System, method, and apparatus for improving the performance of an operator of a vehicle

• US 10,094,308 B2
• Filed: 09/25/2015
• Issued: 10/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cummins Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Cummins Incorporated
• Inventors: Kolhouse, J. Steven, Lana, Carlos Alcides, Sujan, Vivek A., Vajapeyazula, Phani, Wills, J. Stephen, Yonushonis, Thomas M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Smith, Jelani A
• Assistant Examiner(s): ALSOMIRI, MAJDI A
• Application Number:
  US14/865,529
• Publication Number:
  US 20170089274A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,110 Days
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 11/105 characterised by the function converting demand to actuation, e.g. a map indicating relations between an accelerator pedal position and throttle valve opening or target engine torque
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2200/606 Driving style, e.g. sporty or economic driving
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2200/701 Information about vehicle position, e.g. from navigation system or GPS signal
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/0002 Controlling intake air
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/021 Introducing corrections for particular conditions exterior to the engine conjoint control of vehicle sub-units for propelling the vehicle B60W30/18
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/08 Registering or indicating performance data other than driving, working, idle, or waiting time, with or without registering driving, working, idle or waiting time
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0825 using optical means
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/40 Engine management systems

Abstract

The systems, methods, and apparatuses provided herein disclose interpreting a performance criteria for a vehicle, wherein the performance criteria is indicative of a desired operating parameter for the vehicle; interpreting a good driver definition value indicative of a good driver profile for the interpreted performance criteria; determining a performance value indicative of how an operator of the vehicle is performing with respect to the good driver definition value; and in response to the performance value indicating that the vehicle is not satisfying the performance criteria, managing an actuator output response value for at least one actuator in the vehicle to facilitate achievement of the good driver definition value.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a performance criteria circuit structured to interpret a performance criteria indicative of a desired operating parameter for a vehicle;

a behavior circuit structured to interpret a good driver definition value, wherein the good driver definition value includes a definition for relating an actuator response value to an actuator input value for at least one actuator of the vehicle;

an operating condition circuit structured to interpret vehicle operation data indicative of an operating condition of the vehicle; and

an actuator circuit communicably coupled to the performance criteria circuit, the behavior circuit, and the operating condition circuit, wherein the actuator circuit is structured to manage an actuator output response value of the at least one actuator of the vehicle based on the good driver definition value relative to the operating condition such that an output of the at least one actuator is actively altered based on the actuator output response value to facilitate achievement of the desired operating parameter;

wherein the at least one actuator includes a throttle system having a throttle pedal operatively coupled to a throttle valve, wherein the management is to a throttle map relating a position of the throttle pedal to a position of the throttle valve;

wherein the management includes a re-mapping of the throttle map and a rate of re-mapping of the throttle map;

wherein the re-mapping includes at least one of a constant value adjustment and a gain value addition;

wherein the rate of re-mapping is at least one of a predefined amount of time-based, a predefined amount of distance-based, and driver identification based; and

wherein the actuator circuit is structured to control the rate of remapping based on driver identification such that the throttle map for known identified drivers is remapped at a different rate than unknown identified drivers.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the managed response value is different from an operator commanded actuator response value based on a comparison between the operator commanded actuator response value and the good driver definition value indicating the vehicle is not satisfying the performance criteria.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the good driver definition value is one of a predefined value or a determined value, wherein the determined value is based on tracked actuator response values for a predefined period of operation of a reference vehicle.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the reference vehicle includes one of the vehicle or a selected different vehicle.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the desired operating parameter includes at least one of a fuel economy value, an emissions value, an acceleration value, and a wear value.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the actuator includes a diesel fueling system having an accelerator pedal, wherein the management is to a torque command map relating a torque command to a fueling command for the vehicle.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the management includes a re-mapping of the torque command map and a rate of re-mapping of the torque command map.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the re-mapping of the torque command map includes one of re-mapping an entire torque command map and re-mapping a portion of the torque command map for a selected engine speed range.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the management includes an adjustment, wherein the adjustment includes an actuator output response value derivative with time.

10. A method, comprising:

interpreting, by a processing circuit, a performance criteria for a vehicle, wherein the performance criteria is indicative of a desired operating parameter for the vehicle;

interpreting, by the processing circuit, a good driver definition value indicative of a good driver profile for the interpreted performance criteria;

determining, by the processing circuit, a performance value indicative of how an operator of the vehicle is performing with respect to the good driver definition value; and

in response to the performance value indicating that the vehicle is not satisfying the performance criteria, managing, by the processing circuit, an actuator output response value for at least one actuator in the vehicle such that an output of the at least one actuator is actively altered based on the actuator output response value to facilitate achievement of the good driver definition value;

wherein managing the actuator response value includes re-mapping a throttle map; and

wherein a rate of re-mapping the throttle map is based on driver identification such that the throttle map for known identified drivers is remapped at a different rate than unknown identified drivers.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising receiving fleet data for a plurality of vehicles, the fleet data serving as a basis for the good driver definition value.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising identifying the good driver definition value for at least one vehicle in the plurality of vehicles based on a similarity characteristic for the at least one vehicle relative to the vehicle, wherein the similarity characteristic includes at least one of a designated operating condition, a similar terrain condition, and a similar route.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the managed response value is different from an operator commanded actuator output response value based on a comparison between the operator commanded actuator output response value and the good driver definition value indicating the vehicle is not satisfying the performance criteria.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the re-mapping of the throttle map includes only managing the actuator output response value for a given actuator input value.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising providing a driver recommendation to facilitate achievement of the good driver definition value to an input/output device of the vehicle.

16. A vehicle, comprising:

a throttle system; and

a controller communicably and operatively coupled to the throttle system, wherein the controller is structured to;

interpret a performance criteria for the vehicle, wherein the performance criteria is indicative of a desired operating parameter for the vehicle;

interpret a good driver definition value indicative of a good driver profile for the interpreted performance criteria;

determine a performance value indicative of how an operator of the vehicle is performing with respect to the good driver definition value;

in response to the performance value indicating that the vehicle is not satisfying the performance criteria, manage an actuator output response value for at least one actuator in the vehicle such that an output of the at least one actuator is actively altered based on the actuator output response value to facilitate achievement of the good driver definition value, wherein the management includes re-mapping a throttle map, and wherein a rate of the re-mapping is driver identification based; and

control the rate of remapping based on driver identification such that the throttle map for known identified drivers is remapped at a different rate than unknown identified drivers.

17. The vehicle of claim 16, wherein the controller is structured to provide a driver recommendation to an input/output device of the vehicle, wherein the driver recommendation provides a driving instruction for facilitating achievement of the good driver definition value.

18. The vehicle of claim 16, wherein the throttle system includes a throttle valve having at least one throttle map that relates how far open the throttle valve actuates for each given throttle valve open command, wherein the controller is structured to adjust the throttle map by adjusting at least one open amount for a given throttle valve open command to facilitate achievement of the good driver definition value.

19. The vehicle of claim 16, wherein the performance criteria includes at least one of a fuel economy value, an emissions value, an acceleration value, and a wear value.