Intake air path diagnostics for internal combustion engines

Presented is the detection, isolation, and estimation of faults that occur in the intake air path of internal combustion engines during steady state operation. The proposed diagnostic approach is based on a static air path model, which is adapted online such that the model output matches the measured output during steady state conditions. The resulting changes in the model coefficients create a vector whose magnitude and direction are used for fault detection and isolation. Fault estimation is realized by analyzing the residual between the actual sensor measurement and the output of the original (i.e., healthy) model. To identify the structure of the steady state air path model a process called system probing is developed. The proposed diagnostics algorithm is experimentally validated on the intake air path of a Ford 4.6 L V-8 engine. The specific faults to be identified include two of the most problematic faults that degrade the performance of transient fueling controllers: bias in the mass air flow sensor and a leak in the intake manifold. The selected model inputs include throttle position and engine speed, and the output is the mass air flow sensor measurement.