Co-operative on-board and off-board component and system diagnosis and prognosis

• US 8,560,165 B2
• Filed: 01/17/2012
• Issued: 10/15/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Salman, Mutasim A., Zhang, Yilu, Howell, Mark N., Tang, Xidong, Ghoneim, Youseff A., Dorfstatter, Walter A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheung, Mary
• Assistant Examiner(s): BRUSHABER, FREDERICK M
• Application Number:
  US13/351,473
• Publication Number:
  US 20130184929A1
• Time in Patent Office: 637 Days
• Field of Search: 701/31.5
• US Class Current: 701/31.5
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0283 Predictive maintenance, e.g. involving the monitoring of a system and, based on the monitoring results, taking decisions on the maintenance schedule of the monitored system; Estimating remaining useful life [RUL] preventive maintenance, i.e. planning maintenance according to the available resources without monitoring the system G06Q10/06

Abstract

A cooperative diagnostic and prognosis system for generating a prognosis of at least one component in a vehicle. An in-vehicle diagnostic unit determines a diagnostic signature of the component each time an occurrence of a condition is triggered and transmits the diagnostic signature to an off-board diagnostic unit. The off-vehicle diagnostic unit determines a SOH of the component and a rate-of-change in the SOH of the component. The off-vehicle diagnostic unit determines whether the rate-of-change in the SOH is greater than a threshold. The off-vehicle diagnostic unit requests additional information from the vehicle in response to the rate-of-change in the SOH being greater than the threshold. The additional information relating to operating parameter data associated with the component. The off-vehicle diagnostic unit receives the requested information and predicts a time-to-failure of the component.

Claims

1. A cooperative diagnostic system for generating a prognosis of at least one component in a vehicle, the system comprising:

an in-vehicle diagnostic unit determining a degradation signature of the at least one component each time an occurrence of a condition is triggered; and

an off-vehicle diagnostic unit receiving the degradation signature and determining a state-of-health of the at least one component as a function of the degradation signature;

wherein the determined degradation signature of the at least one component is wirelessly transmitted to the off-vehicle diagnostic unit upon the occurrence of the triggered condition, the off-vehicle diagnostic unit determining a rate-of-change in the state-of-health of the at least one component, the off-vehicle diagnostic unit determining whether the rate-of-change in the state-of-health is greater than a threshold, the off-vehicle diagnostic unit requesting additional information from the vehicle in response to the rate-of-change in the state-of-health being greater than the threshold, the additional information relating to operating parameter data associated with the at least one component, the off-vehicle diagnostic unit receiving the requested information and predicting a time-to-failure of the at least one component.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein each determined state-of-health is stored in an off-vehicle diagnostic unit memory, wherein the off-vehicle diagnostic unit collectively analyzes the stored state-of-health determinations for determining the rate-of-change in the state-of-health.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the triggered condition includes a time-triggered condition, wherein the off-board diagnostic unit determines an increase in a frequency of the timed condition based on a rate-of-change in the state-of-health being greater than a second threshold.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein increasing the frequency of the time triggered condition is based on an incremental rate-of-change in the state-of-health between two state-of-health determinations.

5. The system of claim 3 wherein increasing the frequency of the time triggered condition is based on an incremental rate-of-change in the state-of-health between two consecutive state-of-health determinations.

6. The system of claim 3 wherein increasing the frequency of the time-triggered condition is based on an incremental rate-of-change in the state-of-health between a plurality of state-of-health determinations.

7. The system of claim 2 wherein the triggered condition includes an event-triggered condition that is based on an occurrence of an event.

8. The system of claim 2 wherein the on-board diagnostic unit compares the determined degradation signature to an operating threshold, and wherein diagnostic unit transmits the determined degradation signature to the off-board diagnostic unit in response to the determined degradation signature being greater than the operating threshold.

9. The system of claim 1 further comprising a telematics center, wherein messages from the vehicle are relayed to the on-board diagnostic unit.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the telematics center relays messages from off-board diagnostic unit to the vehicle.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the off-vehicle diagnostic unit selects which additional information is requested from the vehicle.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the off-vehicle diagnostic unit utilizes a diagnostic reasoner for predicting the fault in the at least one component and predicting the time-to-failure.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein the off-vehicle diagnostic unit utilizes a fault model for predicting the fault in the at least one component and predicting the time-to-failure.

14. The system of claim 1 wherein the prognosis determined by the off-board diagnostic unit is output to a user of the vehicle.

15. The system of claim 14 further comprising a texting device for outputting the prognosis to the user.

16. The system of claim 14 further comprising a cell phone for outputting the prognosis to the user.

17. The system of claim 14 further comprising a vehicle-based output device for outputting the prognosis to the user.

18. The system of claim 14 wherein the prognosis is output using email.

19. The system of claim 14 wherein a third party outputs the prognosis to the user.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the third party is a vehicle dealership.

21. The system of claim 19 wherein the third party is a telematics center.