A control apparatus for a vehicle includes: a characteristic storage portion configured to store therein torque-characteristic information representing an output torque characteristic as a characteristic of an output torque of an engine of the vehicle, which has appeared in a certain control operation, such that the stored torque-characteristic information is divided into a plurality of groups corresponding to respective refueling points that provide the fuel; and a factor determination portion configured, when the output torque characteristic represented by the torque-characteristic information belonging to one of the plurality of groups and the output torque characteristic represented by the torque-characteristic information belonging to another one of the plurality of groups are different from each other and a characteristic difference therebetween is not smaller than a threshold value, to determine that the characteristic difference is caused by a difference in a property of the fuel.

An electronic control unit for a vehicle with a combustion engine and a method of fuel analysis are provided. At least one dynamic torque sensor value from a high pressure pump of the vehicle and at least one additional sensor value including at least one pressure sensor value and/or at least one timing value are used to determine whether a combustible fuel type currently in use is known, unknown, or similar to a known fuel type. In each case, the operation of the combustion engine is optimized using specific parameter configurations for the fuel injectors of the vehicle. The specific parameter configurations are either retrieved from a database, or are generated using artificial intelligence methods.

A fuel filter monitoring method includes receiving pressure signals that are indicative of a pressure drop across at least one fuel filter of a fuel supply system configured to supply fuel to at least one fuel injector of an internal combustion engine and receiving a condition signal indicative of a condition of a fuel supply system, the condition signal being generated by one or more of a geographic location sensor, an altitude sensor, and/or a fuel temperature sensor. The method includes estimating a remaining life of at least one fuel filter of the fuel supply system based on the pressure signal and the condition signal and outputting a notification indicative of the estimated remaining life.

An engine control system and method includes sensing the quality of fuel in the engine relative to emissions, by for example sensing the level of an emission related constituent, such as sulfur. A fuel quality sensor detects a fuel quality of a fuel, such as the sulfur level the fuel, and provides a signal in response to the fuel quality. The engine control system also includes a navigation device to determine whether an engine is located in a regulated or non-regulated region. The engine control system receives the signal and controls engine operation by, for example, enabling or disabling one or more engine algorithms to improve performance of the engine based on the fuel quality signal or, in other embodiments, the combination of the fuel quality and the location of the engine.

A method for checking the function of a pressure sensor in the air intake tract or gas outlet tract of an internal combustion engine and to an engine control unit for carrying out the method and based on measuring dynamic pressure oscillations of the intake air or the exhaust gas by the relevant pressure sensor and, on the basis of the pressure oscillation signal obtained, respectively determining with the aid of a discrete Fourier transformation for a number of selected signal frequencies in each case a value of a specific operating characteristic of the internal combustion engine and deviation values of the values determined for the different signal frequencies from one another. Depending on whether deviation values determined fall below or exceed a predetermined limit value, the satisfactory function of the pressure sensor is confirmed, or a malfunction of the pressure sensor is diagnosed.

Systems and methods for operating a fuel system that includes two separate fuel tanks are disclosed. In one example, fuel may be purged from a fuel rail in response to Reid vapor pressure of a fuel so that engine starting may be improved. A fuel with a higher Reid vapor pressure may be pumped into the fuel rail when the engine is expected to be cold started.

A fugitive gas detection system is provided. The system includes a cloud service, a plurality of reach-based components, a plurality of wireless gas sensors. The reach-based components comprise backhauls and gateways. The wireless gas sensors are acted as nodes to acquire sensor data in a local mesh network and the nodes are connected to the cloud service through the reach-based components, one node can transmit the sensor data to other sensor nodes of the local mesh network. The system measures flammable gas levels with speed, economy and accuracy.

Also disclosed is a method for determining the actual ethanol content of a fuel including: a step of collecting data on the instantaneous fuel consumption and on the ethanol content; a step of determining the current cumulative fuel consumption; a step of storing data in two matrices, an ethanol content matrix and a cumulative consumption matrix; a step of determining the value of the actual ethanol content of the fuel to be applied to the injector, the actual content being the value of the ethanol content of the ethanol content matrix having the same abscissa as the lowest cumulative consumption value of the cumulative consumption matrix for which the difference between the current cumulative consumption value and the cumulative consumption value is smaller than the value of a volume V of the duct located between the sensor and the injector.

Methods, systems and devices for evaluating incoming air to an engine, industrial controller including engine controls, valves and solenoids, for concentrations of explosive or combustible gases or vapors, and actuating process control including but not limited to shutting down an engine or other industrial process to control an outcome including the prevention of an overspeed condition when pre-set or calculated elevated gas or vapor concentrations are detected. In some embodiments industrial control including engine shutdown may be achieved conventionally via an electronic kill signal, a shutdown of the fuel injector, carburetor or fuel pump, and in emergency conditions by the shutoff of incoming air to an air intake, turbocharger, or other air delivery systems. Decisions based on explosive gas or vapor concentrations and species and the use of networking to allow additional systems to take action before explosive gases or vapors reach said other valve-sensor devices can provide additional safety.

The present invention discloses a cold start operation device and control method for a diesel engine in a plateau region under a low ambient temperature, allowing a starter to drive a piston to compress the low-temperature air, by using the heated air as the fresh inlet air to introduce it into the cylinder, so that the in-cylinder temperature at the compressing TDC is increased to obtain the ignition temperature, and finally achieving the cold start of diesel engines in plateau regions. The present invention avoids complicated preheating devices, and has simple structure and reliable performance, can achieve effective cold start in different low ambient temperature environments.