JP3137166B2 - Refueling device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fuel supply device for automatically determining the type of fuel oil based on vapor in a vehicle fuel tank.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There are two types of automobiles, one using gasoline as fuel oil and the other using gas oil. If the type of fuel to be used is wrong, the engine will be seriously hindered. . Therefore, prior to refueling, the vapor in the vehicle fuel tank is guided to the gas sensor in the refueling device via an air tube attached to the refueling nozzle, and the type of fuel oil is determined from the degree of increase in the organic gas concentration in a predetermined time. There has been proposed a refueling device with an oil type determination function that permits refueling when the fuel type matches a fuel type registered in the refueling device.

[0003] According to such a device, the same fuel oil as the fuel oil contained in the vehicle tank can be reliably supplied. However, the gas sensor is usually of a combustion type or a semiconductor type. When used for a long period of time with an extremely concentrated organic gas such as vapor in an automobile fuel tank, the fuel cell deteriorates and shortens its life. There is a problem that a waiting time for transportation is required.

To solve such a problem, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No.
As shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-327193, a gas sensor containing an ultrasonic transducer was provided in a chamber provided with a vapor suction port at one end and a through hole connected to a negative pressure generating means at the other end. A refueling nozzle, a temperature calculating means for detecting a temperature from a sound velocity before the vapor is sucked into the chamber, and a signal when the vapor is sucked into the chamber is corrected by the temperature calculated by the temperature calculating means to correct the signal of the vapor. There has been proposed a refueling device including means for determining a type.

According to such an oil supply device, since the temperature change of the sound velocity in the vapor is corrected based on the environmental temperature, the oil type can be accurately determined in a normal state. If the concentration rises to the gasoline vapor concentration at low temperatures, or if the gasoline in the automobile fuel tank is extremely low and the vapor concentration near the filler port is equivalent to that of a light oil vehicle, judgment cannot be made. The inconvenience still remains.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and has as its object to reduce the temperature of an automobile when the fuel oil in an automobile fuel tank is extremely low due to an extreme environmental temperature. However, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new refueling nozzle capable of determining an oil type as accurately as possible.

[0007]

In order to solve such a problem, according to the present invention, a chamber provided with a vapor suction port at one end and a through hole connected to a negative pressure generating means at the other end is provided with an ultra-high pressure chamber. fueling nozzle having a gas sensor formed by housing the ultrasound transducer, the temperature calculation means to calculate the temperature from the previous sound velocity vapor automobile fuel tank is sucked into the chamber, prior to vapor is sucked into the chamber speed of sound and the sound velocity at which the vapor is sucked density calculation means to calculate the vapor concentration, a plurality of temperature regions and a plurality of
Gasoline, light oil, and
A criterion storage device that stores three types of data that cannot be determined
And an oil type judging means for judging the oil type based on the data from the calculation means and the data in the judgment criterion storage means.
A step was provided.

[0008]

[Action] After correcting the temperature of the signal from the gas sensor,
Multiple temperature zones and multiple vapor concentration zones
Gasoline, light oil, and undetermined 3
The determination is made based on the type of data.

[0009]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. FIG. 2 shows an example of a refueling device in which the refueling nozzle of the present invention is used. In the drawing, reference numeral 1 denotes a refueling pump driven by a pump motor 2, and a discharge port is provided through a flow meter 3. An oil supply hose 4 is connected to the flow meter 3, and a signal from a flow rate pulse transmitter 5 attached to the flow meter 3 is output to the control device 6.

The control device 6 is constituted by a microcomputer, drives the pump motor 2 and the air pump 9 based on signals from the nozzle switch 7 and the lever switch 8, and based on signals from the flow rate pulse transmitter 5. A program for calculating the flow rate to display the refueling amount on the display device 10 and for operating the alarm 11 when the oil type is different is stored.

Numeral 12 denotes a nozzle connected to the end of the oil supply hose 4. The nozzle has a lever switch 8, an air valve 14, and a sensor 15 for determining the oil type, both of which are linked to an oil supply lever 13. Is provided. The lever switch 8 and the sensor 15 are connected to the controller 6 by a cable 18 provided along the oil supply hose 4, and the air valve 14 is connected to the air tube 1 provided along the oil supply hose.
9 is connected to the air pump 9.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the fuel supply nozzle described above. The main valve 22 which is opened by pulling up the fuel supply lever 13 and sends out the fuel oil from the fuel supply hose 4 to the cylinder tip 21 has a body portion. 23, and a vapor suction port 24 is provided near the tip of the cylinder tip.

Reference numeral 14 denotes the above-described air valve,
When the refueling lever 13 is in the initial state, the operating lever 25 is protruded to the position b shown in FIG. 4 and the refueling lever 13 is pulled. When the operating rod 25 is pushed in, it takes the position a,
Thereby, at position a, air is supplied to the negative pressure generating means 26 to suck air from the vapor suction port 24 to the sensor 15,
At the position b, the air from the air pump 9 is
To purge the chamber 30.

FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of the gas sensor 15 mounted on the body 23 of the nozzle 12. Reference numeral 30 in the drawing denotes openings 33 and 34 formed in both side walls 31 and 32, respectively. In the cylindrical chamber, one opening 33 is connected to the pipe 27 communicating with the vapor suction port 24, and the opening 34 is connected to the air valve 14 and the negative pressure generating means 26. An ultrasonic transducer 35 is housed at one end of the chamber 30 and is connected to the control device 6 via the cable 18.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a signal processing apparatus. In the figure, reference numeral 40 denotes timing signal generating means which operates when the lever switch 8 is turned on.
The high-frequency oscillating means 41 is operated at a constant cycle T to output pulsed high-frequency power to the ultrasonic transducer 35, and a reflected wave received by the ultrasonic transducer 35 at the time of completion of transmission is used as an echo signal. Output is made to a temperature calculating means 42 and a density calculating means 43, which will be described later.

The high-frequency oscillating means 41 is suitable for discriminating between an organic gas and air, and is configured to generate a high-frequency power of a frequency capable of generating a highly directional ultrasonic beam, for example, about 400 KHz. .

Reference numeral 42 denotes the above-mentioned temperature calculating means. When the nozzle switch 7 is turned on, that is, when there is a clean air in the chamber, a signal is output from the high-frequency oscillating means 41. , The temperature in the chamber 30 is calculated by a time ΔT until the echo arrives and a temperature calculation formula, which is stored in the first relational expression storage means 44 and defines a relationship between the transmission time of the ultrasonic wave and the temperature, which will be described later. It is configured as follows.

Reference numeral 43 denotes the above-described concentration calculating means.
In a state where the vapor of the vehicle fuel tank is sucked within the time period 0, a time ΔT ′ from the time when the signal is output from the high frequency oscillation means 41 to the arrival of the echo, and the time ΔT ′
And the vapor concentration is calculated based on a relational expression described later stored in the second relational expression storage means 45.

[Table 1]

Reference numeral 46 denotes a criterion storage means which stores data obtained by dividing the vapor concentrations of a gasoline-powered vehicle and a light oil vehicle in advance for each temperature range as shown in Table 1. Numeral 47 denotes an oil type judging means which stores data from the temperature calculating means 42 and the concentration calculating means 43 and a judgment criterion storing means 46.
Based on the above data, the oil type is determined based on two factors of the temperature and the vapor concentration. In Table 1, K
Is light oil, G is gasoline, and more? Indicates that determination is impossible.

Reference numeral 48 denotes a refueling permitting means.
The oil type determined in step 7 is compared with the oil type registered in the oil type storage means 49, and when they match, a refueling permission signal is output.

Next, the operation of the apparatus constructed as described above will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described based on the flowchart shown in FIG. 7 and the timing chart shown in FIG. When the nozzle 12 is removed from the refueling device and the nozzle switch 7 is turned on (step a),
The control device 6 returns the indicator 10 to zero and activates the air pump 9 (step b).

As a result, an ultrasonic pulse is generated from the ultrasonic transducer 35 every time T. In this case, since the refueling lever 13 is not pulled and the air valve 8 is at the position b, the air generated by the air pump 9 and supplied to the nozzle 12 through the air tube 19 is supplied to the gas sensor 1.
5, the vapor remaining in the chamber 30 is purged.

Next, when the cylinder tip 21 of the nozzle 12 is inserted into the fuel tank of the automobile, and the refueling lever 13 is pulled up to move the air valve 14 to the position a, air is supplied to the negative pressure generating means 26 to reduce the negative pressure. It acts on the chamber 30 of the gas sensor 15.

Immediately after the fuel supply lever 13 is pulled up, the vapor sucked from the vapor suction port 24 is still in the chamber 30.
, The chamber 30 is filled with clean air. When the oil supply lever 13 is pulled up, the lever switch 8 is turned ON (step c), the timing signal generation means 40 is operated, and the high-frequency oscillation means 41
Operates to supply high-frequency power to the ultrasonic transducer 35. As a result, an ultrasonic pulse is generated from the ultrasonic transducer 35 every time T.

That is, the ultrasonic pulse generated from the ultrasonic transducer 35 upon receiving the high-frequency power from the high-frequency oscillating means 41 propagates to the wall 31 at a sound velocity V determined by the temperature t of the clean air in the chamber 30. Part is wall 3
The light is similarly reflected by the ultrasonic transducer 35 at a sound speed determined by the air temperature t in the chamber 30.

This reflected wave is transmitted to the ultrasonic transducer 3
The signal is converted into an electric signal by 5 and input to the temperature calculating means 42. The temperature calculating means 42 includes the timing signal generating means 4
The time ΔT until the reflected wave is input and the time ΔT at which the timing signal is output from 0, that is, the time at which the ultrasonic wave is emitted from the ultrasonic transducer 35 are stored in the first relational expression storage means 44. Temperature calculation formula that defines the relationship between the sound speed of ultrasonic waves and the temperature (t) t = {(2L / ΔT) -331.45} × 1 / 0.60
7 (where L is the length (m) of the chamber 30 and Δ
T represents the time (second) until the echo is generated), and calculates the temperature of the Δ chamber 30 (step
D).

For example, the length of the chamber 30 is 5 cm, Δ
When T is 0.290 ms, t = ｛(2 × 0.05 / 0.00029) -331.4
A temperature value of 5 ° × 1 / 0.607 = 22 ° C. is calculated.

When the calculation of the temperature is completed, the vapor in the automobile tank reaches the chamber 30 from the vapor suction port, and the ultrasonic pulse from the ultrasonic transducer 35 generates the vapor, that is, the atmosphere in the automobile tank and its temperature. The light propagates through the space of the chamber 30 at a sound speed determined by the following equation, is reflected by the wall 31 of the chamber 30, and has a sound speed determined by the vapor concentration in the chamber 30.
Enter 5

That is, when light oil is stored in the vehicle fuel tank and the concentration of vapor is low, the sound speed is high and the time ΔT 'until the echo arrives becomes short (III). When the density is high, the time until the arrival of the echo ΔT ′ because the sound speed becomes low
Becomes longer (IV). The vapor concentration is calculated from these times ΔT ′.

The density calculating means 43 calculates the density calculating formula M = 0.8 × ΔV × 100 = 0.8 × ｛(ΔT'-Δ) stored in the second relational expression storing means 45.
T) / ΔT｝ × 100 (where M is the vapor concentration (VOL%) and ΔV is
Concentration at the current temperature based on the rate of change of sound velocity (%), and ΔT and ΔT 'represent the time (seconds) until the arrival of an echo when ultrasonic waves propagate in air and vapor. Is calculated. (Step E).

For example, from the time ΔT = 0.29 ms when the echo time is only air, ΔT ′ = 0.302 (m
Second), M = 0.8 × 100 ｛(0.302−0.290) /
0.290 ° = 3.3 vol% is calculated.

The oil type determining means 47 is based on the temperature t (22 ° C.) from the temperature calculating means 42 and the concentration M (3.3 vol%) from the concentration calculating means 43,
Is determined to be gasoline (step f).

As described above, conventionally, the determination is made based on the vapor concentration corrected based on the environmental temperature. On the other hand, in the present invention, the rate of change of the time until the echo arrives (ΔT′−Δ
T) / ΔT, the vapor concentration of gas oil at high temperature becomes the vapor concentration of gasoline at low temperature. The oil type can be specified as much as possible even in the vapor concentration region where the determination is impossible (in the case of Table 1, the region of 0.6 to 3.5 voi%).

When the result of this determination matches the oil type stored in the oil type storage means 49 (step), the refueling permitting means 48 outputs a refueling permitting signal to operate the pump motor 2. (Stepch).

As a result, fuel oil is discharged from the nozzle main valve 22 to start refueling. When a predetermined amount of fuel is supplied and the fuel supply lever 13 is returned, the main valve 22 is closed, and the discharge of fuel oil from the nozzle stops. Nozzle 12
Is returned to the nozzle hook and the nozzle switch 7 is turned off (step リ), the control device 6 stops the pump motor 2 and turns off the air pump 6 (step リ).
Nu).

Further, when the worker notices that the oil type is obviously different before the oil supply lever 13 is pulled up, or after the oil supply lever 13 is pulled up, the nozzle 12 is left as it is before the erroneous oil type is notified. When the nozzle switch 7 is turned off after being returned to the hook (step, tap).
Thereby, the control device 6 stops the air pump 9 (step S).

On the other hand, if the oil types do not match after a certain period of time, for example, 3 seconds (step e), the operation of the air pump 9 is stopped, and at the same time, an alarm indicating that the oil types are different is issued by the alarm 11 From (step w). When the nozzle 12 is returned to the nozzle hook after the refueling lever 13 is pulled down by this alarm, the nozzle switch 7 is turned off (step f) and the notification stops (step f).
Yo).

In this embodiment, the air pump is provided on the fueling device main body side and is connected to the chamber by an air tube. However, a small air pump is provided on the body of the fueling nozzle, or is operated by the movement of the fueling lever. It is apparent that the same effect can be obtained even when the air pump is applied to a body that is housed in the body.

[0039]

As described above, in the present invention, the ultrasonic transducer is housed in a chamber provided with a vapor suction port at one end and a through hole connected to the negative pressure generating means at the other end. refueling nozzle with a gas sensor,
Calculating the vapor concentration from the acoustic velocity when the temperature calculation means to calculate the temperature from the previous sound velocity vapor automobile fuel tank is sucked into the chamber, before the speed of sound and the vapor vapor in the chamber is sucked is aspirated concentration calculating hand stage, double
Number of temperature regions and multiple vapor concentration regions
A determination reference storage unit that stores three types of data, sorin, light oil, and undeterminable; and an oil type determination unit that determines an oil type based on data from each calculation unit and data in the determination reference storage unit . Temperature compensation from signal from gas sensor
After the correction, a plurality of temperature regions prepared in advance and a
Gasoline, light oil, and
Since the determination is based on three types of data that cannot be determined,
In a low-temperature environment where the
Also, the oil type can be automatically determined with high reliability .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of a means for driving a gas sensor in a fueling device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an oil supply device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing one embodiment of a fueling nozzle used in the fueling device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a pipeline configuration diagram showing a connection relationship of air valves provided in a fueling nozzle.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing the structure of the gas sensor of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the fueling device of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a waveform chart showing the operation of the gas sensor of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Pump 2 Pump motor 3 Flow meter 5 Flow rate pulse transmitter 6 Control device 7 Nozzle switch 8 Lever switch 9 Air pump 10 Indicator 11 Alarm 14 Air valve 15 Sensor 30 Chamber 35 Ultrasonic transducer

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] The method according to claim 1] vapor suction port at one end, and a chamber provided with a through hole for connecting the negative pressure generating means to the other end, fueling Nozzle having a gas sensor formed by housing the ultrasound transducer, the chamber Temperature calculating means for calculating the temperature from the sound speed before the vapor of the vehicle fuel tank is sucked, and concentration calculation for calculating the vapor concentration from the sound speed before the vapor is sucked into the chamber and the sound speed when the vapor is sucked. hand stage, a plurality of temperature regions and a plurality of vapor concentration territory
Gasoline, light oil, and undetermined 3
Type criteria storage means for storing data, and the fuel supply apparatus provided with the oil type determining means for determining the type of oil based on the data of the data and the criterion storage means from each calculation means. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the concentration calculating means calculates a return time ΔT of an echo when clean air is sucked into the chamber.
And the return time ΔT ′ of the echo when the vapor is sucked.
The refueling device according to claim 1, wherein the change is detected by a change rate of (ΔT′−ΔT) / ΔT. 3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the time point at which the measurement of the sound speed is started is determined by the refueling time.
Based on a signal from a switch that is linked to the
The fuel supply apparatus 1 Iteiru claim 1.