Systems and methods for dynamic gear state and vehicle speed management
First Claim
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1. A method comprising:
- determining a projected engine power requirement for an engine of a vehicle based on route information, the projected engine power requirement comprising a base power and an incremental power, wherein the base power includes an engine power required to maintain a vehicle speed under a baseline route condition and the incremental power includes an incremental engine power required to maintain the vehicle speed under the route information differing from the baseline route condition, and wherein the route information includes at least a portion of a route to be traveled by the vehicle;
determining a projected change of the vehicle speed based on the projected engine power requirement;
generating a gear request based on the projected engine power requirement and the projected change of vehicle speed, wherein the gear request defines a gear state of a transmission connected to the engine such that at least one of the vehicle'"'"'s drivability, trip time and fuel economy are improved over at least a portion of the route;
communicating the gear request to a controller for the transmission, wherein the controller is operable upon the gear request to change the gear state of the transmission if appropriate;
generating a vehicle speed offset based on the route information that is combined with the vehicle speed to form an interim vehicle reference speed; and
modulating the vehicle speed about a vehicle set speed based on the interim vehicle reference speed to adjust at least one of vehicle'"'"'s fuel or air state to the engine.
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Abstract
According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a control system, apparatus, and method includes dynamic optimization of at least one of a vehicle reference speed and/or transmission gear state of a vehicle by determining current and future engine power requirements from the current and forward-looking route conditions to improve performance, drivability, and/or fuel economy of the vehicle over what is achievable through conventional gear state selection via static calibration tables and conventional shifting strategies. The selection of the vehicle reference speed and gear state can be performed independently of one another in one embodiment, and complementary of one another in another embodiment.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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determining a projected engine power requirement for an engine of a vehicle based on route information, the projected engine power requirement comprising a base power and an incremental power, wherein the base power includes an engine power required to maintain a vehicle speed under a baseline route condition and the incremental power includes an incremental engine power required to maintain the vehicle speed under the route information differing from the baseline route condition, and wherein the route information includes at least a portion of a route to be traveled by the vehicle; determining a projected change of the vehicle speed based on the projected engine power requirement; generating a gear request based on the projected engine power requirement and the projected change of vehicle speed, wherein the gear request defines a gear state of a transmission connected to the engine such that at least one of the vehicle'"'"'s drivability, trip time and fuel economy are improved over at least a portion of the route; communicating the gear request to a controller for the transmission, wherein the controller is operable upon the gear request to change the gear state of the transmission if appropriate; generating a vehicle speed offset based on the route information that is combined with the vehicle speed to form an interim vehicle reference speed; and modulating the vehicle speed about a vehicle set speed based on the interim vehicle reference speed to adjust at least one of vehicle'"'"'s fuel or air state to the engine. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An apparatus comprising:
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a gear state module structured to operate on a controller to control the gear state of a transmission connected to an engine of a vehicle, the gear state module structured to interpret route condition information for a route and a prescribed vehicle speed;
to determine an engine power vector, the engine power vector defining the engine power required to substantially maintain the prescribed vehicle speed;
to select a gear state for the transmission such that at least one of the vehicle'"'"'s drivability, trip time and fuel economy are improved for at least a portion of the route; and
to communicate the gear state to the transmission; anda mode selection block structured to operate on the engine power vector and the power change vector to generate a mode vector and a speed change vector, wherein the mode vector defines criteria by which to select the gear state, and wherein the speed change vector defines an estimated change of vehicle speed associated with the engine power vector. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. An apparatus comprising:
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an engine power module structured to operate on a controller, the engine power module structured to interpret a prescribed vehicle speed and route condition information for a route;
to determine an engine power vector and a power change vector, the engine power vector defining the engine power required to substantially maintain the prescribed vehicle speed, the power change vector defining a relative change in the current route condition and the forward route condition;
to communicate the power change vector and the engine power vector to a mode selection block; and
to communicate the engine power vector to a vehicle speed and gear state selection block;the mode selection block structured to operate on the power change vector and the engine power vector to generate a gear state mode associated with the route information, wherein the route information includes at least a portion of a route to be traveled by a vehicle;
to communicate the gear state mode to the vehicle speed and gear state selection block; andthe vehicle speed and gear state selection block structured to operate on the gear state mode to control the gear state of a transmission connected to an engine of a vehicle;
to select a gear state for the transmission such that at least one of the vehicle'"'"'s drivability, trip time and fuel economy are improved for at least a portion of the route; and
to communicate the gear state to the transmission. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22)
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Specification