Apparatus and method for pre-heating an engine of mild hybrid vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9790909-B2
Application number	US-201514918052-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 20, 2015
Priority date	Jun 15, 2015
Publication date	Oct 17, 2017
Grant date	Oct 17, 2017

Abstract

An apparatus and a method for pre-heating an engine of a mild hybrid vehicle are provided, and the apparatus includes: a pre-heating plug pre-heating the engine; a pre-heating controller recognizing the mild hybrid vehicle based on vehicle driving information, determining whether the mild hybrid vehicle enters a coasting driving mode based on the vehicle driving information, and generating a duty control signal according to a coasting driving time when the mild hybrid vehicle is driven in the coasting driving mode; and a driver supplying electrical energy of the low-voltage battery to the pre-heating plug according to the generated duty control signal.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for pre-heating an engine of a hybrid vehicle, the apparatus comprising:
a pre-heating plug pre-heating the engine;
a pre-heating controller recognizing the hybrid vehicle based on vehicle driving information, determining whether the hybrid vehicle enters a coasting driving mode based on the vehicle driving information, and generating a duty control signal having a pre-heating time set differently depending on a coasting driving time when the hybrid vehicle is driven in the coasting driving mode; and
a driver supplying electrical energy of a low-voltage battery to the pre-heating plug according to the generated duty control signal,
wherein the pre-heating controller controls the pre-heating time to be longer as the coasting driving time increases, and controls the pre-heating time to be shorter as the coasting driving time decreases.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle driving information includes battery information representing whether the high-voltage battery is mounted, motor information representing a specification of the motor-generator, actuation information of acceleration and deceleration pedals of the hybrid vehicle, association and dissociation state information of the clutch, and starting state information of the engine.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein:
the hybrid vehicle includes a DC/DC converter controlled by a converter controller, converting electrical energy of the high-voltage battery, and supplying the converted electrical energy to the low-voltage battery, and
the pre-heating controller receives the battery information from the converter controller through a network, receives the motor information from the motor-generator through the network, and recognizes the hybrid vehicle based on the battery information and the motor information.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the pre-heating controller determines that the hybrid vehicle enters the coasting driving mode when the acceleration and deceleration pedals are not operated, the clutch is in a dissociated state, and the engine is off.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the pre-heating controller controls a look-up table storing pre-heating time information for each coasting driving time.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the pre-heating controller extracts the pre-heating time information corresponding to the coasting driving time from the look-up table and generates the pre-heating time information as the duty control signal.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the driver includes a pulse control unit generating a pulse width modulation signal according to the duty control signal and a switching unit turned on/off according to the pulse width modulation signal to transfer the electrical energy of the low-voltage battery to the pre-heating plug.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the pulse control unit generates the pulse width modulation signal at a duty ratio corresponding to the pre-heating time information.

9. A method for pre-heating an engine of a hybrid vehicle, the method comprising:
collecting vehicle driving information;
recognizing the hybrid vehicle based on the vehicle driving information;
determining whether the hybrid vehicle enters a coasting driving mode based on the vehicle driving information;
detecting a coasting driving time when the hybrid vehicle enters the coasting driving mode;
generating a duty control signal for controlling a pre-heating time set differently depending on the coasting driving time; and
supplying electrical energy of the low-voltage battery to a pre-heating plug according to the generated duty control signal,
wherein the pre-heating controller controls the pre-heating time to be longer as the coasting driving time increases, and controls the pre-heating time to be shorter as the coasting driving time decreases.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the vehicle driving information includes battery information representing whether the high-voltage battery is mounted, motor information representing a specification of the motor-generator, actuation information of acceleration and deceleration pedals of the hybrid vehicle, association and dissociation state information of the clutch, and starting state information of the engine.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the determining of whether the hybrid vehicle enters the coasting driving mode comprises:
determining that the hybrid vehicle enters the coasting driving mode when the acceleration and deceleration pedals are not operated, the clutch is in a dissociated state, and the engine is off.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the detecting of the coasting driving time comprises:
detecting a start time of the coasting driving mode when the clutch is dissociated and the engine is turned off, and
detecting an end time of the coasting driving mode when the clutch is associated and the engine is turned on.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the supplying of the electrical energy of the low-voltage battery to the pre-heating plug comprises:
generating a pulse width modulation signal at a duty ratio corresponding to the pre-heating time according to the duty control signal, and
transferring the electrical energy of the low-voltage battery to the pre-heating plug through a switching element which is turned on/off according to the pulse width modulation signal.

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Jang Hwa Yong

Classifications

• B60W10/06

  including control of combustion engines · CPC title

• F02P19/022

  using intermittent current supply · CPC title

• B60W2540/12

  Brake pedal position · CPC title

• B60W20/40 Primary

  Controlling the engagement or disengagement of prime movers, e.g. for transition between prime movers {(power-up or power-down of the driveline B60W30/192)} · CPC title

• F02N19/04 Primary

  by heating of fluids used in engines · CPC title