Vehicle fuel consumption monitor and feedback systems
Excess fuel consumption monitor and feedback systems for vehicles include sensor arrays of two primary types including those sensors deployed as part of a vehicle manufacturer established sensor suite and sensors deployed as after-market sensors. Together, these sensor suites include sensors coupled to vehicle subsystems and operating environments associated with the vehicle. Data from these sensors may be used as parametric inputs to drive algorithmic calculations which have outputs that express excess fuel consumption. Expressions of excess fuel consumption may be made instantaneously as real-time feedback to a vehicle operator/driver and/or a fleet manager as part of a summary report.
1. A system configured to detect excess fuel consumption in a vehicle, the excess fuel consumption detection system comprising:
an engine computer system including one or more vehicle subsystem sensors configured to generate output signals conveying vehicle feedback information related to operation of mechanical systems of the vehicle;
one or more external supporting sensors configured to generate output signals conveying vehicle environment information; and
one or more processors configured to provide information processing capabilities in the excess fuel consumption detection system, the one or more processors configured to:
determine one or more vehicle parameters based on the vehicle feedback information and/or the vehicle environment information, the one or more vehicle parameters indicating one or more vehicle characteristics;
electronically store the determined one or more vehicle parameters;
detect a vehicle maneuver associated with excessive fuel consumption based on the determined one or more vehicle parameters, wherein the detected vehicle maneuver occurred between a maneuver start point and a maneuver end point;
determine a target fuel consumption amount for the detected vehicle maneuver by estimating an amount of fuel that would have been consumed by the vehicle at the time of the detected vehicle maneuver if the vehicle had been operated so as to prevent excessive fuel consumption, wherein the target fuel consumption amount is determined based on the detected vehicle maneuver and the determined one or more vehicle parameters;
determine an actual fuel consumption amount for the detected vehicle maneuver based on actual fuel consumption that occurred between the maneuver start point and the maneuver end point;
determine a consumption difference between the actual fuel consumption amount and the target fuel consumption amount; and
effectuate presentation of the consumption difference to a user.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more vehicle subsystem sensors are configured to generate output signals conveying vehicle feedback information related to one or more of the actual fuel consumption by the vehicle, an engine of the vehicle, a braking system of the vehicle, a transmission of the vehicle, or a drive train of the vehicle.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more external supporting sensors are configured such that the vehicle environment information includes information related to movement and/or an orientation of the vehicle.
4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the one or more external supporting sensors are configured such that the vehicle environment information related to movement includes information related to one or more of a position, a velocity, or an acceleration of the vehicle.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more external supporting sensors include one or more of a video camera, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, or a geo-location device.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured such that the vehicle maneuver associated with excessive fuel consumption includes one or more of hard acceleration, hard braking, driving at a constant speed in a suboptimal gear, speeding beyond an optimal top speed, idling unnecessarily, hard cornering, over revving the engine of the vehicle, inefficiently shifting gears, inefficient acceleration, inefficient braking, inefficient operation of the vehicle given prevailing driving conditions, or speeding uphill.
7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured such that effectuating presentation of the consumption difference to a user includes effectuating presentation of the consumption difference to a driver of the vehicle while the driver is in the vehicle.
8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to control an audio feedback device to provide an audio indication of the consumption difference to the driver.
9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the one or more processors are configured such that the audio indication provided by the audio feedback device is a voice that communicates information related to the consumption difference.
10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more external supporting sensors are non-standard aftermarket sensors installed in the vehicle.
11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more vehicle subsystem sensors include one or more of a fuel flow rate transducer, an oxygen sensor, or a manifold air pressure sensor.
12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more vehicle subsystem sensors include one or more of an engine airflow rate transducer, an air to fuel ratio sensor, or an exhaust O 2 sensor.
13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the air to fuel ratio sensor is a Lambda Sensor.
14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to effectuate presentation of the consumption difference to a user in real-time and/or at a later time.
15. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to communicate information related to one or more of the determined vehicle parameters, the vehicle maneuver associated with excess fuel consumption, the actual fuel consumption amount, the target fuel consumption amount, the consumption difference, or a driver of the vehicle to an external computing workstation.
16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the external computing workstation is configured to generate one or more reports related to the information communicated by the one or more processors.
17. The system of claim 1 , wherein the system is configured to detect excess fuel consumption due to inefficient operation of the vehicle.
18. The system of claim 1 , wherein the engine computer system is configured to collect data from the one or more vehicle subsystem sensors and generate output signals conveying vehicle feedback information related to operation of mechanical systems of the vehicle.
19. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the actual fuel consumption amount for the vehicle maneuver by estimating an amount of fuel actually consumed by the vehicle during the vehicle maneuver based on the vehicle feedback information.
20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the one or more processors are configured such that estimating the amount of fuel actually consumed by the vehicle includes measuring the amount of fuel actually consumed by the vehicle.
21. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured such that the vehicle characteristics include one or more of a weight of the vehicle, a maintenance status of the vehicle, a number of gears in the transmission of the vehicle, drivetrain friction of the vehicle, rolling friction of the vehicle, friction of the vehicle engine, efficiency of the vehicle engine, aerodynamic drag on the vehicle, a current wind speed and/or direction of wind blowing against the vehicle, air density of air the vehicle is travelling through, an incline of the road the vehicle is travelling on, or gear ratios for the gears in the vehicle.
22. The system of claim 21 , wherein the one or more processors are configured such that the weight of the vehicle is the current loaded weight of the vehicle.
23. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to associate the consumption difference between the actual fuel consumption amount and the target fuel consumption amount with a driver of the vehicle.
24. The system of claim 23 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the consumption difference between the actual fuel consumption amount and the target fuel consumption amount based on information from other similar vehicles driven by the driver.
25. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the consumption difference between the actual fuel consumption amount and the target fuel consumption amount based on one or more of a route driven by the vehicle or a portion of the route driven by the vehicle.
26. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the one or more vehicle subsystem sensors include a first sensor associated with a first vehicle parameter;
the one or more external supporting sensors include a second sensor and third sensor associated with the first vehicle parameter; and
responsive to the output signals of one of the first sensor, the second sensor, or the third sensor being unavailable, the first vehicle parameter is determined based on the remaining available output signals from two of the three sensors.
27. A method to detect excess fuel consumption in a vehicle, the excess fuel detection method comprising:
generating output signals conveying vehicle feedback information related to operation of mechanical systems of the vehicle;
generating output signals conveying vehicle environment information; and
determining one or more vehicle parameters based on the vehicle feedback information and/or the vehicle environment information, the one or more vehicle parameters indicating one or more vehicle characteristics;
electronically store the determined one or more vehicle parameters;
detecting a vehicle maneuver associated with excessive fuel consumption based on the determined one or more vehicle parameters, wherein the detected vehicle maneuver occurred between a maneuver start point and a maneuver end point;
determining a target fuel consumption amount for the detected vehicle maneuver by estimating an amount of fuel that would have been consumed by the vehicle at the time of the detected vehicle maneuver if the vehicle had been operated so as to prevent excessive fuel consumption wherein the target fuel consumption amount is determined based on the detected vehicle maneuver and the determined one or more vehicle parameters;
determining an actual fuel consumption amount for the detected vehicle maneuver based on actual fuel consumption that occurred between the maneuver start point and the maneuver end point;
determining a consumption difference between the actual fuel consumption amount and a target fuel consumption amount; and
effectuating presentation of the consumption difference to a user.
28. The method of claim 27 , wherein the vehicle characteristics include one or more of a weight of the vehicle, a maintenance status of the vehicle, a number of gears in the transmission of the vehicle, drivetrain friction of the vehicle, rolling friction of the vehicle, friction of the vehicle engine, efficiency of the vehicle engine, aerodynamic drag on the vehicle, a current wind speed and/or direction of wind blowing against the vehicle, air density of air the vehicle is travelling through, an incline of the road the vehicle is travelling on, or gear ratios for the gears in the vehicle.
29. The method of claim 27 , further comprising determining the actual fuel consumption amount for the vehicle maneuver by measuring an amount of fuel actually consumed by the vehicle during the vehicle maneuver based on the vehicle feedback information.
30. The method of claim 27 , wherein the vehicle maneuver associated with excessive fuel consumption includes one or more of hard acceleration, hard braking, driving at a constant speed in a suboptimal gear, speeding beyond an optimal top speed, idling unnecessarily, hard cornering, over revving the engine of the vehicle, inefficiently shifting gears, inefficient acceleration, inefficient braking, inefficient operation of the vehicle given prevailing driving conditions, or speeding uphill.