The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 01, 2019
Filed:
Mar. 23, 2018
Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX (US);
Thomas E. Reinhart, Boerne, TX (US);
Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX (US);
Abstract
A method of determining the optimum vehicle gap distance for a vehicle in a platoon, the vehicle having a cooling fan and a coolant-based cooling system. The vehicle's vehicle control system determines a base gap distance, based on safety considerations related to platoon operation. A gap control process stores a fan turn-on threshold temperature, which is less than the coolant temperature that will result in the vehicle's cooling fan becoming activated. During vehicle operation, the gap control process receives a current coolant temperature value, and compares that value to the fan turn-on threshold temperature. If the coolant temperature is at or above the fan turn-on threshold temperature, the vehicle is operated to increase the base gap distance.