Patents Assigned to Ford Global Technologies, LLC
  • Patent number: 11967872
    Abstract: An electric machine stator includes a stator core having annular stator laminations arranged in a stack with each lamination includes a plurality of stator teeth, adjacent teeth defining corresponding tooth slots on an inner periphery. Each stator tooth slot includes a winding area and an opening area leading to the inner periphery and including a first side and a second side. The first side and the second side each have an inner and outer tooth top, the inner and outer tooth top of the first side and the inner and outer tooth top of the second side are respectively symmetrical with respect to a center line of the opening area, and the first side and the second side are asymmetric with respect to the center line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Chuan Deng, Guohua Du, Yigang Yuan
  • Patent number: 11964589
    Abstract: An electrified vehicle includes a storage compartment positioned forward of a vehicle passenger cabin and accessible by opening a vehicle hood, a thermally conductive plate or heat exchanger in contact with a bottom surface of the storage compartment and having an associated conduit configured for circulating a working fluid from a vehicle cooling system, and a valve operable to control flow of the working fluid through the conduit. The storage compartment may be filled with a cooling medium, such as ice or dry ice, to provide enhanced cooling during high-demand operation or charging of the vehicle, such as when operating in a performance/track mode, towing a trailer, or in other extreme use scenarios. The valve may be controlled so that the working fluid bypasses the conduit when the storage compartment is used for cargo and/or enhanced cooling is not desired.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Patrick Gordon Collins, David Michael Horan, Thomas Karl Rothermel, Jacob Gregory Powers
  • Patent number: 11967864
    Abstract: An electric machine rotor including a rotor core having a plurality of magnets and several pairs of elongated slots circumferentially distributed on the rotor core. Each pair of elongated slots jointly forms a V-shaped configuration with an opening facing an outer periphery of the rotor core. Each elongated slot includes a mounting portion that matches the shape of the magnet and an end hole located at an end of the elongated slot pointing to the outer periphery. The end hole includes a main body area and a lobe area, and the lobe area extends from the main body area toward outside of the V-shaped configuration until it is partially located outside a side extension line of the mounting portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 23, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Chuan Deng
  • Patent number: 11965476
    Abstract: Systems and methods for starting an engine of a hybrid vehicle are described. In one example, the method selects one or more electric machines to start an engine. The method may reference a data structure, such as a matrix or table, and the matrix or table outputs which of the one or more electric machines is applied to start the engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Maruthi Ravichandran, Calvin Trescott, Jason Meyer, Rajit Johri, Jeffrey Doering
  • Patent number: 11965972
    Abstract: A method for determining a location of a vehicle includes a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) location system in a manufacturing environment. The method includes determining, when a key cycle transition condition of the vehicle and a vehicle gear transition condition of the vehicle are satisfied, a location parameter of the vehicle using an auxiliary location detection system, where the location parameter includes a location of the vehicle, identification information of the vehicle, and a timestamp of the vehicle. The method includes determining a vehicle time period based on the location parameter and a previous location parameter of the vehicle and validating a manufacturing routine of the vehicle when the location parameter satisfies a location condition and the vehicle time period satisfies a time condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Joseph Stanek, Allen R. Murray, Fahad Liaqat, Sikder Imam, Daniel Robert Taylor, Charles Robert Maxwell Zine
  • Patent number: 11968261
    Abstract: Provided are systems, methods, and computer program products for monitoring, testing, or debugging transportation services, generating or transmitting an initiating message from a global manager cloud to an external service cloud, to invoke a transportation as a service (TaaS) message from external service clouds that comprise confirmation, also including generating or transmitting a simulated message from the global manager cloud to mirror the TaaS message, or a portion, transmitted on a TaaS link from the external service cloud to the on-vehicle modem, determining, a confidence threshold for a capability or security of the TaaS link, validating AV service data sent from the global manager cloud to a TaaS component in an on-vehicle black box of the autonomous vehicle system, validating AV compute data sent from the autonomous vehicle system to the TaaS component in the on-vehicle black box, validating TaaS message data received from the external service cloud.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Matthew Puchalski, Scott Plant
  • Patent number: 11967109
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a system for determining a position of a vehicle includes an image sensor, a top-down view component, a comparison component, and a location component. The image sensor obtains an image of an environment near a vehicle. The top-down view component is configured to generate a top-down view of a ground surface based on the image of the environment. The comparison component is configured to compare the top-down image with a map, the map comprising a top-down light LIDAR intensity map or a vector-based semantic map. The location component is configured to determine a location of the vehicle on the map based on the comparison.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: FORD GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Sarah Houts, Alexandru Mihai Gurghian, Vidya Nariyambut Murali, Tory Smith
  • Patent number: 11964554
    Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for an evaporative emission fuel (EVAP) system. In one example, a method for the EVAP system includes loading canisters in parallel sequentially during a refueling event. The method further includes switching loading from one canister to another in response to a fuel level during the refueling event.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Aed Dudar, Scott Bohr, Matthew Werner
  • Patent number: 11965045
    Abstract: A method of forming an etched part includes forming a substrate including a thermoset resin and etching a surface of the substrate. The thermoset resin includes a vat photopolymerization (VPP) thermoset resin and at least one of an etchable phase and etchable particles disposed within the VPP thermoset resin. The etching removes the etchable phase from the VPP thermoset resin at the surface of the substrate such that a plurality of micro-mechanical bonding sites are formed on an etched surface of the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2023
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Xiaojiang Wang, Shannon Christine Bollin, Robert D. Bedard, Matthew Cassoli, Ellen Cheng-Chi Lee
  • Patent number: 11964697
    Abstract: A body on frame vehicle includes left and right front tubes and a lower support. The left front tube extends above a left front wheel well of the body on frame vehicle and terminates in a forward direction at a left forward end. The right front tube extends above a right front wheel well of the body on frame vehicle and terminates in the forward direction at a right forward end. The lower support includes a lateral portion, left riser portion, and right riser portion. A left end of the lower support extends upward from the lateral portion to form the left riser portion and a right end of the lower support extends upward from the lateral portion to form the right riser portion. The left and right riser portions are affixed to the left and right front tube proximate the left forward end and the right forward end, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Dragan B. Stojkovic
  • Patent number: 11964600
    Abstract: An armrest assembly for a vehicle and method of operating includes a body with a hinge receiver coupled to the top section. An armrest member is rotationally and removably coupled to the body and is movable between first, second, and third positions A latch receiver having a locking mechanism that operably couples to a latch is defined on the top section or the armrest member. A hinge feature operably couplable to the hinge receiver is defined on the armrest member. An input device is communicatively coupled to a controller, wherein the controller is configured to actuate the locking mechanism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Juan Filipe Brito Figueira, Guilherme Novaes Gomes Lima, Leandro Quinelato
  • Patent number: 11964547
    Abstract: This disclosure relates to a motor vehicle with an arrangement configured to oppose movement of a vehicle door, and a corresponding method. An example motor vehicle includes a body, a door configured to slide relative to the body between an open position and a closed position, and a bracket connected to the door. The bracket includes a slot. Further, a locking arm is mounted to the body, and, when the door is in the closed position, the locking arm is configured to move such that the locking arm is received in the slot.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Michelle Carolina Herrera Gutierrez, Luis Enrique Castillo Jaime, Antonio Dario Garay Serrano, Alejandro Sánchez Islas, Zhibing Deng
  • Patent number: 11965747
    Abstract: The disclosure is generally directed to systems and methods for a mobile device including transmitting a request by the mobile device for a route that considers transportation modalities and route conditions, the request including location data of the mobile device, receiving a recommended route, the recommended route based on low energy hardware based classification of conditions associated with a plurality of available routes, and receiving a recommended transport modality vehicle and a list of known vehicle identifiers associated with the location data. Low energy wireless signals are received by the mobile device with low energy hardware based classifiers from a mobility vehicle including dedicated hardware including a being a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) and/or hardware supporting a spiking neural network (SNN), the hardware receiving camera and microphone inputs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Omar Makke, Jeremy Lerner
  • Patent number: 11967184
    Abstract: A computer, including a processor and a memory, the memory including instructions to be executed by the processor to acquire a first image with a visible and NIR light camera and acquire a second image with an infrared camera. The instructions can include further instructions to determine whether the second image includes a live human face by comparing a first infrared profile included in the second image with second infrared profile included in a previously acquired third image acquired with the infrared camera; and when the second image includes the live human face, output the first image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Ali Hassani, Jonathan Diedrich, Hafiz Malik, David Hiskens, Ryan Edwin Hanson
  • Patent number: 11965472
    Abstract: A vehicle includes an internal combustion engine having a plurality of cylinders, a sensor configured to generate a sensor signal correlated with an air-fuel ratio of first and second cylinders of the plurality of cylinders, and a controller in communication with the sensor and programmed to monitor the air-fuel ratio of the first cylinder in response to an indication that air-fuel ratio measurements of the first cylinder satisfy predetermined criteria for current engine operating conditions while air-fuel ratio measurements of the second cylinder do not satisfy the predetermined criteria for the current engine operating conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Rani Kiwan, Sitaram Rejeti, Adam Joseph Krach, Andrew Bagnasco, Patrick Edward Smithberger
  • Patent number: 11967683
    Abstract: A system and method for intelligent battery charging management to improve battery life and charging efficiency of high capacity batteries that may not be deeply discharged on a regular basis may learn driving habits automatically and/or with user input and select an ending state-of-charge (SOC) to limit battery charging to less than maximum capacity based on current and/or anticipated ambient temperature and battery health of life (HOL). An expected vehicle travel distance before the next charge may be learned or determined based on vehicle or user inputs. An ending SOC based on battery temperature, a delta SOC to meet propulsive energy for the expected travel distance, cycling effect (depth of discharge) on battery HOL for a given delta SOC, and/or battery working efficiency may be used to control charging of the vehicle battery.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Xiaohong Duan, Yanan Zhao, Robert Taenaka
  • Patent number: 11967744
    Abstract: A fuel cell vehicle includes a bypass valve positioned downstream of a compressor and upstream of a fuel cell stack to selectively direct airflow from the compressor to an exhaust bypassing the fuel cell in an attempt to clear a partially or fully obstructed exhaust pipe. The bypass valve may be opened by a controller when an exhaust throttle valve is at or near a wide-open throttle position. The controller may also increase compressor flow and adjust airflow to the fuel cell stack until compressor pressure, speed, or temperature exceed corresponding limits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Martin Dale Pryor, Ryan Ma, Craig Michael Mathie
  • Patent number: 11966452
    Abstract: Systems and methods for image-based perception. The methods comprise: capturing images by a plurality of cameras with overlapping fields of view; generating, by a computing device, spatial feature maps indicating locations of features in the images; identifying, by the computing device, overlapping portions of the spatial feature maps; generating, by the computing device, at least one combined spatial feature map by combining the overlapping portions of the spatial feature maps together; and/or using, by the computing device, the at least one combined spatial feature map to define a predicted cuboid for at least one object in the images.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Guy Hotson, Francesco Ferroni, Harpreet Banvait, Kiwoo Shin, Nicolas Cebron
  • Publication number: 20240129637
    Abstract: When multiple display screens share data from different control units, the screens may flicker or have other anomalies when the control units are not synced. A system and method for detecting flickering or other anomalies includes receiving a video feed of a display screen to be tested, recording, from the video feed, a video file of a predetermined length that includes a plurality of frames, selecting a region of interest in a frame of the video file to define a template image; and performing a pattern matching between the template image and a pattern image of respective frames in the video file to detect anomalies.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 17, 2022
    Publication date: April 18, 2024
    Applicant: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Ivan Abel Rodriguez, Enrique Gonzalez
  • Publication number: 20240127137
    Abstract: Systems and methods for fleet management for a fleet of vehicles include collecting data associated with the fleet of vehicles including data associated with a plurality of vehicle operations affecting degradation of each vehicle in the fleet of vehicles, determining a composite score associated with the fleet of vehicles based on the collected data, the composite score associated with both an average score for the fleet and a standard deviation score associated with each vehicle in the fleet of vehicles, wherein a higher composite score relates to a slower degradation of the fleet of vehicles, and altering assignment of the plurality of vehicle operations assigned to each vehicle in the fleet of vehicles based on the composite score data to enable a higher composite score by equalizing an average degradation of the fleet of vehicles.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 13, 2022
    Publication date: April 18, 2024
    Applicant: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Stuart C. Salter, Sanjay Dayal, Ryan O'Gorman, Pietro Buttolo