Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080236269 | Brake Pad Prognosis System - A method for providing an estimate of brake pad thickness. The method employs fusion of sensors, if used, and driver brake modeling to predict the vehicle brake pad life. An algorithm is employed that uses various inputs, such as brake pad friction material properties, brake pad cooling rate, brake temperature, vehicle mass, road grade, weight distribution, brake pressure, brake energy, braking power, etc. to provide the estimation. The method calculates brake work using total work minus losses, such as aerodynamic drag resistance, engine braking and/or braking power as braking torque times velocity divided by rolling resistance to determine the brake rotor and lining temperature. The method then uses the brake temperature to determine the brake pad wear, where the wear is accumulated for each braking event. A brake pad sensor can be included to provide one or more indications of brake pad thickness from which the estimation can be revised. | 10-02-2008 |
20090295559 | INTEGRATED HIERARCHICAL PROCESS FOR FAULT DETECTION AND ISOLATION - A system and method for determining the root cause of a fault in a vehicle system, sub-system or component using models and observations. In one embodiment, a hierarchical tree is employed to combine trouble or diagnostic codes from multiple sub-systems and components to get a confidence estimate of whether a certain diagnostic code is accurately giving an indication of problem with a particular sub-system or component. In another embodiment, a hierarchical diagnosis network is employed that relies on the theory of hierarchical information whereby at any level of the network only the required abstracted information is being used for decision making. In another embodiment, a graph-based diagnosis and prognosis system is employed that includes a plurality of nodes interconnected by information pathways. The nodes are fault diagnosis and fault prognosis nodes for components or sub-systems, and contain fault and state-of-health diagnosis and reasoning modules. | 12-03-2009 |
20100042287 | PROACTIVE VEHICLE SYSTEM MANAGEMENT AND MAINTENANCE BY USING DIAGNOSTIC AND PROGNOSTIC INFORMATION - A system and method for providing proactive vehicle system management and maintenance using diagnostic and prognostic information. Vehicle information is collected from vehicle sensors and/or sub-systems by an on-board module on the vehicle and/or at a remote facility where the information is wirelessly transmitted to the remote facility. The collected information is analyzed to determine the health of various systems, sub-systems and components so that the remaining useful life of the systems, sub-systems and components can be predicted. By utilizing the diagnostic and prognostic information, a vehicle control strategy can be reconfigured to minimize customer impact. Further, if a software problem is detected, temporary or permanent software fixes can be provided automatically and remotely through a remote service garage. | 02-18-2010 |
20100063668 | TELEMATICS-ENABLED AGGREGATED VEHICLE DIAGNOSIS AND PROGNOSIS - A system and method for telemetrically collecting on-road vehicle diagnostic data. In one embodiment, the method includes collecting vehicle diagnostic data from service shops, on-road vehicles and warranty records, aggregating the collected data and extracting knowledge therefrom. The extracted knowledge can be used to enhance algorithms on-board vehicles or at service centers so as to better identify vehicle faults and provide enhanced diagnostics and prognostics. The enhanced algorithms can then be used to provide predictive maintenance suggestions, provide trouble shooting assistance or provide vehicle design improvements. | 03-11-2010 |
20100228423 | AGGREGATED INFORMATION FUSION FOR ENHANCED DIAGNOSTICS, PROGNOSTICS AND MAINTENANCE PRACTICES OF VEHICLES - A system and method for enhancing vehicle diagnostic and prognostic algorithms and improving vehicle maintenance practices. The method includes collecting data from vehicle components, sub-systems and systems, and storing the collected data in a database. The collected and stored data can be from multiple sources for similar vehicles or similar components and can include various types of trouble codes and labor codes as well as other information, such as operational data and physics of failure data, which are fused together. The method generates classes for different vehicle components, sub-systems and systems, and builds feature extractors for each class using data mining techniques of the data stored in the database. The method also generates classifiers that classify the features for each class. The feature extractors and feature classifiers are used to determine when a fault condition has occurred for a vehicle component, sub-system or system. | 09-09-2010 |
20110054758 | Method for Maintaining a Brake Rotor - A disc braking system of a vehicle determines the actual temperature of a brake rotor. The disc braking system compares the actual temperature of the brake rotor to a critical temperature of the brake rotor. The critical temperature of the brake rotor is a temperature above which damage and/or warping to the brake rotor may occur. The disc braking system applies a corrective measure to prevent damage to the brake rotor when the actual temperature of the brake rotor is greater than the critical temperature of the brake rotor. The corrective measure may include, but is not limited to: displaying a warning, adjusting a fraction control system of the vehicle, scheduling maintenance for the vehicle. | 03-03-2011 |
20110202227 | HEALTH PROGNOSIS FOR COMPLEX SYSTEM USING FAULT MODELING - A system and method for providing component and sub-system state of health prognosis in a complex system using fault models and component aging models. The method includes determining a current state of health value for a sub-system using fault signature test results and determining current state of health values for a plurality of components in the sub-system using the fault signature test results. The method also determines current state of health values for components in the system that cannot use fault signature test results using a first probability model and the current state of health values for the plurality of components. The method determines predicted future state of health values for the components in the sub-system using component aging models and determines a predicted future state of health value for the sub-system using a second probability model and the future state of health values of the components. | 08-18-2011 |
20110202494 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR VEHICLE COMPONENT HEALTH PROGNOSIS BY INTEGRATING AGING MODEL, USAGE INFORMATION AND HEALTH SIGNATURES - A system and method for determining the health of a component includes retrieving measured health signatures from the component, retrieving component usage variables, estimating component health signatures using an aging model, determining an aging derivative using the aging model and calculating an aging error based on the estimated component health signatures, the aging derivative and the measured health signatures. | 08-18-2011 |
20120116630 | Process for Service Diagnostic and Service Procedures Enhancement - A method is provided for enhancing service diagnostics utilizing service repair data of previously serviced vehicles. Service repair data of previously serviced vehicles is obtained from a memory storage device. The service data is compiled into a service diagnostic code dataset and a service labor code dataset. The service diagnostic code dataset and service labor code dataset are categorized into an electronic data table. Respective combinations are formed in the electronic data table. An aggregate count is determined for each respective combination in the electronic data table. Either of a respective diagnostic code or a respective service labor code is identified having a correlation with more than one of either service diagnostic codes or service labor codes. At least one of a service repair procedure used to repair the vehicle or a respective service diagnostic code used to identify the fault is modified in response to analyzing the respective combinations. | 05-10-2012 |
20130112173 | METHOD AND APPARATUS TO MONITOR AN ELECTRIC MOTOR IN A RETURNLESS FUEL SYSTEM - An electric motor is configured to provide mechanical power to a fuel pump. A method for monitoring the fuel pump includes estimating a pump speed and a nominal pump motor current in relation to a pump motor control signal and a fuel pressure. An armature resistance and a back-emf constant for the electric motor are determined corresponding to the estimated pump speed, a monitored pump motor current, and the pump motor control signal. A nominal armature resistance and a nominal back-emf constant for the electric motor are adjusted in relation to a pump motor temperature. A plurality of residuals are calculated based upon the adjusted nominal armature resistance, the adjusted nominal back-emf constant for the electric motor, the estimated armature resistance and the estimated back-emf constant for the electric motor. The residuals are compared with corresponding thresholds. A fault in the electric motor is detected based upon the comparisons of the residuals with the corresponding thresholds. | 05-09-2013 |
20130158833 | SENSORS BIAS DETECTION FOR ELECTRONIC RETURNLESS FUEL SYSTEM - A method for isolating an actual sensor bias in a fuel delivery system having a fuel pump includes monitoring first, second and third fuel pump parameters, detecting first and second fuel pump sensor biases based on the monitored first, second and third fuel pump parameters, modeling a fourth fuel pump modeled parameter based on the monitored second and third fuel pump parameters, and isolating the actual sensor bias in one of the detected first and second fuel pump biases based on the monitored third fuel pump parameter and the modeled fourth fuel pump modeled parameter. | 06-20-2013 |
20130179104 | DC-MOTOR AND FUEL PUMP FAULTS AND BRUSH-WEAR PROGNOSIS - A system and method for determining the health of a DC motor, such as a DC motor on a vehicle. The method includes measuring a current output signal of the DC motor, determining a mean of the measured current signal over a predetermined time period and determining a variance estimation of the mean of the measured current. The method then uses the variance estimation to determine the health of the motor, including an end-of-life prediction of the motor, and uses the mean of the measured current to determine the performance (torque) of the motor. | 07-11-2013 |
20130184929 | Co-Operative On-Board and Off-Board Component and System Diagnosis and Prognosis - A cooperative diagnostic and prognosis system for generating a prognosis of at least one component in a vehicle. An in-vehicle diagnostic unit determines a diagnostic signature of the component each time an occurrence of a condition is triggered and transmits the diagnostic signature to an off-board diagnostic unit. The off-vehicle diagnostic unit determines a SOH of the component and a rate-of-change in the SOH of the component. The off-vehicle diagnostic unit determines whether the rate-of-change in the SOH is greater than a threshold. The off-vehicle diagnostic unit requests additional information from the vehicle in response to the rate-of-change in the SOH being greater than the threshold. The additional information relating to operating parameter data associated with the component. The off-vehicle diagnostic unit receives the requested information and predicts a time-to-failure of the component. | 07-18-2013 |
20130262067 | COLLABORATIVE VEHICLE HEALTH MODEL - A method includes collecting vehicle health data from a plurality of vehicles. A peer group is identified among the plurality of vehicles. The collected vehicle health data from the peer group into a collaborative vehicle health model, the collaborative vehicle health model being applicable to a current vehicle to predict a state of at least a component of the current vehicle. | 10-03-2013 |
20150161825 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR VEHICULAR DATA COLLECTION - Methods and systems are provided for vehicular communications. The systems include a server and a controller in a vehicle. The controller is configured to receive data from vehicular components and transmit the data to the remote server. In a normal mode, the data is transmitted in accordance with a normal frequency of events, while in an abnormal mode, the data is transmitted in accordance with an abnormal frequency of events. The abnormal frequency is different from the normal frequency. The abnormal mode is set in response to an event trigger denoting a fault of at least one component. | 06-11-2015 |
20150161829 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR DIAGNOSING OPEN FAULTS IN AN AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRICAL CIRCUIT - A method for detecting and locating an open-wire fault within a vehicle subsystem, is provided. The method compares an output voltage of a low-pass filter circuit of the vehicle subsystem to a threshold voltage; detects that an open-wire fault exists in the vehicle subsystem when the output voltage is not less than the threshold voltage; determines a capacitance value of the low-pass filter circuit; and performs a lookup, using the capacitance value, to determine the location of the detected open wire fault. | 06-11-2015 |
20150211469 | METHOD AND APPARATUS TO EVALUATE A STARTER MOTOR FOR AN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE - A method for monitoring the starter motor includes determining starter motor resistance associated with an engine starting event and determining a back-emf for the starter motor based upon the starter motor resistance. A state of health of the starter motor corresponding to the back-emf of the starter motor and engine cranking time is determined. Engine stop/start functionality is controlled based upon the state of health of the starter motor. | 07-30-2015 |