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US 10,913,414 B2Granted
Method and system for water usage on-board a vehicle
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsDouglas Martin, Clemens Verpoort
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods are provided for optimizing usage of water harvested or generated on-board a vehicle. An amount of water selected for injection or spraying purposes, as well as an order of water injection responsive to various vehicle operating conditions, is varied based on the amount of water to be delivered, as well as a current water level relative to a predicted future water level. The method allows water usage benefits to be maximized particularly when water availability is limited.
Claims19
A method for a vehicle, comprising:
- storing water generated on-board the vehicle in a reservoir;
- varying an order of delivering water from the reservoir to at least a cylinder head, vehicle tires, and vehicle brake pads based on a water level in the reservoir and an exhaust particulate level;
- and
- adjusting a ratio of water sprayed onto the vehicle brake pads relative to the vehicle tires based on road temperature, age of the brake pads, and vehicle speed.
1 more element
A method for a vehicle, comprising:
- harvesting water on-board a vehicle from one or more of an air conditioning unit, a fuel cell, a vehicle surface, and an ambient air water extractor, the harvested water stored on the vehicle in a reservoir;
- comparing a current water level in the reservoir to a predicted water level in the reservoir over a drive cycle of the vehicle and to each of a plurality of threshold water levels;
- and
- spraying water from the reservoir onto a cylinder head, a vehicle tire, and a brake pad, an order and proportion of the spraying water based on the comparison, and further based on vehicle speed,
- wherein the order of the spraying is further based on each of brake pad age, tire temperature, cylinder head temperature, water quality, operator input, and navigational input.
2 more elements
A vehicle system, comprising:
- an engine including an intake manifold and a cylinder;
- a water harvesting system including an extractor for dehumidifying ambient air, a first collector for collecting condensate from a vehicle air conditioning unit, a second collector for collecting condensate from channels provided on a vehicle surface, and a reservoir system including a plurality of reservoirs for storing water received from each of the extractor, the first and the second collector;
- a water level sensor coupled to each of the plurality of the reservoirs of the reservoir system;
- a tire nozzle for spraying water on a vehicle tire;
- a brake nozzle for spraying water on a brake pad;
- an engine nozzle for spraying water onto a cylinder head;
- an injector for injecting water directly into an engine cylinder;
- a vehicle speed sensor;
- and
- a controller with computer readable instructions that when executed causes the controller to:
- collect water from each of the extractor and the first and second collectors;
- while vehicle speed is higher than a threshold, continuously spray water via the tire nozzle while intermittently spraying water via the engine nozzle responsive to cylinder head temperature, and not spraying water via the brake nozzle;
- while vehicle speed is lower than the threshold, continuously spray water via the brake nozzle while intermittently spraying water via the engine nozzle responsive to cylinder head temperature, and not spraying water via the tire nozzle;
- and
- predict a future water level in the reservoir during a foreseeable drive cycle based on a predicted rate of water generation relative to a predicted rate of water usage.
12 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.