Fuel fill control systems and methods for anticipating vehicle refueling events
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsDavid Martin, Brent Edward Sealy, Roshini Venkatesh
Life of this patent
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Abstract
This disclosure is directed to vehicle fuel fill control systems for anticipating vehicle refueling events in order to control the timing of fuel tank depressurization sequences. In a first embodiment, a global positioning system (GPS) is utilized to anticipate the vehicle refueling event prior to initializing the depressurization sequence. In another embodiment, a camera system is utilized to anticipate the refueling event prior to initializing the depressurization sequence. In yet another embodiment, both the GPS and the camera system may be utilized to anticipate the refueling event. By anticipating refueling events, customer wait time for gaining refueling access may be reduced.
Claims16
A fuel fill control system for a vehicle, comprising:
- a fuel tank;
- a global positioning system configured to identify a nearby fuel station;
- a sensor system configured to detect when the vehicle is in park;
- a camera system configured to capture an image of a fuel pump of the nearby fuel station;
- and
- a controller configured to initialize a depressurization sequence of the fuel tank in response to receiving:
- a first input signal from the global positioning system and a second input signal from the sensor system, and a third signal from the camera system,
- wherein the first input signal and the second input signal indicate that a vehicle refueling event is likely.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.