COMPONENT

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to measuring and testing electric properties, and more particularly to a system and method for diagnosing a vehicle and components thereof. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The following description of related art is intended to provide background information pertaining to the field of the invention. This section may include certain aspects of the art that may be related to various aspects of the present invention. However, it should be appreciated that this section be used only to enhance the understanding of the reader with respect to the present invention, and not as admissions of prior art.

Typically, in any vehicle (a conventional, a hybrid or an electric), various components, systems and sub-systems operate together systematically to facilitate seamless working of the vehicle, wherein each of the vehicle component, system and sub-system has a certain life span and operability. For better working and efficiency of the vehicle, vehicle components may be inspected on a regular basis. Thus, the process of diagnosis and prognosis is in demand where each significant information relating to vehicle operations is analysed. Initially, vehicle maintenance was a manual process, wherein the vehicle was inspected at regular intervals to detect any defect/s in the vehicle components. However, this manual approach was ineffective and time-consuming. Also, the manual vehicle maintenance technologies failed to serve unplanned vehicle failure resolution, since no data was pre-stored for such failure. Consequently, the worker/s diagnoses the vehicle failures only with the information retrieved from a user of the vehicle or the vehicle itself after the failure has occurred and thus, may not get feedback from actual driving habits associated with real component failures. Therefore, due to rising demand of the users for improved maintenance, automated vehicle maintenance systems were then developed to monitor the various vehicle components to determine a state of health/condition of the various systems, sub-systems and components on the vehicle in an effective manner.

Further, there exists several known automated vehicle maintenance systems and techniques for improving the safety and longevity of the vehicle. The most common existing monitoring system indicate that some vehicle components are not in their desired state and/or operation, for instance, information related to low engine oil, low brake oil, open doors, open fuel tank, overheating, etc. is indicated. In the existing vehicle maintenance systems, there are different electrical/mechanical systems required for monitoring the working of the vehicles and the components therein.

Further, there are several drawbacks inherent in the existing automated vehicle maintenance systems. One of the limitations is the inability to track the maintenance of all the components of the vehicle, i.e. existing automated vehicle maintenance systems are only able to track the maintenance of nature and behaviour of the limited number of components of the vehicle. Also, they are not able to effectively predict any type of activity of the vehicle components and therefore, detect errors/faults only after the occurrence of the same. For instance, many electrical, control or software related faults associated with vehicle and the components are discontinuous or may occur only under certain conditions, therefore, in such events, when the problems, experienced by the user in a moving vehicle, are different from the problems experienced when the vehicle is at rest, faults/errors are not detected efficiently. Yet another limitation of the existing automated vehicle maintenance systems is that the increasing number and size of components and system required in controlling and handling the vehicle components results in complexity, thereby making the process of diagnosis time consuming and ineffective. Accordingly, in order to overcome the aforementioned problems inherent in the existing solutions for controlling and managing the vehicle components, there exists a need of an efficient mechanism to determine and analyse operational conditions vehicle components.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

This section is provided to introduce certain objects and aspects of the disclosed methods and systems in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify the key features or the scope of the claimed subject matter.

In view of the above shortcomings of the existing systems, as discussed in the background section, it is apparent that there exists a need to provide a system and method for efficiently and accurately controlling and managing the vehicle components. Further, the primary object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for determining operational conditions of the vehicle components in an efficient manner notifying users with alerts at an early stage. Another object of the present invention is to provide a user friendly interface having a simplified illustration of the diagnosed and/or detected data i.e. operational conditions of the vehicle components. Yet another objective of the present invention is to predict conditions/behaviours of the vehicle components for easy and cost-effective maintenance and reduce damages.

In view of the abovementioned objects, the embodiments of the present invention aims at providing a well-organized method and system for determining at least one operational condition of at least one component of a vehicle, the method comprising: triggering a prognosis mode for recording a motor current drawn by a motor of the vehicle, wherein the prognosis mode is triggered in an event a speed of one of the vehicle and the at least one component of the vehicle lies within a pre-defined speed range, and the prognosis mode is triggered for a predefined time; processing the motor current recorded during the prognosis mode, wherein the processing comprises sampling the motor current in a frequency domain to identify at least one frequency magnitude value, and the at least one frequency magnitude value corresponds to the at least one component of the vehicle; comparing the at least one frequency magnitude value with at least one pre-determined frequency magnitude value, wherein each of the at least one pre-determined frequency magnitude value corresponds to an ideal condition of each of the at least one vehicle component; determining the at least one operational condition of each of the at least one component of the vehicle based on the comparison of the at least one frequency magnitude value with the at least one pre-determined frequency magnitude value; and notifying the at least one operational condition of each of the at least one component of the vehicle to at least one user.

Further, the embodiments of the present invention encompass a system for determining at least one operational condition of at least one component of a vehicle, the system comprising: at least one processing unit configured to: trigger a prognosis mode for recording a motor current drawn by a motor of the vehicle, wherein the prognosis mode is triggered wherein the prognosis mode is triggered in an event a speed of one of the vehicle and the at least one component of the vehicle lies within a pre-defined speed range and the prognosis mode is triggered for a pre-defined time; process the motor current recorded during the prognosis mode, wherein the processing comprises sampling the motor current in a frequency domain to identify at least one frequency magnitude value, and the at least one frequency magnitude value corresponds to the at least one component of the vehicle; compare the at least one frequency magnitude value with at least one pre-determined frequency magnitude value, wherein each of the at least one pre-determined frequency magnitude value corresponds to an ideal condition of each of the at least one vehicle component, and determine the at least one operational condition of each of the at least one component of the vehicle based on the comparison of the at least one frequency magnitude value with the at least one predetermined frequency magnitude value; and a notification unit configured to: notify the at least one operational condition of each of the at least one component of the vehicle to at least one user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein, and constitute a part of this invention, illustrate exemplary embodiments of the disclosed methods and systems in which like reference numerals refer to the same parts throughout the different drawings. Components in the drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present invention. Some drawings may indicate the components using block diagrams and may not represent the internal circuitry of each component. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that invention of such drawings includes invention of electrical components or circuitry commonly used to implement such components.

Figure 1 illustrates a general overview of the system [100] architecture for determining operational condition/s of vehicle component/s, wherein the system [100] includes different modules/units working together in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary method flow diagram [200] comprising the method steps for determining operational condition/s of vehicle component/s in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the operational condition/s of vehicle component/s are determined in frequency domain.

Figure 3 illustrates an exemplary method flow diagram [300] comprising the method steps for determining operational condition/s of vehicle component/s in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the operational condition/s of vehicle component/s are determined in frequency domain. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, various specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, that embodiments of the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. Several features described hereafter can each be used independently of one another or with any combination of other features. An individual feature may not address any of the problems discussed above or might address only one of the problems discussed above. Some of the problems discussed above might not be fully addressed by any of the features described herein. Example embodiments of the present invention are described below, as illustrated in various drawings in which like reference numerals refer to the same parts throughout the different drawings.

Embodiments of the present invention relates to a mechanism for determining at least one operational condition of at least one component of a vehicle. A prognosis mode is being triggered for a pre-defined time, for processing a motor current recorded during the prognosis mode in an event a speed of the vehicle and at least one component of the vehicle lies within a pre-defined speed range. The motor current is further sampled in a frequency domain to identify at least one frequency magnitude value. The at least one frequency magnitude value is then compared with at least one pre-determined frequency magnitude value corresponding to an ideal condition of each of the at least one vehicle component to determine the at least one operational condition of each of the at least one component of the vehicle. Subsequently, the at least one operational condition of each of the at least one component of the vehicle is notified to at least one user either through a user equipment or a server.

The vehicle as used herein may include but not limited to an electric vehicle, a hybrid vehicle, a conventional vehicle, an alternative fuel vehicle and any such vehicle as may be obvious to a person skilled in the art.

The at least one component of the vehicle as used herein, may include but not limited to a pulley, a belt, a wheel, the motor, a light, a defogger, tyres, a bearing and any such vehicle component as may be obvious to a person skilled in the art.

The at least one operational condition of the at least one component of the vehicle as used herein refers to the operational characteristics of the vehicle components that have to be diagnosed. The at least one operational condition includes, but not limited to, a distance travelled by the vehicle, a speed of the vehicle, an age of the vehicle, a life cycle of the vehicle, wear and tear trajectories of the at least one component, a motor condition, an engine condition and any such operational condition as may be obvious to a person skilled in the art.

The motor current as used herein may refer to a current drawn by the motor of the vehicle. Further, the motor current may include, but not limited to a quadrature current.

The at least one processing unit as used herein may include, but is not limited to, processor or set of processors and any such processing unit as may be obvious to a person skilled in the art, that are configured inside the vehicle to perform operations including, but not limiting to, control and tracking of the vehicle and the vehicle's component/s. Further, the at least one processing unit may refer to an embedded system of the vehicle configured to control the electrical system and sub-systems in of the vehicle.

The user equipment as used herein may include, but not limited to, a smart phone, a feature phone, a tablet, a phablet, a wearable device, a desktop and any such computing device as may be obvious to a person skilled in the art. Further, the user equipment may comprise an input means such as a keyboard, an operating system, a processor, a memory unit, a display interface, etc.

FIG.l illustrates an exemplary embodiment of the present invention which encompasses a system architecture for determining at least one operational condition of the at least one component of the vehicle. Also, the system [100] and its modules/units are organised/ arranged in such a manner that they are capable of determining and analysing the at least one operational condition of the at least one component of the vehicle and thereby notifying said analysis to the at least one of a user of the vehicle wherein the user is associated with the user equipment. Moreover, the system [100] may be adapted to operate completely or in parts at a user equipment level, a server level or a combination thereof. More particularly and as illustrated in the figure 1, the system [100] comprises a detecting unit [102], at least one processing unit [104], a notification unit [110], a storage unit [108], a cellular radio [106] connected with an antenna [112] for enabling efficient determining of the at least one operational condition of the at least one component of the vehicle, in accordance with the present invention. The detecting unit [102] is configured to record the motor current drawn by the motor of the vehicle in the prognosis mode, wherein the prognosis mode is triggered to record the motor current drawn by the vehicle motor in an event the speed of the vehicle and the at least one component of the vehicle lies within a pre-defined speed range and wherein the prognosis mode is triggered only for a pre-defined time. Further, the motor current drawn by the motor of the vehicle may be recorded either throughout the running condition of the vehicle or on a periodic basis when the vehicle is switch/power ON.

In a preferred embodiment, the pre-defined time and the pre-defined speed range are defined by the user or the system [100]. In an embodiment, the pre-defined speed range may lie between a lower limit and a higher limit of the at least one component of the vehicle or an actual speed of the vehicle. For instance, the predefined speed range may be selected for the vehicle components such as the wheel and/or the pulley, i.e. in an event the speed of the wheel and/or the pulley reaches and does not exceed the predefined speed range, the prognosis mode may be triggered and the motor current of the vehicle may be recorded. In an alternate embodiment, the prognosis mode is triggered either in an event the vehicle speed reaches and lies within the predefined speed range or the user accelerates the vehicle up to and within the predefined time (e.g. 10 seconds) and a predefined speed range (e.g. 50 kmph and 60 kmph). The actual speed of the vehicle is determined using the at least one component of the vehicle such as the wheel, the pulley, a sensor (for e.g. GPS unit), etc. The detecting unit [102], is therefore, configured to record the motor current for the pre-defined time when the vehicle is running/moving under the pre-defined speed range in the prognosis mode. The at least one processing unit [104], connected to the detected unit [102], is configured to receive the recorded motor current drawn by the motor of the vehicle in the prognosis mode. The at least one processing unit [104] processes the motor current recorded during the prognosis mode by performing a sampling process in a frequency domain to identify at least one frequency magnitude value to produce a frequency vs current graph, wherein each peak of the at least one frequency magnitude value in the graph corresponds to the at least one component of the vehicle. Further, the at least one processing unit [104] is configured to compare the at least one frequency magnitude value with at least one pre-determined frequency magnitude value corresponding to an ideal condition of each of the at least one vehicle component, wherein the ideal condition of each of the at least one vehicle component is either defined by the user or the system [100] itself and may vary from component to component. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the at least one processing unit [104] processes the motor current recorded during the prognosis mode by performing a sampling process in a time domain to identify at least one time magnitude value to produce a time vs current graph, wherein each peak of the at least one time magnitude value in the graph corresponds to the at least one component of the vehicle. Also, the at least one processing unit [104] is configured to compare the at least one time magnitude value with at least one pre- determined time magnitude value corresponding to an ideal condition of each of the at least one vehicle component, wherein the ideal condition of each of the at least one vehicle component is either defined by the user or the system [100] itself and may vary from component to component.

The at least one processing unit [104] is further configured to determine the at least one operational condition of each of the at least one component of the vehicle based on the comparison of the at least one frequency magnitude value with the at least one predetermined frequency magnitude value. Further, the present invention encompasses that the at least one processing unit [104] prioritises each of the at least one component based on a priority score by determining the priority score for each of the at least one vehicle component based on the comparison of one of the at least one frequency magnitude value with the at least one pre-determined frequency magnitude value and the at least one time magnitude value with the at least one pre-determined time magnitude value, wherein a higher priority score corresponds to a higher deviation of the at least one frequency/time magnitude value with the at least one pre-determined frequency/time magnitude value. Therefore, the component having the higher priority score indicates urgent maintenance/attention. This helps to predict conditions/behaviours of the vehicle components for easy and cost-effective maintenance and reduce damages.

Further, the at least one processing unit [104] transmits the least one operational condition of each of the at least one component of the vehicle based on the comparison to the notification unit [110], connected to the at least one processing unit [104].

On receiving the least one operational condition of each of the at least one component, the notification unit [110] is configured to notify the at least one operational condition of each of the at least one component of the vehicle to the at least one user through one of a local server and a central server. The notification unit [110] may be configured to display information relating to the at least one operational condition of each of the at least one component of the vehicle along with the priority score. In an embodiment, the vehicle components and the information is displayed in an exploded view, wherein each component is distinctly identifiable to indicate that the maintenance is required for the at least one component of the vehicle. In yet another embodiment, the notification unit [110] displays health summary of the at least one component of the vehicle, wherein the health summary is viewable by clicking or tapping on the individual parts of the vehicle in the exploded view displayed on the interface. Also, the notification unit [110] may be configured to display at least one alert based on the at least one of the at least one operational condition of each of the at least one component and the priority score. In an embodiment, the at least one alert is one of a critical maintenance alert, a moderate maintenance alert and a low maintenance alert, depending upon the urgency of the component of the vehicle. In an exemplary embodiment, multiple colours are allocated to each of the at least one component of the vehicle to identify the critical maintenance alert, the moderate maintenance alert and the low maintenance alert.

Further, the cellular radio [106] may be a transceiver, connected to the antenna [112] for receiving and transmitting the information related to the at least one component of the vehicle from the local server or the central server. The storage unit [108] is configured to store information relating to at least one of the at least one pre-determined frequency magnitude value, the at least one operational condition, the priority score at one of the local server and the central server. The storage unit [108] may include, but is not limited to, a volatile memory, non-volatile memory, a remote storage, a cloud storage, high-speed random access memory and/or non-volatile memory, such as one or more magnetic disk storage devices, one or more optical storage devices, and/or flash memory (e.g., NAND, NOR) or a combination thereof.

As illustrated in the figure 2, the present invention encompasses an exemplary method [200] for determining the at least one operational condition of the at least one component of the vehicle, wherein the operational condition/s of vehicle component/s are determined in frequency domain. The following includes detailed steps involved in determining the at least one operational condition, wherein the method [200] step initiates at step 202 where the prognosis mode is triggered for the pre-defined time in an event the speed of the vehicle and the at least one component of the vehicle lies within the pre-defined speed range, wherein the pre-defined time and the pre-defined speed range are either defined by the user or the system [100]. Also, the present invention encompasses selection of the prognosis mode either by the user or by the system [100] itself. At step 204, the detecting unit [102] records the motor current drawn by the motor of the vehicle in the prognosis mode when the vehicle is running/moving under the pre-defined speed range in the prognosis mode.

At step 206, the at least one processing unit [104] receives the recorded motor current drawn by the motor of the vehicle in the prognosis mode from the detecting unit [102] for initiating the processing.

At step 208, the at least one processing unit [104] performs the sampling process in the frequency domain to identify at least one frequency magnitude value to produce the frequency vs current graph, wherein each peak of the at least one frequency magnitude value in the graph corresponds to the at least one component of the vehicle.

At step 210, the at least one processing unit [104] compares the at least one frequency magnitude value with the at least one pre-determined frequency magnitude value corresponding to an ideal condition of each of the at least one vehicle component, wherein the ideal condition of each of the at least one vehicle component is either defined by the user or the system [100] itself and may vary from component to component.

At step 212, the at least one processing unit [104] determines the at least one operational condition of each of the at least one component of the vehicle based on the comparison of the at least one frequency magnitude value with the at least one pre-determined frequency magnitude value. Also, the present invention encompasses that the at least one processing unit [104] prioritises each of the least one component based on the priority score by determining the priority score for each of the at least one vehicle component based on the comparison of one of the at least one frequency magnitude value with the at least one pre-determined frequency magnitude value and the at least one time magnitude value with the at least one pre-determined time magnitude value, wherein the higher priority score corresponds to the higher deviation of the at least one frequency/time magnitude value with the at least one predetermined frequency/time magnitude value. Therefore, the component having the higher priority score indicates urgent maintenance/attention. This helps to predict conditions/behaviours of the vehicle components for easy and cost-effective maintenance and reduce damages. At step 214 and after accomplishment of step 212, the at least one processing unit [104] transmits the least one operational condition of each of the at least one component of the vehicle based on the comparison to the notification unit [110], connected to the at least one processing unit [104].

At step 216, the notification unit [110] notifies the at least one operational condition of each of the at least one component of the vehicle to the at least one user through one of the local server and the central server. The notification unit [110] displays information relating to the at least one operational condition of each of the at least one component of the vehicle along with the priority score. In an embodiment, the vehicle components and the information is displayed in the exploded view, wherein each component is distinctly identifiable to indicate that the maintenance is required for the at least one component. In yet another embodiment, the notification unit [110] displays health summary of the at least one component of the vehicle, wherein the health summary is viewable by clicking or tapping on the individual parts of the vehicle in the exploded view displayed on the interface. Also, the notification unit [110] may be configured to display at least one alert based on the at least one of the at least one operational condition of each of the at least one component and the priority score. In an embodiment, the at least one alert is one of a critical maintenance alert, a moderate maintenance alert and a low maintenance alert, depending upon the urgency of the embodiment of the component. In an exemplary embodiment, multiple colours are allocated to each of the at least one component of the vehicle to identify the critical maintenance alert, the moderate maintenance alert and the low maintenance alert. At step 218, the method [200] terminates with notifying the at least one operational condition of each of the at least one component of the vehicle to the at least one user.

Similarly and as illustrated in the figure 3, the present invention encompasses an exemplary method [300] for determining the at least one operational condition of the at least one component of the vehicle, wherein the operational condition/s of vehicle component/s are determined in time domain. The following includes detailed steps involved in determining the at least one operational condition, wherein the method [300] step initiates at step 302 where the prognosis mode is triggered for the pre-defined time in an event the speed of the vehicle and the at least one component of the vehicle lies within the pre-defined speed range, wherein the pre-defined time and the pre-defined speed range are either defined by the user or the system [100]. Also, the present invention encompasses selection of the prognosis mode either by the user or by the system [100] itself. At step 304, the detecting unit [102] records the motor current drawn by the motor of the vehicle in the prognosis mode when the vehicle is running/moving under the pre-defined speed range in the prognosis mode.

At step 306, the at least one processing unit [104] receives the recorded motor current drawn by the motor of the vehicle in the prognosis mode from the detecting unit [102] for initiating the processing.

At step 308, the at least one processing unit [104] performs the sampling process in the time domain to identify at least one time magnitude value to produce the time vs current graph, wherein each peak of the at least one time magnitude value in the graph corresponds to the at least one component of the vehicle.

At step 310, the at least one processing unit [104] compares the at least one time magnitude value with the at least one pre-determined time magnitude value corresponding to an ideal condition of each of the at least one vehicle component, wherein the ideal condition of each of the at least one vehicle component is either defined by the user or the system [100] itself and may vary from component to component.

At step 312, the at least one processing unit [104] determines the at least one operational condition of each of the at least one component of the vehicle based on the comparison of the at least one frequency magnitude value with the at least one pre-determined frequency magnitude value. Also, the present invention encompasses that the at least one processing unit [104] prioritises each of the least one component based on the priority score by determining the priority score for each of the at least one vehicle component based on the comparison of one of the at least one frequency magnitude value with the at least one pre-determined frequency magnitude value and the at least one time magnitude value with the at least one pre-determined time magnitude value, wherein a higher priority score corresponds to a higher deviation of the at least one frequency/time magnitude value with the at least one predetermined frequency/time magnitude value. Therefore, the component having the higher priority score indicates urgent maintenance/attention. This helps to predict conditions/behaviours of the vehicle components for easy and cost-effective maintenance and reduce damages. At step 314 and after accomplishment of step 312, the at least one processing unit [104] transmits the least one operational condition of each of the at least one component of the vehicle based on the comparison to the notification unit [110], connected to the at least one processing unit [104].

At step 316, the notification unit [110] notifies the at least one operational condition of each of the at least one component of the vehicle to the at least one user through one of the local server and the central server. The notification unit [110] displays information relating to the at least one operational condition of each of the at least one component of the vehicle along with the priority score.

At step 318, the method [300] terminates with notifying the at least one operational condition of each of the at least one component of the vehicle to the at least one user. Thus, the present invention encompasses a system and method for determining at least one operational condition of at least one component of the vehicle and subsequently notifying the same to at least one user while ensuring that the at least one operational condition are determined at an earlier stage and sometimes before occurrences of the faults in the prognosis mode. Though a limited number of the at least one processing unit [104], the detecting unit [102], the storage unit [108] and the notification unit [110] have been shown in the figures; however, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the system [100] of the present invention encompasses any number and varied types of the entities/elements such as the at least one processing unit [104], the detecting unit [102], the storage unit [108] and the notification unit [110].

While considerable emphasis has been placed herein on the disclosed embodiments, it will be appreciated that many embodiments can be made and that many changes can be made to the embodiments without departing from the principles of the present invention. These and other changes in the embodiments of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art, whereby it is to be understood that the foregoing descriptive matter to be implemented is illustrative and non-limiting.