Vehicle powertrain control system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11209054-B1
Application number	US-202016928715-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jul 14, 2020
Priority date	Jul 14, 2020
Publication date	Dec 28, 2021
Grant date	Dec 28, 2021

Abstract

A vehicle includes a transmission, an engine, a disconnect clutch, an inertial measurement unit, and a controller. The transmission has an input shaft and an output shaft. The engine is configured to generate and deliver torque to the input shaft. The disconnect clutch is configured to connect and disconnect the engine from the input shaft. The disconnect clutch is also configured to crank the engine during an engine start. The inertial measurement unit is configured to measure inertial forces exerted onto the vehicle. The controller is programmed to, in response to a command to adjust a torque of the disconnect clutch to a desired value that is derived from the inertial forces and a vehicle velocity, drive the clutch actuator pressure to a value that corresponds to the desired value.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle comprising:
a powertrain having,
a transmission having an input and an output,
an engine configured to generate and deliver torque to the input,
an electric machine configured to generate and deliver torque to the input, and
a disconnect clutch configured to connect and disconnect the engine from the input, and to crank the engine during an engine start;

an inertial measurement unit configured to measure inertial forces exerted onto the vehicle; and
a controller programmed to,
in response to a demanded torque at the output, control the torque at the output based on a mapped relationship between the inertial forces and a vehicle velocity, wherein the mapped relationship between the inertial forces and the vehicle velocity utilizes first, second, third, and fourth mapping parameters,
in response to a command to start the engine, close the disconnect clutch to start the engine, calculate the torque of the disconnect clutch based on the controlled torque at the output and an electric machine torque, and map the relationship between the torque of the disconnect clutch and a clutch actuator pressure to derive or adjust a transfer function that represents the relationship between the torque of the disconnect clutch and the clutch actuator pressure, and
in response to a command to adjust the torque of the disconnect clutch to a desired value, adjust the clutch actuator pressure to a value that corresponds to the desired value according to the transfer function.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to derive or adjust the transfer function utilizing a Kalman filter.

3. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to derive or adjust the transfer function utilizing a recursive least square method.

4. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to derive or adjust the transfer function utilizing a batch mode regression method.

5. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to derive or adjust the transfer function only during engine starts that correlate with a steady state condition of the vehicle.

6. The vehicle of claim 5 , wherein the steady state condition of the vehicle corresponds to a non-braking condition of the vehicle.

7. The vehicle of claim 5 , wherein the steady state condition of the vehicle corresponds to a non-shifting condition of the transmission.

8. The vehicle of claim 5 , wherein the steady state condition of the vehicle corresponds to a pre-determined range of steering condition of the vehicle.

9. A vehicle comprising:
a transmission having an input shaft and an output shaft;
an engine configured to generate and deliver torque to the input shaft;
a disconnect clutch configured to connect and disconnect the engine from the input shaft, and to crank the engine during an engine start;
an inertial measurement unit configured to measure inertial forces exerted onto the vehicle; and
a controller programmed to, in response to a command to adjust a torque of the disconnect clutch to a desired value that is derived from the inertial forces and a vehicle velocity, drive a clutch actuator pressure to a value that corresponds to the desired value.

10. The vehicle of claim 9 , wherein the controller is further programmed to, map the relationship between the torque of the disconnect clutch and the clutch actuator pressure based on the inertial forces and the vehicle velocity to derive or adjust a transfer function that represents the relationship between the torque of the disconnect clutch and the clutch actuator pressure.

11. The vehicle of claim 10 , wherein the controller is configured to derive or adjust the transfer function utilizing a Kalman filter, a recursive least square method, or a batch mode regression method.

12. The vehicle of claim 10 , wherein the controller is configured to derive or adjust the transfer function during engine starts that correlate with a steady state condition of the vehicle.

13. The vehicle of claim 12 , wherein the steady state condition of the vehicle corresponds to a non-braking condition of the vehicle.

14. The vehicle of claim 12 , wherein the steady state condition of the vehicle corresponds to a non-shifting condition of the transmission.

15. The vehicle of claim 12 , wherein the steady state condition of the vehicle corresponds to a pre-determined range of steering condition of the vehicle.

16. A vehicle comprising:
a transmission having an input and an output;
an engine and an electric machine, each configured to generate and deliver torque to the input;
a disconnect clutch configured to connect and disconnect the engine from the input, and to crank the engine during an engine start;
an inertial measurement unit configured to measure inertial forces exerted onto the vehicle; and
a controller programmed to,
in response to a demanded torque at the output, control the torque at the output based on a mapped relationship between the inertial forces and a vehicle velocity,
in response to a command to start the engine, close the disconnect clutch to start the engine, calculate the torque of the disconnect clutch based on the controlled torque at the output and an electric machine torque, and map the relationship between the torque of the disconnect clutch and a clutch actuator pressure to derive or adjust a gain value and an offset value of a transfer function that represents the relationship between the torque of the disconnect clutch and the clutch actuator pressure, and
in response to a command to adjust the torque of the disconnect clutch to a desired value, adjust the clutch actuator pressure to a value that corresponds to the desired value according to the transfer function.

17. The vehicle of claim 16 , wherein the controller is configured to adjust the gain value and the offset value utilizing a Kalman filter, a recursive least square method, or a batch mode regression method.

18. The vehicle of claim 16 , wherein the controller is configured to derive or adjust the transfer function only during engine starts that correlate with a non-braking condition of the vehicle.

19. The vehicle of claim 16 , wherein the controller is configured to derive or adjust the transfer function only during engine starts that correlate with a non-shifting condition of the transmission.

20. The vehicle of claim 16 , wherein the controller is configured to derive or adjust the transfer function only during engine starts that correlate with a pre-determined range of steering condition of the vehicle.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Zhang Yijing
• Chen Fengyi
• Riedle Bradley Dean
• Chen Weitian
• Fujii Yuji

Classifications

• B60W2710/105

  Output torque · CPC title

• B60W2710/027

  Clutch torque · CPC title

• B60W2510/083

  Torque · CPC title

• B60W40/105

  Speed · CPC title

• B60W10/02

  including control of driveline clutches · CPC title