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US 8,897,928 B2Granted
Systems for and methods of engine derating
AssigneeOmnitracs, LLC
InventorsKip A. Leggett, Felipe de Jesus Rivera
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems for, and methods of, derating and locking down a vehicle's engine are described. The systems and methods gradually derate an engine in response to a command sent over the air in a manner that does not cause the engine control module (ECM) of the vehicle to generate an error code.
Claims19
A method of controlling a vehicle, the method comprising:
- receiving an indication of an active operation of the vehicle;
- receiving a command, at the vehicle, to derate an engine of the vehicle;
- identifying a variable voltage provided by a throttle position sensor (TPS);
- detecting when the variable voltage reaches a threshold above a normal idle voltage for the vehicle;
- generating a voltage ramp to decrease voltage provided to an engine control module (ECM) of the vehicle over a plurality of intervals of time in response to the variable voltage reaching the threshold and based at least in part on receiving the command to derate the engine of the vehicle, wherein the voltage ramp has a negative slope;
- and
- providing decreasing voltage to the ECM of the vehicle according to the voltage ramp.
4 more elements
A system for controlling a vehicle, the system comprising:
- a ramp generator configured to provide a voltage ramp, wherein the voltage ramp has a negative slope;
- a switch comprising a normally open contact, a normally closed contact, an armature, and an activation coil, wherein the armature is communicatively coupled to an electronic control module (ECM), the normally open contact is communicatively coupled to the ramp generator, and the normally closed contact is communicatively coupled to a throttle position sensor (TPS);
- and
- a microprocessor communicatively coupled to the ramp generator, to the activation coil, and to an interface configured to receive a command, over the air, to derate an engine of the vehicle, wherein the microprocessor is configured to activate the activation coil to transition the armature from the normally closed contact to the normally open contact to and activate the ramp generator in response to receiving a command to derate the engine and detecting a normal idle voltage plus a threshold voltage from the TPS.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.