Vehicle Battery Charge Estimation During Computer-Off Charging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Commercial vehicle fleets face challenges in determining fuel and energy efficiency due to the complexity and diversity of vehicle activities, leading to difficulties in data collection and analysis, and existing systems struggle to provide real-time monitoring and management of vehicle metrics.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle gateway device is attached to each vehicle to gather and aggregate data, which is then transmitted to a management server for analysis, allowing for the determination of fuel/energy efficiency scores, safety scores, and other metrics through interactive graphical user interfaces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If vehicle diagnostic data is collected at high frequency in real-time, then measurement precision and data availability are improved, but data volume and processing complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential vehicle parameters (fuel level, engine RPM, speed, torque, load, brake use) from the voluminous diagnostic data stream. By selecting and monitoring only these key metrics at high frequency, the system achieves real-time measurement precision without processing the entire data set, thereby reducing overall data volume while maintaining critical monitoring capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the monitoring parameters by focusing on specific vehicle operational parameters rather than all available diagnostic data. This selective parameter approach allows high-frequency collection of only the most relevant metrics, improving measurement precision for critical functions while minimizing the quantity of data that requires processing and storage.
2Measurement precision
If comprehensive vehicle activity data is collected for fuel efficiency analysis, then measurement completeness is improved, but data processing complexity and time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the fuel efficiency analysis into distinct operational phases based on vehicle activities (acceleration, cruising, deceleration, idling). By dividing the continuous data stream into discrete activity segments, the system can process and analyze each phase separately using appropriate metrics, reducing overall processing complexity while maintaining comprehensive fuel efficiency measurement across all operating conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary classification of vehicle activities into standardized categories before detailed fuel efficiency analysis. By pre-segmenting the operational data into defined activity types with associated characteristic parameters, the system simplifies subsequent processing steps and reduces computational complexity while ensuring complete fuel efficiency measurement across diverse vehicle operations.
3Loss of information
If real-time vehicle metric data is transmitted continuously, then information availability is improved, but network bandwidth consumption and energy use increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements periodic transmission of vehicle metric data at optimized intervals rather than continuous real-time streaming. The system determines appropriate transmission frequencies based on the specific parameter and operational context, sending data periodically when changes occur or at predetermined intervals. This approach maintains information availability for fuel efficiency analysis while significantly reducing network bandwidth consumption and associated energy usage compared to continuous transmission.
Data Source
AI summary
A system receives historical vehicle battery data from a gateway device connected to a vehicle. Some vehicles with plug-in rechargeable batteries recommend/require that the vehicle computer be turned off when recharging. Thus, obtaining a current state of charge while a vehicle is charging can be difficult because the vehicle computer can be off. While the vehicle/gateway device is unable to transmit current battery data, the systems estimate a battery charge from the historical data.