Abstract: An apparatus for detecting abnormal air-fuel ratio variation among cylinders of a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine includes: a catalyst element that oxidizes hydrogen contained in exhaust gas to remove the hydrogen; a first air-fuel ratio sensor that detects an air-fuel ratio of exhaust gas that has not passed through the catalyst element; a second air-fuel ratio sensor that detects an air-fuel ratio of exhaust gas that has passed through the catalyst element; and a unit that determines whether abnormal air-fuel ratio variation among the cylinders has occurred based on an amount by which a value detected by the second air-fuel ratio sensor is leaner than a value detected by the first air-fuel ratio sensor.

Abstract: To provide a method for enhancing adhesion of a thin film, and a method for enhancing adhesion of a thin film provided with a surface function caused by the shape. Adhesion of a thin film can be enhanced by irradiating the surface of a parent material with a laser beam at a fluence in the vicinity of the machining threshold, scanning the irradiated part while overlapping to form a grating structure, and then forming a solid thin film in the grating structure. When the grating structure formed on the parent material is left on the solid thin film, adhesion of the thin film is enhanced and surface functions, e.g. reduction of friction and wear caused by the shape, suppression of adhesion of fine particles, and cell sensibility, can be exhibited in conjunction with the function of the solid thin film.

Abstract: An apparatus for determining an air-fuel ratio imbalance among cylinders based on an output value of an air-fuel ratio sensor, an imbalance determination parameter which becomes larger or smaller as a difference among air-fuel ratios becomes larger, and performs determining an air-fuel ratio imbalance among cylinders based on a result of a comparison between the imbalance determination parameter and a imbalance determination threshold. The determining apparatus calculates a purge correction coefficient which compensates for a change in the air-fuel ratio due to an evaporated fuel gas which is generated in a fuel tank, while the evaporated fuel gas is being introduced into an intake passage, and corrects a fuel injection amount with the purge correction coefficient FPG.

Abstract: A failure of a filter is detected with a higher degree of accuracy. There are provided a filter that is arranged on an exhaust passage of an internal combustion engine for collecting a substance contained in an exhaust gas, a substance amount detection part that is arranged on the exhaust passage at a downstream side of the filter for detecting an amount of substance in the exhaust gas, a flow speed detection part that detects or estimates a flow speed of the exhaust gas which passes through the filter, and a determination part that makes a determination that the filter is in a failure, when the higher the flow speed of the exhaust gas passing through the filter, the larger a ratio of an amount of change in the amount of substance to an amount of change in the flow speed of the exhaust gas becomes.

Abstract: An air-fuel ratio imbalance among cylinders determining apparatus according to the present invention is applied to a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine in which a compression ratio is variable. The determining apparatus obtains, using at least an output value of an upstream air-fuel ratio sensor disposed for a catalyst, an “imbalance determining parameter” which becomes larger as a degree of an imbalance among “individual cylinder air-fuel ratios” becomes larger, each of the individual cylinder air-fuel ratios being an air-fuel ratio of a mixture supplied to each of cylinders. Further, the determining apparatus determines that an air-fuel ratio imbalance state among cylinders is occurring, when the imbalance determining parameter is larger than a predetermined threshold. The determining apparatus changes the predetermined threshold in accordance with a mechanical compression ratio of the engine.

Abstract: The fact that “with respect to a process in which the output value of a downstream air-fuel ratio sensor (sensor output value) is inverted from the minimum output value to the maximum output value during execution of an active control, the local maximum and minimum values of the secondary differential value of the sensor output value is widely affected by the size of the response delay of the downstream air-fuel ratio sensor and the size of the degree of the degradation of the three-way catalyst” is utilized. By preliminarily acquiring and memorizing, as maps, these relations obtained through an experiment, and applying the “local maximum and minimum values of the secondary differential value of the sensor output value” calculated from the transition of the sensor output value acquired during execution of the active control to the maps, the response delay (time constant) of the downstream air-fuel ratio sensor is acquired.

Abstract: An ink composition for ink jet recording includes a coating film forming material, a polyether-modified silicone oil, and water, wherein the polyether-modified silicone oil is soluble in a solvent in which a lower limit of an SP value is 8.5 or less and an upper limit of the SP value is 18.0 or more.

Abstract: An accurate determination of deterioration of a NOx storage reduction catalyst. A supply device supplies a reducing agent to the NOx catalyst to change an air fuel ratio of an exhaust gas passing through the NOx catalyst, an NH3 detection device detects NH3 in the exhaust gas at the downstream side of the NOx catalyst, a control device adjusts an amount of the reducing agent so that the air fuel ratio of the exhaust gas becomes a predetermined rich air fuel ratio, and a determination device makes a determination that the NOx catalyst has deteriorated, when a detected value of the NH3 detection device becomes equal to or greater than a threshold value, at the time of supplying the reducing agent while adjusting the amount of the reducing agent so that the air fuel ratio of the exhaust gas becomes the predetermined rich air fuel ratio.

Abstract: The determination of deterioration of a NOx storage reduction catalyst (4) is carried out more accurately. When a reducing agent is supplied from a supply device (5) to the NOx catalyst (4), a first supply of the reducing agent and a second supply of the reducing agent are carried out in a sequential manner by adjusting an amount of the reducing agent in such a manner that an air fuel ratio of the exhaust gas becomes a predetermined rich air fuel ratio, and a determination whether or not the NOx catalyst (4) has deteriorated is made based on a detected value of a detection device (8), which detects NH3 in the exhaust gas at the downstream side of the NOx catalyst (4), after a predetermined period of time has elapsed from the start of the first supply of the reducing agent, and after the start of the second supply of the reducing agent.

Abstract: The deterioration judgment for an absorption reduction type NOx catalyst is performed quickly and correctly. A catalyst deterioration judging system includes a judging unit which judges that the absorption reduction type NOx catalyst is deteriorated if a detected value of an NH3 detecting unit is not more than a threshold value within a predetermined time immediately after starting supply of a reducing agent from a supply unit while regulating an amount of the reducing agent so that the air-fuel ratio of an exhaust gas is a rich air-fuel ratio by means of a control unit when NOx is absorbed by the absorption reduction type NOx catalyst.

Abstract: An inter-cylinder air-fuel ratio imbalance determination apparatus (determination apparatus) according to the present invention obtains, as an “EGR supplying state imbalance determination parameter”, a value corresponding to a differential value d(abyfs)dt of a detected air-fuel ratio abyfs represented by an output value of an air-fuel ratio sensor when an EGR gas is being supplied, and obtains, as an “EGR stop state imbalance determination parameter”, a value corresponding to a differential value d(abyfs)dt when an EGR gas supply is being stopped. The determination apparatus obtains an “EGR-causing imbalance determination parameter Pegr” by subtracting the EGR stop state imbalance determination parameter Poff from the EGR supplying state imbalance determination parameter Pon, and determines that an inter-cylinder air-fuel ratio imbalance state has occurred due to the supply of the EGR gas when the parameter Pegr is larger than a threshold Pegrth.

Abstract: An apparatus for determining an air-fuel ratio imbalance among cylinders based on an output value of an air-fuel ratio sensor, an imbalance determination parameter which becomes larger or smaller as a difference among air-fuel ratios becomes larger, and performs determining an air-fuel ratio imbalance among cylinders based on a result of a comparison between the imbalance determination parameter and a imbalance determination threshold. The determining apparatus calculates a purge correction coefficient which compensates for a change in the air-fuel ratio due to an evaporated fuel gas which is generated in a fuel tank, while the evaporated fuel gas is being introduced into an intake passage, and corrects a fuel injection amount with the purge correction coefficient FPG.

Abstract: The ink jet recording method includes discharging liquid droplets of a photocurable ink composition including a solvent, a polymerizable compound, and a photopolymerization initiator from a head to a recording medium to land the liquid droplets, thereby forming an image; evaporating the solvent included in the photocurable ink composition constituting the image; and irradiating the image after the second step with light, wherein when the irradiation is initiated in the third step, the content of the polymerizable compound included in the photocurable ink composition constituting the image after the second step is from 20 to 90% by mass, based on the total mass of the ink composition.

Abstract: A catalyst deterioration diagnosing apparatus is provided with means for performing stoichiometric feedback control on the air-fuel ratio based on at least output from an upstream air-fuel ratio sensor provided upstream of a catalyst, means for measuring the oxygen storage capacity of the catalyst, and means for correcting the measured value of the oxygen storage capacity based on at least the output behavior of a downstream air-fuel ratio sensor provided downstream of the catalyst during the stoichiometric feedback control. The measured value of the oxygen storage capacity is corrected using the output behavior of the downstream air-fuel ratio sensor during stoichiometric feedback control. The diagnostic is performed after eliminating the effects from sulfur by correcting the measured value to a value corresponding to when low sulfur fuel is used, which makes it possible to prevent an erroneous diagnosis from being made.

Abstract: The deterioration judgment for an absorption reduction type NOx catalyst is performed quickly and correctly. A catalyst deterioration judging system includes a supply unit which supplies a reducing agent, a measuring unit which measures a NOx concentration in an exhaust gas at a position downstream from the catalyst, a control unit which regulates an amount of the reducing agent so that an air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas is a lean air-fuel ratio when the reducing agent is supplied from the supply unit, and a judging unit which judges deterioration of the catalyst on the basis of the NOx concentration measured by the measuring unit when the amount of the reducing agent is regulated so that the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas is the lean air-fuel ratio when NOx is absorbed by the catalyst.

Abstract: A cylinder-to-cylinder air/fuel ratio imbalance determination system obtains an imbalance determination parameter that increases or decreases as a difference between the air/fuel ratios of different cylinders increases, based on output values of an air/fuel ratio sensor, and makes a cylinder-to-cylinder A/F imbalance determination, based on the result of comparison between the imbalance determination parameter and a threshold value for imbalance determination. The determination system changes the amount of fuel injected into one or more of the cylinders so as to create a forced imbalance condition in which the air/fuel ratio of a particular cylinder deviates from the air/fuel ratio of the remaining cylinders, and obtains an air/fuel ratio sensor evaluation parameter (e.g., rate of change ?AF of the detected air/fuel ratio) in this condition.

Abstract: A monitoring apparatus including a catalytic converter, an upstream air-fuel ratio sensor, and a downstream air-fuel ratio sensor; calculates a sub feedback amount to have an air-fuel ratio represented based on an output value of the downstream air-fuel ratio sensor coincide with a stoichiometric air-fuel ratio; and controls an fuel injection amount based on an output value of the upstream air-fuel ratio sensor and the sub feedback amount, in such a manner that an air-fuel ratio of a mixture supplied to an engine coincides with the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio.

Abstract: An electronic control device calculates the maximum actual oxygen storage capacity of a catalyst. The gradient of a linear expression formed between the catalyst temperature and the maximum oxygen storage capacity of the catalyst is stored for each degradation level of the catalyst. The gradient can be learned in accordance with the same temperature of the catalyst and the maximum actual oxygen storage capacity. When the maximum actual oxygen storage capacity is calculated, it is revised in accordance with the temperature of the catalyst, a reference temperature, the linear expression, and the learned gradient. The revised maximum oxygen storage capacity which is the maximum oxygen storage capacity when the temperature of the catalyst during the same calculation period is equal to the reference temperature is then calculated. If a response delay is detected in the output of an oxygen sensor, the gradient of the learned linear expression is discarded.

Abstract: In a fuel injection system of an internal combustion engine in which a first fuel, which has a property to inhibit the adsorption of exhaust gas components by an exhaust gas purification catalyst, and the second fuel, which has a property not to inhibit the adsorption of the exhaust gas components by the exhaust gas purification catalyst, are able to be selectively used, the present invention has a task to decrease an amount of consumption of the second fuel in a suitable manner. In order to solve this task, the fuel injection system of an internal combustion engine according the present invention is constructed such that the second fuel is first supplied to the internal combustion engine when the exhaust gas purification catalyst is in a cold state, and a change from the second fuel to the first fuel is then made before the exhaust gas purification catalyst subsequently rises in temperature to an activation temperature thereof.

Abstract: A failure of a filter is detected with a higher degree of accuracy. There are provided a filter that is arranged on an exhaust passage of an internal combustion engine for collecting a substance contained in an exhaust gas, a substance amount detection part that is arranged on the exhaust passage at a downstream side of the filter for detecting an amount of substance in the exhaust gas, a flow speed detection part that detects or estimates a flow speed of the exhaust gas which passes through the filter, and a determination part that makes a determination that the filter is in a failure, when the higher the flow speed of the exhaust gas passing through the filter, the larger a ratio of an amount of change in the amount of substance to an amount of change in the flow speed of the exhaust gas becomes.