Abstract: This disclosure relates to an electrified vehicle configured to selectively deactivate a restricted power mode based on an acceleration request, such as an imminent or current acceleration request. A corresponding method is also disclosed. An example electrified vehicle includes a battery and a controller configured to apply a restricted power mode when a state of health of the battery is below a predefined lower threshold. Further, when in the restricted power mode, the controller is configured to limit an amount of power drawn from the battery. Additionally, the controller is configured to selectively deactivate the restricted power mode in response to a signal indicating a current or imminent request for acceleration of the electrified vehicle requiring power to be drawn from the battery above an upper limit of the restricted power mode.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
September 27, 2021
Date of Patent:
April 9, 2024
Assignee:
Ford Global Technologies, LLC
Inventors:
Yanan Zhao, Xiaohong Nina Duan, Ming Lang Kuang
Abstract: A battery box for an electric vehicle includes an Al casting that extends between and joins to a BIW or chassis rails of the electric vehicle. The Al casting includes a bottom wall, a side wall with a pair of rails that are securely attached to the BIW or chassis rails of the vehicle, and a plurality of cross members. The bottom wall, the side wall, and the plurality of cross members define a structural enclosure with a plurality of battery compartments and at least one crush zone, and the structural enclosure is load bearing member of the electric vehicle.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
June 30, 2021
Date of Patent:
April 9, 2024
Assignee:
Ford Global Technologies, LLC
Inventors:
Rohit Telukunta, Steven Frank, Adam Weyrauch, Michael J. Gardynik
Abstract: Systems and methods for operating an engine that may be rotated by an electric machine during engine starting are described. In one example, an amount of electric current that is available to rotate the engine via the electric machine may be adjusted in response to an indication that a vehicle that includes the engine may be parked in a geographical area that may be flooded.
Abstract: Embodiments describe a system configured with a brain machine interface (BMI) system implemented in a vehicle for performing vehicle functions using electrical impulses from motor cortex activity in a user's brain. The system uses fuzzy states for increased robustness. The fuzzy states are defined by sets of Gaussian kernel-type membership functions that are defined for steering and velocity action function states. The membership functions define fuzzy states that provide overlapping control tiers for increasing and decreasing vehicle functionality. An autonomous vehicle may perform control and governance of transitions between membership functions that may overlap, resulting in smooth transitioning between the states.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
August 13, 2020
Date of Patent:
April 9, 2024
Assignee:
Ford Global Technologies, LLC
Inventors:
Ali Hassani, Aniruddh Ravindran, Dimitar Filev, Vijay Nagasamy
Abstract: A computer includes a processor and a memory storing instructions executable by the processor to select a scanning rate for a first sensor of a vehicle based on at least one of data related to a current time or data related to a location of the vehicle; instruct the first sensor to run at the selected scanning rate; in response to receiving data from the first sensor indicating a newly present object, turn on a second sensor; and then record data from the second sensor. The second sensor has a higher power draw than the first sensor.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
March 12, 2021
Date of Patent:
April 9, 2024
Assignee:
Ford Global Technologies, LLC
Inventors:
Stuart C. Salter, John Robert Van Wiemeersch, Donald Paul Bilger, Tarik Safir, Sam Harris
Abstract: A distributed control system for an autonomous modular robot (AMR) vehicle includes a top module processor disposed in communication with a lower module processor, and memory for storing executable instructions of the top module processor and the lower module processor. The instructions are executable to cause the top module processor and the lower module processor to navigate a bottom module, via the bottom module processor, the AMR vehicle to a target destination. The instructions are further executable to determine, via the bottom module processor, that the AMR vehicle is localized at a target destination, transmit a request for a cargo unloading instruction set, and receive, via a top module processor, a response to a cargo unloading instruction set sent from the bottom module processor. The instructions further cause the top module processor to unload the cargo to a target destination surface via an unloading mechanism associated with the top module.
Abstract: This disclosure details exemplary portable power systems for vehicles. The portable power systems may be configured as a secondary battery pack that is removably stored within a front trunk of a vehicle. The portable power systems may include a plurality of individually removable battery units that can be used to extend vehicle driving range or power electrically powered devices that are separate from the vehicle. In some embodiments, when the portable power system is stored in the vehicle and an electrically powered device is connected to the portable power system, the vehicle may be controlled in a Following Mode in which the vehicle is autonomously moved to follow an operator of the electrically powered device.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
July 28, 2020
Date of Patent:
April 9, 2024
Assignee:
FORD GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
Inventors:
Stuart C. Salter, Pietro Buttolo, Paul Kenneth Dellock, Aaron Gould, Vivien J. Martinage
Abstract: A computer includes a processor and memory, the memory can store instructions executable by the processor to display a first calibration symbol to appear at a first location of a virtual image plane viewable from a measured location of the eyes or head of an operator and display a second calibration symbol to appear at a second location of the virtual image plane according to an offset distance from the first location. The instructions additionally can additionally be to adjust the offset distance in response to adjusting the second location by receiving input from the operator to align the first calibration symbol with the second calibration symbol.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
May 5, 2023
Date of Patent:
April 9, 2024
Assignee:
Ford Global Technologies, LLC
Inventors:
Jian Wan, Michael Alan Blommer, Brett Stottlemyer, Curtis Sai-Hay To
Abstract: A cargo bed system of a vehicle includes a floor assembly of a cargo bed. The floor assembly is configured to transition back-and-forth between a standard position and an extended position. A step that moves with the floor assembly back-and-forth between the standard position and the extended position. The step is movable back-and-forth between a stowed position and a deployed position.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
February 17, 2022
Date of Patent:
April 9, 2024
Assignee:
Ford Global Technologies, LLC
Inventors:
Michael John Harmon, Ryan Mathew Sandor, Matthew B. Rutman, Amol Borkar, Hussain Z. Tajmahal
Abstract: An electric-vehicle frame includes a mid-section and an end section. The mid-section has first and second frame rails spaced from each other by a first distance along a cross-vehicle axis defining a battery compartment therebetween. The end-section has first and second frame rails spaced from each other by a second distance along the cross-vehicle axis smaller than the first distance. A first connector is fixed to the first frame rail of the mid-section and to the first frame rail of the end-section. A second connector is fixed to the second frame rail of the mid-section and to the second frame rail of the end-section.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
August 3, 2023
Date of Patent:
April 9, 2024
Assignee:
Ford Global Technologies, LLC
Inventors:
Ajay Kumar Gupta, Leonard Anthony Shaner, Yu Liu, John Wesley Stanley, Yu-Kan Hu, Fungtai Charles Ko, Petros Frantzeskakis
Abstract: The disclosure generally pertains to battery charging management of battery electric vehicles (BEVs). In an example method, a processor generates an operational profile for a first BEV among a number of BEVs. The profile may be based on a mileage accumulation pattern, a parking pattern, and/or a battery charging pattern, detected over an information collection period. The mileage accumulation pattern may be based on the use of the first BEV for commuting from a residence to a workplace. The processor determines an availability of a battery charging outlet in a section of a garage of the residence, and based on the operational profile of the first BEV, identifies a period of time for charging a battery of the first BEV in the garage. The processor then issues a directive to park the first BEV in the section of the garage over the identified period of time for charging the battery.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
June 8, 2021
Date of Patent:
April 9, 2024
Assignee:
Ford Global Technologies, LLC
Inventors:
Stuart Salter, Pietro Buttolo, Jim Baumbick, Annette Huebner, David Kennedy
Abstract: A thermal management system for an electrified vehicle and a method for managing such a system, includes a coolant subsystem to cool a battery pack and a refrigerant subsystem. The coolant subsystem includes a battery chiller in fluid communication with a cooling system inlet to the battery pack. The refrigerant subsystem includes a chiller cooling subsystem to cool the battery chiller and a cabin cooling subsystem to cool a passenger cabin, wherein the chiller cooling subsystem and the cabin cooling subsystem are completely separate from each other.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
June 15, 2022
Date of Patent:
April 9, 2024
Assignee:
Ford Global Technologies, LLC
Inventors:
Kevin Mackenzie, Sunil Katragadda, Ronald Richard Semel
Abstract: Transportation-based service share systems and methods are disclosed herein. An example method can include receiving a request from a service provider to reserve a ridehail vehicle for a ridehail having a time frame, the request specifying a service provided by the service provider; determining the ridehail vehicle for the service provider based on the service; and dispatching the ridehail vehicle, the service provider rendering the service during the ridehail.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
April 19, 2022
Date of Patent:
April 9, 2024
Assignee:
Ford Global Technologies, LLC
Inventors:
Xingping Chen, Jeremy Lerner, Danielle Rosenblatt, Scott Huggins, Taylor Hawley, Ali Abdallah
Abstract: A vehicle includes a bulkhead. The vehicle includes a base supported by the bulkhead and inflatable from a stowed position away from the bulkhead to a deployed position. The vehicle includes an airbag supported by the base and inflatable away from the bulkhead to a deployed position.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
September 16, 2022
Date of Patent:
April 9, 2024
Assignee:
Ford Global Technologies, LLC
Inventors:
Dean M. Jaradi, Mohammad Omar Faruque, S. M. Iskander Farooq
Abstract: The present disclosure discloses a stake support bracket coupled to walls of a cargo bed of a vehicle such as a pick-up-bed truck for providing support to a stake of a standard size or a non-standard size. The stake support bracket includes a first panel, a second panel transverse to the first panel, and a third panel transverse to the second panel. The third panel includes a stake support opening. The stake support bracket further includes a first extension transverse to the third panel and extending away from the first panel and a second extension transverse to the first panel and extending away from the third panel. The stake support bracket provides support to the bottom and the sides of the stake and reduces probabilities of wobbling or pivoting of the stakes.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
September 30, 2020
Date of Patent:
April 9, 2024
Assignee:
Ford Global Technologies, LLC
Inventors:
Jack Marchlewski, Dragan B Stojkovic, Joshua Robert Hemphill, Robert Reiners
Abstract: The disclosure relates to a motor vehicle that loads a motor vehicle movement dataset (KBD) indicative of accelerations of the motor vehicle, loads a passenger movement dataset (PBD) indicative of movements of a passenger of the motor vehicle, evaluate the motor vehicle movement dataset (KBD) and the passenger movement dataset (PBD) by means of a transfer function with a predetermined threshold value (SW) in order to generate an image dataset (BS) for an infotainment system of the motor vehicle, and outputs the image dataset (BS) by means of the infotainment system.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
July 1, 2022
Date of Patent:
April 9, 2024
Assignee:
Ford Global Technologies, LLC
Inventors:
Nikica Hennes, Erik Chapman, Eike Schmidt
Abstract: A vehicle is provided that includes a vehicle body defining a cabin interior, a plurality of seats located within the cabin interior, each seat having an adjustable seat base and an adjustable seat back, a monitoring system for detecting and monitoring a pet within the cabin interior, and a controller processing signals generated by the monitoring system and determining a location of the pet based on the monitored signals, the controller further controlling at least one of the adjustable seat base and adjustable seat back of a seat based on the determined location of the pet so that the seat is configured to accommodate the pet.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
May 4, 2021
Date of Patent:
April 9, 2024
Assignee:
Ford Global Technologies, LLC
Inventors:
Stuart C. Salter, Hussein H. Berry, Annette Lynn Huebner, Marguerite Lynn Kimball, David Brian Glickman, Gregory Paul Thomas, John Robert Van Wiemeersch