If only Drivers were as Attentive as Sensor Automation

摘要

THE EVER-MOVING INTERSECTION OF NEEDS AND TECHNOLOGIES HAS GREATLY INCREASED THE NUMBER OF SENSORS IN TODAY'S CARS, HERE ARE SOME OF THE LATEST SENSOR SYSTEMS IN CARS TODAY AND IN DEVELOPMENT FOR THE FUTURE. Automotive emission control systems essentially "breath" the dirty air from the engine to determine the engine's efficiency: fuel and engine efficiency can be determined by the oxygen concentration in the exhaust stream. Oxygen sensors are certainly not new, says Vishy Seetharaman, technical marketing manager for Delphi (Troy, Ml; www.delphi.com). However, up to now, these sensors could only report whether the engine was running rich or lean, not how rich or how lean. The Delphi linear oxygen sensor can report the how. This sensor measures the air/fuel ratio of the exhaust gas from diesel and gasoline engines over a wide lambda (rich/lean) range. The five-wire, two-cell sensor combines new geometry (an integrated heater), different material sets (an alumnia/ zirconia element), and an optimized membrane thickness to yield fast light-off and closed-loop operation. With such sensors, continues Seetharaman, vehicles can run closer "to the edge," which means getting more out of an automobile engine while reducing emissions even further.