Patent 6862504 was granted and assigned to LG on March, 2005 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A system and method for detecting alternator condition is provided. Information is taken from the vehicle powerline and the communication links, and processed by the vehicle ECU, such as the vehicle antilocking brake system ECU, to obtain data. The battery voltage ripple amplitude is then calculated and compared at different engine speeds. If the difference in the ripple amplitude at the different engine speeds is greater than a predetermined threshold value, a signal is sent indicating that the alternator has failed.