System and method to detect emissions OBD false failures

• US 10,055,906 B1
• Filed: 11/23/2016
• Issued: 08/21/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Opus Inspection, Inc. (Opus Group AB)
• Original Assignee: Opus Inspection, Inc. (Opus Group AB)
• Inventors: Fournier, Thomas J., Vescio, Niranjan, McClintock, Peter M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Paige, Tyler
• Application Number:
  US15/360,458
• Time in Patent Office: 636 Days
• Field of Search: 701 293
• CPC Class Codes: F01N 11/00 Monitoring or diagnostic devices for exhaust-gas treatment apparatus , e.g. for catalytic activity safety, indicating or supervising devices for internal combustion engines F02B77/08; testing of machines G01M13/00
• CPC Class Codes: F01N 2550/00 Monitoring or diagnosing the deterioration of exhaust systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 15/108 using optical methods
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2021/3513 Open path with an instrumental source
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/33 using ultraviolet light G01N21/39 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0841 Registering performance data recording measured values G01D; information storage G11B
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/40 Engine management systems

Abstract

A system and method to rapidly perform emissions measurements of in-use vehicles being driven by the general public for comparison with vehicle inspection OBD emission fault code testing results for determining if the inspection results indicate that false failures are being generated for a particular vehicle group, such as based on make and model, engine size, engine combustion management technology and/or pollution control technology, or determining if the inspection results correlate with increased in-use emissions. The system may access or integrate with a database of vehicle inspection OBD emission fault code testing results that may be analyzed to evaluate the existence of higher than normal or expected OBD failure rates for emissions related items. The system and method require no recruitment testing of in-use vehicles with potentially detectable connections, but instead incorporate a vehicle emissions remote sensing device that does not require mechanical or electrical connection to the vehicle.

Claims

1. A method of determining emissions on-board diagnostic (“

OBD”

) false failures comprising;

evaluating vehicle inspection results for a plurality of tested vehicles in an electronic database to ascertain on-board diagnostic (“

OBD”

) emission fault codes for a vehicle group;

measuring the emissions of a plurality of vehicles using a vehicle emission remote sensing device during in-use operation of the vehicles to obtain in-use emission measurement results, wherein the remote sensing device is positioned at least partially at or adjacent a vehicle roadway over which the vehicles travel;

identifying the vehicles for which in-use emissions are measured using a camera operatively positioned with said remote sensing device, said camera being operable to capture images of vehicles for which emissions are measured by said remote sensing device to identify the in-use vehicles; and

evaluating in-use emission measurement results with a computer for vehicles corresponding to the vehicle group to determine the presence of false failures in the vehicle inspection results for the vehicle group.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said evaluating vehicle inspection results comprises accessing one or more databases of vehicle inspection results.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said evaluating vehicle inspection results comprises ascertaining OBD emission fault codes for two vehicle groups and comparing OBD emission fault code results for one of the vehicle groups with OBD emission fault code results for the other vehicle group, and wherein said evaluating in-use emission measurement results comprises evaluating in-use emission measurement results for vehicles corresponding to at least one of the two vehicle groups to determine the presence of false failures in the vehicle inspection results for the said at least one of the two vehicle groups.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said evaluating vehicle inspection results comprises evaluating OBD fault code failure rates.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein said evaluating in-use emission measurement results comprises evaluating in-use emission measurement results for vehicles corresponding to both of the two vehicle groups to determine the presence of false failures in the vehicle inspection results for at least one of the two vehicle groups.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a vehicle group comprises vehicles that are related based on at least one of vehicle make and model, model year, engine size, or emissions equipment.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the remote sensing device comprises a light source for projecting a beam and a detector that receives the beam, and wherein the remote sensing device is disposed adjacent a roadway with the beam being projected across and/or onto the roadway and configured to pass through emissions of the vehicles.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said measuring the emissions of a plurality of vehicles comprises measuring selected pollutants of the emissions.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said camera captures images of vehicle license plates and said method further comprises accessing a vehicle database to identify the vehicle by its license plate.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said camera captures images of the vehicles and the vehicles are identified via an object recognition program.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said measuring the emissions of a plurality of vehicles further includes sensing an operational parameter of the vehicles during in-use operation of the vehicles.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said sensing an operational parameter of the vehicles includes sensing the speed, acceleration, and/or thermal-warm up state of the vehicles.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said comparing in-use emission measurement results for vehicles corresponding to said vehicle group to evaluate the presence of false failures further comprises comparing in-use emission measurement results to regulatory emissions standards associated with said vehicle group.

14. A system for determining emissions on-board diagnostic (“

OBD”

) false failures comprising;

a database of vehicle inspection OBD emission fault code results for a plurality of tested vehicles;

a vehicle emission remote sensing device, said remote sensing device operable to measure vehicle emissions and configured to be positioned adjacent a roadway for measuring the emissions of a plurality of in-use vehicles passing thereby;

a computer control, said computer control operably integrated with said remote sensing device;

a camera, said camera being operable to capture images of vehicles for which emissions are measured by said remote sensing device to identify the in-use vehicles, with said camera being operably connected with said computer control and configured to being positioned adjacent the roadway with said remote sensing device;

a sensor, said sensor being operable to detect operational parameters of the in-use vehicles for which emissions are measured by said remote sensing device with said sensor being operably connected with said computer control and configured to being positioned adjacent the roadway with said remote sensing device, wherein the operational parameters include the speed and/or acceleration of the vehicles;

said computer control being operable to evaluate the vehicle inspection results for a vehicle group and compare the in-use emission measurement results for vehicles corresponding to said vehicle group to determine the presence of false failures.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein said remote sensing device comprises a light source for projecting a beam and a detector that receives the beam, and wherein said remote sensing device is configured to be disposed adjacent the roadway with the beam being projected across and/or onto the roadway and configured to pass through emissions of the vehicles.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein said camera is operable to capture images of the license plates of the vehicles, and wherein said computer control is operably connected with a vehicle database for identifying the vehicle by its license plate.

17. The system of claim 14, further including a vehicle recognition program, and wherein said camera is operable to capture images of the vehicle with said vehicle recognition program being operable to identify the vehicle.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein said sensor is operable to detect the thermal warm-up status of the vehicles.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein said computer control comprises a plurality of computer devices.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein said sensor includes a radar and/or a laser for determining vehicle speed and/or acceleration.

21. The system of claim 14, wherein said computer control comprises a first computer operative to control said remote sensing device and a second computer for data processing to evaluate the vehicle inspection results for a vehicle group and compare the in-use emission measurement results for vehicles corresponding to said vehicle group to determine the presence of false failures.