Vehicle engine automatic control device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9759139-B2
Application number	US-201214361634-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 23, 2012
Priority date	Nov 30, 2011
Publication date	Sep 12, 2017
Grant date	Sep 12, 2017

Abstract

A vehicle engine automatic control device has a brake operation amount detecting unit that detects an amount of brake operation by a driver, an engine stopping/re-starting unit that, during coast drive, stops an engine based on the amount of brake operation that is detected, and, after the engine stops, re-starts the engine when the amount of brake operation that is detected falls below a first threshold, and a first threshold setting unit that sets the first threshold smaller as vehicle speed becomes lower.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vehicle engine automatic control device, comprising:
a brake operation amount detecting unit that detects an amount of brake operation by a driver;
an engine stopping/re-starting unit that stops, during coast drive, an engine based on only the amount of brake operation detected by the brake operation amount detecting unit, the engine stopping/re-starting unit being configured to re-start the engine when the amount of brake operation detected by the brake operation amount detecting unit falls below a first threshold after the engine stops during the coast drive; and
a first threshold setting unit that sets the first threshold smaller as vehicle speed becomes lower.

2. The vehicle engine automatic control device according to claim 1 , wherein the first threshold setting unit sets a plurality of first thresholds such that the first threshold becomes smaller as the vehicle speed becomes lower.

3. The vehicle engine automatic control device according to claim 1 , wherein the first threshold setting unit sets the first threshold based on a predetermined map.

4. The vehicle engine automatic control device according to claim 1 , wherein the first threshold setting unit sets the first threshold based on a predetermined algorithm.

5. The vehicle engine automatic control device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the engine stopping/re-starting unit re-starts the engine, during coast drive, after the engine stops, when the amount of brake operation that is detected becomes equal to or greater than a second threshold, and
wherein the second threshold is greater than the first threshold.

6. The vehicle engine automatic control device according to claim 5 , further comprising a second threshold setting unit that sets the second threshold smaller as the vehicle speed becomes lower.

7. The vehicle engine automatic control device according to claim 2 , wherein the first threshold setting unit sets the first threshold based on a predetermined map.

8. The vehicle engine automatic control device according to claim 2 , wherein the first threshold setting unit sets the first threshold based on a predetermined algorithm.

9. The vehicle engine automatic control device according to claim 2 ,
wherein the engine stopping/re-starting unit re-starts the engine, during coast drive, after the engine stops, when the amount of brake operation that is detected becomes equal to or greater than a second threshold, and
wherein the second threshold is greater than the first threshold.

10. The vehicle engine automatic control device according to claim 3 ,
wherein the engine stopping/re-starting unit re-starts the engine, during coast drive, after the engine stops, when the amount of brake operation that is detected becomes equal to or greater than a second threshold, and
wherein the second threshold is greater than the first threshold.

11. The vehicle engine automatic control device according to claim 4 ,
wherein the engine stopping/re-starting unit re-starts the engine, during coast drive, after the engine stops, when the amount of brake operation that is detected becomes equal to or greater than a second threshold, and
wherein the second threshold is greater than the first threshold.

Assignees

• Nissan Motor

Inventors

• Mori Kouichi
• Hattori Motoyuki

Classifications

• F02N2200/101

  Accelerator pedal position · CPC title

• F02N11/0844

  with means for restarting the engine directly after an engine stop request, e.g. caused by change of driver mind · CPC title

• F02D2200/60

  said parameters being related to the driver demands or status · CPC title

• F02N11/0833

  Vehicle conditions (F02N11/0822, F02N11/0825 take precedence) · CPC title

• F02N2200/0805

  Detection of vehicle emergency state, e.g. from ABS, ESP, external sensors · CPC title