Systems and methods for tire warmup and vehicle launch optimization

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11845310-B2
Application number	US-201816164471-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 18, 2018
Priority date	Oct 18, 2018
Publication date	Dec 19, 2023
Grant date	Dec 19, 2023

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for warming vehicle tires prior to a vehicle launch event. In one example, a method may include, in response to an initiation of a burn out event while locking non-driven wheel brakes, adjusting a spinning of driven wheels based on vehicle performance parameters measured during a previous vehicle launch. In this way, a vehicle controller may control the tire warming to increase tire traction while reducing tire wear.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
while locking non-driven wheel brakes and maintaining a vehicle stationary, receiving a request initiating a burn out event, and delivering an amount of torque to driven wheels to spin the driven wheels of the vehicle for a predetermined duration while preventing the vehicle from launching by maintaining the vehicle stationary and the non-driven wheel brakes locked,
wherein spinning the driven wheels of the vehicle for the predetermined duration responsive to the request initiating the burn out event includes heating the driven wheels to a desired temperature prior to the launching of the vehicle;
where parameters for the spinning of the driven wheels during the burn out event, including the predetermined duration for spinning of the driven wheels and the amount of torque delivered to the driven wheels during the burn out event, are parameters that have already been adjusted based on a vehicle performance during a previous vehicle launch;
wherein the parameters have already been adjusted at least by individually increasing or decreasing a speed of the driven wheels to reach toward equalized tire temperatures and maintain a straight attitude in response to the vehicle performance during the previous vehicle launch; and
after completing the burn out event, carrying out a launch event by releasing the non-driven wheel brakes in response to the predetermioned duration of the spinning elapsing and launching the vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the request initiating the burn out event includes depression of an accelerator pedal while a line-lock is enabled and a brake pedal is not depressed.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in response to the predetermined duration of the spinning elapsing, accelerating the vehicle for a duration; and
estimating an amount of tire slip based on vehicle speed measurements obtained during the predetermined duration.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle performance during the previous vehicle launch includes a first longitudinal vehicle speed measurement and a second longitudinal vehicle speed measurement, the first longitudinal vehicle speed measurement and the second longitudinal vehicle speed measurement including time-matched values obtained from a first sensor and a second sensor, respectively, during the previous vehicle launch.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the adjusting at least one of the rotational speed of the driven wheels and the predetermined duration of the spinning includes increasing at least one of the rotational speed of the driven wheels and the predetermined duration of the spinning as a difference between the first longitudinal vehicle speed measurement and the second longitudinal vehicle speed measurement increases.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the vehicle performance during the previous vehicle launch further includes a coefficient of friction measurement obtained during the previous vehicle launch, a lateral vehicle speed measurement determined from an output of the radar odometry sensor obtained during the previous vehicle launch, and a yaw rate measurement determined from the output of the radar odometry sensor obtained during the previous vehicle launch.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the adjusting at least one of the rotational speed of the rear wheels and the duration of the spinning includes increasing at least one of the rotational speed of the driven wheels and the duration of the spinning as the lateral vehicle speed measurement and/or the yaw rate measurement increases.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the driven wheels alternate between front vehicle wheels and rear vehicle wheels based on a drive mode selection and whether a first disconnect clutch or a second disconnect clutch is engaged.

9. A method, comprising:
determining a request for a vehicle launch event, and accelerating a vehicle from rest in response to determining the request for the vehicle launch event;
measuring launch performance parameters including tire slip during the vehicle launch event of the vehicle via a wheel speed sensor and a radar odometry sensor;
adjusting burn out parameters for a burn out event that is a next burn out event following the vehicle launch event, where the burn out parameters for the burn out event are adjusted based on the measured launch performance parameters, and where the adjusted burn out parameters include a predetermined duration for the burn out event and an amount of torque to deliver to spin driven wheels of the vehicle for the burn out event;
wherein the burn out parameters are adjusted at least by individually increasing or decreasing a speed of the driven wheels to reach toward equalized tire temperatures and maintain a straight attitude in response to vehicle performance during the previous vehicle launch event;
determining a request to initiate the burn out event, and performing the burn out event with the adjusted burn out parameters responsive to determining the request to initiate the burn out event, wherein performing the burn out event includes preventing the vehicle from launching by locking wheel brakes of non-driven wheels, and delivering the amount of torque to spin the driven wheels of the vehicle for the predetermined duration based on the adjusted burn out parameters while the wheel brakes of the non-driven wheels are locked and the vehicle is maintained substantially stationary;
wherein spinning the driven wheels of the vehicle for the predetermined duration includes heating the driven wheels to a desired teemperature prior to the next vehicle launch event; and
performing a next vehicle launch event of the vehicle responsive to completion of the burn out event.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the launch event includes accelerating the vehicle from rest at a greater than threshold acceleration before a threshold duration elapses since a previous burn out event.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
during the next burn out event, spinning driven wheels of the vehicle at the adjusted driven wheel rotational speed for the adjusted burn out duration while holding non-driven wheels of the vehicle stationary for the adjusted burn out duration.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the launch performance parameters include a first vehicle speed and a second vehicle speed, the first vehicle speed and the second vehicle speed including time-matched longitudinal vehicle speed measurements from the wheel speed sensor and the radar odometry sensor, respectively.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein adjusting the burn out parameters for the next burn out event based on the measured launch performance parameters include adjusting one or more of the driven wheel rotational speed during the burn out and the burn out duration based on a difference between the first vehicle speed and the second vehicle speed.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the launch performance parameters further include a lateral vehicle speed and a yaw rate, each of the lateral vehicle speed and the yaw rate measured via the radar odometry sensor, and wherein adjusting the burn out parameters for the next burn out event based on the measured launch performance parameters includes further adjusting one or more of the driven wheel rotational speed during the burn out and the burn out duration based on the lateral vehicle speed and the yaw rate.

15. A system, comprising:
an engine configured to propel a vehicle via a plurality of wheels, the plurality of wheels including one or more front wheels and one or more rear wheels;
a braking system, including a brake

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Glugla Christopher Paul
• Surnilla Gopichandra

Classifications

• B60C99/003 Primary

  Tyre heating arrangements · CPC title

• B60C23/0476

  Temperature compensation of measured pressure values · CPC title

• B60C23/20

  Devices for measuring or signalling tyre temperature {only} · CPC title

• B60C2019/004

  Tyre sensors other than for detecting tyre pressure · CPC title

• B60W10/06 Primary

  including control of combustion engines · CPC title