Importance

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Abstract

In a combustion engine, the fuel quantity is determined as a function of the inflowing air mass. As a measure for the inflowing air mass, one uses either a main load signal, which is generated by an air-mass flow sensor and represents a measure of the inflowing air mass, or a secondary load signal, which is generated as a function of the degree of throttle of a throttle device in the intake port and of the speed of the combustion engine, to correct the secondary load signal, an air-mass compensation quantity being utilized. The air-mass compensation quantity is generated in operating phases in which the correctness of the main load signal may be assumed, by comparing the main load signal with the secondary load signal. In the case of a leakage of the intake port between the air-mass flow sensor and the throttle device, the main load signal changes, but not the secondary load signal, so that, by evaluating the air-mass compensation quantity, which in such a case assumes an unusual value, a leakage in this section of the intake port may be recognized.

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First Claim