gauge pressure of the tank inner pressure based on the atmospheric pressure on a basis of the value detected by the tank-inner-pressure detector and the value detected by the atmospheric-pressure detector, and is configured to control the opening and closing of the control valve based on corrected gauge pressure obtained by correcting the calculated gauge pressure of the tank inner pressure with the correction value.

3. The vapor processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to learn the correction value based on a difference between the value detected by the tank-inner-pressure detector when the tank inner pressure is equal to the atmospheric pressure and the value detected by the atmospheric-pressure detector.

4. The vapor processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the tank inner pressure is equal to the atmospheric pressure when a locked state of a fuel lid is released, the fuel lid being configured to open and close a filler pipe opening of the fuel tank.

5. The vapor processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the tank inner pressure is equal to the atmospheric pressure when, after the control valve is open, a variation of the value detected by the tank-inner-pressure detector is smaller than a threshold set in advance.

6. The vapor processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a switch configured to switch a state of the tank-inner-pressure detector between a first state of the tank-inner-pressure detector detecting the tank inner pressure and a second state of the tank-inner-pressure detector detecting the atmospheric pressure,

wherein the controller controls the switch to switch the state of the tank-inner-pressure detector to the first state when in the predetermined state and controls the opening and closing of the control valve based on the value detected by the tank-inner-pressure detector, the value detected by the atmospheric-pressure detector, and the correction value, and

the controller controls the switch to switch the state of the tank-inner-pressure detector to the second state when in a state other than the predetermined state and learns the correction value.

7. The vapor processing apparatus according to claim 6, the controller learns the correction value based on a difference between the value detected by the tank-inner-pressure detector and the value detected by the atmospheric-pressure detector when the state of the tank-inner-pressure detector is switched to the second state.

8. The vapor processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to calculate a difference between the value detected by the tank-inner-pressure detector when the tank inner pressure is equal to the atmospheric pressure and the value detected by the atmospheric-pressure detector, and to store the calculated difference as the correction value.