Far-Infrared Road Temperature Route Selection for Fuel Efficiency
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle traveling control systems do not effectively measure road temperature or control routes to optimize fuel efficiency, as they primarily focus on tire temperature and lack integration with road surface temperature data.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle traveling control device and method that utilizes a far-infrared camera to analyze road surface temperature distribution and determines the route with the highest road surface temperature for improved fuel efficiency, enabling automatic driving along this route while displaying temperature information to the driver.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If a vehicle travels on a route with lower road surface temperature, then tire temperature remains lower reducing overheating risk, but rolling resistance increases reducing fuel efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the operating parameters by actively managing tire temperature through controlled heating (using friction from intentional skidding or dedicated heating elements) to optimize the tire-road interface temperature, thereby reducing rolling resistance and improving fuel efficiency while preventing overheating damage
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary heating of the tires before critical overheating occurs, using detected road temperature data to anticipate heating needs and apply controlled heating in advance to maintain optimal temperature ranges for fuel efficiency
2Loss of energy
If road surface temperature is measured and used for route selection, then fuel efficiency is improved by selecting warmer routes, but device complexity increases due to additional sensing requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The far-infrared camera serves multiple functions: it detects road surface temperature distribution for fuel efficiency optimization, can identify road conditions (wet/dry/ice), and provides thermal imaging for enhanced driver awareness, thereby justifying the added device complexity through multiple beneficial applications
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces contact-based temperature measurement methods with non-contact far-infrared thermal imaging, eliminating the need for physical sensors on the road surface or complex probe systems, thus reducing overall system complexity while enabling comprehensive temperature mapping
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach allows for real-time selection of high road surface temperature routes, reducing rolling resistance and enhancing fuel efficiency by continuously measuring and adapting to temperature variations during travel.
Implementation Method 1
a detector that analyzes an image captured by a far-infrared camera to analyze a distribution of a road-surface temperature
Data Source
AI summary
An image captured by a far-infrared camera is analyzed to analyze a distribution of a road-surface temperature, and a course of a highest road-surface temperature is determined to be a traveling route. Further, automatic driving along the course of the highest road-surface temperature is performed. Furthermore, a state of the distribution of a road-surface temperature, and a direction of the course of the highest road-surface temperature are displayed on a display section, so that a user (a driver) recognizes them. For example, a state analyzer detects a candidate course travelable for a vehicle, the state analyzer detecting a plurality of the candidate courses, calculates an average value of a road-surface temperature of each of the plurality of the candidate courses, and determines the candidate course having a largest average value of a road-surface temperature to be a traveling route.