FUEL INDICATOR METHOD
First Claim
1. A method for operating a vehicle including an engine, the method comprising:
- during a first a rate of change of an inclination of the vehicle, adjusting a fuel level indication based on the inclination and a level of fuel within the fuel tank; and
during a second rate of change of the inclination different from the first rate of change, adjusting the fuel level indication based on actual fuel consumption of the engine.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method for operating a vehicle is provided. The method includes, in one example during a first a rate of change of an inclination of the vehicle, adjusting a fuel level indication based on the inclination and a level of fuel within the fuel tank; and during a second rate of change of the inclination different from the first rate of change, adjusting the fuel level indication based on actual fuel consumption of the engine. In this way, it is possible to provide an accurate fuel level indication based on the inclination when the inclination is not changing too quickly. However, when inclination is changing quickly and may give degraded level readings, it is still possible to provide an accurate fuel level by transiently estimating fuel usage and using, for example, a previous fuel level reading from when the inclination was not changing too quickly.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for operating a vehicle including an engine, the method comprising:
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during a first a rate of change of an inclination of the vehicle, adjusting a fuel level indication based on the inclination and a level of fuel within the fuel tank; and during a second rate of change of the inclination different from the first rate of change, adjusting the fuel level indication based on actual fuel consumption of the engine. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A vehicle comprising:
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an internal combustion engine; a fuel delivery system coupled to the internal combustion engine, the fuel delivery system including a fuel tank having an in-tank fuel level sensor; a fuel indicator; two or more vehicle inclination sensors, the vehicle inclination sensors configured to determine an inclination between a bias plane and a reference plane and a direction of the inclination; and a control system including memory executable via a processor to; operate the fuel indicator in an incline mode where the fuel indicator is adjusted based on the inclination, the direction of the inclination, and a level of fuel within the fuel tank; and operate the fuel indicator in a fuel consumption mode in which the fuel indicator is adjusted based on a current rate of fuel consumption of the vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method for operating a vehicle including an internal combustion engine, a fuel delivery system coupled to the internal combustion engine, the fuel delivery system including a fuel tank and an in-tank fuel level sensor disposed within, and two or more vehicle inclination sensors, the method comprising:
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while an inclination between a bias plane and a reference plane is below a threshold value, the reference plane substantially parallel to a surface of the fuel within the fuel tank and the bias plane substantially perpendicular to a direction of a gravitational vector of the earth, adjusting a fuel indicator based on a level of the fuel within the fuel tank; while the inclination between the bias plane and the reference plane is above the threshold value and a time rate of change of the inclination is below a threshold value, adjusting the fuel indicator based on the inclination between the bias plane and the reference plane and the level of the fuel within the fuel tank; and while the time rate of change of the inclination is above the threshold value, adjusting the fuel indicator based on the rate of fuel consumption of the internal combustion engine; and adjusting a fuel indicator update interval based on the time rate of change of the inclination between the reference plane and the bias plane.
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Specification