Fuel level monitor
First Claim
1. A method for estimating vehicle fuel consumption and diagnosing a fuel level sensor coupled to vehicle comprising the steps of:
- determining a first estimate of fuel consumed using vehicle operating conditions;
determining a second estimate of fuel level based on said first estimate;
reading the fuel level sensor; and
comparing said second estimate with said reading to determine whether said sensor is functioning.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method is presented for determining whether a fuel sensor in a vehicle having a fuel tank, a fuel delivery system, electronic engine controller, air flow and air/fuel ratio sensors and an instrument panel is stuck in-range. First, the electronic engine controller from the information provided by the above sensors estimates an amount of fuel consumed. The estimate is then compared to the actual fuel consumed data from the fuel sensor. If the difference between the actual and estimated amounts exceeds a small predetermined constant, the determination is made that the fuel sensor is stuck in-range and a diagnostic code is sent to the instrument panel and stored for use by a service technician.
-
Citations
21 Claims
-
1. A method for estimating vehicle fuel consumption and diagnosing a fuel level sensor coupled to vehicle comprising the steps of:
-
determining a first estimate of fuel consumed using vehicle operating conditions;
determining a second estimate of fuel level based on said first estimate;
reading the fuel level sensor; and
comparing said second estimate with said reading to determine whether said sensor is functioning.- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. A method for estimating vehicle fuel consumption and diagnosing a fuel level sensor coupled to vehicle comprising the steps of:
-
estimating a first fuel consumed using vehicle operating conditions;
estimating a second fuel consumed based on the fuel level sensor; and
determining that the fuel level sensor is degraded based on comparing said first fuel consumed and said second fuel consumed. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
-
21. An article of manufacture comprising:
-
a computer storage medium having a computer program encoded therein for estimating vehicle fuel consumption and diagnosing a fuel level sensor coupled to a vehicle, said computer storage medium comprising;
code for estimating a first fuel consumed using vehicle operating conditions;
code for estimating a second fuel consumed based on the fuel level sensor;
code for determining a calibratable tolerance constant;
code for comparing said first estimate with said second estimate; and
code for determining that the fuel level sensor is degraded if the result of said comparison exceeds said calibratable tolerance.
-
Specification