Method for monitoring a pressure sensor in a direct injection system

1. A method for monitoring a pressure sensor in a direct injection system comprising at least one common rail, a pressure sensor configured to measure a pressure P MES in the common rail, a high-pressure fuel pump comprising a high-pressure piston and a flow control valve having electrical control, a hydraulic circuit connecting the high-pressure pump to the common rail, a control unit configured to control the flow control valve so that the pressure P MES in the common rail is equal to a setpoint pressure, a passive pressure-limiting valve connected to the hydraulic circuit, configured to open once the pressure in the hydraulic circuit is greater than a threshold pressure P 1 , so as to discharge the fuel, the method comprising the following steps implemented in the control unit:

a) detecting the opening of the pressure-limiting valve;

b) measuring the pressure P MES corresponding to a time of opening of the pressure-limiting valve; and

c) comparing the measured pressure P MES to the threshold pressure P 1 in order to detect a drift in said pressure sensor.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the time of opening of the pressure-limiting valve in step a) is determined by measuring a variation in a value of the electrical control that is greater than 0.1%·s −1 .

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the time of opening of the pressure-limiting valve in step a) is determined by measuring an increase in a value of the electrical control that is greater than 1% in 5 seconds.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the control unit comprises a proportional-integrator-shifter type corrector, and wherein the time of opening of the pressure-limiting valve in step a) is determined by measuring a variation of an integrator control of the corrector corresponding to a flow variation that is greater than 100 ml·min −1 .

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the setpoint pressure is progressively increased before step a).

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the time of opening of the pressure-limiting valve in step a) is determined by measuring an increase in the value of the electrical control that is greater than 1% in 5 seconds.

7. A direct injection system, comprising at least one common rail, a pressure sensor configured to measure the pressure P MES in the common rail, a high-pressure fuel pump comprising a high-pressure piston and a flow control valve having electrical control, a hydraulic circuit connecting the high-pressure pump to the common rail, a control unit configured to control the flow control valve so that the pressure P MES in the common rail is equal to a setpoint pressure, a passive pressure-limiting valve connected to the hydraulic circuit, configured to open once the pressure in the hydraulic circuit is greater than a threshold pressure P 1 , so as to discharge the fuel, the method comprising the following steps implemented in the control unit, wherein the control unit is configured to detect the opening of the pressure-limiting valve, to measure the corresponding pressure P MES at the time of opening the pressure-limiting valve and to compare the measured pressure P MES to the threshold pressure P 1 , in order to detect a drift in said pressure sensor.

8. The system as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the threshold pressure P 1 is strictly greater than 2,000 bars.