Vehicle and method of controlling vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9162670-B2
Application number	US-201114344511-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 27, 2011
Priority date	Sep 27, 2011
Publication date	Oct 20, 2015
Grant date	Oct 20, 2015

Abstract

A vehicle includes an engine and a motor generator generating driving power for running, and an ECU for controlling the engine and the motor generator. If user requested power and a vehicle speed are substantially constant when inertial running control is selected by a user, the ECU causes continuous driving power operation to be performed on the engine in which the engine is driven to continuously generate constant driving power, and causes driving power variation operation to be performed on the motor generator in which the motor generator is alternately switched between a low output state and a high output state in terms of driving power, thereby running the vehicle. As a result, energy efficiency during vehicle running can be improved.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vehicle comprising:
a first driving source and a second driving source generating driving power for running the vehicle; and
a control device for controlling the first and second driving sources,
the control device causing the vehicle to run while causing continuous driving power operation to be performed on the first driving source in which the first driving source is driven to continuously generate substantially constant driving power, and causing driving power variation operation to be performed on the second driving source in which the second driving source is alternately switched between a first state where the second driving source generates driving power of a first level and a second state where the second driving source generates driving power of a level lower than the first level.

2. The vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
the control device causes the driving power variation operation to be performed on the second driving source, when driving power requested by a user varies within a prescribed range.

3. The vehicle according to claim 2 , wherein
the control device causes the second driving source to be switched between the first and second states so as to maintain a speed of the vehicle within an acceptable range, while the driving power variation operation is performed on the second driving source.

4. The vehicle according to claim 3 , wherein
the control device causes the second driving source to be switched to the second state in response to an increase in the speed of the vehicle to an upper limit of the acceptable range, and causes the second driving source to be switched to the first state in response to a decrease in the speed of the vehicle to a lower limit of the acceptable range.

5. The vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
a sum of the driving power generated by the first driving source and the driving power generated by the second driving source in the second state is set to be smaller than reference driving power of constant output capable of maintaining a speed of the vehicle, and
a sum of the driving power generated by the first driving source and the driving power generated by the second driving source in the first state is set to be larger than the reference driving power.

6. The vehicle according to claim 5 , wherein
the vehicle runs mainly with inertial force of the vehicle when the second driving source is in the second state.

7. The vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
the driving power generated by the first driving source is set to predetermined driving power.

8. The vehicle according to claim 7 , wherein
the control device causes the second driving source to stop generating the driving power when the second driving source is in the second state.

9. The vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
the first driving source is an engine, and
the second driving source is a rotating electric machine.

10. The vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
the first driving source is a rotating electric machine, and
the second driving source is an engine.

11. The vehicle according to claim 10 , further comprising a power storage device for supplying electric power to the rotating electric machine, wherein
when a state of charge of the power storage device falls below a predetermined threshold value while the driving power variation operation is performed on the engine, the control device causes the continuous driving power operation of the rotating electric machine to be suspended, and causes operation to be performed in which the rotating electric machine is alternately switched between a third state where the rotating electric machine generates driving power of a second level and a fourth state where the rotating electric machine generates driving power of a level lower than the second level.

12. The vehicle according to claim 11 , wherein
when the state of charge of the power storage device falls below the predetermined threshold value while the driving power variation operation is performed on the engine, the control device causes the rotating electric machine to be switched to the third state during a period when the engine is in the first state, and causes the rotating electric machine to be switched to the fourth state during a period when the engine is in the second state.

13. The vehicle according to claim 12 , wherein
the control device causes the rotating electric machine to stop generating the driving power when the rotating electric machine is in the fourth state.

14. The vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
each of the first and second driving sources is a rotating electric machine.

15. A method of controlling a vehicle including a first driving source and a second driving source, comprising the steps of:
performing a continuos driving operation on the first driving source in which the first driving source continuously generates substantially constant driving power; and
performing a driving power variation operation on the second driving source in which the second driving source alternately switches driving power between a first state where the second driving source generates driving power of a first level and a second state where the second driving source generates driving power of a second level lower than the first level.

Assignees

• Amano Takashi
• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Amano Takashi

Classifications

• B60W20/10 Primary

  Controlling the power contribution of each of the prime movers to meet required power demand · CPC title

• B60W10/06

  including control of combustion engines · CPC title

• Y02T10/6239

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• B60W2710/0666

  Engine torque · CPC title

• B60W10/08

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