Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

Yeo-Wang John Lee

Ross Dykstra Pursifull

Bradley George Hochrein

Robert Ralph Iorio

David Pericak

Russell Andres

Marshall Earnest

Chitra Varanasi

David Kaiser

A vehicle operates as a hub for locating and filtering water. The vehicle receives filter information over a local network connection between the vehicle and a water filter. The vehicle sends the filter information over a wide-area network from the vehicle to a cloud server. A human machine interface (HMI) remote from the filter displays filter details based on the filter information that explain aspects of the operation of the filter.

Vehicle filtering hub

Solar power generation panels added on a transportation vehicle have a layout wherein power output of the panels varies according to an azimuth orientation of the vehicle. A controller includes a database of calibration curves relating an expected power output to a respective range of the azimuth orientation according to different solar altitude angles. A self-learning sequence is performed which (a) collects a magnitude of power output while the vehicle traverses the respective range of the azimuth orientation, (b) identifies a current solar altitude angle, and (c) stores a resulting calibration curve. A parking sequence comprises (a) selecting a calibration curve according to solar altitude angle, (b) determining a target vehicle azimuth angle which optimizes a cumulative power output based on the calibration curve and solar azimuth, and (d) initiating a movement of the vehicle to orient it at the target vehicle azimuth angle.

Adaptable orientation optimization for vehicles with solar photovoltaic surfaces

Growing community of inventors

Plymouth, MI, United States of America

Yeo-Wang John Lee