METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR VEHICLE REFUELING

• US 20110137470A1
• Filed: 05/19/2010
• Published: 06/09/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Hinds, Brett Stanley, Agarwal, Apoorv, Surnilla, Gopichandra, Leone, Thomas G., Prasad, Krishnaswamy Venkatesh
• Granted Patent: US 8,315,788 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/282
• CPC Class Codes: F02M 37/0064 for engines being fed with multiple fuels or fuels having special properties, e.g. bio-fuels; varying the fuel composition controlling engines working with pluralities of fuels F02D19/06
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for facilitating refueling operations in vehicles operating with multiple fuels. A vehicle operator may be assisted in refueling the multiple fuel tanks of the vehicle by being provided one or more refueling profiles that take into account the vehicle'"'"'s future trip plans, the predicted environmental conditions along a planned route, and the operator'"'"'s preferences.

Claims

1. A method of selectively fueling a vehicle including a first fuel tank with a first fuel and a second fuel tank with a second, different, fuel, comprising,

displaying a fueling profile to a vehicle operator, the fueling profile based on predicted future environmental conditions during a vehicle trip plan.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the predicted future environmental conditions include one or more of ambient temperature, ambient altitude, ambient pressure, ambient humidity, and weather conditions.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the second fuel has a higher effective octane than the first fuel.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the second fuel is primarily ethanol and the first fuel is primarily gasoline, and where the second fuel is directly injected to an engine cylinder.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the displayed fueling profile includes a fuel type, a fuel amount, a fuel ratio between the first fuel and the second fuel, one or more fueling stations, and directions to each of the one or more fueling stations.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein basing the fueling profile on predicted future environmental conditions includes increasing a fuel amount of the second fuel as the ambient temperature increases, the ambient humidity decreases, and/or the ambient altitude increases.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the displayed fueling profile is further based on operator preferences including increased vehicle performance, increased fuel economy, reduced vehicle fueling costs, and/or reduced vehicle emissions, and additional predicted conditions such as driver aggressiveness, road grade, trailer or other load.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the predicted environmental conditions and additional predicted conditions are based on at least one of navigational inputs received from a vehicle positioning device in the vehicle, a recent history of driver behavior, and recent history of relative usage of the two fuels.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising, navigating the vehicle to a fueling station selected based on the selected fueling profile, and communicating the selected fueling profile to the selected fueling station.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising, during refueling at the fueling station, receiving a fuel type of the received fuel wirelessly from the fueling station, and displaying the fuel type of the received fuel to the vehicle operator.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising, opening a first control valve coupled to the first fuel tank while closing a second control valve coupled to the second fuel tank when the received fuel is a first fuel type;

and opening the second control valve while closing the first control valve when the received fuel is a second fuel type.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the selective fueling is performed in response to a fuel level in the first fuel tank falling below a first threshold, a fuel level in the second fuel tank falling below a second threshold, and/or the vehicle operator requesting refueling.

13. A vehicle system, including,

a first fuel injector coupled to a first fuel tank with a first fuel;

a second injector coupled to a second fuel tank with a second fuel;

a display for displaying fueling profiles to a vehicle operator and receiving operator preferences from the vehicle operator;

a vehicle positioning device; and

a controller with computer-readable instructions for,

displaying on the display one or more fueling profiles based on fuel usage rates of the first and second fuel, the fuel usage rates adjusted based at least on predicted future environmental conditions of a vehicle trip plan.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the second fuel has a higher effective octane than the first fuel, and wherein the second fuel injector is a direct injector and the first fuel injector is a port injector.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the environmental conditions are based on navigational inputs received from the vehicle positioning device, the environmental conditions including one or more of an ambient temperature, ambient pressure, ambient altitude, and ambient humidity, and wherein the adjustment includes increasing a refueling of the second tank as the ambient temperature increases, the ambient altitude increases, the ambient pressure decreases, and/or the ambient humidity decreases.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the fueling profiles are further adjusted based on additional predicted conditions such as driver aggressiveness, road grade, trailer or other load, the adjustment including increasing a refueling of the second tank as the driver aggressiveness increases, the road grade increases, the trailer or other load increases.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein each of the one or more displayed fueling profiles includes a fuel type, a fuel amount, a fuel ratio between the first fuel and the second fuel, one or more fueling stations, and directions to each of the one or more fueling stations, and wherein the controller further includes instructions for navigating the vehicle to a fueling station selected by the vehicle operator;

and receiving fuel according to a fueling profile selected by the vehicle operator from the displayed fueling profiles.

18. A vehicle including a fuel system, comprising,

a first fuel tank holding a first fuel;

a second fuel tank holding a second fuel, the second fuel having a higher effective octane than the first fuel;

a display for interacting with the vehicle operator; and

a controller with computer-readable instructions for,

displaying one or more fueling profiles on the display, the fueling profiles based on fuel usage rates of the first and second fuel, the fuel usage rates based at least on predicted future environmental conditions over a vehicle trip plan;

navigating the vehicle to a selected fueling station, the fueling station selected based on a fueling profile selected by the operator from the one or more displayed fueling profiles; and

communicating the selected fueling profile to the selected fueling station.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the controller further includes instructions for,

wirelessly receiving a fuel type of a fuel received from the fueling station during refueling;

and

displaying the fuel type of the received fuel on the display during the refueling.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the predicted future environmental conditions are based on navigational inputs received from a vehicle positioning device in the vehicle, and include one or more of ambient temperature, ambient altitude, ambient pressure, ambient humidity, and weather conditions