Fuel waste variable identification and analysis system

• US 9,513,151 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2015
• Issued: 12/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TrueLite Trace, Inc.
• Original Assignee: TrueLite Trace, Inc.
• Inventors: Kwak, Sung Bok, Bae, Youri
• Primary Examiner(s): Kan, Yuri
• Application Number:
  US14/634,533
• Publication Number:
  US 20160252381A1
• Time in Patent Office: 648 Days
• Field of Search: 701/21, 701/51, 701/103, 701/123, 235/61.J, 277/452, 123/556, 123/536, 180/406, 184/6.5, 340/435, 502/303, 705/13, 415/1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 9/00 Measuring volume flow relative to another variable, e.g. of liquid fuel for an engine
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0825 using optical means
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/12 in graphical form

Abstract

A novel fuel waste variable identification and analysis system is capable of analyzing real-time on-board diagnostics (OBD) information of a vehicle from a remote monitoring station unit. This novel system analyzes, quantifies, and/or predicts various fuel waste variables for a particular vehicle and its driver. Preferably, various fuel waste variables are normalized with a novel metric called “RPG,” or “engine rotation per minute per gallon of fuel.” Utilizing the RPG as a normalizing factor for fuel waste variable measurements uniquely enables a realistic representation of a driver'"'"'s fuel wasting behaviors in context of the particular vehicle'"'"'s inherent, native, and average fuel consumption characteristics. Furthermore, the RPG-normalized fuel waste variables can be quantified as gallons of “wasted fuel” in computer-generated driving pattern analysis reports from the fuel waste variable identification and analysis system to motivate the vehicle operators and the drivers for higher operational fuel efficiencies.

Claims

1. A fuel waste variable identification and analysis system with a remote real-time vehicle on-board diagnostics monitoring, the fuel waste variable identification and analysis system comprising:

a vehicle on-board diagnostics unit connected to an engine control unit or a vehicular control chipset of a vehicle to record, diagnose, and generate engine, vehicle dynamics, and fuel consumption data as a real-time data stream;

a fuel waste variable analytics module that receives the real-time data stream from the vehicle on-board diagnostics unit for detailed analysis and calculations of one or more fuel waste variables;

a fuel waste variable identification and analytics unit in the fuel waste variable analytics module, wherein the fuel waste variable identification and analytics unit sets threshold values for the fuel waste variables, retrieves historical fuel consumption data from a vehicle-specific OBD data history database, and calculates pre-RPG (engine rotation per minute per gallon of fuel) normalized fuel waste variables, a vehicle-specific RPG value, RPG-normalized fuel waste variables, and a fuel waste percentage value for a selected period of time interval;

the vehicle-specific OBD data history database that accumulates, stores, and categorizes vehicle dynamics and fuel consumption data downloaded from the vehicle; and

a computer server or another electronic device with a CPU and a memory unit that displays the RPG-normalized fuel waste variables on a display panel in the vehicle or in a remote monitoring station unit.

2. The fuel waste variable identification and analysis system of claim 1, further comprising an on-board diagnostics data transceiver unit in the vehicle and a data communication network to transmit the real-time data stream from the vehicle on-board diagnostics unit to the computer server or to the remote monitoring station unit wirelessly.

3. The fuel waste variable identification and analysis system of claim 2, wherein the on-board diagnostics data transceiver unit in the vehicle is capable of requesting and receiving the vehicle-specific OBD data history from the vehicle-specific OBD data history database.

4. The fuel waste variable identification and analysis system of claim 1, wherein the fuel waste variable identification and analytics unit in the fuel waste variable analytics module further comprises an OBD information management module, an RPG calculation module, a fuel waste variable calculation module, a fuel waste percentage calculation module, a vehicle location and route information management module, a fuel waste variable threshold setting module, and an information display management module.

5. The fuel waste variable identification and analysis system of claim 1, wherein the fuel waste variable analytics module is a vehicle-side module, a computer server-side module, or both.

6. The fuel waste variable identification and analysis system of claim 1, further comprising a vehicle location and route information management module that correlates spikes in magnitudes of the RPG-normalized fuel waste variables with routes and road conditions to identify unfavorable routes and conditions for fuel efficient driving.

7. The fuel waste variable identification and analysis system of claim 1, wherein the one or more fuel waste variables include over-speeding, over-revving, hard acceleration, hard braking, and engine idling.

8. The fuel waste variable identification and analysis system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle-specific RPG value is a summation of engine rotation-per-minute (RPM) values multiplied by the selected period of time interval divided by a total fuel consumption during the selected period of time interval.

9. The fuel waste variable identification and analysis system of claim 1, wherein the RPG-normalized fuel waste variables are derived by dividing the pre-RPG normalized fuel wasted variables by the vehicle-specific RPG value.

10. The fuel waste variable identification and analysis system of claim 1, further comprising an information display management module for generating graphical data to display a driving pattern analysis report on the display panel in the vehicle or in the remote monitoring station unit.

11. The fuel waste variable identification and analysis system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle is a truck, a taxi, a van, or another vehicle operated and managed by a vehicle fleet company.

12. The fuel waste variable identification and analysis system of claim 1, wherein the RPG-normalized fuel waste variables assist a driver of the vehicle to identify a specific factor for fuel waste from a fuel waste category that encompasses over-speeding, over-revving, hard acceleration, hard braking, or prolonged engine idling of the vehicle.

13. The fuel waste variable identification and analysis system of claim 1, wherein the RPG-normalized fuel waste variables assist a vehicle operations manager to pinpoint a specific factor for fuel waste from a fuel waste category that encompasses over-speeding, over-revving, hard acceleration, hard braking, or prolonged engine idling of the vehicle.

14. The fuel waste variable identification and analysis system of claim 1, wherein the fuel waste variable identification and analytics unit also calculates and keeps track of fuel waste variable trends over a day, a week, a month, a year, or another set period of time.