System and method for measuring and reducing vehicle fuel waste
AssigneeVnomics Corp.
InventorsDavid Charles Chauncey, Edward Charles McCarthy, Peter Joseph Roth, Nicholas Allen Elliott
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
One way to improve fuel efficiency of a vehicle is to detect the vehicle operational shortcomings related to fuel consumption by determining whether fuel used during operation of the vehicle is normal fuel use or wasted fuel use. Considerations of idling, speeding and inappropriate gear shifts are some ways to measure the amount of fuel wasted due to operator shortcomings. Communicating this information to the operator in real-time so adjustments can be made will improve vehicle fuel efficiency. These techniques are applicable to tracking employment of other driving best practices as well.
Claims20
A method of detecting vehicle operational shortcomings related to fuel consumption, comprising:
- determining, from information obtained by a sensor positioned on a vehicle, that fuel used during operation of the vehicle is wasted fuel use;
- categorizing the fuel used by the vehicle into one of a plurality of wasted fuel use categories;
- recording, on a non-transitory computer readable medium, the categorized fuel use;
- determining performance information related to the vehicle from the recorded categorized fuel used by determining a minimum amount of fuel required for a sortie, wherein determining the minimum amount of fuel required for the sortie comprises:
- determining a total amount of fuel used for the sortie;
- and
- subtracting a wasted amount of fuel categorized into the plurality of wasted fuel use categories for the sortie from the total amount of fuel used for the sortie;
- and
- presenting the performance information which comprises the amount of fuel wasted.
A system for detecting vehicle operational shortcomings, comprising:
- at least one sensor configured to sense information about operation of a vehicle and positioned on the vehicle;
- a data storage device configured to record the sensed information;
- a determination module configured to determine, from the sensed information, whether fuel used during operation of the vehicle is wasted fuel use;
- a categorization module configured to categorize the fuel used by the vehicle into one of a plurality of wasted fuel use categories;
- and
- an apparatus configured to present performance information comprising an amount of fuel wasted related to the vehicle, wherein the determination module further is configured to determine the performance information from the categorized fuel used by being further configured to determine a minimum amount of fuel required for a sortie, wherein being further configured to determine the minimum amount of fuel required for the sortie further comprises being further configured to:
- determine a total amount of fuel used for the sortie;
- and
- subtract the wasted amount of fuel categorized into the plurality of wasted fuel use categories for the sortie from the total amount of fuel used for the sortie.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.