METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AN OXYGEN SENSOR

• US 20160274073A1
• Filed: 03/19/2015
• Published: 09/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Hakeem, Mohannad, Anderson, James Eric, Yamada, Shuya Shark, Surnilla, Gopichandra
• Granted Patent: US 10,386,345 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2030/8854 involving hydrocarbons
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 30/7206 interfaced to gas chromatograph interfaces in general for introducing or extracting samples to be analysed with specially adapted mass spectrometer, see H01J49/04
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/2829 Mixtures of fuels

Abstract

Examples are provided for estimating an amount of fuel in an engine oil and an effect of the fuel on a gas sensor. In one example, an apparatus may include an analyzer to analyze an engine fluid and a computing device operably coupled to the analyzer, the computing device storing non-transitory instructions executable to determine fuel dilution in engine oil based on speciation of hydrocarbons in fuel in the engine oil determined based on output received from the analyzer.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

an analyzer to analyze an engine fluid; and

a computing device operably coupled to the analyzer, the computing device storing non-transitory instructions executable to determine fuel dilution in engine oil based on speciation of hydrocarbons in fuel in the engine oil determined based on output received from the analyzer.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the engine fluid is the engine oil, the engine oil sampled from an engine oil sump of an engine, and where the analyzer comprises a gas chromatographer configured to output one or more retention times of the engine oil.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the analyzer further comprises a mass spectrometer to detect output from the gas chromatographer.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the gas chromatographer outputs a plurality of retention times each corresponding to a fraction of the engine oil, and wherein the instructions are executable to identify at least one hydrocarbon species present in each fraction based at least on a corresponding retention time.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the instructions are further executable to identify or more of a molecular weight of that fraction, boiling point of that fraction, and vapor pressure of each identified hydrocarbon species in the engine oil.

6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the instructions are further executable to identify one or more of a molar concentration, partial pressure, and molar fraction of each identified hydrocarbon species in the engine oil.

7. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the instructions are further executable to identify one or more of a molar concentration, partial pressure, and molar fraction of each identified hydrocarbon species in a gaseous phase of an engine compartment housing the oil sump.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the instructions are further executable to identify a predicted effect on an oxygen sensor based on the retention time and molar fraction of each identified hydrocarbon species in the gaseous phase.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the instructions are further executable to output the predicted effect for display on a display device.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the instructions are executable to:

receive an oxygen concentration measured by the oxygen sensor, the oxygen sensor positioned to sample intake air or exhaust gas of the engine,

determine a difference between the measured oxygen concentration and an expected oxygen concentration, and

if the difference is greater than a threshold, adjust a calibration value of the oxygen sensor, the expected oxygen concentration based on the predicted effect on the oxygen sensor.

11. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the instructions are further executable to output an identity and/or concentration of the identified one or more hydrocarbon species within the engine oil for display on a display device.

12. An engine testing apparatus, comprising:

a gas chromatographer mass spectrometer (GC-MS) configured to sample an engine fluid and determine, for each of a plurality of fractions of the engine fluid, a retention time; and

a computing device operably coupled to the GC-MS, the computing device storing non-transitory instructions executable to identify one or more hydrocarbon species present in the engine fluid based on each retention time.

13. The engine testing apparatus of claim 12, wherein the engine fluid is engine oil.

14. The engine testing apparatus of claim 12, wherein the instructions are further executable to determine a concentration of each identified hydrocarbon species present in the engine fluid based on each retention time and corresponding mass spectrometer ion count.

15. The engine testing apparatus of claim 14, wherein the instructions are further executable to output a notification of an identity and concentration of each identified hydrocarbon species present in the engine fluid for display on a display device.

16. The engine testing apparatus of claim 12, wherein the instructions are further executable to determine a predicted effect on an oxygen sensor based on each retention time and output a notification of the predicted effect for display on a display device.

17. An engine testing apparatus, comprising:

a gas chromatographer mass spectrometer (GC-MS) configured to sample engine oil and determine, for each of a plurality of fractions of the engine oil, a retention time; and

a computing device operably coupled to the GC-MS, the computing device storing non-transitory instructions executable to;

identify one or more hydrocarbon species and a concentration of each identified hydrocarbon species present in the engine oil based on each retention time; and

determine a predicted effect on an oxygen sensor based on each retention time.

18. The engine testing apparatus of claim 17, wherein the engine oil is sampled from an oil sump positioned in a crankcase of an engine, and wherein the oxygen sensor is positioned to sample intake air or exhaust gas of the engine.

19. The engine testing apparatus of claim 17, wherein the instructions are executable to output a notification of the predicted effect on the oxygen sensor for display on a display device.

20. The engine testing apparatus of claim 17, wherein the identifying includes identifying one or more of a molecular weight, vapor pressure, boiling point, and a type of hydrocarbon for one or more hydrocarbon species.