Method and System For Utilizing The Energy Storage Provided By A Vehicle's Mass In The Form Of Potential And Kinetic Energy To Optimize Fuel Consumption

• US 20130297174A1
• Filed: 10/27/2012
• Published: 11/07/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Robotic Research OPCO LLC
• Original Assignee: Robotic Research LLC
• Inventors: Lacaze, Alberto Daniel, Murphy, Kari Nicholas, Pulney, Joseph Satoru
• Granted Patent: US 10,377,379 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/94
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0075 Automatic parameter input, automatic initialising or calibrating means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/15 Road slope, i.e. the inclination of a road segment in the longitudinal direction
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/20 Road profile, i.e. the change in elevation or curvature of a plurality of continuous road segments
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2555/60 Traffic rules, e.g. speed limits or right of way
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/10 Historical data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/45 External transmission of data to or from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2720/103 Speed profile
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/143 Speed control B60W30/16 takes precedence

Abstract

A method and system that utilizes the energy storage provided by a vehicle'"'"'s mass in the form of potential and kinetic energy to optimize the fuel consumption. The system of the present invention is composed of an elevation database, a localization mechanism, and a speed optimization mechanism/engine. The optimization engine receives a desired speed range from the operator such as a max speed and min speed input, and a route or elevation profile form the elevation database. Then, utilizing the elevation database, the localization mechanism and a weight estimate the system and method optimizes the current speed to minimize fuel consumption by way of setting and adjusting the cruise control speed. The route and the weight estimate may be provided or predicted by the optimization engine.

Claims

1. A method for optimizing fuel consumption of a vehicle, executed by a computer, comprising:

receiving a desired speed range and vehicle characteristics;

receiving an elevation profile;

determining location within the elevation profile using a localization mechanism;

calculating one or more speed profiles by an optimization engine to optimize the fuel economy of a vehicle based on the vehicle and terrain characteristics;

selecting the speed profile that maintains the vehicle within the assigned range of speed and minimizes fuel consumption.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of receiving a route and elevation profile from an elevation database.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

receiving multiple vehicle characteristics for two or more vehicles traveling in a convoy;

receiving maximum and minimum convoy separation distances for each vehicle in the convoy;

determining or receiving acceleration profiles for all the vehicles in the convoy;

considering the fuel consumption of the complete convoy; and

calculating a range of cruise control speeds by an optimization engine to optimize the fuel economy of a convoy of vehicles based on the fuel consumption of the complete convoy and terrain characteristics.

4. The method of claims 1 or 3, wherein the results of the optimization engine are pre-stored in tables in a computer database.

5. The method of claims 1 or 3, further comprising the step of learning the elevation profiles of previously followed routes.

6. The method of claims 1 or 3, further comprising the step of estimating the weight of each vehicle for better accuracy of simulation.

7. The method of claims 1 or 3, further comprising the step of estimating the terrain type to better improve the simulation accuracy.

8. The method of claims 1 or 3, wherein the output of the optimization engine is acceleration, torque, or fuel input into the engine.

9. The method of claim 1 or 3, wherein gear optimality is taken under consideration in the calculation.

10. The method of claims 1 or 3, wherein the range of speeds is assigned as a desired speed and a range of allowable deviation.

11. The method of claims 1 or 3, further comprising the steps of:

selecting speeds that are closer from the desired speed over speeds that are further away from the desired speed; and

using a compound cost function that includes fuel efficiency and delta speed from desired speed in the calculation.

12. The method of claims 1 or 3, wherein the speed optimization only uses the best fuel economy based on an assumed flat terrain.

13. The method of claims 1 or 3, wherein the results of the speeds are recommended to an operator.

14. The method of claims 1 or 3, wherein the results of the speeds are sent as a commanded to an engine controller.

15. The method of claims 1 or 3, wherein an operator will receive predicted fuel expenditures at each speed range selected before driving starts.

16. The method of claims 1 or 3, further comprising the step of:

setting the speed ranges by maximum and minimum speed limits set by the transportation rules, or

setting the minimum speed range by the operator.

17. The method of claims 1 or 3, further comprising the step of setting different speed ranges for different slopes.

18. The method of claims 1 or 3, further comprising the step of setting different speed ranges depending on terrain.

19. The method of claims 1 or 3, further comprising the step of obtaining elevation profiles from telephone, wifi, or satellite connections.

20. The method of claim 3, further comprising the step of using elevation profiles provided from earlier vehicles in the convoy or earlier vehicles not related to the present convoy.

21. The method of claims 1 or 3, further comprising the step of suggesting speeds and gears in real time to an operator.

22. The method of claims 1 or 3, further comprising the step of warning the driver that the speed selection is a threshold away from the optimal speed for a given location.

23. The method of claims 1 or 3, further comprising the step of optimizing the shifting points on the transmission given the speed profile computed.

24. The method of claims 1 or 3, further comprising the steps of:

specifying an arrival time;

calculating the optimal speed to arrive at the destination before the set arrival time.

25. The method of claims 1 or 3, further comprising the step of predicting the trajectory of travel to extract elevation given the road that the vehicle is driving.

26. The method of claims 1 or 3, further comprising the step of using wind information in the calculation step.

27. The method of claims 1 or 3, further comprising the step of using traffic condition information in the calculation step.