Methods For Determining Need For Treating A Vehicle Travel Surface

• US 20080251614A1
• Filed: 10/31/2007
• Published: 10/16/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/1995
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Weather Insights LLC
• Original Assignee: Western Strategic Products, LLC
• Inventors: Doherty, John A., Kalbfleisch, Charles A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,683,804 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 239/662
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096811 where the route is computed offboard
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096816 where the complete route is transmitted to the vehicle at once
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/09685 where the complete route is computed only once and not updated
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096861 where the immediate route instructions are output to the driver, e.g. arrow signs for next turn
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/127 to a central station ; Indicators in a central station

Abstract

Methods for determining need for treating a vehicle travel surface include sensing, at a first time, a characteristic of a vehicle travel surface from a mobile sensor. Sensed characteristics include temperature, friction coefficient, material volumetric buildup, e.g., composition, such as an amount or percentage of ice or snow, density, depth, freeze point and chemical concentrations. The sensed characteristic is recorded as a first measurement in a database, and GIS information correlating a location with the first measurement is attached. The characteristic of the vehicle travel surface is sensed at a second time, at the location, and recorded in the database, for example as a second measurement. GIS information correlating the location with the second measurement may be attached, and the first and second measurements compared.

Claims

1. System for applying conditioning treatment to a roadway, comprising:

a spreader vehicle; and

a remote station in remote communication with the spreader vehicle, wherein the remote communication occurs at least in part wirelessly and comprises data directing application of the conditioning treatment to the roadway.

2. System of claim 1, the data comprising one or more of a recommendation for application of the conditioning treatment, controls for controlling application of the conditioning treatment, and weather information.

3. System of claim 2, the controls facilitating remote control of a spreader disposed with the spreader vehicle, from the remote station.

4. System of claim 2, the weather information selected from the group of current weather conditions proximate the spreader, historical weather conditions in the vicinity of the spreader and a weather forecast for the vicinity of the spreader vehicle.

5. System of claim 4, the spreader vehicle comprising a display, the weather information being displayed on the display within the spreader vehicle.

6. System of claim 2, the spreader vehicle comprising a display, the recommendation being displayed on the display within the spreader vehicle.

7. System of claim 2, wherein the controls facilitate automatic control of at least one of quantity and rate of application of the conditioning treatment from the spreader vehicle to the roadway.

8. System of claim 2, wherein the recommendation is generated at the spreader vehicle based on at least one of sensed weather at the vehicle and previous treatments of the roadway, and wherein one or both of the recommendations and the sensed weather are transmitted from the vehicle to the remote location, as the data;

sensed weather comprising one or more of barometric pressure, wind velocity, wind speed, precipitation type, moisture content of precipitation, humidity and air temperature.

9. System of claim 2, the weather information comprising information from the National Weather Service or a private forecasting service.

10. System of claim 9, wherein the weather information is obtained from the National Weather Service or the private forecasting service and relayed to the spreader vehicle via the remote communication with the remote station.

11. System of claim 2, the controls controlling one or more of composition, width, direction and quantity of the conditioning treatment applied to the roadway.

12. System of claim 11, further comprising a GPS receiver disposed with the spreader vehicle, wherein the composition of conditioning treatment, the width of conditioning treatment, the direction of the conditioning treatment or the quantity of conditioning treatment applied to the roadway are controlled according to vehicle location, as determined via the GPS receiver.

13. System of claim 1, the spreader vehicle comprising a GPS receiver in communication with a local or remote computer for automatically controlling the spreader, the computer comprising pre-programmed courses having location-based application data;

wherein the spreader applies the conditioning treatment to the roadway according to a pre-programmed course, as a function of location information from the GPS receiver.

14. System of claim 13, the location-based application data comprising one or more of specified widths, quantity, rate and direction of spread of the conditioning treatment.

15. System for determining surface conditions of a roadway, comprising a vehicle for traveling a roadway, the vehicle having:

one or more sensors for remotely sensing a current condition of the roadway, the condition selected from the group of friction, composition of a material on the roadway, depth of a material on the roadway, density of a material on the roadway, amount of ice on the roadway and percentage of ice in a material on the roadway.

16. System of claim 15, the sensors sensing the current condition via electromagnetic radiation or infrared measurement.

17. System of claim 15, further comprising a computer for comparing the current condition to a previous surface condition of the roadway, to determine whether a prior treatment of the roadway was effective.

18. System of claim 17, further comprising a database for storing previous surface conditions of the roadway, wherein the computer compares the current condition to the previous conditions in the database, to determine effectiveness of the prior treatment.

19. System of claim 15, wherein the computer is on board the vehicle.

20. System of claim 17, wherein the computer is remote from the vehicle and in remote communication with the vehicle.

21. System of claim 18, wherein the database is on board the vehicle.

22. System of claim 18, the database being remote from the vehicle and accessible from the vehicle.

23. System for applying a conditioning treatment to a roadway, comprising:

means for sensing weather conditions proximate a spreader vehicle; and

a computer for processing the weather conditions to control application of the conditioning treatment condition to the roadway.

24. System of claim 23, the spreader vehicle comprising a GPS receiver in communication with the computer, the computer comprising of application data for pre-programmed courses;

wherein the computer controls application of the conditioning treatment according to a pre-programmed course and one or both of the weather conditions and a current location of the spreader vehicle.

25. System for determining effectiveness of road treatment, comprising:

a vehicle for traveling a roadway, the vehicle having one or more sensors for remotely sensing current condition of the roadway, the conditions comprising one or more of temperature, friction, composition of a material on the roadway, depth of a material on the roadway, density of a material on the roadway, amount of ice on the roadway and percentage of ice in a material on the roadway;

a database for storing previous surface conditions of the roadway; and

a computer for comparing the previous surface conditions to the current condition to determine whether prior treatment of the road was effective.