Power management systems and designs

• US 8,712,650 B2
• Filed: 04/08/2011
• Issued: 04/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: iQar Inc.
• Original Assignee: Invent.ly LLC
• Inventors: Koebler, Martin, Harper, Jason H., Brown, Stephen J., Goldstein, Nicole G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tarcza, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): PIPALA, EDWARD J
• Application Number:
  US13/066,189
• Publication Number:
  US 20110313647A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,117 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1, 701/2, 701/23, 701/36, 701/48, 701/51, 701/53, 701/54, 701/55, 701/58, 701/60, 701/65, 701/70, 701/93, 701/94, 701/99, 701/101, 701/102, 701/103, 701/110, 701/123, 701/29.1, 701/32.1, 701/32.3, 701/32.4, 701/32.5, 701/32.9, 701/33.4, 701/400, 701/408, 701/409, 701/410, 701/411, 701/412, 701/414, 701/415, 701/418, 701/420, 701/423, 701/424, 701/431, 701/439, 701/445, 701/446, 701/467, 701/468, 701/487, 701/516, 701/521, 701/532, 701/533, 701/538, 340/988, 340/989, 340/990, 340/995.1, 340/995.13, 340/995.19, 340/995.23, 340/995.27, 340/438, 340/439, 180/65.1, 180/65.21, 180/65.22, 180/65.275, 180/65.28, 180/65.285, 180/65.29
• US Class Current: 701/51
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/174 Economic driving
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/15 Output devices or features thereof
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/174 Economic driving
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/00 Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/20 Output arrangements, i.e. from vehicle to user, associated with vehicle functions or specially adapted therefor
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/28 characterised by the type of the output information, e.g. video entertainment or vehicle dynamics information; characterised by the purpose of the output information, e.g. for attracting the attention of the driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 15/2045 for optimising the use of energy
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2220/44 Wheel Hub motors, i.e. integrated in the wheel hub
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/12 Speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/421 Speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/423 Torque
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/441 Speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/443 Torque
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/445 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/545 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/547 Voltage
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/549 Current
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/622 by satellite navigation
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/642 Slope of road
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/645 Type of road
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/647 : Surface situation of road, e.g. type of paving
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/662 : Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/665 : Light intensity
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/667 : Precipitation
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/68 : Traffic data
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2250/10 : by alarm
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2250/16 : by display
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2260/28 : Four wheel or all wheel drive
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2260/50 : by future state prediction
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 3/12 : Recording operating variables ; Monitoring of operating variables
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/62 : charged by low-power generators primarily intended to support the batteries, e.g. range extenders
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/12 : responding to state of charge [SoC]
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/16 : responding to battery ageing, e.g. to the number of charging cycles or the state of health [SoH]
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 7/12 : for vehicles propelled by dc motors
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 8/003 : Converting light into electric energy, e.g. by using photo-voltaic systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 1/10 : by utilising wheel movement for accumulating energy, e.g. driving air compressors
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 13/586 : the retarders being of the electric type
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2201/04 : Hill descent control
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2210/36 : Global Positioning System [GPS]
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 7/18 : operated by wayside apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 7/22 : initiated by contact of vehicle, e.g. bumper, with an external object, e.g. another vehicle , or by means of contactless obstacle detectors mounted on the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/06 : including control of combustion engines
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/11 : Stepped gearings
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 20/12 : using control strategies taking into account route information estimation or calculation of non-directly measurable driving parameters B60W40/00
• 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 2556/10 : Historical data
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0097 : Predicting future conditions
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3469 : Fuel consumption; Energy use; Emission aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3617 : using user history, behaviour, conditions or preferences, e.g. predicted or inferred from previous use or current movement
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 7/00 : Methods or arrangements for processing data by operating upon the order or content of the data handled logic circuits H03K19/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 : communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 : using electronic data carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096775 : where the origin of the information is a central station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096844 : where the complete route is dynamically recomputed based on new data
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/40 : Engine management systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/62 : Hybrid vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/64 : Electric machine technologies in electromobility
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 : Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/7072 : Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/72 : Electric energy management in electromobility
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/16 : Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles

Abstract

Described herein are devices, systems, and methods for managing the power consumption of an automotive vehicle, and thereby for optimizing the power consumption of the vehicle. The devices and systems for managing the power consumption of the vehicle typically include power management logic that can calculate an applied power for the vehicle engine based on information provided from the external environment of the vehicle, the operational status of the vehicle, one or more command inputs from a driver, and one or more operational parameters of the vehicle.

Claims

1. A method of managing the power consumption of a vehicle, comprising:

(a) a computer device receiving a route;

(b) said computer device segmenting said route into segment destinations; and

(c) said computer device for each of said segment destinations;

(i) calculating a fuel-efficient speed by;

step 1 minimizing power consumption over said segment destination using information, wherein said information is;

(j) information about the external environment of a vehicle, (jj) information about the operational status of the vehicle, (jjj) one or more operator command inputs, or (jv) one or more operational parameters of the vehicle are received as input to said calculating and analyzed by one or more processors, and step 2 analyzing historical data of one or more trips taken on said route, or step 3 a weighted average of said step 1 and said step 2; and

(ii) notifying said operator about said fuel-efficient speed to travel said segment destination or notifying said operator about the power to apply to achieve said fuel-efficient speed to travel said segment destination.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising continuously calculating said fuel-efficient speed until a final destination is reached.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of calculating said fuel-efficient speed for said vehicle further comprises determining a historical speed for a similar segment destination or a similar route.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said power consumption calculation further comprises calculating an optimal acceleration to accelerate to said fuel-efficient speed to travel said segment destination or optimal deceleration to decelerate to said fuel-efficient speed to travel said segment destination.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said power consumption calculation incorporates GPS information, said fuel-efficient speed to travel said segment destination, or a combination thereof.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said information is based on past history information of said vehicle, information from one or more other vehicles traveling one or more of the same of said segment destinations, or a combination thereof.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said information comprises stored information of vehicles traveling overlapping route segments.

8. The method of claim further comprising an automatic transmission vehicle using said fuel-efficient speed to shift gears.

9. A method of managing the power consumption of a vehicle, comprising:

a computer device for a plurality of route segments;

(a) calculating fuel-efficient speed by;

step 1 minimizing power consumption over said route segments using information, wherein said information is;

(i) information about the external environment of a vehicle, (ii) information about the operational status of the vehicle, (iii) one or more operator command inputs, or (iv) one or more operational parameters of the vehicle are received as input to said calculating and analyzed by one or more processors, and step 2 analyzing historical data of one or more trips taken on said route segments, or step 3 a weighted average of said step 1 and said step 2; and

(b) notifying said operator about said fuel-efficient speed to travel said route segments or notifying said operator about the power to apply to achieve said fuel-efficient speed to travel said route segments.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising continuously calculating said fuel-efficient speed until a final destination is reached.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of calculating said fuel-efficient speed for said vehicle further comprises determining a historical speed for a similar destination or a similar route segments.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein said power consumption calculation further comprises calculating an optimal acceleration to accelerate to said fuel-efficient speed to travel said route segments optimal deceleration to decelerate to said determined efficient speed to travel said route segments.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said power consumption calculation incorporates GPS information, said determined efficient speed to travel said route segments, or a combination thereof.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein said information is based on past history information of said vehicle, information from one or more other vehicles traveling one or more of the same of said route segments, or a combination thereof.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein said information comprises stored information of vehicles traveling overlapping route segments.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising an automatic transmission vehicle using said fuel-efficient speed to shift gears.