Initiating preparations for engine autostop prior to vehicle stop

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9682691-B2
Application number	US-201213568187-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 7, 2012
Priority date	Aug 7, 2012
Publication date	Jun 20, 2017
Grant date	Jun 20, 2017

Abstract

A stop/start vehicle includes at least one controller that, in response to predicting a vehicle stop, initiates an engine pre-shutdown protocol such that vehicle subsystems begin to prepare for engine shutdown prior to a speed of the vehicle reaching approximately zero to reduce time between the speed of the vehicle reaching approximately zero and engine shutdown.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle comprising:
an engine;
a vehicle component; and
at least one controller configured to, in response to predicting a vehicle stop,
initiate an engine pre-shutdown protocol for the vehicle component, prior to a speed of the vehicle reaching zero and prior to receiving a command to initiate engine auto-shutdown, at a time selected to permit completion of the engine pre-shutdown protocol prior to the speed reaching zero, and
initiate the engine auto-shutdown after the speed reaches approximately zero.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the vehicle component is an intake manifold in fluid communication with the engine and wherein initiating the engine pre-shutdown protocol includes initiating a purge of the intake manifold.

3. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the vehicle component is an electrical bus and wherein initiating the engine pre-shutdown protocol includes initiating a reduction of a voltage on the electrical bus to a predetermined value.

4. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the vehicle component is an automatic transmission mechanically coupled with the engine and wherein initiating the engine pre-shutdown protocol includes initiating a shifting of gears of the automatic transmission.

5. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the vehicle component is an electric pump and wherein initiating the engine pre-shutdown protocol includes initiating an activation of the electric pump.

6. A stop/start method comprising:
in response to predicting a vehicle stop, initiating engine pre-shutdown preparations for at least one vehicle component, prior to vehicle speed reaching zero and prior to receiving a command to shut down the engine, at a time selected to permit completion of the engine pre-shutdown preparations prior to the vehicle speed reaching zero; and
in response to the vehicle speed reaching approximately zero, shutting down the engine.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the at least one vehicle component is an intake manifold in fluid communication with the engine and wherein initiating engine pre-shutdown preparations includes initiating a purge of the intake manifold.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the at least one vehicle component is an electrical bus and wherein initiating engine pre-shutdown preparations includes initiating a reduction in voltage on the electrical bus to a predetermined value.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein the at least one vehicle component is an automatic transmission mechanically coupled with the engine and wherein initiating engine pre-shutdown preparations includes initiating a shifting of gears of the automatic transmission.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein the at least one vehicle component is an electric pump and wherein initiating engine pre-shutdown preparations includes initiating an activation of the electric pump.

Assignees

• Wang Xiaoyong
• Mcgee Ryan Abraham
• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Wang Xiaoyong
• Mcgee Ryan Abraham

Classifications

• B60W2520/10

  Longitudinal speed · CPC title

• B60W10/30

  including control of auxiliary equipment, e.g. air-conditioning compressors or oil pumps · CPC title

• F02N11/0822

  related to action of the driver · CPC title

• B60W10/10

  including control of change-speed gearings · CPC title

• B60W2710/305

  target power to auxiliaries · CPC title