JP2011127984A - Water level measuring apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the time until there is convergence of water level determined by adopting a filter to the actual liquid level. <P>SOLUTION: A water-level measuring apparatus calculates a filter value, by adopting a filter having a time constant τ1 to a liquid level read by a water gauge attached to a liquid tank mounted on a vehicle, and outputs this filter value as a final water level. The water-level measuring apparatus determines whether the vehicle is stopped (S11); determines whether the liquid level of the liquid is stable, when the vehicle is determined to be stopped (S12); and switches the time constant τ1 of the filter to a smaller time constant τ2, when the liquid level is stable (S13). Even when it is determined that the liquid is not stable, after the lapse of a second predetermined time T2, from the time the vehicle is determined as having stopped (S14), the water-level measuring apparatus considers the liquid level as being stable and switches the time constant of the filter from τ1 to τ2 (S13). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for measuring a water level of a liquid stored in a liquid tank.

  As a water level measuring device for measuring the level of liquid stored in a liquid tank, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-82725 (Patent Document 1), when the water level measured by a water level meter is greater than 1 second There has been proposed a technique for outputting a filter value calculated by applying a constant filter as a water level. As a result, the fluctuation of the liquid level is smoothed and made less susceptible to the influence of the liquid fluctuation, thereby improving the water level measurement accuracy.

JP 2008-82725 A

  However, when a filter having a time constant that reduces the influence of liquid shaking is applied, for example, after a vehicle equipped with a liquid tank stops, even if the liquid level in the tank has settled, the output water level is There is a possibility that it takes time to converge to the actual water level.

  Therefore, in view of the conventional problems as described above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a water level measuring device that shortens the time until the output water level converges to the actual liquid level.

  For this reason, the water level measurement device according to the present invention includes a water level meter that measures the level of the liquid stored in the liquid tank, and a filter value obtained by applying a filter having a predetermined time constant to the water level measured by the water level meter. Filter means for calculating the output, output means for outputting the filter value calculated by the filter means as a water level, and first determination means for determining whether the liquid level of the liquid stored in the liquid tank is stable; And a time constant switching means for switching the predetermined time constant of the filter to a smaller value when it is determined that the liquid level is stable.

  According to the present invention, when it is determined that the liquid level is stable even when a filter having a predetermined time constant for reducing the influence of liquid shaking is applied to the water level measured by the water level gauge. Since the predetermined time constant of the filter is automatically switched to a smaller value, the time until the output water level converges to the actual water level can be shortened.

Overall configuration diagram of an exhaust emission control device to which the present invention is applied A flowchart showing an embodiment of a first control program A flowchart showing an embodiment of the second control program Explanatory diagram showing the output water level when the time constant is not switched Explanatory diagram showing the output water level when the time constant is switched

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of an exhaust emission control device to which the present invention is applied.

An exhaust pipe 14 connected to the exhaust manifold 12 of the engine 10 includes a nitrogen oxidation catalyst 16 that oxidizes nitrogen monoxide (NO) to nitrogen dioxide (NO ₂ ) along the exhaust flow direction, and a reducing agent precursor. As an injection nozzle 18 for supplying and supplying urea aqueous solution, NOx reduction catalyst 20 for reducing and purifying nitrogen oxide (NOx) using ammonia obtained by hydrolyzing urea aqueous solution, and NOx reduction catalyst 20 An ammonia oxidation catalyst 22 for oxidizing ammonia is provided.

  The urea aqueous solution stored in the reducing agent tank 24 (liquid tank) has a suction opening at the bottom thereof, a pump module 26 that sucks the urea aqueous solution and pumps it, and a flow rate for controlling the injection flow rate (supply flow rate) of the urea aqueous solution. It is supplied to the injection nozzle 18 through a supply pipe 30 in which an addition module 28 incorporating a control valve is interposed. Further, a water level gauge 32 for measuring the water level L0 of the urea aqueous solution is attached to the reducing agent tank 24. As the water level gauge 32, for example, an inner electrode and an outer electrode having a circular cross section are suspended concentrically from the top wall to the bottom wall of the reducing agent tank 24. From the capacitance change between the two electrodes, Various known water level meters such as a capacitance type, a float type, and an optical type for measuring the water level L0 can be used.

  On the other hand, an exhaust temperature sensor 34 for measuring an exhaust temperature Te as an engine operating state is attached to the exhaust pipe 14 positioned between the nitrogen oxidation catalyst 16 and the injection nozzle 18. The output signals of the water level gauge 32 and the exhaust temperature sensor 34 are input to a reducing agent addition control unit (hereinafter referred to as “reducing agent addition ECU”) 36 incorporating a computer. In addition, the reducing agent addition ECU 36 includes an engine control unit (hereinafter referred to as “engine ECU”) 38 that performs various controls of the engine 10, such as an engine speed and a load, via a network such as a CAN (Controller Area Network). The engine operating state and vehicle speed information are input. Then, the reducing agent addition ECU 36 executes a first control program stored in a ROM (Read Only Memory) or the like, thereby providing a filter unit and an output unit for measuring the water level L of the urea aqueous solution. By executing the control program, the first determination unit, the time constant switching unit, the stop determination unit, and the second determination unit are implemented. The reducing agent addition ECU 36 electronically controls the pump module 26 and the addition module 28 according to the engine operating state in addition to the urea level water level measurement process.

In such an exhaust purification device, the urea aqueous solution injected and supplied from the injection nozzle 18 according to the engine operating state is hydrolyzed using the exhaust heat and the water vapor in the exhaust, and converted into ammonia. The converted ammonia undergoes a reduction reaction with NOx in the exhaust gas in the NOx reduction catalyst 20, and is converted into water (H ₂ O) and nitrogen (N ₂ ). At this time, in order to improve the NOx purification rate of the NOx reduction catalyst 20, NO in NOx catalyst 16 is oxidized to NO _2, it is improved in that the ratio between NO and NO ₂ in the exhaust gas suitable for reduction The On the other hand, ammonia that has passed through the NOx reduction catalyst 20 is oxidized by the ammonia oxidation catalyst 22 disposed downstream of the exhaust gas, so that ammonia is prevented from being released into the atmosphere as it is.

  FIG. 2 shows a first control program that is repeatedly executed in the reducing agent addition ECU 36 at every predetermined time t1 (sampling time).

  In step 1 (abbreviated as “S1” in the figure, the same applies hereinafter), the water level L0 is read from the water level gauge 32.

  In step 2, a filter value F1 to which a filter having a predetermined time constant τ1 is applied is calculated for the water level L0. Here, the predetermined time constant τ1 is a time constant larger than 1 second for reducing the influence of liquid shaking, for example, several hundred seconds. The filter value F1 is calculated using the previously calculated filter value F1 (previous value), for example, by the formula “F1 = (L0 × t1 / τ1) + (F1 × (1−t1 / τ1))”. The

  In step 3, the filter value F1 is output as the final water level L.

  Next, FIG. 3 shows a second control program that is repeatedly executed by the reducing agent addition ECU 36 every predetermined time t2. Note that t2 may be equal to t1.

  In step 11, it is determined whether or not the vehicle is stopped. The “vehicle is stopped” state refers to a state in which the vehicle speed is zero, and this determination can be made based on vehicle speed information input to the reducing agent addition ECU 36. If it is determined that the vehicle is stopped, the process proceeds to step 12 (Yes), while if it is determined that the vehicle is not stopped and is traveling, the process proceeds to step 15 ( No). Note that this step may be omitted when switching the filter time constant described later depending on whether or not the liquid level is stable regardless of whether or not the vehicle is stopped. By omitting this step, the processing speed of the reducing agent addition ECU 36 can be improved.

  In step 12, it is determined whether or not the liquid level stored in the liquid tank 24 is stable. This determination is made based on whether or not the condition that the variation of the filter value F1 is within a predetermined range is satisfied for the first predetermined time T1. As the case where “the fluctuation of the filter value F1 is within a predetermined range”, for example, the absolute value of the rate of change of the filter value F1 calculated in the first control program is smaller than the predetermined value α. Similarly, there may be a case where the width of the maximum value and the minimum value of the filter value F1 that changes every moment falls within the predetermined range β. Here, the predetermined value α and the predetermined range β are the rate of change and displacement of the filter value that can output a sufficiently stable liquid level L even when the filter time constant is switched as described later. The first predetermined time T1 is a time sufficient to determine that such a stable liquid level L can be maintained. When the condition is satisfied, the process proceeds to step 13 (Yes), and when the condition is not satisfied, the process proceeds to step 14 (No).

  In step 13, the predetermined time constant τ1 of the filter is switched to a smaller time constant τ2. The time constant τ2 is a value smaller than 1 second considering the convergence of the water level L, for example, several hundred milliseconds. In the first control program, the filter value F2 calculated first after switching the time constant is calculated using the water level L0 last measured by the water level gauge 32 before the switching as the previous value. For this reason, the filter value F2 calculated first, that is, the output water level L is equal to the actually measured water level L0.

  In step 14, it is determined whether or not the second predetermined time T2 has elapsed since it was first determined in step 11 that the vehicle is stopped. Here, the second predetermined time T2 is a time estimated that the fluctuation of the liquid level has subsided since the vehicle stopped, and is a case where the condition of step 12 is temporarily not satisfied for some reason. Even in such a case, the time is meaningful in that the liquid level is considered stable after a certain period of time and the filter time constant is reliably switched. Accordingly, the second predetermined time T2 is longer than the first predetermined time T1 described above. If the second predetermined time T2 has elapsed since the vehicle stopped (Yes), the process proceeds to step 13, while if the second predetermined time T2 has not elapsed since the vehicle stopped (No). , Go to step 15. Note that the determination in this step can be omitted to improve the processing speed of the reducing agent addition ECU 36. In this case, if the condition of step 12 is not satisfied (No), the process proceeds directly to step 15.

  In step 15, the predetermined time constant τ2 of the filter is switched to a larger time constant τ1.

  According to such a water level measuring device, even if the predetermined time constant τ1 is applied to the water level L0 measured by the water level gauge 32 in the first control program, the vehicle stops and the liquid level is stabilized. If it is, it automatically switches to a smaller time constant τ2. The filter value F2 calculated first after switching the time constant is calculated with the water level L0 last measured by the water level gauge 32 before switching as the previous value. For this reason, compared with the case where the time constant is not switched as shown in FIG. 4, as shown in FIG. 5, it is possible to shorten the time until the output water level L converges to the actual water level L0. it can.

  The present invention is not limited to the exhaust gas purification device, and can be applied to, for example, measuring the level of fuel stored in a fuel tank, the level of chemicals used in a chemical plant, and the like. In this case, instead of the reducing agent addition ECU 36, a control program may be executed by a computer or various control units incorporating the same.

24 Reductant tank 32 Water level meter 36 Reductant addition ECU 36

Claims (4)

A water level meter for measuring the level of the liquid stored in the liquid tank;
Filter means for calculating a filter value obtained by applying a filter having a predetermined time constant to the water level measured by the water level meter;
Output means for outputting the filter value calculated by the filter means as a water level;
First determination means for determining whether or not the liquid level of the liquid stored in the liquid tank is stable;
Time constant switching means for switching the predetermined time constant of the filter to a smaller value when it is determined that the liquid level is stable;
A water level measuring device comprising:   The first determination means determines that the liquid level is stable when a state in which the fluctuation of the filter value is within a predetermined range continues for a first predetermined time. The water level measuring device described. The vehicle further comprises stop determination means for determining whether or not the vehicle is stopped,
The first determination unit determines that the vehicle is stopped by the stop determination unit, and the liquid value is determined when a state in which the fluctuation of the filter value is within a predetermined range continues for a first predetermined time. The water level measuring device according to claim 1, wherein the surface is determined to be stable. Stop determination means for determining whether or not the vehicle is stopped;
Second determination means for determining that the liquid level is stable when a second predetermined time has elapsed since the stop determination means determined that the vehicle has stopped;
The water level measuring device according to claim 1, further comprising:

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