Vehicle fuel economy system and process thereof

• US 9,579,949 B2
• Filed: 05/06/2015
• Issued: 02/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Incorporated (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Incorporated (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Patel, Tapan V.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tarcza, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): EVANS, GARRETT F
• Application Number:
  US14/705,180
• Publication Number:
  US 20160325600A1
• Time in Patent Office: 664 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00735 Control systems or circuits characterised by their input, i.e. by the detection, measurement or calculation of particular conditions, e.g. signal treatment, dynamic models
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00878 the components being temperature regulating devices

Abstract

A fuel economy system for a vehicle. The vehicle has a power supply, an HVAC system that is operable to heat and/or cool an interior compartment of the vehicle, and a destination system that is operable to estimate a length of time or distance required for the vehicle to arrive at a destination on a predefined route. The system also includes an HVAC control system in communication with the HVAC system. The HVAC control system is operable to regulate a temperature of the vehicle interior compartment by increasing or decreasing power to the HVAC system such that the interior compartment is heated or cooled. The HVAC control system is also operable to automatically reduce power to the HVAC system per a predefined reduced power plan prior to the vehicle reaching the destination.

Claims

1. A fuel economy system, said fuel economy system comprising:

a vehicle having a power supply, an interior compartment, an HVAC system operable to heat or cool said interior compartment of said vehicle and a destination system operable to estimate a length of time for said vehicle to arrive at a destination on a predefined route;

an HVAC control system in communication with said HVAC system, said HVAC control system operable to regulate a temperature of said interior compartment by regulating power to said HVAC system and heating or cooling said interior compartment, said power to said HVAC system provided by said power supply; and

said HVAC control system configured to automatically reducing power to said HVAC system per a predefined reduced power plan selected from at least one of an exponential reduction of power plan and a power law reduction in power plan as said vehicle approaches said destination, reducing power to said HVAC system before said vehicle reaches said destination increasing fuel economy for said vehicle.

2. The fuel economy system of claim 1, wherein said destination system is selected from at least one of a vehicle-based GPS system, a PED-based GPS system, a vehicle-based road marker-detector system, a PED-based road marker-detector system and a vehicle-based visualization system.

3. The fuel economy system of claim 2, wherein said HVAC control system has a manual override, said manual override altering said automatic reducing power to said HVAC system as said vehicle approaches said destination.

4. The fuel economy system of claim 3, wherein said HVAC control system has a learning module, said learning module configured to receive a manual increase or decrease power signal to said HVAC system and alter said predefined reduced power plan of automatically reducing power to said HVAC system as said vehicle approaches said destination.

5. A process for increasing vehicle fuel economy, the process comprising:

providing a vehicle with a power supply, an HVAC system, an HVAC control system and a destination system, the destination system operable to estimate a length of time for the vehicle to arrive at a destination of a predefined route;

operating the vehicle and traveling to the destination on the predefined route;

activating the HVAC system during traveling to the destination using the HVAC control system;

determining an estimated time to arrival at the destination using the destination system;

automatically reducing power to the HVAC system per a predefined reduced power plan selected from at least one of an exponential reduction of power plan and a power law reduction in power plan when the estimated time reaches a predetermined value such that the power to the HVAC system is reduced before the vehicle arrives at the destination, reducing the power to the HVAC system when the estimated time reaches the predetermined value increasing the fuel economy of the vehicle.

6. The process of claim 5, wherein the destination system is selected from at least one of a vehicle-based GPS system, a PED-based GPS system, a vehicle-based road marker-detector system, a PED-based road marker-detector system and a vehicle-based visualization system.

7. The process of claim 6, wherein the HVAC control system has a manual override, the manual override altering the automatically reducing power to the HVAC system as the vehicle approaches the destination.

8. The process of claim 7, wherein the HVAC control system has a learning module, the learning module configured to receive a manual increase or decrease power signal to the HVAC system and alter a predefined reduced power plan of automatically reducing power to the HVAC system as the vehicle approaches the destination.