Efficient control of fuel consumption in cars

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10857883-B2
Application number	US-201715810652-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 13, 2017
Priority date	Nov 14, 2016
Publication date	Dec 8, 2020
Grant date	Dec 8, 2020

Abstract

A system that includes an accelerometer configured to measure acceleration of a vehicle, a gyroscope configured to measure orientation of the vehicle, a memory having computer readable instructions, and a processor for executing the computer readable instructions. The computer readable instructions include performing at intervals: receiving acceleration data from the accelerometer; receiving orientation data from the gyroscope; combining the acceleration data and the orientation data to generate speed fluctuation and slope data for the vehicle; and transmitting the fluctuation and slope data to a controller of the vehicle. The controller utilizes the speed fluctuation and slope data to modulate an engine throttle of the vehicle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
an accelerometer configured to measure acceleration of a vehicle;
a gyroscope configured to measure orientation of the vehicle, the orientation including a road profile;
a memory having computer readable instructions; and
a processor for executing the computer readable instructions, the computer readable instructions including:
performing at intervals:
receiving acceleration data from the accelerometer;
receiving orientation data including road profile data from the gyroscope;
combining the acceleration data and the orientation data to generate speed fluctuation and slope data for the vehicle; and
transmitting the fluctuation and slope data to a controller of the vehicle, wherein the controller modulates a driver input to an engine throttle of the vehicle based at least in part on the speed fluctuation and slope data, and

wherein the controller of the vehicle modulates the engine throttle of the vehicle by reducing a number of times that the throttle cycles within a time period.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the accelerometer is a tri-axis accelerometer and additional orientation data is received from the accelerometer.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the fluctuation and slope data are adjusted based on detecting one or more of potholes, up hills, down hills on a roadway being traveled by the vehicle.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the fluctuation and slope data are adjusted based on detecting a fast acceleration of the vehicle.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle is an automobile.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller increases the driver input to the throttle in response to detecting climbing a hill.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the controller decreases the driver input to the throttle in response to detecting cresting a hill.

8. A method comprising:
performing at intervals, by a processor located on a vehicle:
receiving acceleration data from an accelerometer that is configured to measure acceleration of the vehicle;
receiving orientation data from a gyroscope that is configured to measure orientation of the vehicle;
combining the acceleration data and the orientation data to generate speed fluctuation and slope data for the vehicle; and
transmitting the fluctuation and slope data to a controller of the vehicle, wherein the controller modulates a driver input to an engine throttle of the vehicle based at least in part on the speed fluctuation and slope data, and

wherein the controller of the vehicle modulates the engine throttle of the vehicle by reducing a number of time that the throttle cycles within a time period.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the accelerometer is a tri-axis accelerometer and additional orientation data is received from the accelerometer.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the fluctuation and slope data are adjusted based on detecting one or more of potholes, up hills, down hills on a roadway being traveled by the vehicle.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the fluctuation and slope data are adjusted based on detecting a fast acceleration of the vehicle.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the vehicle is an automobile.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the controller increases the driver input to the throttle in response to detecting climbing of a hill.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the controller decreases the driver input to the throttle in response to detecting cresting of a hill.

15. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by processing circuitry to cause the processing circuitry to perform:
performing at intervals:
receiving acceleration data from an accelerometer that is configured to measure acceleration of the vehicle;
receiving orientation data from a gyroscope that is configured to measure orientation of the vehicle;
combining the acceleration data and the orientation data to generate speed fluctuation and slope data for the vehicle; and
transmitting the fluctuation and slope data to a controller of the vehicle, wherein the controller modulates a driver input to an engine throttle of the vehicle based at least in part on the speed fluctuation and slope data, and

wherein the controller of the vehicle modulates the engine throttle of the vehicle by reducing a number of times that the throttle cycles within a time period.

16. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the accelerometer is a tri-axis accelerometer and additional orientation data is received from the accelerometer.

17. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the fluctuation and slope data are adjusted based on detecting one or more of potholes, up hills, down hills on a roadway.

Assignees

• Univ Massachusetts

Inventors

• Mil'Shtein Sam
• Whitehead Christopher
• Dombala Harshapurushothama

Classifications

• B60W50/087 Primary

  where the control system corrects or modifies a request from the driver · CPC title

• B60W2552/15

  Road slope, i.e. the inclination of a road segment in the longitudinal direction · CPC title

• B60W30/143

  Speed control (B60W30/16 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B60W30/1882

  characterised by the working point of the engine, e.g. by using engine output chart · CPC title

• B60K31/02 Primary

  including electrically actuated servomechanism · CPC title