METHOD AND EQUIPMENT FOR OPERATION OF EXHAUST GAS SONDE

PURPOSE: To quickly eliminate an error condition of a reference gas capacity by temporarily increasing pump electric current to a higher value. CONSTITUTION: When an error condition of a reference atmosphere is indicated by reduction in output voltage of an exhaust gas probe 1, or when the output voltage of the probe 1 does not pass through a threshold value at all within the predetermined time interval, an error of a reference gas capacity is detected. Then, a switch 7 is actuated for a limited time Δt by means of a control signal SS. That is, (voltage U1 + voltage U2) is fed to the probe 1 as against the voltage U1 until that time. The parallel connection of the voltage U1.U2 can be replaced by a single voltage source of the voltage U2 higher than the voltage U1. In this way, a pump electric current Ip, in other words, an oxygen ion flow to the reference gas capacity is temporarily increased, so that an error in the reference gas capacity can be quickly eliminated.