Technical Field

The invention subject to this application, is an electronically controlled, audible and visual warning system that has been developed in order to warn the drivers of vehicles such as busses, trucks etc, which are being used continuously and which carry passengers or cargo; , by collecting data regarding the battery charge status of the batteries used in said vehicles and by warning the driver in accordance with the collected information; at the same time the system can check if the alternators are operating correctly or not by evaluating the information it has received via the vehicle communication lines and can provide an audible and visual warning when required.

Known State of the Art (Prior Art)

In all motorized vehicles, the charge status of the battery present in vehicles and its proper operation is, very critical information. Any kind of malfunction in the battery could cause the vehicle to be stranded and as the vehicle will not be able to be moved in any way, the continuous observation of the battery charge status is crucial in terms of both the driver and the service workers.

In the known state of the art, the battery charge warning lamp lights up when the ignition switch is turned in commercial vehicles such as busses, trucks etc, which particularly carry passengers and cargo; and this light then turns off when the engine is started and the electricity system exceeds 24V. The switching off of the warning light shows that there aren't any problems in the battery located within the electricity system of the vehicle.

However, if a voltage higher than 24V cannot be obtained after the engine is started, the warning lamp will turn on again. In this case it is understood that there is a problem in the electrical system of the vehicle.

However one of the main problems faced in the systems used in the known state of the art is that the information related to the charge status and the condition of the batteries can only be obtained after the engine is started.

However being able to control the battery charge status before starting the engine is crucially important. As forcing to start the engine using a low charge or malfunctioning battery could lead to breakdowns that are costly, for the driver to be able to decide if he should or should not start the engine by receiving information beforehand regarding the. status of the battery is an important advantage in comparison to the known state of the art. l Moreover the present systems do not check the charging capacity of the alternator and if it is operating properly or not and for this reason, even if there is enough power only for the battery to start up the engine, as the battery cannot be charged whilst driving, breakdowns during travels could be unavoidable.

Brief description and aims of the invention

The battery charge warning system subject to this invention, basically, checks the battery voltage level if the engine has not been started for a certain period of time after the ignition has been switched on and if the voltage level is not within predetermined operational limit values the system warns the driver via an electronic display, audibly or visually.

The system subject to the invention also evaluates the charge information received from all alternators separately, used within the vehicle when the engine has been started via the vehicle CAN (Controller Area Network) communication system and if one or all of the alternators are malfunctioning, the system warns the driver audibly and visually by means of the electronic display.

Together with this, the CAN message can be continuously checked using the vehicle

CAN communication system which inspects the alternator charge information, and if a communication interruption occurs within the system, the driver is warned audibly or visually again by this system.

The following has been aimed by the development of the battery charge warning system subject to the invention;

• To be able to check the battery charge levels and conditions of the batteries present within the vehicle before starting the engine,

• To be able to warn the driver audibly and visually by means of the electronic display, in the case that the battery voltage level is below or higher than the predetermined bottom or top limit values,

• To be able to collect information regarding the alternator charge power and operating conditions over the CAN line after the engine has been started,

• To be able to warn the driver audibly or visually by means of the electronic display in case of a breakdown by evaluating the information collected in relation to alternators, · Being able to warn the driver audibly and visually by means of the electronic display in case of a breakdown and checking if there is an interruption on the line or not by submitting a message to the CAN line and following the reflections of this message. Definitions of the figures describing the Invention

The figures that have been drawn in order to further describe the battery charge warning system developed according to this invention have been explained below;

Figure 1- The general view of the battery charge system components within the vehicle Figure 2 - Block diagram of the battery charge system subject to the invention

Figure 3- Battery charge system flow diagram subject to the invention

Definitions of the components/sections/ parts forming the invention

The components/sections/parts within the figures that have been drawn in order to further explain the battery charge warning system developed according to the present invention have each been numbered and the description of each number has been listed below.

1. Vehicle

2. Battery

3. Engine

4. Alternator

5. CAN (Controller Area Network) communication line

6. Electronic display

7. Voltage sensor

8. Filter circuit

9. Timer

10. CAN interface

11. Meter

12. Comparator

13. Microprocessor

14.LED driver

15. Audible warning unit

16.Ignition Detailed description of the invention

The invention subject to the application, is an audio and visual battery charge warning system that has been developed for vehicles (1) that are being continuously used to carry passengers or cargo; wherein it comprises;

· At least a timer (9), meter (11) and comparator (12) and at least a microprocessor (13), which controls the CAN interface (10) which receives the information submitted by the CAN line (5),

• At least a micro processor (13), at least a voltage sensor (7) each, checked by this processor (13), a filter circuit (8) and an electronic display (6) comprising a LED driver (14) and audible warning unit;

Enabling the driver to be warned in case of breakdown by checking if the alternators (4) are operating correctly or not and the charge status of the vehicle batteries (2) by means of the information collected from the CAN communication line (5) following the activation of the ignition (16) switch.

The operating principle of the basic application of the warning system subject to the invention can be summarized as follows;

• Activating the ignition (16)

• Measuring of the battery (2) voltage by the voltage sensor (7) present within the electronic display (6)

· Passing the voltage information through the filter circuit (8),

• Converting the information passing through the filter circuit (8) by the analogue to digital converter of the micro processor (13) in order for it to be used within the algorithm,

• Transferring the alternator (4) status information, and the engine (3) operation information received from the vehicle CAN communication line (5) over the CAN interface (10) of the micro processor (13) into the algorithm,

• Evaluating the obtained digital data within the algorithm created by the micro processor (13),

• In case of a battery (2) or alternator (4) breakdown, warning the driver by means of a micro processor (13) command, using the battery charge warning lamp and the audible warning unit (15) controlled by the LED driver (14) located on the electronic display (6). The 7 basic procedure steps controlled by the battery charge system during operation have been described in detail below.

SI status: If the ignition (16) has been started and the engine (3) is not working,

• The battery charge warning lamp will be alight continuously.

• Additionally if a previous battery (2) metering process has been carried out, the battery charge warning lamp will continue to light.

52 status: If the conditions of the SI status is met but the CAN message comprising the charge status of the alternator (4) cannot be received via the vehicle CAN communication line (5), the battery charge warning lamp will light up for 5 seconds.

53 status: If the conditions of SI status are met but S2 status is not met and the engine is running (3) and all of the alternators (4) can perform charging, the battery charge warning lamp will turn off.

S4 status: If the conditions of SI status is met but the conditions of S2 status cannot be met, and if the engine (3) is not running and if the battery (2) voltage level has not been measured beforehand, and if the 5 seconds waiting time prior to the starting up of the engine (3) when the ignition (16) has been switched on, the voltage of the battery (2) will be measured.

S5 status: If S4 status can be performed and if the vehicle voltage level is lower than 24V, the battery charge lamp will be turned on and off 5 times for 500ms and an audible warning will be given.

56 status: If the conditions of S4 are met and S5 status has not been faced, and if the battery (2) voltage level is between 24V and 24.8V, the battery charge lamp will be turned on and off 3 times for 2 seconds and an audible warning will be given.

57 status: If the conditions of SI status are met but S2 status cannot be met and the engine (3) is running and all of the alternators (4) cannot perform the charging procedure, the battery charge lamp will be alight constantly and an audible warning will be given.

In order to repeat the process controls described in SI, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6 and S7 status, the ignition (16) needs to be switched off and switched on again. In addition to the above mentioned conditions, the durations mentioned in S5 and S6 status, the voltage values and Warning repetition numbers can be adjusted according to the requirements by means of the different applications of the invention.