Abstract: A combustion heater system for use in a moter vehicle has a combustion chamber housing a combustion pad which is heated by a pre-glow plug for vaporizing a fuel that is supplied from a fuel tank through a solenoid-operated valve to the combustion pad. The combustion chamber is supplied with air from a fan, and houses a spark plug for producing sparks in the combustion chamber to ignite a fuel vapor emitted from the combustion pad. The combustion heater system has a control unit which energizes the pre-glow plug to heat the combustion pad, actuates the solenoid-operated valve to supply the fuel to the combustion pad, and actuates the fan to supply air to the combustion chamber. The control unit subsequently energizes the spark plug to produce sparks upon elapse of a preset period of time hereby to ignite the fuel vapor emitted from the combustion pad for producing flames in the combustion chamber.

Abstract: An evaporative fuel-purging control system for an internal combustion engine includes a mass flowmeter arranged across a purging passage of the engine for measuring a flow rate of a mixture of evaporative fuel and air being purged. A desired flow rate of the mixture is set according to operating conditions of the engine. The desired flow rate of the mixture is compared with a measured flow rate of the mixture obtained by the mass flowmeter, and the opening of a purge control valve arranged across the purging passage is controlled based on results of the comparison.