Systems and methods for predicting a disconnect clutch time to connection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12583439-B2
Application number	US-202418635466-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 15, 2024
Priority date	Apr 15, 2024
Publication date	Mar 24, 2026
Grant date	Mar 24, 2026

Abstract

A method including the determination of a predicted time associated with a completion of an engine-start, the causation of an engine to transition into torque control in response to a difference between a calibration-time period associated with the predicted time and a time-to-connection associated with an engine-start time period, the causation of a disconnect clutch to lock in response to the calibration-time period being within a range of the time-to-connection associated with the engine-start time period, and the transmission of a report that the disconnect clutch is locked.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
determining a predicted time associated with a completion of an engine-start based on a request to initiate the engine-start; causing an engine to transition into torque control in response to a difference between a calibration-time period associated with the predicted time and a time-to-connection associated with an engine-start time period; causing a disconnect clutch to lock in response to the calibration-time period being within a range of the time-to-connection associated with the engine-start time period; and transmitting a report that the disconnect clutch is locked.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting a step-out motor torque request based on the difference between the calibration-time period and the time-to-connection associated with the engine-start time period, wherein the transmission of the step-out motor request is further based on one or more errors, wherein the one or more errors include the time-to-connection associated with the engine-start time period falling below the calibration-time period, a communication delay, a controller area network delay, a response delay, or a combination thereof.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein causing the disconnect clutch to lock is based on the calibration-time period being concurrent with the time-to-connection associated with the engine-start time period.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining the difference between the calibration-time period and the time-to-connection associated with the engine-start time period based on one or more errors, wherein the one or more errors include the time-to-connection associated with the engine-start time period being outside of the calibration-time period, a communication delay, a controller area network delay, a response delay, or a combination thereof.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the predicted time associated with the completion of the engine-start further comprises:
determining a slip rate based on an impeller speed and an engine speed; or determining a slip rate based on an impeller speed and a target engine speed.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the determination of the predicted time is further based on dividing the slip rate by a derivative of the slip rate.

7 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
applying one or more condition-based variables to the impeller speed or the engine speed based on one or more historic slip rates, wherein the one or more condition-based variables include a filter variable, an offset variable, one or more input parameters, or a combination thereof.

8 . A system comprising:
a vehicle controller configured to: determine a predicted time associated with a completion of an engine-start based on a request to initiate the engine-start; cause an engine to transition into torque control in response to a difference between a calibration-time period associated with the predicted time and a time-to-connection associated with an engine-start time period; cause a disconnect clutch to lock in response to the calibration-time period being within a range of the time-to-connection associated with the engine-start time period; and transmit a report that the disconnect clutch is locked.

9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the vehicle controller is further configured to:
transmit a step-out motor torque request based on the difference between the calibration-time period and the time-to-connection associated with the engine-start time period, wherein the transmission of the step-out motor request is further based on one or more errors, wherein the one or more errors include the time-to-connection associated with the engine-start time period falling below the calibration-time period, a communication delay, a controller area network delay, a response delay, or a combination thereof.

10 . The system of claim 8 , wherein causing the disconnect clutch to lock is based on the calibration-time period being concurrent with the time-to-connection associated with the engine-start time period.

11 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the vehicle controller is further configured to:
determine the difference between the calibration-time period and the time-to-connection associated with the engine-start time period based on one or more errors, wherein the one or more errors include the time-to-connection associated with the engine-start time period being outside of the calibration-time period, a communication delay, a controller area network delay, a response delay, or a combination thereof.

12 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the vehicle controller configured to determine the predicted time associated with the completion of the engine-start is further configured to:
determine a slip rate based on an impeller speed and an engine speed; or determine a slip rate based on an impeller speed and a target engine speed.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the determination of the predicted time is further based on dividing the slip rate by a derivative of the slip rate.

14 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the vehicle controller is further configured to:
apply one or more condition-based variables to the impeller speed or the engine speed based on one or more historic slip rates, wherein the one or more condition-based variables include a filter variable, an offset variable, one or more input parameters, or a combination thereof.

15 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
determine a predicted time associated with a completion of an engine-start based on a request to initiate the engine-start; cause an engine to transition into torque control in response to a difference between a calibration-time period associated with the predicted time and a time-to-connection associated with an engine-start time period; cause a disconnect clutch to lock in response to the calibration-time period being within a range of the time-to-connection associated with the engine-start time period, wherein causing the disconnect clutch to lock is based on the calibration-time period being concurrent with the time-to-connection associated with the engine-start time period; and transmit a report that the disconnect clutch is locked.

16 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15 , wherein the at least one processor is further caused to:
transmit a step-out motor torque request based on the difference between the calibration-time period and the time-to-connection associated with the engine-start time period, wherein the transmission of the step-out motor request is further based on one or more errors, wherein the one or more errors include the time-to-connection associated with the engine-start time period falling below the calibration-time period, a communication delay, a controller area network delay, a response delay, or a combination thereof.

17 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15 , wherein the at least one processor is further caused to:
determine the difference between the calibration-time period and the time-to-connection associated with the engine-start time period based on one or more errors, wherein the one or more errors include the time-to-connection associated with the engine-start time period being outside of the calibration-time period, a communication delay, a controller area network delay, a response delay, or a combination the

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Blue Corey James
• Glauber Samuel Melville
• Farahmand Sassan
• Syed Fazal Urrahman
• Baxendale Timothy
• Sinisi Zachary John

Classifications

• B60W10/06

  including control of combustion engines · CPC title

• B60W2710/083

  Torque · CPC title

• B60W2710/06

  Combustion engines, Gas turbines · CPC title

• B60W2510/0638

  Engine speed · CPC title

• B60W10/08

  including control of electric propulsion units, e.g. motors or generators · CPC title