Methods and systems for an engine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11401903-B2
Application number	US-202016933074-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 20, 2020
Priority date	Jul 22, 2019
Publication date	Aug 2, 2022
Grant date	Aug 2, 2022

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for an engine. In one example, a method of operating an engine of a vehicle, the vehicle comprising a brake pedal, a clutch pedal and a transmission having a neutral position and at least one in-gear position, comprises starting the engine if either the brake pedal of the vehicle is released or the transmission has been in neutral for a predetermined period of time, and the clutch pedal of the vehicle is depressed concurrently with the transmission being moved out of the neutral position into an in-gear position.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method operating an engine of a vehicle, the vehicle comprising a brake pedal, a clutch pedal and a transmission having a neutral position and at least one in-gear position, the method, comprising:
starting a time when the transmission is moved into the neutral position during an engine stop;
determining an amount of time the transmission is in neutral; and
starting the engine from a stop in response to the clutch pedal of the vehicle being depressed concurrently with the transmission being moved out of the neutral position into an in-gear position, wherein the transmission has been in neutral for a predetermined period of time.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising comparing the amount of time the transmission is in neutral to the predetermined time threshold and, starting the engine if the time exceeds the predetermined period of time and, if the clutch pedal of the vehicle is depressed with the transmission being moved out of the neutral position into an in-gear position.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined period of time is 2.5 seconds.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined period of time is an average calculated based on feedback from a plurality of vehicles.

5. A vehicle comprising:
a brake pedal;
a clutch pedal,
a transmission having a neutral position and at least one in-gear position; and
a control unit having instructions stored on non-transitory memory thereof that when executed enable the control unit to:
stop an engine in response to a brake pedal being depressed, an accelerator pedal being released, and the vehicle being stationary;
activate a timer in response to the transmission moving to the neutral position; and
start the engine in response to the clutch pedal of the vehicle being depressed and the transmission being moved out of the neutral position into the at least one in-gear position following a threshold time independent of a position of the brake pedal.

6. The vehicle of claim 5 , further comprising a brake pedal sensor configured to determine the position of the brake pedal, a clutch pedal sensor configured to determine a position of the clutch pedal, and a transmission sensor configured to determine a position of the transmission.

7. The vehicle of claim 6 , wherein the control unit is configured to receive data from the brake pedal sensor, the clutch pedal sensor, and the transmission sensor.

8. The vehicle of claim 5 , wherein the threshold time is associated with a single location.

9. The vehicle of claim 8 , wherein the threshold time is calculated based on feedback from a plurality of vehicles stopped at the single location.

10. The vehicle of claim 5 , wherein the threshold time is based on one or more of a time of day, a location, weather, and a driver behavior.

11. The vehicle of claim 5 , wherein the vehicle is a hybrid vehicle.

12. A system, comprising:
an engine;
a transmission having a neutral position a plurality of driving gears;
a clutch pedal and a clutch pedal sensor configured to sense a position of the clutch pedal;
a brake pedal and a brake pedal sensor configured to sense a position of the brake pedal; and
a controller comprising instructions stored on non-transitory thereof that when executed enable the controller to:
stop the engine in response to the brake pedal being depressed, an accelerator pedal being released, and the vehicle being stationary;
activate a timer in response to the transmission moving to the neutral position; and
start the engine in response to the clutch pedal of the vehicle being depressed and the transmission being moved out of the neutral position into one of the plurality of driving gears following a threshold time independent of the position of the brake pedal, wherein the threshold time is a dynamic.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the threshold time is based on feedback from vehicles of a vehicle fleet, wherein the threshold time is a threshold time of a plurality of threshold times, wherein each threshold time of the plurality of threshold times corresponds to a location.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the location comprises a plurality of location times, each location time categorized by weather, time of day, and driver behavior.

15. The system of claim 12 , wherein the instructions further enable the controller to maintain the stop in response to a time tracked by the timer being less than the threshold time.

16. The system of claim 12 , wherein the brake pedal being released comprises the brake pedal moving to an unpressed position.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the brake pedal moves to the unpressed position at a threshold rate.

18. The system of claim 12 , wherein the clutch pedal being depressed comprises the clutch pedal moving out of an unpressed position.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the clutch pedal moves a threshold distance out of the unpressed position.

20. The system of claim 12 , wherein the brake pedal is unpressed or pressed when the engine is started.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Paisley Gary
• Kwong Hank
• Poudel Dilli
• Pedlar Chris Edward
• Hesketh David

Classifications

• B60W2510/02

  Clutches · CPC title

• B60W2540/12

  Brake pedal position · CPC title

• F02D41/0225

  in relation with the gear ratio or shift lever position · CPC title

• F02N11/0822 Primary

  related to action of the driver · CPC title

• F02N2200/103

  Clutch pedal position · CPC title