Patent ID: 11873751
Assignee: CATERPILLAR INC.
Field: Environmental technology (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC F  Y | IPC F

Claim 0:
1. A first system configured to deliver a diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) to a second system, the second system being configured to treat exhaust received from an internal combustion engine, the first system comprising:
an injector configured to receive the DEF and to direct the DEF to the second system;
a pump fluidly connected to a fluid reservoir, the pump being configured to direct the DEF from the fluid reservoir to the injector via a DEF flow line;
a pressure sensor disposed at a first location along the DEF flow line downstream of the pump, the pressure sensor being configured to generate pressure data indicative of fluid pressure at the first location;
a controller communicatively coupled to the pressure sensor and configured to receive the pressure data from the pressure sensor, the controller being configured to execute instructions stored in a memory associated with the controller which, when executed, cause the controller to:
determine, from the pressure data, a first fluid pressure at the first location while the pump is inoperative;
cause a return valve to transition to an open state, the return valve being fluidly connected to the DEF flow line downstream of the pump and configured to effect fluid communication between the DEF flow line and the fluid reservoir when the return valve is in the open state;
determine, from the pressure data, a second fluid pressure at the first location while the pump is inoperative and the return valve is in the open state;
determine that the second fluid pressure is equal to or less than the first fluid pressure;
cause the pump to operate for an amount of time while the return valve remains in the open state, based at least in part on determining that the second fluid pressure is equal to or less than the first fluid pressure; and
cause the return valve to transition to a closed state after the pump operates for the amount of time.