US 12,742,833 B1 · System and method for diagnosing vehicle power distribution using battery-terminal and ECU-reported voltage correlation

Abstract

A system and method are disclosed for diagnosing vehicle electrical power distribution conditions includes digital computing device that receives diagnostic data from an on-board diagnostic interface device, the diagnostic data including at least one control-module-reported supply voltage parameter. The computing device also receives battery-terminal voltage measurements from a voltage measurement device coupled directly to terminals of a vehicle battery, the battery-terminal voltage measurements being independent of vehicle electronic control units. The digital computing device correlates the control-module-reported supply voltage parameter with the battery-terminal voltage measurements over time to determine whether a voltage anomaly originates at the battery or along a downstream power distribution path supplying one or more electronic control units. In example embodiments, the system buffers voltage data, distinguishes transient fluctuations from sustained deviations, optionally applies adaptive alignment techniques, compares voltage behavior across multiple control modules, and generates diagnostic outputs including visual wiring representations identifying suspected power distribution elements.

Claims23

Dependent claims

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor of a portable computing device, cause the portable computing device to perform operations for diagnosing electrical power distribution conditions in a vehicle, the operations comprising:

establishing a first communication session with a vehicle on-board diagnostic interface;
establishing a second communication session with a voltage measurement device in electrical communication with terminals of a vehicle battery;
receiving diagnostic data from the vehicle diagnostic interface, the diagnostic data including at least one control-module-reported supply voltage parameter reported by an electronic control unit of the vehicle;
receiving battery-terminal voltage measurements from the voltage measurement device, the battery-terminal voltage measurements representing a voltage measured across the vehicle battery terminals and not voltage values reported by the electronic control units;
temporally correlating the control-module-reported supply voltage parameter with the battery-terminal voltage measurements;
and
determining, based on the correlated data, whether a detected voltage anomaly originates at the battery or along a downstream power distribution path supplying one or more electronic control units.

4 more elements

An apparatus for diagnosing electrical power distribution conditions in a vehicle comprising:

a digital computing device including a processor and a memory;
an on-board diagnostic interface device configured for data communication with a vehicle on-board diagnostic interface to receive diagnostic data from one or more electronic control units of the vehicle, the diagnostic data including at least one control-module-reported supply voltage parameter;
a voltage measurement device configured to couple directly to terminals of a vehicle battery and to generate battery-terminal voltage measurements independent of the electronic control units;
wherein the digital computing device is configured to receive diagnostic data from the on-board diagnostic interface device and battery-terminal voltage measurements from the voltage measurement device during overlapping intervals;
and
wherein the digital computing device is further configured to correlate the at least one control-module-reported supply voltage parameter with the battery-terminal voltage measurements over time to determine whether a voltage anomaly originates at the battery or along a downstream power distribution path supplying one or more electronic control units.

3 more elements

A method for diagnosing electrical power distribution conditions in a vehicle, the method comprising:

receiving, by a digital computing device, diagnostic data from an on-board diagnostic interface device coupled for data communication with a vehicle diagnostic link interface, the diagnostic data including at least one control-module-reported supply voltage parameter reported by an electronic control unit of the vehicle;
receiving, by the digital computing device, battery-terminal voltage measurements from a voltage measurement device electrically coupled to terminals of a vehicle battery, the battery-terminal voltage measurements being independent of the electronic control units, wherein the diagnostic data and the battery-terminal voltage measurements are received concurrently by the digital computing device;
and
correlating, via the digital computing device, the at least one control-module-reported supply voltage parameter with the battery-terminal voltage measurements over time to determine whether a voltage anomaly originates at the battery or along a downstream power distribution path supplying one or more electronic control units.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

System and method for diagnosing vehicle power distribution using battery-terminal and ECU-reported voltage correlation

Life of this patent

System and method for diagnosing vehicle power distribution using battery-terminal and ECU-reported voltage correlation

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims23