Method and system for controlling a hybrid vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2015239460-A1
Application number	US-201414187367-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 24, 2014
Priority date	Feb 24, 2014
Publication date	Aug 27, 2015
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method for controlling a hybrid vehicle includes the following: (a) receiving route data regarding a desired trip; (b) determining a load distribution along the desired trip based on the route data; (c) determining a load threshold based on the load distribution along the desired trip; (d) determining a charge depleting operating threshold based on a state of charge of the energy storage device; (e) commanding the powertrain to shift from a charge-depleting mode to a charge-sustaining mode when a load of the hybrid vehicle is equal to or greater than the load threshold; and (f) commanding the powertrain to shift from the charge-sustaining mode to the charge-depleting mode when the hybrid vehicle has traveled a distance that is greater than or equal to the charge-depleting operating threshold since the powertrain shifted from the charge-depleting mode to the charge-sustaining mode.

First claim

1 . A method of controlling a hybrid vehicle, the hybrid vehicle including a powertrain, the powertrain including an internal combustion engine, an electric-motor generator, a control module, and an energy storage device, the energy storage device being configured to supply electrical energy to the electric motor-generator, the method comprising:
receiving, via the control module, route data regarding a desired trip, the route data including a desired destination; determining, via the control module, a load distribution along the desired trip based, at least in part, on the route data; determining, via the control module, a driving cycle of the hybrid vehicle based, at least in part, on the route data, wherein the driving cycle is a series of data points representing a speed of the vehicle versus time for the desired trip; determining, via the control module, a load threshold based, at least in part, on the load distribution along the desired trip; determining, via the control module, a charge-depleting operating threshold based, at least in part, on a state of charge of the energy storage device; commanding the powertrain, via the control module, to shift from a charge-depleting mode to a charge-sustaining mode when a load of the hybrid vehicle is equal to or greater than the load threshold, wherein the hybrid vehicle uses energy from the energy storage device when operating in the charge-depleting mode, and the hybrid vehicle only uses energy from the internal combustion engine when operating in the charge-sustaining mode; and commanding the powertrain, via the control module, to shift from the charge-sustaining mode to the charge-depleting mode when the hybrid vehicle has traveled a distance that is greater than or equal to the charge-depleting operating threshold since the powertrain shifted from the charge-depleting mode to the charge-sustaining mode.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining if the route data is sufficiently accurate to provide a user with a route corresponding to the desired trip.

3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising determining a route based, at least in part, on the route data.

4 . (canceled)

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining, via the control module, a charge-depleting range of the hybrid vehicle based, at least in part, on the route data, the state of charge of the energy storage device, and the driving cycle.

6 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising comparing, via the control module, the charge-depleting range with a trip length of the desired trip in order to determine if the trip length is greater than the charge-depleting range, wherein the charge-depleting range is a driving range that the hybrid vehicle can travel along the route while operating in the charge-depleting mode.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein determining the load distribution is performed if the trip length is greater than the charge-depleting range.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the load distribution is based, at least in part, on the driving cycle, and the load distribution is a series of data points representing the load of the hybrid vehicle versus time along the desired trip.

9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising determining an arithmetic mean position of all the data points in the load distribution for the driving cycle, wherein the arithmetic mean position includes a first coordinate corresponding to the load of the hybrid vehicle and a second coordinate corresponding to time.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the load threshold is based, at least in part, on the charge-depleting range.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the charge-depleting operating threshold is based, at least in part, on the charge-depleting range and the load threshold.

12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising comparing the second coordinate of the arithmetic mean position to a midpoint of the desired trip in order to determine if the first coordinate is less than the midpoint of the desired trip.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein commanding the powertrain, via the control module, to shift from the charge-depleting mode to the charge-sustaining mode is conducted if the second coordinate of the arithmetic mean position is less than the midpoint of the desired trip.

14 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the load threshold is a first load threshold, and the method further comprises determining a second load threshold based on the charge-depleting range, and the powertrain is commanded to shift from the charge-sustaining mode to the charge-depleting mode when the load of the hybrid vehicle is less than the second load threshold.

15 . A method of controlling a hybrid vehicle, the hybrid vehicle including a powertrain, the powertrain including an internal combustion engine, an electric-motor generator, a control module, and an energy storage device, the energy storage device being configured to supply electrical energy to the electric motor-generator, the method comprising:
receiving, via the control module, route data regarding a desired trip, the route data including a desired destination; determining a route based, at least in part, on the route data: determining, via the control module, a driving cycle of the hybrid vehicle based, at least in part, on the route, wherein the driving cycle is a series of data points representing a speed of the vehicle versus time for the desired trip; determining, via the control module, a load distribution along the desired trip based, at least in part, on the route data; determining, via the control module, a load threshold based, at least in part, on the load distribution along the desired trip; determining, via the control module, a charge-depleting operating threshold based, at least in part, on a state of charge of the energy storage device; commanding the powertrain, via the control module, to adjust a charge-depletion rate from an initial charge-depletion rate to an adjusted charge-depletion rate when a load of the hybrid vehicle is equal to or greater than the load threshold, wherein the charge-depletion rate is a rate at which a state of charge of the energy storage device decreases when the hybrid vehicle uses energy from the internal combustion engine and the energy storage device; and commanding the powertrain, via the control module, to adjust the charge-depletion rate from the adjusted charge-depletion to the initial charge depletion when a time elapsed since the powertrain adjusted the charge-depletion rate is greater than or equal to the charge-depleting operating threshold.

16 . (canceled)

17 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising determining, via the control module, a charge-depleting range of the hybrid vehicle based, at least in part, on the route data, the state of charge of the energy storage device, and the driving cycle.

18 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising comparing, via the control module, the charge-depleting range with a trip length of the desired trip in order to determine if the trip length is greater than the charge-depleting range.

19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein determining the load distribution is performed if the trip length is greater than the charge-depleting range, wherein the charge-depleting range is a driving range that the hybrid vehicle can travel along the route while operating in the charge-depleting mode.

20 . A hybrid vehicle, comprising:
a vehicle body; a plurality of wheels operatively coupled to the vehicle body; a

Assignees

• Gm Global Tech Operations Inc

Inventors

• Manickaraj Mark A
• Zettel Andrew M
• Szymczyk Rick W
• Weigert Norman J
• Marsh Richard A
• Dietrich Kevin A
• Colville Michael R

Classifications

• B60W2552/20

  Road profile, i.e. the change in elevation or curvature of a plurality of continuous road segments · CPC title

• B60W20/13

  in order to stay within battery power input or output limits; in order to prevent overcharging or battery depletion · CPC title

• B60W2710/244

  Charge state · CPC title

• B60W2556/50

  of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data · CPC title

• B60W2710/083

  Torque · CPC title