Engine detection

• US 9,728,013 B2
• Filed: 02/03/2015
• Issued: 08/08/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Navico Incorporated (Brunswick Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Navico Holding A.S. (Brunswick Corporation)
• Inventors: Gaynor, Phillip King
• Primary Examiner(s): PATEL, SHARDUL D
• Application Number:
  US14/612,925
• Publication Number:
  US 20160225195A1
• Time in Patent Office: 917 Days
• Field of Search: 701 294, 701 344, 36442406, 36442403, 364550, 3404255, 340438, 702182
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/001 Measuring interference from external sources to, or emission from, the device under test, e.g. EMC, EMI, EMP or ESD testing measuring electromagnetic fields G01R29/08; circuits for generating HV pulses in dielectric strength testing G01R31/14
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 1/02 not involving the registering, indicating or recording of other data
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0858 wherein the data carrier is removable

Abstract

Various implementations described herein are directed to a non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a computer, may cause the computer to detect electrical noise corresponding to one or more engines starting or running. The computer may record a first timestamp corresponding to the engines starting or running. The computer may detect that the engines have stopped. The computer may record a second timestamp corresponding to the engines stopping. The computer may also use the first and second timestamps to determine engine runtimes.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

detect, by an electronic device monitoring an electrical system, electrical noise emitted onto the electrical system via an electrical connection to the electrical system by one or more engines, the electrical noise corresponding to the one or more engines starting or running;

record a first timestamp corresponding to the one or more engines starting or running in response to the detection of the electrical noise;

analyze, by the electronic device monitoring the electrical system, the electrical noise emitted by one of the one or more engines to determine a revolutions per minute (RPM) corresponding to the one engine;

store a record describing the RPM of the one engine while the one engine is running;

detect, by the electronic device monitoring the electrical system, an absence of the electrical noise on the electrical system indicating that the one or more engines have stopped;

record a second timestamp corresponding to the one or more engines stopping in response to the detection of the absence of the electrical noise on the electrical system; and

determine an engine runtimes based on the first and second timestamps.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions that cause the computer to detect the electrical noise comprise computer-executable instructions that cause the computer to detect the electrical noise, wherein the electrical noise is electromagnetic interference introduced to the electrical system by the one or more engines.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the computer to:

retrieve a total engine hours value; and

add an engine runtime to the total engine hours value.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 3, wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the computer to:

retrieve a number of hours corresponding to a next scheduled maintenance;

determine a difference between the total engine hours value and the next scheduled maintenance number of hours; and

display the difference.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the computer to determine the RPM based on an analysis, by the electronic device monitoring the electrical system, of a frequency of the electrical noise emitted by the one engine.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the computer to:

analyze the electrical noise emitted by one of the one or more engines to determine a type of engine; and

record the type of engine.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions that cause the computer to detect the electrical noise corresponding to the one or more engines starting or running comprise computer-executable instructions that cause the computer to detect the electrical noise on the electrical system, the electrical system being a direct current (DC) electrical system coupled to the one or more engines and a marine electronics device, and wherein the electrical noise is electromagnetic interference introduced to the DC electrical system by the one or more engines.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions that cause the computer to detect the electrical noise corresponding to the one more engines starting or running further comprise computer-executable instructions that cause the computer to disable an electrical noise filter.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions that cause the computer to display the engine runtime in association with the RPM on a display screen.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the computer to detect time periods where the one or more engines are idling by monitoring the electrical noise corresponding to the one or more engines.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions that cause the computer to detect the electrical noise corresponding to the one or more engines starting or running comprise computer-executable instructions that cause the computer to detect the electrical noise corresponding to a frequency signature of one of the one or more engines.

12. An apparatus for displaying marine electronic data, the apparatus comprising:

one or more processors;

a screen configured to display marine data; and

memory having a plurality of executable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

detect, by an electronic device monitoring an electrical system, electrical noise emitted onto the electrical system via an electrical connection to the electrical system by one or more engines, the electrical noise corresponding to the one or more engines starting or running;

record a first timestamp corresponding to the one or more engines starting or running in response to the detection of the electrical noise;

analyze, by the electronic device monitoring the electrical system, the electrical noise emitted by one of the one or more engines to determine a revolutions per minute (RPM) corresponding to the one engine;

store a record describing the RPM of the one engine while the one engine is running;

detect, by the electronic device monitoring the electrical system, an absence of the electrical noise indicating that the one or more engines have stopped;

record a second timestamp corresponding to the one or more engines stopping in response to the detection of the absence of the electrical noise on the electrical system; and

determine engine runtimes based on the first and second timestamps.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the executable instructions further cause the processors to transmit the engine runtimes to a cloud software service.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the executable instructions further cause the processors to:

retrieve a total engine hours value corresponding to one of the one or more engines; and

add an engine runtime to the total engine hours value.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the executable instructions that cause the processors to detect the electrical noise corresponding the one or more engines starting or running comprise executable instructions that cause the processors to detect the electrical noise on the electrical system, the electrical system being a direct current (DC) electrical system and the electrical noise being electromagnetic interference introduced to the DC electrical system by the one or more engines.

16. A method for detecting engine hours, the method comprising:

detecting electrical noise emitted onto the electrical system via an electrical connection to the electrical system by one or more engines, the electrical noise corresponding to the engine running, wherein the engine is connected to the electrical system, the electrical system being a direct current (DC) electrical system and the electrical noise is detected by a computerized device connected to the electrical system;

monitoring, by the computerized device connected to the electrical system, the electrical noise to determine an amount of time that the engine is running;

analyzing, by the computerized device connected to the electrical system, the electrical noise emitted by one of the one or more engines to determine a revolutions per minute (RPM) corresponding to the one engine;

storing an RPM record describing the RPM of the one engine while the one engine is running; and

storing an engine runtime record, on the computerized device, of the amount of time that the engine is running.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein monitoring the electrical noise to determine the amount of time that the engine is running comprises:

detecting that the engine has started; and

detecting that the engine has stopped.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

detecting time periods when the engine is idling; and

storing a record describing the time periods when the engine is idling.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising transmitting the record of the amount of time that the engine is running to a cloud software service.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising displaying the RPM in association with information in the engine runtime record.