INTELLIGENT FUEL OIL MONITORING SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20080255755A1
• Filed: 10/31/2007
• Published: 10/16/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ming Chi University of Techology
• Original Assignee: Ming Chi University of Techology
• Inventors: Chen, Yuan-Lin
• Granted Patent: US 7,742,871 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/123
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 23/363 using electromechanically actuated indicating means
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 9/008 where the other variable is the flight or running time
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 9/02 wherein the other variable is the speed of a vehicle

Abstract

An intelligent fuel oil monitoring system includes a fuel level detector coupled to a fuel tank of a motor vehicle to detect the amount of the fuel oil in the fuel tank, a microcontroller coupled to the fuel level detector to receive traveling data of the motor vehicle and to establish an average speed-fuel consumption relationship curve and fuel consumption and travel distance relationship curves at different speeds and to calculate the distance the motor vehicle can travel based on the amount of the fuel oil detected by the fuel level detector subject to the fuel consumption and travel distance relationship curve, and a display unit coupled to the microcontroller and controlled by the microcontroller to display data.

Claims

1. An intelligent fuel oil monitoring system comprising:

a fuel level detector coupled to a fuel tank of a motor vehicle and adapted to detect the amount data of a fuel oil in said fuel tank;

a microcontroller coupled to said fuel level detector and adapted to receive traveling data of said motor vehicle and to establish an average speed-fuel consumption relationship curve and fuel consumption and travel distance relationship curves at different speeds and to calculate the distance the motor vehicle to travel based on the amount data of the fuel oil detected by said fuel level detector subject to said fuel consumption and travel distance relationship curve; and

a display unit coupled to said microcontroller and controlled by said microcontroller to display data.

2. The intelligent fuel oil monitoring system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said fuel level detector is a float type fuel oil detector comprising a float floating in the fuel oil in said fuel tank, and a variable resistor coupled to said float and adapted to provide a resistance output subject to the elevation of said float.

3. The intelligent fuel oil monitoring system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said microcontroller receives the engine operation data of said motor vehicle for calculation of said fuel consumption and travel distance relationship curves.

4. The intelligent fuel oil monitoring system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said average speed-fuel consumption relationship curve comprises a linear zone and a nonlinear zone.

5. The intelligent fuel oil monitoring system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the average speed within said linear zone is directly proportional to the fuel consumption;

the average speed within said linear zone is the average of the speed of said motor vehicle at the initial 10˜

15 minutes after start;

the fuel consumption is greatly increased because of increasing of wind resistance when increasing the speed after over said linear zone.

6. The intelligent fuel oil monitoring system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said microcontroller comprises a statistical analysis function to analyze the relationship between the fuel consumption and the traveled distance and to further estimate the most optimal driving mode for the driver.

7. The intelligent fuel oil monitoring system as claimed in claim 6, wherein said microcontroller estimates the most optimal driving mode by means of the law of Kalman Filter.

8. The intelligent fuel oil monitoring system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said display unit is a LCD or LED monitor.

9. The intelligent fuel oil monitoring system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a mode selector switch coupled to said microcontroller for liter/gallon and kilometer/file display selection.

10. The intelligent fuel oil monitoring system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a setting button coupled to said microcontroller for the setting of the amount of fuel oil to be added.

11. An intelligent fuel oil monitoring method comprising the steps of:

(1) using a fuel level detector to detect the fuel level of a fuel tank;

(2) providing the traveling data of a motor vehicle;

(3) using a computing device to receive the traveling data of said motor vehicle and to establish an average speed-fuel consumption relationship curve and fuel consumption-travel distance relationship curves subject to the received data; and

(4) informing the driver of said motor vehicle the value of the rest amount of fuel oil and the mileage the motor vehicle capable to travel.

12. The intelligent fuel oil monitoring method as claimed in claim 11, wherein said fuel level detector is a float type fuel oil detector comprising a float floating in the fuel oil in said fuel tank, and a variable resistor coupled to said float and adapted to provide a resistance output subject to the elevation of said float.

13. The intelligent fuel oil monitoring method as claimed in claim 11, wherein said traveling data includes the engine operation data of said motor vehicle.

14. The intelligent fuel oil monitoring method as claimed in claim 11, wherein said computing device is a microcontroller.

15. The intelligent fuel oil monitoring method as claimed in claim 11, wherein said average speed-fuel consumption relationship curve0 comprises a linear zone and a nonlinear zone.

16. The intelligent fuel oil monitoring method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the average speed within said linear zone is directly proportional to the fuel consumption;

the average speed within said linear zone is the average of the speed of said motor vehicle at the initial 10˜

15 minutes after start;

the fuel consumption is greatly increased because of increasing of wind resistance when increasing the speed after over said linear zone.

17. The intelligent fuel oil monitoring method as claimed in claim 11, wherein said microcontroller comprises a statistical analysis function to analyze the relationship between the fuel consumption and the traveled distance and to further estimate the most optimal driving mode for the driver.

18. The intelligent fuel oil monitoring method as claimed in claim 17, wherein said microcontroller estimates the most optimal driving mode by means of the law of Kalman Filter.

19. The intelligent fuel oil monitoring method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the step (4) informing the driver of said motor vehicle the value of the rest amount of fuel oil and the mileage the motor vehicle capable to travel is done through a display unit.

20. The intelligent fuel oil monitoring method as claimed in claim 19, wherein said display unit is a LCD or LED monitor.