Selectively movable electric propulsion motor and method for positioning the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11446996-B2
Application number	US-201916672773-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 4, 2019
Priority date	Nov 4, 2019
Publication date	Sep 20, 2022
Grant date	Sep 20, 2022

Abstract

A powertrain for a vehicle may include a vehicle chassis, a rotatable vehicle drive axle, at least one selectively movable electric propulsion motor having a rotatable motor shaft rotatable about an axis defined by the rotatable vehicle drive axle, a motor actuator connected to the at least one selectively movable electric propulsion motor, and a control system in communication with the motor actuator. The control system may include a memory device in communication with the control system having instructions that when executed by the control system causes the control system to receive at least one input from at least one sensor and instruct the motor actuator to rotate the at least one selectively movable electric propulsion motor based on the at least one input from the sensor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A powertrain for a vehicle comprising:
a rotatable vehicle drive axle;
at least one selectively movable electric propulsion motor comprising a rotatable motor shaft rotatable about an axis defined by the rotatable vehicle drive axle, the at least one selectively movable electric propulsion motor operatively coupled to the rotatable vehicle drive axle, wherein the at least one selectively movable electric propulsion motor is configured to be mounted within a chassis of the vehicle;
a motor actuator connected to the at least one selectively movable electric propulsion motor, the motor actuator configured to move the at least one selectively movable electric propulsion motor about the axis defined by the rotatable vehicle drive axle; and
a control system in communication with the motor actuator and having a memory device in communication with the control system, the memory device storing a control module having instructions that when executed by the control system causes the control system to:
receive at least one input from at least one sensor, and
instruct the motor actuator to rotate the at least one selectively movable electric propulsion motor based on the at least one input.

2. The powertrain of claim 1 , wherein the control module further comprises instructions that when executed by the control system causes the control system to:
determine a noise, vibration, and harshness level from noise, vibration, and harshness information from the at least one sensor,
determine if the noise, vibration, and harshness level is above a target level, and
instruct the motor actuator to rotate the at least one selectively movable electric propulsion motor from a first position to a second position when the noise, vibration, and harshness level is above the target level.

3. The powertrain of claim 2 , wherein the noise, vibration, and harshness information includes at least one of: a noise level at a driver position, a noise level at a front passenger position, a noise level at a rear passenger position, and a noise level external to the vehicle.

4. The powertrain of claim 1 , wherein the control module further comprises instructions that when executed by the control system causes the control system to:
determine a current ground clearance of the vehicle,
determine when additional ground clearance is required based on ground clearance information from the at least one sensor,
determine when the at least one selectively movable electric propulsion motor can be moved to improve ground clearance, and
instruct the motor actuator to rotate the at least one selectively movable electric propulsion motor from a first position to a second position when additional ground clearance is required and the at least one selectively movable electric propulsion motor can be moved to improve ground clearance.

5. The powertrain of claim 4 , wherein the ground clearance information from the at least one sensor includes one or more images of a terrain that is adjacent to the vehicle.

6. The powertrain of claim 1 , wherein the control module further comprises instructions that when executed by the control system causes the control system to:
determine vehicle driving dynamic information from at least one sensor, the vehicle driving dynamic information being based, in part, on a position of the at least one selectively movable electric propulsion motor, and
instruct the motor actuator to rotate the at least one selectively movable electric propulsion motor from a first position to a second position based on the vehicle driving dynamic information.

7. The powertrain of claim 6 , wherein vehicle driving dynamic information includes at least one of: a speed of the vehicle, an acceleration position of the vehicle, a state of charge of the vehicle, a current position of the at least one selectively movable electric propulsion motor, a steering angle of the vehicle, a driving mode of the vehicle, a wheel slip of the vehicle, and a yaw rate of the vehicle.

8. The powertrain of claim 6 , wherein:
the at least one selectively movable electric propulsion motor includes a right selectively movable electric propulsion motor and a left selectively movable electric propulsion motor; and
the control module further comprises instructions that when executed by the control system causes the control system to:
determine based on the vehicle driving dynamic information when the vehicle is turning at least one of left and right,
when the vehicle is turning right, rotate the left selectively movable electric propulsion motor rearward of the rotatable vehicle drive axle and rotate the right selectively movable electric propulsion motor forward of the rotatable vehicle drive axle, and
when the vehicle is turning left, rotate the right selectively movable electric propulsion motor rearward of the rotatable vehicle drive axle and rotate the left selectively movable electric propulsion motor forward of the rotatable vehicle drive axle.

9. The powertrain of claim 6 , wherein the control module further comprises instructions that when executed by the control system causes the control system to:
determine based on the vehicle driving dynamic information when the vehicle is at least one of decelerating and accelerating,
when the vehicle is accelerating, rotate the at least one selectively movable electric propulsion motor forward of the rotatable vehicle drive axle, and
when the vehicle is decelerating, rotate the at least one selectively movable electric propulsion motor rearward of the rotatable vehicle drive axle.

10. The powertrain of claim 1 , wherein the control module further comprises instructions that when executed by the control system causes the control system to:
determine a vehicle operating temperature from the at least one sensor, and
instruct the motor actuator to rotate the at least one selectively movable electric propulsion motor from a first position to a second position when the vehicle operating temperature is above a target temperature.

11. The powertrain of claim 10 , wherein vehicle operating temperature includes at least one of: an internal combustion engine temperature, a temperature of the at least one selectively movable electric propulsion motor, an inverter temperature, a transmission temperature, a battery temperature.

12. The powertrain of claim 1 , wherein the control module further comprises instructions that when executed by the control system causes the control system to:
determine vehicle aerodynamic information from at least one sensor, the vehicle aerodynamic information being based on a position of the at least one selectively movable electric propulsion motor, and
instruct the motor actuator to rotate the at least one selectively movable electric propulsion motor from a first position to a second position based on the vehicle aerodynamic information.

13. The powertrain of claim 12 , wherein the vehicle aerodynamic information includes at least one of: a speed of the vehicle, an acceleration position of the vehicle, a state of charge of the vehicle, a current position of the at least one selectively movable electric propulsion motor, ground clearance of the vehicle, a driving mode of the vehicle, a suspension position of the vehicle.

14. The powertrain of claim 1 , further comprising:
a torque ripple motor for reducing vibration;
the at least one selectively movable electric propulsion motor includes a right selectively movable electric propulsion motor and a left selectively movable electric propulsion motor, the torque ripple motor located between the right selectively movable electric propulsion motor an

Assignees

• Toyota Eng & Mfg North America

Inventors

• Gaither Geoffrey David
• Macarthur Robert C

Classifications

• B60W2520/105

  Longitudinal acceleration · CPC title

• B60G2401/142

  Visual Display Camera, e.g. LCD · CPC title

• B60G2800/016

  Yawing condition · CPC title

• B60K1/02 Primary

  comprising more than one electric motor · CPC title

• B60G17/015

  the regulating means comprising electric or electronic elements ({B60G17/002}, B60G17/005 take precedence) · CPC title