Hybrid vehicle and associated engine speed control method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-8998770-B2
Application number	US-201313768094-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 15, 2013
Priority date	Jul 2, 2012
Publication date	Apr 7, 2015
Grant date	Apr 7, 2015

Abstract

A hybrid vehicle and method of control include an internal combustion engine and at least one traction motor operated such that engine speed is a function of vehicle speed and target engine power. Target engine power, in turn, is a function of target wheel torque, vehicle speed, and battery state of charge. Target wheel torque, in turn, is a function of vehicle speed and accelerator pedal position. In a select shift mode, these calculations are adjusted based on a virtual gear number which varies in response to driver activation of shift selectors. The adjustments result in decreased engine speed and decreased wheel torque when higher virtual gear number are selected for given accelerator pedal positions and vehicle speeds. The ratio of engine speed to vehicle speed is not necessarily constant when operating in select shift mode.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of controlling a hybrid vehicle comprising:
computing a target power based on an accelerator pedal position and a vehicle speed;
computing a clipping limit based on the vehicle speed and a virtual gear;
computing a target engine speed based on the vehicle speed and a maximum of the target power and the clipping limit; and
controlling an engine and traction motor such that an engine speed equals the target engine speed.

2.…

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Wang Qing
• Kuang Ming Lang
• Mcgee Ryan Abraham
• Meyer Jason

Classifications

• F16H61/66

  Mechanical Engineering · mapped topic

• F16H2061/6616

  Mechanical Engineering · mapped topic

• B60W2710/105

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B60K6/445

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• Y02T10/6239

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic