Liquefied petroleum gas tank leak detection system and method

• Main Authors: KOZOLE KARL H, AHMAD FARID, LARSEN JOHN F
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 22.07.2015
• Subjects: ARRANGEMENT OR MOUNTING OF PLURAL DIVERSE PRIME-MOVERS INVEHICLES; ARRANGEMENT OR MOUNTING OF PROPULSION UNITS OR OFTRANSMISSIONS IN VEHICLES; ARRANGEMENTS IN CONNECTION WITH COOLING, AIR INTAKE, GASEXHAUST OR FUEL SUPPLY OF PROPULSION UNITS, IN VEHICLES; ARRANGEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS FOR CHECKING NOT PROVIDEDFOR ELSEWHERE; AUXILIARY DRIVES FOR VEHICLES; BLASTING; CHECKING-DEVICES; CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TOTRANSPORTATION; COMBUSTION ENGINES; CONTROLLING COMBUSTION ENGINES; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERATING RANDOM NUMBERS; HEATING; HOT-GAS OR COMBUSTION-PRODUCT ENGINE PLANTS; INSTRUMENTATION OR DASHBOARDS FOR VEHICLES; LIGHTING; MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICS; REGISTERING OR INDICATING THE WORKING OF MACHINES; SUPPLYING COMBUSTION ENGINES IN GENERAL, WITH COMBUSTIBLEMIXTURES OR CONSTITUENTS THEREOF; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINSTCLIMATE CHANGE; TIME OR ATTENDANCE REGISTERS; TRANSPORTING; VEHICLES IN GENERAL; VOTING OR LOTTERY APPARATUS; WEAPONS

The invention discloses a liquefied petroleum gas tank leak detection system and method. A leak detection system of a vehicle includes a first minimum module, a first maximum module, a difference module, and a diagnostic module. The first minimum module, at a first time, determines a first minimum amount of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in an LPG tank based on a first level of LPG in the LPG tank. The first maximum module, at a second time after the first time, determines a first maximum amount of LPG in the LPG tank based on a second level of LPG in the LPG tank. The difference module determines a difference between the first minimum amount, the first maximum amount, and an amount of LPG consumed by an engine between the first and second times. The diagnostic module selectively indicates that a leak is present in the LPG tank based on the difference.