Device and method for determining the starting capability of an internal combustion engine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9689367-B2
Application number	US-201113885941-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 17, 2011
Priority date	Nov 17, 2010
Publication date	Jun 27, 2017
Grant date	Jun 27, 2017

Abstract

A method for determining the starting capability of an internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle, which can be started by an electric motor powered by a battery, including detecting first battery parameter values during a successful starting sequence of the internal combustion engine at a first time, detecting second battery parameter values at a second time following the first time, determining at the second time the expected battery voltage for a starting sequence of the internal combustion engine taking place at a third time based on the detected first and second battery parameter values, and comparing the battery voltage expected at the third time with a predetermined threshold value in order to derive therefrom the starting capability of the internal combustion engine.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for determining a starting capability of an internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle that is started by an electric motor supplied by a battery, comprising:
detecting, by at least one sensor, first battery parameter values at a first time during a successful first starting process of the internal combustion engine;
detecting, by the at least one sensor, second battery parameter values at a second time following the first time;
determining, at the second time, by a computerized evaluation unit, based on the detected first and second battery parameter values, what a battery voltage will be during a starting process of the internal combustion engine occurring at a third time after the second time, such that the battery voltage of the third time is calculated based on a state of charge of the battery and battery temperature or change of the state of charge of the battery and change of the battery temperature;
comparing, by the computerized evaluation unit, the determined battery voltage for the third time with a predefined threshold value;
deriving, by the computerized evaluation unit, what a starting capability of the internal combustion engine will be at the third time based on the comparing; and
performing control of the running of the vehicle at the second time based on the derivation of what the starting capability of the internal combustion engine will be at the third time,
wherein if the internal combustion engine is running at the second time, the internal combustion engine is stopped at the second time only if the starting capability of the internal combustion engine will be present at the third time,
wherein an internal combustion engine that is stopped at the second time is restarted before the third time if the starting capability of the internal combustion engine will no longer be present at the third time,
wherein the state of charge of the battery and/or the change in the state of charge of the battery are calculated by a numerical model that takes into account the battery size and an estimated battery current, wherein the state of charge of the battery and/or the change in the state of charge of the battery is determined by the integral of an estimated battery current, wherein the estimated battery current is estimated from voltage measurements as follows:

I
BAT_relative
estimated

=

I
Charge

+

I
Discharge

I
Discharge

=

{

V
meas

-

V
0
Discharge

Q
max

·

R
eff

V
meas

<

V
0
Discharge

0

V
meas

≥

V
0
Discharge

⁢

⁢

I
Charge

=

{

V
meas

-

V
0
Charge

Q
max

·

R
eff

V
meas

<

V
0
Charge

0

V
meas

≥

V
0
Charge

wherein Q max *R eff is a system-specific, experimentally determinable parameter, and wherein V 0Charge and V 0Discharge are calibration parameters which are correspondingly redefined.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first and second parameters comprise at least one selected from the group consisting of a battery voltage and a battery temperature.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the first and second parameters further comprise a voltage between a negative pole of the battery and a point on a vehicle

Assignees

• Schramme Martin
• Gering Horst
• Weigert Wolfgang
• Münch Matthias
• Klement Thomas
• Graf Hans-Michael
• Tendler Reinhard
• Friedrichsohn Oliver
• Continental Automotive Gmbh

Inventors

• Schramme Martin
• Gering Horst
• Weigert Wolfgang
• Münch Matthias
• Klement Thomas
• Graf Hans-Michael
• Tendler Reinhard
• Friedrichsohn Oliver

Classifications

• H01M10/486

  for measuring temperature · CPC title

• F02N11/0862

  characterised by the electrical power supply means, e.g. battery · CPC title

• G01R31/3693

  Physics · mapped topic

• F02N11/108 Primary

  for diagnosis of the starter or its components · CPC title

• Y02T10/48

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic