Vehicle, control apparatus and control method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9534574-B2
Application number	US-201214647197-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 27, 2012
Priority date	Dec 27, 2012
Publication date	Jan 3, 2017
Grant date	Jan 3, 2017

Abstract

A vehicle comprises: a storage battery configured to store electric power; an internal combustion engine configured to be started with electric power supplied from the storage battery; an electric auxiliary configured to operate with the electric power supplied from the storage battery; and a stop start controller configured to perform a stop control of stopping the internal combustion engine according to a driving condition of the vehicle and a restart control of restarting the internal combustion engine that has been stopped by the stop control. The stop start controller includes: an auxiliary voltage acquirer configured to obtain a measured auxiliary voltage value that denotes a voltage of the electric auxiliary measured on occasion of start of the internal combustion engine; and a feasibility determiner configured to determine whether the stop control is feasible, based on the measured auxiliary voltage value.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle comprising:
a storage battery configured to store electric power;
an internal combustion engine configured to be started with electric power supplied from the storage battery;
a stop start controller configured to perform a stop control of stopping the internal combustion engine according to a driving condition of the vehicle and a restart control of restarting the internal combustion engine that has been stopped by the stop control, and
an electric auxiliary configured to operate with the electric power supplied from the storage battery when the restarting of the internal combustion engine is performed;
wherein the stop start controller includes:
an auxiliary voltage acquirer configured to obtain a measured auxiliary voltage value that denotes a voltage of the electric auxiliary measured on occasion of start of the internal combustion engine; and
a feasibility determiner configured to determine whether the stop control is feasible, based on the measured auxiliary voltage value.

2. The vehicle according to claim 1 ,
wherein the feasibility determiner includes:
an auxiliary voltage estimator configured to estimate an estimated auxiliary voltage value that denotes a voltage of the electric auxiliary expected on occasion of next restart control, based on the measured auxiliary voltage value; and
a determination switcher configured to switch over a result of determination of whether the stop control is feasible, according to the estimated auxiliary voltage value.

3. The vehicle according to claim 2 , further comprising a battery voltage estimator configured to estimate an estimated battery voltage value that denotes a voltage of the storage battery expected on occasion of next start of the internal combustion engine,
wherein the auxiliary voltage estimator includes:
a variation calculator configured to calculate a variation of the estimated battery voltage value from a time when the measured auxiliary voltage value has been measured, based on the estimated battery voltage value; and
an estimated value calculator configured to calculate the estimated auxiliary voltage value based on the measured auxiliary voltage value and the variation.

4. The vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the measured auxiliary voltage value includes at least one of a measurement value that denotes a voltage of the electric auxiliary measured on occasion of start of the internal combustion engine accompanied with a start of the vehicle, and a measurement value that denotes a voltage of the electric auxiliary measured on occasion of restart of the internal combustion engine accompanied with execution of the restart control.

5. The vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
the electric auxiliary includes the stop start controller,
the stop start controller includes a terminal configured to receive the electric power supplied from the storage battery, and
a voltage of the electric auxiliary is a voltage of the terminal.

6. A control apparatus, in a vehicle including a storage battery, an internal combustion engine and an electric auxiliary, configured to perform a stop control of stopping the internal combustion engine according to a driving condition of the vehicle and a restart control of restarting the internal combustion engine that has been stopped by the stop control, the electric auxiliary being configured to operate with the electric power supplied from the storage battery when the restarting of the internal combustion engine is performed, the control apparatus comprising:
an auxiliary voltage acquirer configured to obtain a measured auxiliary voltage value that denotes a voltage of the electric auxiliary measured on occasion of start of the internal combustion engine; and
a feasibility determiner configured to determine whether the stop control is feasible, based on the measured auxiliary voltage value.

7. A control method, in a vehicle including a storage battery, an internal combustion engine and an electric auxiliary, for performing a stop control of stopping the internal combustion engine according to a driving condition of the vehicle and a restart control of restarting the internal combustion engine that has been stopped by the stop control, the electric auxiliary being configured to operate with the electric power supplied from the storage battery when the restarting of the internal combustion engine is performed, the control method comprising:
obtaining a measured auxiliary voltage value that denotes a voltage of the electric auxiliary measured on occasion of start of the internal combustion engine; and
determining whether the stop control is feasible, based on the measured auxiliary voltage value.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Maeda Tomoharu

Classifications

• F02N11/0825 Primary

  related to prevention of engine restart failure, e.g. disabling automatic stop at low battery state · CPC title

• F02N2200/063

  Battery voltage · CPC title

• F02N2200/061

  Battery state of charge [SOC] · CPC title

• Y02T10/48

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• F02N11/0814 Primary

  comprising means for controlling automatic idle-start-stop · CPC title