Propulsion torque distribution system providing remedial action

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11745591-B2
Application number	US-202117329668-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 25, 2021
Priority date	May 25, 2021
Publication date	Sep 5, 2023
Grant date	Sep 5, 2023

Abstract

A propulsion torque distribution system for a vehicle includes a controller in electronic communication with a plurality of vehicle systems. The controller executes instructions to receive at least one or more computational faults, one or more sensor faults, and a driver torque request. In response to receiving at least one of the one or more computational faults and the one or more sensor faults, the controller determines a fault that affects calculation of a primary torque request has occurred. In response to determining the fault that affects calculation of the primary torque request has occurred, the controller determines a severity of the fault. The controller determines a remedial state based on the severity of the fault. The remedial state indicates a corresponding action that is executed by the propulsion torque distribution system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A propulsion torque distribution system for a vehicle, wherein the vehicle includes a plurality of torque distribution motors, the propulsion torque distribution system comprising:
a controller in electronic communication with a plurality of vehicle systems, wherein the controller executes instructions to:
receive at least one of the following: one or more computational faults and one or more sensor faults in combination with a driver torque request, wherein the driver torque request indicates a total torque that a propulsion system of the vehicle is required to produce;
in response to receiving at least one of the one or more computational faults and the one or more sensor faults, determine a fault that affects calculation of a primary torque request has occurred, wherein and the primary torque request allocates the total torque between the torque distribution motors of the vehicle;
in response to determining the fault that affects calculation of the primary torque request has occurred, determine a severity of the fault;
determine a remedial state based on the severity of the fault, wherein the remedial state indicates a corresponding action that is executed by the propulsion torque distribution system;
classify the severity of the fault into one of a plurality of fault classifications, wherein the remedial state is determined based on a specific fault classification, and wherein the propulsion torque distribution system retains an all-wheel drive capability of the vehicle based on the severity of the fault, wherein the fault is classified as a third fault classification that coincides with being unable to determine the primary torque request; and
in response to classifying the fault as the third fault classification, determine a lateral acceleration estimate and a longitudinal acceleration estimate of the vehicle based on sensor data from the plurality of vehicle systems.

2. The propulsion torque distribution system of claim 1 , wherein the controller executes instructions to:
classify the severity of the fault as a first fault classification that coincides with a minor fault only requiring notification to a driver of the vehicle, wherein the minor fault requires no corrective action by the propulsion torque distribution system.

3. The propulsion torque distribution system of claim 1 , wherein the controller executes instructions to:
classify the severity of the fault as a second fault classification that coincides with requiring an alternative sensor input for determining the primary torque request.

4. The propulsion torque distribution system of claim 1 , wherein the controller executes instructions to:
compare a road wheel angle rate with a threshold wheel angle rate saved in a memory of the controller;
in response to determining the road wheel angle rate is greater than the threshold wheel angle rate, determine the vehicle is undergoing a countersteer event; and
in response to determining the vehicle is undergoing a countersteer event, filter the lateral acceleration estimate.

5. The propulsion torque distribution system of claim 4 , wherein the controller executes instructions to:
interpolate the lateral acceleration estimate and the longitudinal acceleration estimate to determine a base front-rear torque distribution;
interpolate the lateral acceleration estimate and a vehicle reference speed to determine a speed correction offset; and
combine the base front-rear torque distribution with the speed correction offset to determine a torque distribution.

6. The propulsion torque distribution system of claim 5 , wherein the controller executes instructions to:
multiply the torque distribution by a total driver torque request to determine a remedial torque request that is used in place of the primary torque request.

7. The propulsion torque distribution system of claim 6 , wherein the driver torque request indicates the total torque that a propulsion system of the vehicle is required to produce based on a throttle pedal input.

8. The propulsion torque distribution system of claim 6 , wherein the controller executes instructions to:
monitor the propulsion torque distribution system to determine when a torque transition is active; and
in response to determining the torque transition has occurred, replace the primary torque request with the remedial torque request.

9. The propulsion torque distribution system of claim 6 , wherein the controller executes instructions to:
monitor the propulsion torque distribution system to determine when a torque transition is active; and
in response to determining the torque transition is active, execute a torque blending operation.

10. The propulsion torque distribution system of claim 9 , wherein the torque blending operation includes:
determining a fore-aft torque vectoring fraction and a left-right torque vectoring fraction for each torque distribution motor that is part of the vehicle.

11. The propulsion torque distribution system of claim 10 , wherein the torque blending operation includes:
increasing a value of a previously calculated fore-aft torque vectoring fraction and a previously calculated left-right torque vectoring fraction stored in memory by an incremental value until the value of the previously calculated fore-aft torque vectoring fraction is equal to the fore-aft torque vectoring fraction and the previously calculated left-right torque vectoring fraction is equal to the left-right torque vectoring fraction.

12. The propulsion torque distribution system of claim 1 , wherein the controller executes instructions to:
classify the severity of the fault as a fourth fault classification that indicates that the primary torque request is unable to be determined.

13. The propulsion torque distribution system of claim 12 , wherein the controller executes instructions to:
set a remedial torque request to a constant front-rear torque distribution; and
substitute the primary torque request with the remedial torque request.

14. The propulsion torque distribution system of claim 1 , wherein the controller executes instructions to:
classify the severity of the fault as a fifth fault classification that coincides with a fault that prevents the plurality of torque distribution motors from generating torque.

15. The propulsion torque distribution system of claim 14 , wherein the controller further executes instructions to:
in response to determining the severity of the fault is classified as the fifth fault classification, set a remedial torque request to zero, wherein the remedial torque request is used in place of the primary torque request.

16. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions that when executed by the processing circuit perform method operations, comprising:
receiving at least one of the following: one or more computational faults and one or more sensor faults in combination with a driver torque request for a vehicle, wherein the driver torque request indicates a total torque that a propulsion system of the vehicle is required to produce;
in response to receiving at least one of the one or more computational faults and the one or more sensor faults, determining a fault that affects calculation of a primary torque request has occurred, wherein and the primary torque request allocates the total torque between a plurality of torque distribution motors of the vehicle;
in response to determining the fault that affects calculation of the primary torque request has occurred, determining a severity of the fault;
determining a r

Assignees

• Gm Global Tech Operations Llc

Inventors

• Bangala Daniel Marius
• Hu Yiran
• Song Sirui
• Brymer Matthew James Meakin

Classifications

• B60L3/0038 Primary

  relating to sensors · CPC title

• B60L15/20

  for control of the vehicle or its driving motor to achieve a desired performance, e.g. speed, torque, programmed variation of speed · CPC title

• B60L2240/16

  longitudinal · CPC title

• B60L2240/18

  lateral · CPC title

• B60L2240/24

  Steering angle · CPC title