Hybrid electric vehicle battery charge reduction for improved cooling performance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11014437-B2
Application number	US-201816127135-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 10, 2018
Priority date	Sep 10, 2018
Publication date	May 25, 2021
Grant date	May 25, 2021

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for vehicle battery charge reduction. A hybrid electric vehicle is disclosed. The vehicle comprises an internal combustion engine; an electric motor; a battery electrically coupled to the electric motor; a battery charger electrically coupled to the battery and mechanically coupled to the internal combustion engine; one or more sensors, wherein each sensor provides a respective sensor signal, wherein each sensor signal represents a respective current operating condition of the hybrid electric vehicle; and a computing component configured to: perform a first comparison of a state-of-charge of the battery to a charge threshold, perform a second comparison of one or more of the current vehicle operating conditions to respective nominal vehicle operating conditions, wherein none of the vehicle operating conditions describe a condition of the battery, and reduce charging of the battery based on the first comparison and the second comparison.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A hybrid electric vehicle, comprising:
an internal combustion engine;
an electric motor;
a battery electrically coupled to the electric motor;
a battery charger electrically coupled to the battery and mechanically coupled to the internal combustion engine;
one or more sensors, wherein each sensor provides a respective sensor signal, wherein each sensor signal represents a respective current vehicle operating condition of the hybrid electric vehicle; and
a computing component configured to:
perform a first comparison of a state-of-charge of the battery to a charge threshold,
perform a second comparison of at least one of the current vehicle operating conditions to respective nominal vehicle operating conditions, wherein none of the vehicle operating conditions describe a condition of the battery, and
prevent excess heat generation by the hybrid electric vehicle by reducing charging of the battery based on the first comparison and the second comparison.

2. The hybrid electric vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the computing component is further configured to:
reduce charging of the battery responsive to (i) the state-of-charge of the battery being below a charge threshold, and (ii) one or more of the current vehicle operating conditions being outside a normal range.

3. The hybrid electric vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the second comparison comprises:
comparing the at least one of the current vehicle operating conditions to one or more respective vehicle operating conditions thresholds.

4. The hybrid electric vehicle of claim 3 , wherein the at least one of the current vehicle operating conditions comprise:
an ambient temperature near the hybrid electric vehicle;
a throttle angle of an internal combustion engine of the hybrid electric vehicle;
a temperature of the internal combustion engine;
a temperature of a transmission of the hybrid electric vehicle;
a load of the internal combustion engine; and
a road grade encountered by the hybrid electric vehicle.

5. The hybrid electric vehicle of claim 2 , wherein the second comparison comprises:
determining whether the vehicle is in a tow mode.

6. The hybrid electric vehicle of claim 1 , wherein, to reduce charging of the battery, the computing component is further configured to at least one of:
reduce a target state of charge;
reduce a time of charging the battery;
reduce a number of charging intervals of the battery;
reduce a length of the charging intervals of the battery;
reduce a rate of charging the battery; and
reduce a minimum charge threshold.

7. The hybrid electric vehicle of claim 2 , wherein the computing component is further configured to:
performing a third comparison of one of the current vehicle operating conditions to a plurality of vehicle operating conditions thresholds;
selecting one of a plurality of charging modes based on the third comparison; and
reducing charging of the battery according to the selected charging mode.

8. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium encoded with instructions executable by a hardware processor of a computing component of a hybrid vehicle, the machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions to cause the hardware processor to:
perform a first comparison of a state-of-charge of a battery of the hybrid vehicle to a charge threshold;
perform a second comparison of one or more current vehicle operating conditions to respective nominal vehicle operating conditions, wherein none of the vehicle operating conditions describe a condition of the battery; and
prevent excess heat generation by the hybrid vehicle by reducing charging of the battery based on the first comparison and the second comparison.

9. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 8 , further comprising:
reducing charging of the battery responsive to (i) the state-of-charge of the battery being below a charge threshold, and (ii) one or more of the current vehicle operating conditions being outside a normal range.

10. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the second comparison comprises:
comparing the one or more current vehicle operating conditions to one or more respective vehicle operating conditions thresholds.

11. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein at least one of the current vehicle operating conditions comprise:
an ambient temperature near the hybrid electric vehicle;
a throttle angle of an internal combustion engine of the hybrid electric vehicle;
a temperature of the internal combustion engine;
a temperature of a transmission of the hybrid electric vehicle;
a load of the internal combustion engine; and
a road grade encountered by the hybrid electric vehicle.

12. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the second comparison comprises:
determining whether the vehicle is in a tow mode.

13. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein reducing charging of the battery comprises at least one of:
reducing a target state of charge;
reducing a time of charging the battery;
reducing a number of charging intervals of the battery;
reducing a length of the charging intervals of the battery;
reducing a rate of charging the battery; and
reducing a minimum charge threshold.

14. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 9 , further comprising:
performing a third comparison of one of the current vehicle operating conditions to a plurality of vehicle operating conditions thresholds;
selecting one of a plurality of charging modes based on the third comparison; and
reducing charging of the battery according to the selected charging mode.

15. A method for a hybrid electric vehicle, comprising:
performing a first comparison of a state-of-charge of a battery of the hybrid vehicle to a charge threshold;
performing a second comparison of one or more current vehicle operating conditions to respective nominal vehicle operating conditions, wherein none of the vehicle operating conditions describe a condition of the battery; and
preventing excess heat generation by the hybrid electric vehicle by reducing charging of the battery based on the first comparison and the second comparison.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
reducing charging of the battery responsive to (i) the state-of-charge of the battery being below a charge threshold, and (ii) one or more of the current vehicle operating conditions being outside a normal range.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the second comparison comprises:
comparing the one or more current vehicle operating conditions to one or more respective vehicle operating conditions thresholds.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the at least one of the current vehicle operating conditions comprise:
an ambient temperature near the hybrid electric vehicle;
a throttle angle of an internal combustion engine of the hybrid electric vehicle;
a temperature of the internal combustion engine;
a temperature of a transmission of the hybrid electric vehicle;
a load of the internal combustion engine; and
a road grade encountered by the hybrid electric vehicle.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the second comparison comprises:
determining whether the vehicle is in a tow mode.

20. The method of claim 17 , wherein reducing charging of the battery comprises at least one of:
reducing a target state of charge;
reducing a time of charging the battery;
reduci

Assignees

• Toyota Eng & Mfg North America

Inventors

• Cosgrove David W
• Torres Luis Carlos Quinteros
• Hirabayashi Hidekazu

Classifications

• B60K6/485 Primary

  Motor-assist type · CPC title

• B60K6/22 Primary

  characterised by apparatus, components or means specially adapted for HEVs · CPC title

• H02J2105/37

  exchanging power with electric vehicles [EV] or with hybrid electric vehicles [HEV] · CPC title

• H02J7/50

  acting upon multiple batteries simultaneously or sequentially · CPC title

• B60W2050/0054

  Cut-off filters, retarders, delaying means, dead zones, threshold values or cut-off frequency · CPC title