FIELD OF INVENTION

The invention generally relates to a fuel system of a motor vehicle and more particularly to the fuel consumption indication mechanism of the motor vehicle.

BACKGROUND

Conventionally fuel consumption rate of a vehicle is measured by using different parameters for fuel system such as change in fuel level with respect to distance travelled or the travelling conditions etc. According to an existing technology, fuel consumption is measured by using electrical data provided by a fuel sender unit varying its resistance according to the level of fuel in fuel tank. Said resistance values are used as input at different time slots of a detecting device which provides estimated fuel consumption of the vehicle along with using speed signals as an output. Explained method of measuring the fuel consumption fails to provided correction measures in relation to human or environmental errors and hence even after finding out errors in such measurement data or the output cannot be corrected.

Thus there is a requirement to develop a mechanism which can provide fuel consumption measurement with minimum error and also can provide manual correction measures to avoid any possible error.

SUMMARY

Main objective of the present invention is to provide a vehicle fuel consumption indication mechanism for a motor vehicle having a display unit for fuel consumption information display, a fuel consumption computation unit to provide display data to the display unit, an ignition control unit to send input to the fuel consumption computation unit, at least one sensor unit such as fuel cap position sensor, vehicle speed sensor, fuel level sensor to provide input parameters for fuel quantity and fuel consumption rate and manual input switches to provide input such as fuel flow path resistance or fuel level display corrections to the fuel consumption computation unit.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below and the accompanying drawing which is incorporated in and constitute embodiments of the invention, illustrate several aspects of the invention and together with a description of the embodiments serve to explain the principles of the invention and thus, are not limited of the present invention and a brief description of the drawing is as follows:

Figure 1 is a schematic representation of an exemplary arrangement of the embodiments of the invention.

Figure 2 is describing enabling steps of the claimed invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The embodiments disclosed below are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed in the following detailed description. Rather, the embodiments are chosen and described so that others skilled in the art may utilize their teachings. The invention may have application to all types of vehicles. The scope of the invention is entirely based upon the claims provided.

Reference is made to figure 1 to describe arrangement of the embodiments' of the claimed invention where fuel consumption computation unit 300 has fuel consumption estimation element 303 such as processor and a memory device 301 to store required data such as different fuel levels, manual correction data etc. Mentioned fuel consumption computation unit 300 is connected to a display unit 800 at output terminal such that stored data in memory unit 301 can be displayed on the display unit 800.

Further, as shown in figure 1 an ignition control unit 100 is connected to the fuel consumption computation unit 300 such that ignition control unit 100 sending input signals related to engine ON/OFF condition to said fuel consumption computation unit 300. As shown in figure 1, multiple sensors for example position sensor 600, speed sensor 500 are connected to mentioned fuel consumption computation unit 300. Said position sensor 600 is connected to a fuel tank cap 700 and is configured to sense the position of fuel tank cap 700 so that the fuel refilling time or opening and closing frequency can be monitored and related input can be provided to fuel consumption computation unit 300.

Mentioned speed sensor 500 sends input related to the vehicle speed to the fuel consumption computation unit 300. One fuel level sensor (not shown in figure) is connected to the fuel consumption computation unit 300 through an electric fuel sender unit 400 which changes fuel flow resistance based upon the output of fuel level sensor 900 and corresponding input is transmitted to the fuel consumption computation unit 300 which works based upon whole set of received inputs. Further, a manual input unit or manual correction switch 200 is also connected to the fuel consumption computation unit 300 such that in case of any human/environmental/technical error data can be .

corrected/modified through human intervention in order to maintain minimum error level in fuel consumption calculation. Figure 2 is providing the enabling workflow of the claimed mechanism. As shown in mentioned figure at vehicle started condition (step 001) the engine ignition control unit 100 sends ON signal (step 002) to the fuel consumption computation unit 300 which also receive signals from fuel cap position sensor 600 and in case of open (step 003) fuel cap 700 amount of fuel refilled is displayed (step 004) on the display unit 800. In case of any mismatch of actual fuel volume and displayed volume manual correction is required (step 005), can be done by manual input unit 200 (step 006).

Further, provided inputs are saved in memory device 301 (step 007). Based upon the stored data such as vehicle speed (output of speed sensor 500), and fuel volume (output of fuel sender unit 400 and manual input 200) fuel consumption estimation element 303 (processor) calculates the fuel consumption of the vehicle and the output is stored in memory 301 of the fuel consumption computation unit 300. Stored data for example fuel volume, last cycle consumption, last cycle refill volume and vehicle speed etc is displayed on the display unit even after vehicle movement (step 009). Here cycle stands for the time between two refills of fuels in the vehicle. Described mechanism can provide fuel consumption measurement with minimum error as manual correction measures can be taken to avoid any possible error.

FIGURE NUMBER CLASSIFICATION

100 - Ignition Control Unit 200 - Manual Correction Switch

300 - Fuel Consumption Switch

301 - Memory Device

303 - Fuel Consumption Estimation Element

400 - Fuel Sender Unit

500 - Speed Sensor

600 - Position Sensor

700 - Fuel Tank Cap

800 - Display Unit

900 - Fuel Level Sensor

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS

1) A vehicle fuel consumption indication mechanism for a motor vehicle comprising a display unit (800) configured to display vehicle fuel consumption information, a fuel consumption computation unit (300) configured to provide display data to the display unit (800), an ignition control unit (100) configured to send input to the fuel consumption computation unit (300) and at least one sensor unit (S) configured to provide a predefined set of input parameters to the fuel consumption computation unit (300) and at least one manual input switch (200) configured to provide input to the fuel consumption computation unit (300) such that output from consumption computation unit (300) to the display unit (800) is based on the output of sensor unit (S) and a fuel sender unit (400).

2) The vehicle fuel consumption indication mechanism, as claimed in claim 1, wherein, the sensor unit (S) defines a fuel cap position sensor (600) configured to provide open or close status of a fuel tank cap 700 and a vehicle speed sensor (500) configured to provide input vehicle speed ensuring engine start.

3) The vehicle fuel consumption indication mechanism, as claimed in claim 1, wherein, the fuel sender unit (400) provide input to the consumption computation unit (300) based upon the input from a fuel level sensor unit (900) configured to provide parameter for fuel quantity.

4) The vehicle fuel consumption indication mechanism, as claimed in claim 1, wherein, fuel consumption computation unit (300) defines a memory device (301) and a fuel consumption estimation element (303) such that based upon the sensor unit (S) input the fuel consumption estimation element (303) and the memory device (301) correlate and provide output to the display unit (800).

5) A vehicle fuel consumption indication mechanism for a motor vehicle comprising steps for:

a) checking ignitionstatus (002) of the motor vehicle;

b) checking position (003) of the fuel tank cap 700 based upon the status of ignition (002) of the motor vehicle;

c) displaying fuel quantity (004) on a display unit (800), based upon the position (003) of fuel tank cap (700);

d) displaying manual fuel correction option (004) on the display unit (800), for fuel quantity of the motor vehicle based upon the fuel quantity displayed;

e) receiving inputs from a manual input switch (200) if correction data is provided (005, 006);

f) storing data (700) in memory device (301) of the fuel consumption indication mechanism;

g) calculating predefined values (008) related to the fuel consumption of the motor vehicle;

h) displaying calculated predefined values (008) on the display unit (800) based upon the engine on and off status (009);

i) displaying engine speed (010) on the display unit (800).

6) The vehicle fuel consumption indication mechanism, as claimed in claim 5, wherein fuel cap position is checked 003 by a position sensor 600 fixed with the fuel tank cap 700.

7) The vehicle fuel consumption indication mechanism, as claimed in claim 5, wherein displayed (004) fuel quantity is an output of fuel level sensor 900.

8) The vehicle fuel consumption indication mechanism, as claimed in claim 5, wherein predefined values (008) define atleast one previous cycle fuel consumption and overall fuel consumption.

9) The vehicle fuel consumption indication mechanism, as claimed in claim 5, wherein engine speed (010) is an output of a speed sensor 500.