HEALTH MONITORING SYSTEMS AND TECHNIQUES FOR VEHICLE SYSTEMS

• US 20140107885A1
• Filed: 10/12/2012
• Published: 04/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cummins Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Cummins Incorporated
• Inventors: Hagen, Eric L., Fox, Richard S., Ibekwe, Nkemjika, Smith, Malcolm L.
• Granted Patent: US 9,014,918 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/29.4
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/006 Indicating maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C

Abstract

Systems and methods for monitoring health of one or more subsystems of a vehicle system are disclosed. At least one sensor can be operatively coupled to a vehicle subsystem having an operational signature and a control system is coupled to the at least one sensor. Using information provided by the at least one sensor, the control system is structured to generate a reference signature of the subsystem during a learning phase and an operational signature of the subsystem subsequent to the learning phase. Systems and methods for identifying the particular subsystem exhibiting degraded performance are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a powertrain including a plurality of associated subsystems;

each of the subsystems including at least one sensor, the sensors being structured to generate operational values associated with the respective subsystem to which each sensor is coupled;

a control system coupled to each of the sensors, the control system being configured to;

generate a reference signature for each of the subsystems based on the operational values generated by the associated sensor during a learning phase of powertrain and subsystem operation by a user, wherein each of the reference signatures includes a learned normal average, a learned maximum, and a learned minimum of the operational values of the associated subsystem over the learning phase;

record the reference signatures for each of the subsystems in a memory of the control system;

generate an operational signature for each of the subsystems during operation of the powertrain subsequent to the learning phase, wherein the operational signatures each include a running average, a maximum, and a minimum of the operational values of the subsystem generated by the at least one sensor since the learning phase;

record the operational signatures for each of the subsystems in the memory; and

output the operational signatures and the reference signatures.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of subsystems is an exhaust gas recirculation subsystem and the at least one sensor operatively coupled thereto is structured to monitor an exhaust gas recirculation flow during operation of the powertrain.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least one sensor comprises a flow meter.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the control system comprises:

a diagnostic monitor structured to receive inputs of the operational values of the subsystems from the sensors; and

a health monitoring system coupled to the diagnostic monitor structured to receive the operational values of the subsystems from the diagnostic monitor, generate the reference signature and the operational signature for each of the subsystems, and output the reference signatures and the operational signatures to the memory.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the control system is configured to generate a second reference signature for at least one of the plurality of subsystems during a second learning phase of powertrain and subsystem operation.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the second learning phase is initiated in response to a reset flag input to the control system.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the reset flag corresponds to a recalibration of the at least one subsystem.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the reset flag corresponds to a deployment of the system in a substantially different application.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the reset flag corresponds to the reference signature being associated with an inadequate performance of the at least one subsystem during the learning phase.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of subsystems include two or more subsystems selected from the group consisting of:

an exhaust subsystem, an exhaust aftertreatment subsystem, an exhaust reductant dosing subsystem, an exhaust gas recirculation subsystem, a turbocharger subsystem, a fuel injection subsystem, a cooling subsystem, an accessory drive subsystem, a power generation subsystem, a power storage subsystem, a compressed air subsystem, and a lubrication subsystem.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the operational signatures is based at least in part on a filtered recent performance of actual operational values generated by the sensor associated with the subsystem.

12. A method, comprising:

receiving sensor information from at least one sensor operatively coupled to at least one subsystem of a vehicle system including a powertrain;

generating a reference signature for the at least one subsystem based on the sensor information output during a learning phase of operation by a user of the powertrain of the vehicle system, wherein the reference signature includes a minimum operational value, a maximum operational value and an average operational value of the at least one subsystem during the learning phase of powertrain operation; and

recording, subsequent to the learning phase, an operational signature of the at least one subsystem during powertrain operation of the vehicle system, wherein the operational signature includes a minimum operational value, maximum operational value, and a filtered running average of operational values of the at least one subsystem generated by the at least one sensor since the learning phase.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

comparing the operational signature with the reference signature; and

determining whether the operational signature indicates a subsystem service event by a deviation of the operational signature from the reference signature.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the deviation includes at least one of the maximum operational values and the minimum operational values of the operational signature being greater than or less than, respectively, the maximum operational value and the minimum operational value of the reference signature.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the deviation includes the filtered running average of operational values of the operational signature deviating from the average operational value of the reference signature, and the maximum operational values of the operational signature being less than the maximum operational value of the reference signature and the minimum operational values of the operational signature being greater than the minimum operational value of the reference signature.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the reference signature is generated after a predetermined number of iterations of operation of the subsystem during the learning phase.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising re-learning the reference signature in response to a reset flag.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the reset flag includes at least one event selected from the group consisting of:

a recalibration of the at least one subsystem;

a service event of the at least one subsystem;

a deployment of the vehicle system in a substantially different application; and

the reference signature being improperly learned during the learning phase.

19. A method, comprising:

powering operation of a vehicle system with a powertrain and a plurality of subsystems associated with the powertrain;

during a learning phase associated with the operation of the powertrain by a user, learning a reference signature for each of the subsystems, wherein the reference signatures each include a minimum operational value, a maximum operational value, and an average operational value of the associated subsystem during the learning phase;

recording the reference signature in a memory of a control system of the vehicle system;

generating an operational signature for each of the subsystems during operation of the powertrain subsequent to the learning phase, wherein the operational signatures each include a minimum operational value, a maximum operational value, and a filtered running average of operational values of the associated subsystem;

recording the operational signatures in the memory of the control system; and

identifying at least one of the subsystems for service by comparing the operational signature with the reference signature of each of the subsystems.

20. The method of claim 19, which includes updating the reference signature of the identified subsystem after servicing the subsystem.