Hierarchical vehicle de-rate and notification system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9828925-B2
Application number	US-201313802515-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 13, 2013
Priority date	Mar 13, 2013
Publication date	Nov 28, 2017
Grant date	Nov 28, 2017

Abstract

An on-board vehicle computer system is configured to detect a condition of a vehicle; identify a de-rate cause for the vehicle in a hierarchical set of de-rate causes, wherein the de-rate cause is associated with the condition; select a de-rate type from a set of possible de-rate types based at least in part on the de-rate cause; select an initial de-rate level from a set of possible de-rate levels based at least in part on the de-rate cause; present an operator notification associated with the de-rate cause via an operator interface; activate a de-rate for the vehicle according to the de-rate type and the initial de-rate level; detect a change in the vehicle condition; and update the initial de-rate level based at least in part on the change in the vehicle condition.

First claim

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
detecting a vehicle condition associated with a first sensor module of a vehicle;
identifying a de-rate cause associated with the detected vehicle condition and the first sensor module of the vehicle in a hierarchical set of possible de-rate causes, wherein the hierarchical set of possible de-rate causes comprises oil temperature too high, fuel temperature too high, coolant temperature too high, turbo speed too high, exhaust pressure too high, inlet air pressure too high, inlet air pressure too low, inlet air temperature too high, diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) level too low, poor DEF quality, selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system fault, oil pressure too low, and exhaust temperature too high,
wherein each of the oil temperature, coolant temperature, turbo speed, exhaust pressure, and inlet air pressure de-rate causes has a first initial de-rate level and a progression of one or more additional de-rate levels that specify an operator notification and an active engine torque de-rate;
wherein the fuel temperature de-rate cause has the first initial de-rate level and a progression of one or more additional de-rate levels that specify an operator notification, an active engine torque de-rate, and an active engine speed de-rate;
wherein each of the inlet air temperature, DEF level, DEF quality, and SCR system fault de-rate causes has a second initial de-rate level that differs from the first initial de-rate level and a progression of one or more additional de-rate levels that specify an operator notification and an active engine torque de-rate;
wherein the one or more additional de-rate levels for each of the DEF level, DEF quality, and SCR system fault de-rate causes further specify an active vehicle speed de-rate that sets a maximum vehicle speed;
wherein activation of the vehicle speed de-rate for the DEF quality and SCR system fault de-rate causes is based at least in part on time and mileage since detection of poor DEF quality or detection of the SCR system fault, respectively;
wherein the oil pressure de-rate cause has a third initial de-rate level that differs from the first and second initial de-rate levels and specifies an operator notification and an active de-rate and a progression of one or more additional de-rate levels that specify an operator notification, an active engine torque de-rate, an active engine speed de-rate, and a shutdown level; and
wherein the exhaust temperature de-rate cause has a fourth initial de-rate level that differs from the first, second, and third initial de-rate levels and specifies an operator notification and an active de-rate and a progression of one or more additional de-rate levels that specify an operator notification, an active engine torque de-rate, an active engine speed de-rate, and a shutdown level;
selecting a de-rate type based at least in part on the identified de-rate cause; and
initiating a vehicle de-rate and notification process based at least in part on the de-rate type and the initial de-rate level of the identified de-rate cause.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle de-rate and notification process comprises activating a vehicle de-rate having the de-rate type and the initial de-rate level of the identified de-rate cause.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the de-rate type is selected from a group consisting of: vehicle speed, engine torque, engine speed, and shutdown.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , further comprising:
determining a slew rate for the vehicle de-rate; and
imposing the vehicle de-rate to affect vehicle performance according to the slew rate.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising presenting an operator notification associated with the identified de-rate cause via an operator interface.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the hierarchical set comprises categories of de-rate causes, wherein the categories are based at least in part on a primary reason for each of the respective possible de-rate causes, and wherein the categories include one or more of durability, pre-failure durability, post-failure durability, regulatory, and safety.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle de-rate and notification process comprises:
determining a change in the detected vehicle condition associated with the identified de-rate cause; and
activating at least one of the additional de-rate levels based on the change in the detected vehicle condition.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle de-rate and notification process comprises:
determining a change in the detected vehicle condition associated with the identified de-rate cause; and
deactivating a vehicle de-rate based on the change in the detected vehicle condition.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , wherein the presented operator notification comprises information about at least one of the de-rate type and the detected vehicle condition.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , wherein the presented operator notification comprises a shutdown timer.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , wherein the de-rate type is selected from a group consisting of: engine torque, engine speed, vehicle speed, and shutdown, and wherein the slew rate is based at least in part on the selected de-rate type.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , wherein imposing the de-rate comprises applying a reduced maximum engine torque value to the vehicle, and wherein the slew rate comprises a rate of change that depends on the reduced maximum engine torque value.

13. An on-board vehicle computer system comprising:
at least one processing unit; and
a memory having therein computer-executable instructions configured to cause the on-board vehicle computer system to perform steps comprising:
detect a vehicle condition associated with a first sensor module of a vehicle;
identify a de-rate cause for the vehicle in a hierarchical set of de-rate causes, wherein the identified de-rate cause is associated with the vehicle condition and the first sensor module of the vehicle, and wherein the hierarchical set of possible de-rate causes comprises oil temperature too high, fuel temperature too high, coolant temperature too high, turbo speed too high, exhaust pressure too high, inlet air pressure too high, inlet air pressure too low, inlet air temperature too high, diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) level too low, poor DEF quality, selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system fault, oil pressure too low, and exhaust temperature too high,
wherein each of the oil temperature, coolant temperature, turbo speed, exhaust pressure, and inlet air pressure de-rate causes has a first initial de-rate level and a progression of one or more additional de-rate levels that specify an operator notification and an active engine torque de-rate;
wherein the fuel temperature de-rate cause has the first initial de-rate level and a progression of one or more additional de-rate levels that specify an operator notification, an active engine torque de-rate, and an active engine speed de-rate;
wherein each of the inlet air temperature, DEF level, DEF quality, and SCR system fault de-rate causes has a second initial de-rate level that differs from the first initial de-rate level and a progression of one or more additional de-rate levels that specify an operator notification and an active engine torque de-rate;
wherein the one or more additional de-rate

Assignees

• Slaton Zachary
• Grothen Brett Alan
• Paccar Inc

Inventors

• Slaton Zachary
• Grothen Brett Alan

Classifications

• B60W50/14

  Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention · CPC title

• F01N11/00 Primary

  Monitoring or diagnostic devices for exhaust-gas treatment apparatus · CPC title

• B60W10/06

  including control of combustion engines · CPC title

• B60W2050/146

  Display means · CPC title

• B60W2050/0292

  Fail-safe or redundant systems, e.g. limp-home or backup systems · CPC title