Motor Vehicle Sensor Function Check Using Central Tendency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for determining the function criterion of measuring transducers in motor vehicles are inefficient and prone to misdiagnoses due to environmental influences and individual sensor tolerances, requiring numerous comparisons with high threshold values.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the calculation of a measure of central tendency from captured measured values of at least three sensors, followed by a comparison with threshold values, to determine the function criterion of a sensor, ensuring consistency under predefined vehicle states like a cold start.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If many comparisons are carried out with high threshold values to account for environmental influences and sensor tolerances, then the reliability of the function criterion determination is improved, but the complexity of the method and the number of operations increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary reference sensor that measures the same physical quantity as the test sensor but is not subjected to the same environmental influences. This intermediary sensor serves as a mediator to indirectly assess the test sensor's functionality by comparison, reducing the need for multiple direct comparisons and complex threshold evaluations while maintaining determination reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a reference sensor that replicates the measurement function of the test sensor under different environmental conditions. This copying approach allows the system to infer test sensor status by comparing with the reference sensor's output, simplifying the evaluation process while accounting for environmental variations and sensor tolerances
2Reliability
If high threshold values are used in comparisons to avoid misdiagnoses from environmental influences, then the false alarm rate is reduced, but the sensitivity to detect actual sensor defects decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The reference sensor acts as an intermediary that captures environmental influences without being the primary sensor under test. By comparing the test sensor output with this intermediary reference, the system can use lower thresholds while maintaining accuracy, as the reference sensor accounts for environmental variations that would otherwise require high thresholds to compensate for
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the measurement system into a test sensor branch and a reference sensor branch. This segmentation allows independent evaluation of each sensor's performance relative to environmental conditions, enabling more sensitive defect detection in the test sensor while the reference sensor absorbs the environmental variability that would otherwise require conservative threshold settings
Data Source
AI summary
A method for determining a function criterion of a measuring transducer of a motor vehicle, comprising: determining, with the aid of preconditions, whether a predefined vehicle state of the motor vehicle is present; capturing measured values of at least three measuring transducers which measure the same measured variable; calculating a measure of central tendency from the captured measured values; calculating a comparison value from the captured measured value with respect to the calculated measure of central tendency; ascertaining the function criterion of the measuring transducer, based on a comparison of the calculated comparison value with a threshold value, the capture of the measured values being carried out within a time period after the initialization of the controller, the ascertained function criterion being determined if the preconditions have been met and the provided vehicle state is thus present.