System and method for identifying fuel savings opportunity in vehicles

• US 7,877,198 B2
• Filed: 01/23/2006
• Issued: 01/25/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Global Sourcing LLC (Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Passman, Jon, Tenzer, Stephen, Nielsen, Benjamin J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran; Khoi
• Assistant Examiner(s): SAMPLE, JONATHAN L
• Application Number:
  US11/337,399
• Publication Number:
  US 20070174004A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,828 Days
• Field of Search: 701/123, 701/112, 701/29, 340/439, 340/450
• US Class Current: 701/123
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles

Abstract

A system and method of identify fuel savings opportunity in a fleet of vehicles based on a determination of fuel consumption due to modifiable use conditions is described. Modifiable use conditions, such as unauthorized usage, speeding and excessive idling, which represent opportunities for fuel savings are identified and fuel consumption based on the modifiable use conditions is determined. A user-defined statistical metric for the fleet, or a portion of the fleet, can be determined for each of the modifiable use conditions evaluated. Fuel consumption of an individual vehicle, or a group of vehicles, resulting from modifiable use conditions can be compared with a larger group of vehicle, or the fleet, to determine vehicles which correspond to a metric of the fleet. Fleet managers can use this information to modify the use conditions of individual or group of vehicles to provide fuel savings for the fleet.

Claims

1. A method of identifying fuel savings opportunity in a fleet of vehicles, comprising:

identifying a plurality of modifiable use conditions that represent an opportunity for fuel savings;

determining fuel consumption attributable to each of a plurality of modifiable use conditions for a plurality of fleet vehicles;

determining, for each of the plurality of modifiable use conditions, a user-defined statistical metric relating to the fuel consumption for a plurality of vehicles within the fleet that is attributable to each modifiable use condition; and

determining which vehicles within a fleet represent a fuel savings opportunity by comparing, for each of the vehicles within the fleet, the fuel consumption attributable to each vehicle for each of the plurality of modifiable use conditions with at least one statistical metric relating to the fuel consumption of a plurality of vehicles within the fleet that is attributable to each modifiable use condition.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said plurality of modifiable use conditions comprise driving a vehicle at a speed exceeding a defined speed, idling a vehicle, driving a vehicle with tire pressure outside a defined range, driving a vehicle without a properly tuned engine, driving a vehicle that is using a grade of motor oil that is not recommended for the vehicle, driving a vehicle with weight in excess of a defined weight, unauthorized use of a vehicle, driving a vehicle according to a schedule that is not optimized to consider factors affecting fuel economy, driving a vehicle according to routing that is not optimized to consider factors affecting fuel economy, and driving a vehicle in deviation from routes that were optimized to consider factors affecting fuel economy.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining fuel consumption attributable to the modifiable use condition of exceeding a defined speed comprises determining the marginal fuel consumption when the speed on the vehicle exceeds a set value.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the marginal fuel consumption is determined based on estimated fuel consumption values obtained from a secondary source or historical data.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the marginal fuel consumption is determined based on measured fuel consumption during the time when the vehicle exceeded a set value.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein determining fuel consumption attributable to the modifiable use condition of idling the vehicle comprises determining fuel consumption when the vehicle engine is on and the vehicle is stationary.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the fuel consumption when the engine is on and the vehicle is stationary is determined based on estimated fuel consumption values obtained from a secondary source or historical data.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the fuel consumption when the engine is on and the vehicle is stationary is determined based on measured fuel consumption.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein determining fuel consumption attributable to the modifiable use condition of driving the vehicle with tire pressure outside a defined range comprises determining the marginal fuel consumption when the vehicle'"'"'s tire pressure is outside a defined range.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the marginal fuel consumption is determined based on estimated fuel consumption values obtained from a secondary source or historical data.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the marginal fuel consumption is determined based on measured fuel consumption.

12. The method of claim 2, wherein determining fuel consumption attributable to the modifiable use condition of driving the vehicle without a properly tuned engine comprises determining the marginal fuel consumption when the vehicle is driven without a properly tuned engine.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the marginal fuel consumption is determined based on estimated fuel consumption values obtained from a secondary source or historical data.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the marginal fuel consumption is determined based on measured fuel consumption.

15. The method of claim 2, wherein determining fuel consumption attributable to the modifiable use condition of driving a vehicle that is using a grade of motor oil that is not recommended for the vehicle comprises determining the marginal fuel consumption of the vehicle when the vehicle is driven using a grade of motor oil that is not recommended for the vehicle.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the marginal fuel consumption is determined based on estimated fuel consumption values obtained from a secondary source or historical data.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the marginal fuel consumption is determined based on measured fuel consumption.

18. The method of claim 2, wherein determining fuel consumption attributable to the modifiable use condition of driving the vehicle with weight in excess of a defined weight comprises determining the marginal fuel consumption of the vehicle when the vehicle has a weight in excess of a defined weight when driven.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the marginal fuel consumption is determined based on estimated fuel consumption values obtained from a secondary source or historical data.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the marginal fuel consumption is determined based on measured fuel consumption.

21. The method of claim 2, wherein determining fuel consumption attributable to the modifiable use condition of unauthorized use of the vehicle comprises determining fuel consumption of the vehicle during a time period of unauthorized use of the vehicle.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the marginal fuel consumption is determined based on estimated fuel consumption values obtained from a secondary source or historical data.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the marginal fuel consumption is determined based on measured fuel consumption.

24. The method of claim 2, wherein determining fuel consumption attributable to the modifiable use condition of unauthorized use of the vehicle comprises determining the marginal fuel consumption based on the travel route of a vehicle outside a predefined area.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the predefined area is established as a geofence.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the travel route of the vehicle is determined by a locator device.

27. The method of claim 2, wherein determining fuel consumption attributable to the modifiable use condition of driving the vehicle using scheduling of the vehicle which is not optimized considering factors affecting fuel consumption comprises determining marginal fuel consumption of the vehicle when the vehicle is driving using a schedule of the vehicle which is not optimized considering factors affecting fuel consumption.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the marginal fuel consumption is determined based on estimated fuel consumption values obtained from a secondary source or historical data.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the marginal fuel consumption is determined based on measured fuel consumption.

30. The method of claim 2, wherein determining fuel consumption attributable to the modifiable use condition of driving the vehicle using routing of the vehicle which is not optimized considering factors affecting fuel consumption comprises determining marginal fuel consumption of the vehicle when the vehicle is driven using routing of the vehicle which is not optimized considering factors affecting fuel consumption.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the marginal fuel consumption is determined based on estimated fuel consumption values obtained from a secondary source or historical data.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein the marginal fuel consumption is determined based on measured fuel consumption.

33. The method of claim 2, wherein determining fuel consumption attributable to the modifiable use condition of driving the vehicle outside of routes which considered factors affecting fuel economy comprises determining marginal fuel consumption of the vehicle when driving the vehicle outside of routes which considered factors affecting fuel economy.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the marginal fuel consumption is determined based on estimated fuel consumption values obtained from a secondary source or historical data.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein the marginal fuel consumption is determined based on measured fuel consumption.

36. The method of claim 1, further comprising comparing the plurality of use conditions for a plurality of vehicles in the fleet against each other to determine relative opportunity for fuel savings.

37. The method of claim 1, further comprising evaluating fuel consumption for at least one of a plurality of modifiable use conditions for at least one fleet vehicle over time.

38. The method of claim 1, further comprising evaluating fuel consumption for at least one of a plurality of modifiable use conditions for a plurality of fleet vehicles over time.

39. The method of claim 1, further comprising converting fuel consumption to a monetary value.

40. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting at least one of the use conditions in a vehicle.

41. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting at least one of the use conditions for the fleet of vehicles.

42. The method of claim 1, further comprising evaluating fuel consumption attributable to identified modifiable use conditions of a vehicle to determine actual changes in the modifiable use condition of a vehicle.

43. The method of claim 1, further comprising evaluating fuel consumption attributable to identified modifiable use conditions of each vehicle within a fleet to determine actual changes in the modifiable use condition of vehicles within the fleet.

44. A system for identifying fuel savings opportunity in a fleet of vehicles comprising:

a computer; and

a data warehouse operably connected to the computer, the data warehouse comprising at least one data set of information concerning the operational condition of the vehicle collected from at least one individual vehicle, at least one data set of vehicle positioning data collected from the same individual vehicle as the first set of information, and at least one data set of user-defined statistical metric relating to fuel consumption;

wherein the computer being adapted to calculate at least one fuel savings opportunity using a plurality of data elements associated with at least two data sets, compare at least one data element associated with at least one operational condition information data set with at least one data element associated with at least one user-defined statistical metric dataset, and report at least one fuel savings opportunity, wherein the report of at least one fuel savings opportunity identifies a fuel savings use condition and an expected fuel savings.

45. The system of claim 44, wherein the data warehouse further comprises at least one data set of fuel price information.