Control and management of upfitter and vehicle loads

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12384398-B2
Application number	US-202318190399-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 27, 2023
Priority date	Mar 27, 2023
Publication date	Aug 12, 2025
Grant date	Aug 12, 2025

Abstract

A vehicle power system generates alerts prior to discontinuance of power to upfitter loads and vehicle loads according to a user defined priority sequence such that the alerts generated prior to discontinuance of power to the upfitter loads are different than the alerts generated prior to discontinuance of power to the vehicle loads.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A power system of a vehicle, comprising:
one or more controllers programmed to
receive input of a user defining a priority order that indicates a sequence in which supply of power to upfitter loads and vehicle loads will be discontinued responsive to a magnitude of current associated with power from the vehicle being supplied to the upfitter loads approaching a predefined threshold,
generate alerts prior to discontinuance of power to the upfitter loads and vehicle loads according to the sequence such that the alerts corresponding to discontinuance of power to the upfitter loads are different than the alerts corresponding to discontinuance of power to the vehicle loads,
receive input of the user selecting a first alert type for a particular one of the upfitter loads or vehicle loads such that only the corresponding alert generated prior to discontinuance of power to the particular one of the upfitter loads or vehicle loads is of the first alert type, and
calibrate a volume of the alerts based on an ambient noise level in a vicinity of the vehicle.

2. The power system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more controllers are further programmed to first discontinue supply of power to the upfitter loads and vehicle loads of lowest priority among the sequence such that the magnitude remains less than the predefined threshold.

3. The power system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more controllers are further programmed to, responsive to indication that the magnitude has exceeded the predefined threshold a predefined number of times, generate an alert indicating that at least one component be installed in the vehicle to increase the predefined threshold.

4. The power system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more controllers are further programmed to calibrate thea volume of the alerts based on distances between the vehicle and nearby people.

5. The power system of claim 1 , wherein the alerts include visual alerts.

6. The power system of claim 1 , wherein some of the vehicle loads have a priority order lower than some of the upfitter loads.

7. A method comprising:
responsive to a magnitude of current associated with power from a vehicle being supplied to upfitter loads approaching a predefined threshold,
discontinuing supply of power to the upfitter loads according to a user defined priority order such that the upfitter loads of lowest priority among the priority order are sequentially shed first to maintain the magnitude less than the predefined threshold,
generating an alert corresponding to the shed of each of the upfitter loads according to types defined by the user such that the alert corresponding to the shed of one of the upfitter loads is different than the alert corresponding to the shed of another one of the upfitter loads,
calibrating a volume of the alerts according to whether the vehicle is located indoors or outdoors; and
receiving input of the user selecting a first alert type for a particular one of the upfitter loads such that only the corresponding alert generated prior to discontinuance of power to the particular one of the upfitter loads is of the first alert type.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising calibrating the volume of the alerts according to an ambient noise in a vicinity of the vehicle such that a greater the ambient noise a louder the volume.

9. The method of claim 7 further comprising calibrating the volume of the alerts according to distances between the vehicle and nearby people.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the alerts include visual alerts.

11. The method of claim 7 further comprising generating an alert indicating that at least one component be installed in the vehicle to increase the predefined threshold responsive to indication that the magnitude has exceeded the predefined threshold a predefined number of times.

12. The method of claim 7 further comprising generating the alerts prior to the corresponding discontinuing.

13. A vehicle comprising:
a power distribution center including an output;
an upfitter module connected to the output; and
one or more controllers programmed to,
responsive to a magnitude of current associated with power from the vehicle supplied to upfitter loads, that are connected with the power distribution center via the upfitter module, exceeding a predefined threshold, preclude supply of the power to at least one of the upfitter loads for a predefined duration of time, and
responsive to the magnitude exceeding the predefined threshold a predefined number of times, generate an alert recommending that at least one component be installed in the vehicle to increase the predefined threshold.

14. The vehicle of claim 13 , wherein the predefined duration of time depends on a duration of the exceeding or an amount by which the magnitude is greater than the predefined threshold during the exceeding.

15. The vehicle of claim 13 , wherein the one or more controllers are further programmed to, responsive to the magnitude approaching the predefined threshold, generate an alert and shed at least one of the upfitter loads having lowest priority as defined by a priority order input by a user.

16. The vehicle of claim 13 , wherein the one or more controllers are further programmed to, responsive to the magnitude approaching the predefined threshold, generate an alert and shed at least one load of the vehicle having lowest priority as defined by a priority order input by a user.

17. The vehicle of claim 13 , wherein the one or more controllers are further programmed to calibrate a volume of the alert based on an ambient noise level in a vicinity of the vehicle or distances between the vehicle and nearby people.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Salter Stuart C
• Celinske David
• Farkas Peter Attila
• Lin Solomon
• Alles Sheran Anthony
• Phung Peter

Classifications

• B60W2050/143

  Alarm means · CPC title

• B60L2250/10

  by alarm · CPC title

• B60L2240/80

  Time limits · CPC title

• B60W2050/146

  Display means · CPC title

• B60L2250/16

  by display · CPC title