Vehicle distance-to-empty prediction system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11433778-B2
Application number	US-202017020261-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 14, 2020
Priority date	Sep 14, 2020
Publication date	Sep 6, 2022
Grant date	Sep 6, 2022

Abstract

A vehicle includes an electric machine, a battery, a power takeoff, a display unit, and a controller. The electric machine is configured to propel the vehicle. The battery is configured to provide electrical power to the electric machine. The power takeoff is configured to transfer power from the battery to one or more external devices. The display unit is configured to display a distance-to-empty. The controller is programmed to, adjust the distance-to-empty based on an expected energy use of the one or more external devices.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle comprising:
an electric machine configured to propel the vehicle;
a battery configured to provide electrical power to the electric machine;
a power takeoff configured to transfer power from the battery to one or more external devices that are connected to the power takeoff;
an inverter circuit configured transfer power from the battery to the electric machine and from the battery to the power takeoff;
a controller programmed to,
estimate a distance-to-empty based on a charge of the battery,
estimate an expected energy use of the one or more external devices,
adjust the distance-to-empty based on the expected energy use of the one or more external devices, and
in response to a difference between a measured power along the inverter circuit being delivered to the power takeoff and an expected power use of the one or more external devices, which is based on the expected energy use, being greater than a threshold, override adjusting the distance-to-empty based on the expected energy use and adjust the distance-to-empty based on the measured power; and

a display configured to display the adjusted distance-to-empty.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 further comprising a human machine interface configured to receive a user input that corresponds to the expected energy use of the one or more external devices.

3. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the controller is programmed to estimate the expected energy use of the one or more external devices based on a historical energy usage of the one or more external devices during previous drive cycles.

4. The vehicle of claim 3 , wherein the estimate of the expected energy use of the one or more external devices is based on an average of the historical energy usage of the one or more external devices during previous drive cycles.

5. The vehicle of claim 3 , wherein the historical energy usage of the one or more external devices includes devices that are connected to and devices that are disconnected from the power takeoff.

6. The vehicle of claim 3 , wherein the historical energy usage of the one or more external devices only includes devices that are connected to the power takeoff.

7. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further programmed to, in response to one of the external devices being disconnected from the power takeoff, decrease an expected energy use of the disconnected external device to zero and adjust the distance-to-empty based on setting the expected energy use of the disconnected external device to zero.

8. A vehicle comprising:
an electric machine configured to propel the vehicle;
a battery configured to provide electrical power to the electric machine;
a power takeoff configured to transfer power from the battery to one or more external devices;
a display unit configured to display a distance-to-empty; and
a controller programmed to,
adjust the distance-to-empty based on an expected energy use of the one or more external devices, and
in response to a difference between a measured power being delivered to the power takeoff and an expected power use of the one or more external devices, which is based on the expected energy use, being greater than a threshold, override adjusting the distance-to-empty based on the expected energy use and adjust the distance-to-empty based on the measured power.

9. The vehicle of claim 8 further comprising a human machine interface configured to receive a user input that corresponds to the expected energy use of the one or more external devices.

10. The vehicle of claim 8 , wherein the controller is programmed to estimate the expected energy use of the one or more external devices based on a historical energy usage of the one or more external devices during previous drive cycles.

11. The vehicle of claim 10 , wherein the estimate of the expected energy use of the one or more external devices is based on an average of the historical energy usage of the one or more external devices during previous drive cycles.

12. The vehicle of claim 10 , wherein the historical energy usage of the one or more external devices includes devices that are connected to and devices that are disconnected from the power takeoff.

13. The vehicle of claim 10 , wherein the historical energy usage of the one or more external devices only includes devices that are connected to the power takeoff.

14. The vehicle of claim 8 , wherein the controller is further programmed to, in response to one of the external devices being disconnected from the power takeoff, decrease an expected energy use of the disconnected external device to zero and adjust the distance-to-empty based on setting the expected energy use of the disconnected external device to zero.

15. A method of adjusting a distance-to-empty of an electric vehicle comprising:
calculating the distance-to-empty via a controller based on a charge of a propulsion battery of the electric vehicle;
estimating an expected energy use via the controller of one or more external devices that are configured to draw power from the propulsion battery when connected to a power takeoff of the electric vehicle;
adjusting the distance-to-empty via the controller based on the expected energy use of the one or more external devices;
in response to a difference between a measured power being delivered to the power takeoff and an expected power use of the one or more external devices, which is based on the expected energy use, being greater than a threshold, override adjusting the distance-to-empty via the controller based on the expected energy use and adjust the distance-to-empty via the controller based on the measured power; and
displaying the distance-to-empty on a display unit.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the expected energy use is based on a user input that corresponds to the expected energy use of the one or more external devices.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the estimate of the expected energy use of the one or more external devices is based on a historical energy usage of the one or more external devices during previous drive cycles.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the estimate of the expected energy use of the one or more external devices is based on an average of the historical energy usage of the one or more external devices during previous drive cycles.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Salter Stuart C
• Howard-Cone Katherine
• Campanaro Justin Carmen
• Biberstein Erik
• Hunt Ryan

Classifications

• B60W50/14

  Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention · CPC title

• B60L58/12 Primary

  responding to state of charge [SoC] · CPC title

• B60L2250/16

  by display · CPC title

• B60L3/12 Primary

  Recording operating variables {; Monitoring of operating variables} · CPC title

• B60L2260/54

  Energy consumption estimation · CPC title