Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G08—SIGNALLING
  • G08G—TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS
  • G08G1/00—Traffic control systems for road vehicles
  • G08G1/20—Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01F—MEASURING VOLUME, VOLUME FLOW, MASS FLOW OR LIQUID LEVEL; METERING BY VOLUME
  • G01F15/00—Details of, or accessories for, apparatus of groups G01F1/00 - G01F13/00 insofar as such details or appliances are not adapted to particular types of such apparatus
  • G01F15/007—Details of, or accessories for, apparatus of groups G01F1/00 - G01F13/00 insofar as such details or appliances are not adapted to particular types of such apparatus comprising means to prevent fraud
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01F—MEASURING VOLUME, VOLUME FLOW, MASS FLOW OR LIQUID LEVEL; METERING BY VOLUME
  • G01F9/00—Measuring volume flow relative to another variable, e.g. of liquid fuel for an engine
  • G01F9/001—Measuring volume flow relative to another variable, e.g. of liquid fuel for an engine with electric, electro-mechanic or electronic means
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
  • G07C—TIME OR ATTENDANCE REGISTERS; REGISTERING OR INDICATING THE WORKING OF MACHINES; GENERATING RANDOM NUMBERS; VOTING OR LOTTERY APPARATUS; ARRANGEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS FOR CHECKING NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE
  • G07C5/00—Registering or indicating the working of vehicles
  • G07C5/08—Registering or indicating performance data other than driving, working, idle, or waiting time, with or without registering driving, working, idle or waiting time
  • G07C5/0841—Registering performance data
  • G07C5/085—Registering performance data using electronic data carriers

Definitions

• the present invention relates to the technical field concerning systems for receiving, processing and transmitting data, performed by vehicles in motion, with respect to one or more remote stations.
• the present invention relates to systems for processing and verifying data concerning the consumption of apparatuses using endothermic motors, such as terrestrial and floating vehicles, and aircrafts.
• a vehicle standing in a parking area could be subjected to a fuel theft, a driver could make a different, not arranged previously, trip for personal reasons, or a refueling of bigger value than the real one could be reported, by using the usual report documents.
• satellite receivers such as the GPS, which allow automatic tuning over the frequencies of selected orbital artificial satellites, and which can, after processing the data coming from at least four satellites, supply the latitude, longitude, height, and possibly the detecting speed and time connected to these parameters, with the uncertainty level remaining within some meters, according to the adopted technology.
• receivers are largely used and installed on vehicles in order to visualize geographic position thereof and the shortest routes to the destinations.
• Figure 1 shows a block diagram of remote-monitoring used for heavy transport vehicles and also for other vehicles: in this example, the GPS receiver processes the data coming from the satellites, supplying, as it has already been specified, the vehicle position, the speed and correlated time of measurement; the pieces of information are stored in a memory and then sent, with periodical time intervals and according to a given transmission protocol, to a processing and control central unit, which manages the anti-theft system.
• the GPS receiver processes the data coming from the satellites, supplying, as it has already been specified, the vehicle position, the speed and correlated time of measurement; the pieces of information are stored in a memory and then sent, with periodical time intervals and according to a given transmission protocol, to a processing and control central unit, which manages the anti-theft system.
• the mobile phones frequencies are generally used, because they assure best covering of the whole national territory, however it is possible to use the GPRS or satellite systems.
• the object of the present invention is to propose a consumption verifying system for endothermic motors, which is capable of detecting possible "non-technical losses" related to the fuel consumption.
• Another object of the present invention is to propose a consumption verifying system for endothermic motors, which is easy to install and which completes the functions of the known apparatuses.
• a consumption verifying system for apparatuses using endothermic motors includes a combination of: a receiver, mounted on a relative apparatus, for supplying a first and a second electric signals, which identify, respectively, the spatial coordinates of the apparatus and the time when the measurement of the coordinates is done,- a device, mounted on the apparatus for processing a third and a fourth electric signals, indicating respectively, the level of fuel present in the apparatus tank and the flow rate of the fuel leaving said tank, as well as said first and second electric signals to define a biunique correspondence between the triad of values, defined by said first, third, fourth electric signals, and said measurement time, common to said first, third, fourth electric signals.
• Figure 1 is a block diagram of a known transmission system: - Figure 2 is a block diagram of a first embodiment of the proposed system,- Figure 3 is a block diagram of a second embodiment of the system proposed by the present invention,-
• Figure 4 is a block diagram of a third embodiment of the system proposed by the present invention.
• a receiver 1 for example of a GPS, a processing and transmitting circuit 2, and a memory 3, mounted on an apparatus using endothermic motors, such as a terrestrial vehicle.
• a plurality of artificial satellites present in a variable number on the apparatus horizon, usually emit signals high frequency signals, which can be received by the receiver 1, and which indicate the spatial position, the speed and time of measurement related to such position and speed.
• the receiver 1 carries out the primary function of processing the signals of at least four of the satellites, so as to supply an exact indication of its own latitude, longitude, height, speed and the time related to this measurement.
• the processing and transmitting circuit 2 receives the above mentioned electric signals, corresponding to the spatial coordinates (first electric signal Vl), to the apparatus speed (fifth electric signal V5), and to the related measurement time (second electric signal V2) , together with the electric signal corresponding to the level of fuel present in the tank of the described apparatus (third electric signal V3 ) , and to the flow rate of fuel going out from the tank or entering the endothermic motor (fourth electric signal V4) .
• the circuit 2 is a device, which defines a biunique correspondence between the set of four values, defined by the first electric signal Vl, fifth electric signal V5 , third electric signal V3 , fourth electric signal V4 , and the measurement time V2 common for the above signals.
• Latitude, longitude, height, speed, fuel level and flow rate, and the related measurement time will be grouped in groups of seven values to create data sequences .
• the sequences will be stored in a memory 3, present in the apparatus, and sent, according to a suitable transmission protocol, e.g. GSM, GPRS or satellite transmission system, to a processing and control central unit 5, which stores and processes them according to determined calculation algorithms.
• a suitable transmission protocol e.g. GSM, GPRS or satellite transmission system
• the derivative value of the signal V3 with respect to time, indicating the fuel level could be calculated in order to verify if the obtained result, disregarding the scale factors, coincides with the electric signal V4 indicating the fuel flow rate.
• these additional functions could be calculated by the processing and transmission circuit 2, then sent to the processing and control central unit 5.
• the above mentioned processing functions, peculiar to the device 2 are performed within the receiver 1, leaving to the device 2 only data transmission function.
• the central processing and control unit is excluded, thus the sequences of information related to spatial coordinates (signal Vl), the apparatus speed (signal V5), fuel level (signal V3) , fuel flow rate (signal V4) , and related measurement time (signal V2) will be stored in the memory 3 present in the apparatus referred to, and then transferred later on, to an external memory, not shown, e.g. with the apparatus standstill, by suitable devices aimed at data transferring, likewise not shown, as they are known.
• an external memory not shown, e.g. with the apparatus standstill, by suitable devices aimed at data transferring, likewise not shown, as they are known.
• the above mentioned information is visualized on a display 6 (see Figure 4) , after being processed by a software, which makes its contents easily comprehensible, e.g. for verifying the route made by the apparatus on a topographic map, for verifying instant or medium fuel consumption, etc.
• One of the advantages of the present invention lies in the fact that it proposes a system for consumption control for apparatuses using endothermic motors, which allows detection of possible “non technical losses", connected to the fuel consumption, completing the functions of known apparatuses, such as GPS receiver, and transmission systems, such as GSM, GPRS, satellite, WIFI, Blue Tooth and others .
• Another advantage of the present invention lies in the fact that it proposes an extremely versatile consumption verifying system operating in relation to the real way run by the apparatus using endothermic motors.
• a still further advantage of the invention lies in the fact that it allows a definition of the way actually covered by the apparatus, after the processing of the data transmitted by the latter, thus allowing a verify of its correspondence to the one accorded by the driver and the employer.
• Another advantage of the invention derives from the fact that it proposes a system, which, besides fulfilling the above described functions, is also a reliable antitheft system, supplying not only the spatial coordinates of the apparatus, but also its consumption to the central control unit, at regular intervals.
• a yet further advantage of the present invention lies in the fact that the information processed by the consumption verifying system can be used by the apparatus user by printing it on a display.
• Another advantage of the invention derives from the fact that it proposes a consumption verifying system, whose technical-functional aspects can be advantageously reproduced in general apparatuses, such as terrestrial and floating vehicles, and aircrafts.
• the technical solution proposed by the present invention can be applied also to the apparatuses, which do not have a device for measuring the fuel flow rate, because the electric signal V3 indicating the fuel level in the tank gives a reliable indication about the apparatus actual consumptions. It is understood that the proposed invention has been described as a mere, non limiting example, therefore, it is obvious that any practical-application variants applied thereto remain within the protective scope defined by the following claims.

Landscapes

• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Fluid Mechanics (AREA)
• Combined Controls Of Internal Combustion Engines (AREA)
• Control Of Vehicle Engines Or Engines For Specific Uses (AREA)

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Family Cites Families (2)

• 2004
  • 2004-07-23 IT ITBO20040462 patent/ITBO20040462A1/it unknown
• 2005
  • 2005-07-20 EP EP05780148A patent/EP1779072A2/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2005-07-20 WO PCT/IB2005/002248 patent/WO2006011054A2/en not_active Ceased

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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