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US 10,598,538 B2Granted
System and method for measuring liquid level of vehicle fuel tank
AssigneeCoavis
InventorsSe Jin Kim, In Gon Kim, Jong Hyuk Yoon
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Provided are a system and a method for measuring a liquid level of a vehicle fuel tank, and more particularly, to a system for measuring a liquid level of a vehicle fuel tank including an ultrasonic sensor unit provided on a bottom surface in the vehicle fuel tank to acquire measurement data for calculating a distance from the bottom surface in the fuel tank to a fuel surface and a central processing unit using the measurement data transmitted from the ultrasonic sensor unit by a preset number of times for a preset time to calculate liquid level information of the fuel tank.
Claims12
A system for measuring a liquid level of a vehicle fuel tank, comprising:
- an ultrasonic sensor unit provided on a bottom surface in the vehicle fuel tank to acquire measurement data for calculating a distance from the bottom surface in the fuel tank to a fuel surface;
- and
- a central processing unit using the measurement data transmitted from the ultrasonic sensor unit by a preset number of times for a preset time to calculate liquid level information of the fuel tank,
- wherein the ultrasonic sensor unit includes:
- a reference sensor acquiring a time-of-flight reference (TOF Ref.) for setting a reference of a transmitting and receiving speed of an ultrasonic signal depending on a fuel state in the fuel tank;
- and
- a measurement sensor transmitting an ultrasonic signal to a fuel surface of the fuel tank and receiving a ultrasonic signal reflected from the fuel surface to acquire a time-of-flight surface level (TOF Lev.) for calculating the liquid level of the fuel tank, and
- the central processing unit includes:
- a first validity determination unit receiving a ringing time acquired upon the transmission of the ultrasonic wave of the measurement sensor to determine validity of the measurement data;
- a liquid level calculation unit using the time-of-flight references (TOF Refs.) transmitted from the reference signal and the time-of-flight surface levels (TOF Levs.) transmitted from the measurement sensor by a preset number of times for a preset time to calculate a plurality of initial liquid level information, aligning the plurality of initial liquid level information in an ascending order or a descending order, excluding an initial liquid level information corresponding to a preset reference value or less or zero from the plurality of initial liquid level information, calculating final liquid level information as an intermediate value of the remaining initial liquid level information when the number of initial liquid level information remaining after the exclusion is odd, and calculating the final liquid level information as an average value of the intermediate two measurement data of the remaining initial liquid level information when the number of remaining initial liquid level information is even;
- and
- a second validity determination unit determines the calculated final liquid level information as invalid final liquid level information when the initial liquid level information equal to or more than half based on the number of the plurality of initial liquid level information calculated by the liquid level calculation unit corresponds to the preset reference value or less or zero to thereby determine validity of the liquid level information.
9 more elements
A method for measuring a liquid level of a vehicle fuel tank including an ultrasonic sensor unit provided on a bottom surface in the vehicle fuel tank to acquire and transmit measurement data for calculating a distance from the bottom surface in the fuel tank to a fuel surface, the method comprising:
- a measuring step of receiving, by a central processing unit, a plurality of measurement data from the ultrasonic sensor unit by a preset number of times for a preset time;
- an aligning step of using, by the central processing unit, the plurality of measurement data received in the measuring step to calculate a plurality of initial liquid level information and aligning the plurality of initial liquid level information in an ascending order or a descending order;
- a correcting step of excluding, by the central processing unit, initial liquid level information corresponding to a preset reference value or less or zero from the plurality of initial liquid level information aligned in the aligning step;
- a liquid level measuring step of using, by the central processing unit, an initial liquid level information remaining after excluding the initial liquid level information in the correcting step to calculate final liquid level information;
- and
- a final validity determining step of determining, by the central processing unit, validity of the final liquid level information calculated in the liquid level measuring step, depending on the number of initial liquid level information excluded from the plurality of initial liquid level information in the correcting step,
- wherein the central processing unit determines that the calculated final liquid level information is invalid liquid level information when the number of initial liquid level information excluded from the plurality of initial liquid level information is equal to or more than half based on the number of the plurality of initial liquid level information, and the method further includes a second displaying step of transmitting the liquid level information to a display unit and displaying the liquid level information on the display unit to enable a vehicle driver to recognize accuracy of the liquid level information depending on the validity of the measurement data determined, and
- wherein after the final liquid level information is calculated, the central processing unit removes one measurement data first received from the plurality of received measurement data, receives one new measurement data, and then repeatedly performs the calculating of the liquid level information.
5 more elements
A method for measuring a liquid level of a vehicle fuel tank including an ultrasonic sensor unit provided on a bottom surface in the vehicle fuel tank to acquire and transmit measurement data for calculating a distance from the bottom surface in the fuel tank to a fuel surface, the method comprising:
- a first validity determining step of using, by a central processing unit, a ringing time acquired when the ultrasonic sensor unit transmits an ultrasonic wave to determine validity of the measurement data transmitted from the ultrasonic sensor unit;
- a measuring step of receiving, by the central processing unit, a plurality of measurement data from the ultrasonic sensor unit by a preset number of times for a preset time;
- an aligning step of using, by the central processing unit, the plurality of measurement data received in the measuring step to calculate a plurality of initial liquid level information and aligning the plurality of initial liquid level information in an ascending order or a descending order;
- a correcting step of excluding, by the central processing unit, initial liquid level information corresponding to a preset reference value or less or zero from the plurality of initial liquid level information aligned in the aligning step;
- a liquid level measuring step of using, by the central processing unit, an initial liquid level information remaining after excluding the initial liquid level information in the correcting step to calculate final liquid level information;
- and
- a final validity determining step of determining, by the central processing unit, validity of the final liquid level information calculated in the liquid level measuring step, depending on the number of initial liquid level information excluded from the plurality of initial liquid level information in the correcting step,
- wherein the central processing unit uses the ringing time acquired when the ultrasonic sensor unit transmits an ultrasonic wave to determine the measurement data transmitted from the ultrasonic sensor unit as valid measurement data if the ringing time is equal to or greater than a preset threshold, and
- the method further includes a first displaying step of transmitting the liquid level information to a display unit and displaying the liquid level information on the display unit to enable a vehicle driver to recognize accuracy of the liquid level information depending on the validity of the measurement data determined, and
- the central processing unit determines that the calculated final liquid level information is invalid liquid level information when the number of initial liquid level information excluded from the plurality of initial liquid level information is equal to or more than half based on the number of the plurality of initial liquid level information, and
- the method further includes a second displaying step of transmitting the liquid level information to the display unit and displaying the liquid level information on the display unit to enable a vehicle driver to recognize accuracy of the liquid level information depending on the validity of the measurement data determined, and
- wherein after the final liquid level information is calculated, the central processing unit removes one measurement data first received from the plurality of received measurement data, receives one new measurement data, and then repeatedly performs the calculating of the liquid level information.
9 more elements
A method for measuring a liquid level of a vehicle fuel tank including an ultrasonic sensor unit provided on a bottom surface in the vehicle fuel tank to acquire and transmit measurement data for calculating a distance from the bottom surface in the fuel tank to a fuel surface, the method comprising:
- a measuring step of receiving, by the central processing unit, the plurality of measurement data from the ultrasonic sensor unit by a preset number of times for a preset time;
- a correcting step of using, by the central processing unit, the plurality of measurement data received in the measuring step to calculate a plurality of initial liquid level information and excluding initial liquid level information equal to or less than a preset reference value or zero from the plurality of initial liquid level information;
- an aligning step of aligning, by the central processing unit, the initial liquid level information remaining after excluding the initial liquid level information in the correcting step in an ascending order or a descending order;
- a liquid level measuring step of using, by the central processing unit, the initial liquid level information aligned in the aligning step to calculate final liquid level information;
- and
- a final validity determining step of determining, by the central processing unit, validity of the final liquid level information calculated in the liquid level measuring step, depending on the number of initial liquid level information excluded from the plurality of initial liquid level information in the correcting step,
- wherein the central processing unit determines that the calculated final liquid level information is invalid liquid level information when the number of initial liquid level information excluded from the plurality of initial liquid level information is equal to or more than half based on the number of the plurality of initial liquid level information, and the method further includes a second displaying step of transmitting the liquid level information to a display unit and displaying the liquid level information on the display unit to enable a vehicle driver to recognize accuracy of the liquid level information depending on the validity of the measurement data determined, and
- wherein after the final liquid level information is calculated, the central processing unit removes one measurement data first received from the plurality of received measurement data, receives one new measurement data, and then repeatedly performs the calculating of the liquid level information.
5 more elements
A method for measuring a liquid level of a vehicle fuel tank including an ultrasonic sensor unit provided on a bottom surface in the vehicle fuel tank to acquire and transmit measurement data for calculating a distance from the bottom surface in the fuel tank to a fuel surface, the method comprising:
- a first validity determining step of using, by a central processing unit, a ringing time acquired when the ultrasonic sensor unit transmits an ultrasonic wave to determine validity of measurement data transmitted from the ultrasonic sensor unit;
- a measuring step of receiving, by the central processing unit, the plurality of measurement data from the ultrasonic sensor unit by a preset number of times for a preset time;
- a correcting step of using, by the central processing unit, the plurality of measurement data received in the measuring step to calculate a plurality of initial liquid level information and excluding initial liquid level information equal to or less than a preset reference value or zero from the plurality of initial liquid level information;
- an aligning step of aligning, by the central processing unit, an initial liquid level information remaining after excluding the initial liquid level information in the correcting step in an ascending order or a descending order;
- a liquid level measuring step of using, by the central processing unit, the initial liquid level information aligned in the aligning step to calculate final liquid level information;
- and
- a final validity determining step of determining, by the central processing unit, validity of the final liquid level information calculated in the liquid level measuring step, depending on the number of initial liquid level information excluded from the plurality of initial liquid level information in the correcting step,
- wherein the central processing unit uses the ringing time acquired when the ultrasonic sensor unit transmits an ultrasonic wave to determine the measurement data transmitted from the ultrasonic sensor unit as valid measurement data if the ringing time is equal to or greater than a preset threshold, and
- the method further includes a first displaying step of transmitting the liquid level information to a display unit and displaying the liquid level information on the display unit to enable a vehicle driver to recognize accuracy of the liquid level information depending on the validity of the measurement data determined, and
- the central processing unit determines that the calculated final liquid level information is invalid liquid level information when the number of initial liquid level information excluded from the plurality of initial liquid level information is equal to or more than half based on the number of the plurality of initial liquid level information, and the method further includes a second displaying step of transmitting the liquid level information to the display unit and displaying the liquid level information on the display unit to enable a vehicle driver to recognize accuracy of the liquid level information depending on the validity of the measurement data determined, and
- wherein after the final liquid level information is calculated, the central processing unit removes one measurement data first received from the plurality of received measurement data, receives one new measurement data, and then repeatedly performs the calculating of the liquid level information.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.