SYSTEM AND METHOD OF VEHICLE OPERATING CONDITION MANAGEMENT

• US 20120197501A1
• Filed: 12/23/2011
• Published: 08/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cummins Intellectual Property, Inc. (Cummins Incorporated), Eaton Corp. (Wisconsin) (Eaton Corporation PLC.), PACCAR Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Cummins Intellectual Property, Inc. (Cummins Incorporated)
• Inventors: Sujan, Vivek A., Moffett, Barty L., Vajapeyazula, Phani, Follen, Kenneth, Wu, An
• Granted Patent: US 9,162,679 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/51
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 23/00 Arrangement or mounting of control devices for vehicle transmissions, or parts thereof, not otherwise provided for movable cabs having special adaptations of vehicle control devices B62D33/06; such control devices per se F16D, F16H
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 31/00 Vehicle fittings, acting on a single sub-unit only, for automatically controlling vehicle speed, i.e. preventing speed from exceeding an arbitrarily established velocity or maintaining speed at a particular velocity, as selected by the vehicle operator fittings acting on two or more sub-units B60W30/14; speedometers G01P; systems or devices for controlling speed in general G05D13/00 ; in traffic anti-collision system for road vehicles G08G1/16
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/06 including control of combustion engines
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/11 Stepped gearings
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/00 Input parameters relating to infrastructure
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2555/00 Input parameters relating to exterior conditions, not covered by groups B60W2552/00, B60W2554/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/1882 characterised by the working point of the engine, e.g. by using engine output chart

Abstract

A vehicle operating condition profile can be determined over a given route while also considering imposed constraints such as deviation from time targets, deviation from maximum governed speed limits, etc. Given current vehicle speed, engine state and transmission state, the present disclosure optimally manages the engine map and transmission to provide a recommended vehicle operating condition that optimizes fuel consumption in transitioning from one vehicle state to a target state. Exemplary embodiments provide for offline and online optimizations relative to fuel consumption. The benefit is increased freight efficiency in transporting cargo from source to destination by minimizing fuel consumption and maintaining drivability.

Claims

1. A method for vehicle operating condition management for a vehicle, comprising:

accessing predetermined vehicle parameter data indicative of at least one predetermined vehicle parameter, said at least one predetermined vehicle parameter including at least one of vehicle mass, vehicle drag, vehicle rolling resistance, tire circumference, front area of vehicle, powertrain torque loss, and engine friction;

accessing road terrain data indicative of at least one road terrain element, said at least one road terrain element including at least one of speed limit changes, off ramp locations, fueling locations, road grade, air density and traffic congestion;

performing a first optimization, wherein one or more vehicle optimization vectors are determined;

accessing current vehicle operating data indicative of at least one current vehicle operating condition, said at least one current vehicle operating condition including current vehicle speed, a lower vehicle speed target to be reached, travel time, and a distance to travel before reaching the lower vehicle speed target;

accessing the offline vehicle optimization vectors;

determining vehicle power based on the current vehicle operating condition data and the terrain element data; and

performing a second optimization wherein an optimized vehicle operating condition is determined, said optimized vehicle operating condition comprising vehicle speed.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating an electronic recommendation signal corresponding to said determined optimized vehicle operating condition and communicating said determined optimized vehicle operating condition to a receiver.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said receiver comprises a transmission control unit.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said receiver comprises an engine control module.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein said receiver comprises a display adapted to indicate the optimized vehicle operating condition to a vehicle operator.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said display comprises a touch-screen interface.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said data indicative of at least one current vehicle operating condition is provided by a vehicle operator.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said optimized vehicle operating condition further comprises a transmission gear.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining vehicle power comprises determining a product of current vehicle speed with a sum of a product of a function of said vehicle drag, air density, front area of vehicle and said current vehicle speed and a product of a function of said vehicle rolling resistance, vehicle mass and said road grade and a product of a function of said vehicle mass and said road grade.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said performing the offline optimization comprises solving vehicle operating condition vectors over an engine map to minimize fuel consumption incorporating the travel time operating condition.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said performing the online optimization comprises accessing the offline vehicle optimization vectors and determining new vehicle operating condition vectors over said engine map to minimize fuel consumption.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said current vehicle operating condition data is acquired in real-time through a foresight window of a discrete distance interval.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said distance interval is predetermined.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein said distance interval is provided by the operator.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein said power is determined according to the equation

16. A system adapted for vehicle operating condition management for a vehicle, comprising:

a vehicle parameter module containing data indicative of at least one predetermined vehicle parameter, said at least one predetermined vehicle parameter including at least one of vehicle mass, vehicle drag, vehicle rolling resistance, tire circumference, front area of vehicle, powertrain torque loss, and engine friction;

a road terrain element module containing data indicative of at least one road terrain element, said at least one road terrain element including at least one of speed limit changes, off ramp locations, fueling locations, road grade, air density and traffic congestion;

a vehicle operating condition module containing data indicative of at least one current vehicle operating condition, said at least one current vehicle operating condition including current vehicle speed, a lower vehicle speed target to be reached, travel time, and a distance to travel before reaching the lower vehicle speed target; and

a vehicle operating condition management module adapted to;

perform a first optimization wherein one or more vehicle optimization vectors are determined;

determine vehicle power based on the current vehicle operating condition data and the road terrain element data; and

perform a second optimization wherein an optimized vehicle operating condition is determined, said optimized vehicle operating condition comprising vehicle speed.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein said vehicle operating condition management module is adapted to generate an electronic recommendation signal corresponding to said determined optimized vehicle operating condition.

18. The system of claim 17, further indicating a receiver adapted to receive said electronic recommendation signal.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein said receiver comprises a transmission control unit.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein said receiver comprises an engine control module.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein said receiver comprises a display adapted to indicate the optimized vehicle operating condition to a vehicle operator.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein said display comprises a touch-screen interface.

23. The system of claim 16, wherein at least one of said data indicative of at least one current vehicle operating condition is provided by a vehicle operator.

24. The system of claim 16, wherein said optimized vehicle operating condition further comprises a transmission gear.

25. The system of claim 16, wherein said determined vehicle power comprises determining a product of current vehicle speed with a sum of a product of a function of said vehicle drag, air density, front area of vehicle and said current vehicle speed and a product of a function of said vehicle rolling resistance, vehicle mass and said road grade and a product of a function of said vehicle mass and said road grade.

26. The system of claim 16, wherein said offline optimization comprises solving vehicle operating condition vectors over an engine map to minimize fuel consumption incorporating the travel time operating condition.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein said online optimization comprises accessing the offline vehicle optimization vectors and determining new vehicle operating condition vectors over said engine map to minimize fuel consumption.

28. A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having stored thereon computer-readable program code for vehicle operating condition management for a vehicle, the computer-readable program code comprising:

computer-readable program code for accessing data indicative of at least one predetermined vehicle parameter, said predetermined vehicle parameter including at least one of vehicle mass, vehicle drag, rolling resistance, tire circumference, front area of vehicle, powertrain torque loss, and engine friction;

computer-readable program code for accessing data indicative of at least one road terrain element, said at least one road terrain element including at least one of speed limit changes, off ramp locations, fueling locations, road grade, air density and traffic congestion;

computer-readable code for performing a first optimization, wherein one or more vehicle optimization vectors are determined;

computer-readable program code for accessing data indicative of at least one current vehicle operating condition, said vehicle operating condition including current vehicle speed, lower vehicle speed target to be reached, travel time, and distance to travel before reaching lower vehicle speed target to be reached;

computer-readable program code for accessing the offline vehicle optimization vectors;

computer-readable program code for determining vehicle power based on the current vehicle operating condition data and road terrain element data;

computer-readable program code for performing a second optimization wherein an optimized vehicle operating condition is determined, said optimized vehicle operating condition comprising vehicle speed; and

computer-readable program code for communicating said optimized vehicle operating condition to a receiver.

29. The computer program product of claim 28, further comprising computer-readable program code for disabling the vehicle operating condition management program code in response to an operator-initiated event.