METHOD FOR MONITORING AND NAVIGATING A VEHICLE WITH ELECTRIC DRIVE MOVING TOWARDS A PREDETERMINED TARGET ALONG A NAVIGATED ROUTE

• US 20160209226A1
• Filed: 08/07/2014
• Published: 07/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GPS Tuner Systems Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag
• Original Assignee: GPS Tuner Kft.
• Inventors: Nagy, Tamas, Tarnok, Gabor
• Granted Patent: US 9,829,329 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B62M 6/45 Control or actuating devices therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3469 Fuel consumption; Energy use; Emission aspects

Abstract

A method for monitoring and navigating a vehicle with electric drive towards a target with an off-line navigation device, in which a table is prepared and stored with data related to the vehicle when moving with a predetermined speed and under a predetermined load; storing in the memory the consumption of the vehicle when it takes a unity distance along a horizontal road with the predetermined speed; then storing corrected consumption values as a function of positive or negative angles of inclination of a road section of unity length that represents the ratio of experimentally determined consumption values of the vehicle at any given angle of inclination to the consumption along the horizontal road of unity length; storing map data also including the altitude and/or steepness information; then after the start of the vehicle monitoring in given time intervals the momentary storage capacity of the battery of the vehicle; dividing the remaining route leading to the target into a plurality of road sections so that each road section has a respective uniform angle of inclination, and in case of each of said sections and based on the stored data the respective weighted costs associated with the section is calculated; the weighted costs are summarized to the remaining length of the route whereby the expected consumption of the vehicle till reaching the target is determined, and comparing the expected consumption with the measured available capacity of the battery, and if the expected consumption is higher than the available capacity of the battery, warning the driver of the vehicle.

Claims

1. Method for monitoring and navigating a vehicle with electric drive moving towards a predetermined target along a navigated route with an off-line navigation device, comprising the steps of preparing a table relating to the vehicle when moving with a predetermined speed and under a predetermined load;

storing the associated data in an electronic memory;

as a basic information storing in the memory the consumption of the vehicle when moving a unity distance along a horizontal road with the predetermined speed;

then storing corrected consumption values as a function of positive or negative angles of inclination along a road section of unity length that represents the ratio of experimentally determined consumptions of the vehicle at any given angle of inclination to the consumptions along the horizontal road of unity length;

storing map data of a map comprising said route in an electronic data storage unit, wherein said data also include altitude and/or steepness information;

following the start of the vehicle monitoring in given time intervals the momentary storage capacity of the battery of the vehicle;

dividing the remaining route leading to the target into a plurality of road sections so that each road section has a respective uniform angle of inclination, the meeting points of neigbouring sections are referred to as knot points and the sections interconnecting the knot points are referred to as edges, and in case of each of said edges and based on said stored data determining respective weighted costs associated with said edge;

summarizing said weighted costs to the remaining length of the route; and

based on the resulting sum determining the expected consumption of the vehicle till it reaches the target, and comparing the expected consumption with the measured available capacity of the battery, and if the expected consumption is higher than the available capacity of the battery, warning the driver of the vehicle.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein together with or instead of the warning alternative routes are searched by route re-planning technique between the momentary position of the vehicle to the target, calculating for each alternative routes the expected consumption, and if there exists an alternative route along which the consumption of the vehicle is expected to be under the measured available capacity of the battery, suggesting this alternative route to the driver and in case of an acceptance by the driver, navigating the driver to the target.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein navigating the vehicle to a charge station together with or instead of said warning in case if along one of said alternative routes leading to the target there exists a charge station within the reach of the vehicle with the battery.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein if the ratio of machine and human contribution to the drive can be adjusted in the vehicle, then together with or instead of said warning the ratio of the human and electric drives is either suggested to the driver or adjusted, with which the available energy will be sufficient till reaching the target.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said monitoring step is carried out in time intervals between 0.5 to 2 seconds.