The Simulation on Temperature and Thermal Stress of Leakage Current Particulate Matter Sensor on Diesel Engine

Based on the working environment and control strategy of the leakage current particulate sensor on the diesel engine, the ANSYS finite element simulation is applied to prove the reliability of the sensor in the response phase. It shows that the full load conditions of the diesel engine harsh the exhaust environment, which leads to higher thermal stress in the sensor. The temperature of the front end of the sensor base is up to 227 degrees C, and the highest thermal stress appearing in the sensor is 88 MPa. Both of them are lower than the upper limit request, which guarantees the working reliability of the sensor in long period. The effect of outside environment on the highest temperature of the sensor base is also investigated, and it shows that the lower temperature and the higher convective heat transfer coefficient would be in favor of the reliable work of the sensor. In addition, it shows that the cold start time of the sensor is reducing exponentially with the increasing heating power, and the optimum heating power is 60 W taking the linearly increasing thermal stress into consideration.