Safety system for fueling vehicle

Abstract

The invention is an improved method and system to fuel a vehicle. The present invention includes a strategy to determine whether the vehicle is ready to receive fuel and to communicate a vehicle confirmation signal (VCS) to the fuel fill station when the strategy has determined the vehicle is ready to receive fuel. The strategy also includes a dispenser activation system comprising a device to receive the VCS and generate a second signal within the fuel fill station to release the fuel dispenser and fuel dispenser nozzle when the VCS is received. A vehicle locking system can be added to disable the vehicle while the vehicle fuel door is open or when the fuel station nozzle is attached to the vehicle nozzle receptacle. The strategy can determine whether the vehicle is ready to receive fuel by requiring the gearshift device to be in the “Park” position. If the vehicle has a manual transmission, the strategy requires the parking brake to be applied. Other required determinations, such as main power circuit off and emergency power circuit on, can also be added. The VCS communication can be by radio frequency (“RF”) signal, direct wire, or infrared (“IR”) signal. The direct wire communication can use threshold currents from a VCS circuit.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.