ENERGY ECONOMY MODE USING PREVIEW INFORMATION

• US 20090259354A1
• Filed: 04/10/2008
• Published: 10/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/10/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations Incorporated (Motors Liquidation Co. GUC Trust)
• Inventors: Glander, Donn W., Grant, Edward J., Wang, Pei-Chung, Krupadanam, Ashish S., Naik, Sanjeev M., Lin, William C., Chang, Man-Feng, Murty, Balarama V.
• Granted Patent: US 8,214,122 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/22
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/06 including control of combustion engines
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/08 including control of electric propulsion units, e.g. motors or generators
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/11 Stepped gearings
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0031 Mathematical model of the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2530/10 Weight
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/043 Identity of occupants
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/15 Road slope, i.e. the inclination of a road segment in the longitudinal direction
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/00 Input parameters relating to objects
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/408 Traffic behavior, e.g. swarm
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2555/20 Ambient conditions, e.g. wind or rain
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/10 Historical data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/16 Control of distance between vehicles, e.g. keeping a distance to preceding vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/1882 characterised by the working point of the engine, e.g. by using engine output chart
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0097 Predicting future conditions
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/40 Engine management systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/84 Data processing systems or methods, management, administration

Abstract

A method for improving energy efficient operation of a vehicle includes monitoring vehicle operating characteristics, modeling operation of the vehicle by utilizing the vehicle operating characteristics to estimate energy consumption rates of the vehicle across an allowable vehicle operating range, and generating a control output to the vehicle on the basis of the energy consumption rates.

Claims

1. A method for improving energy efficient operation of a vehicle, comprising:

monitoring vehicle operating characteristics;

modeling operation of said vehicle, said modeling utilizing said vehicle operating characteristics to estimate energy consumption rates of said vehicle across an allowable vehicle operating range; and

generating a control output to said vehicle on the basis of said energy consumption rates.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said allowable vehicle operating range comprises an allowable speed range, and said generating a control output includes selecting a control speed within said allowable speed range on the basis of said energy consumption rates.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising defining said allowable speed range with at least one of a minimum allowable speed and a maximum allowable speed.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising defining said allowable speed range with a maximum allowable speed corresponding to a maximum legal speed and a minimum allowable speed some speed interval less than said maximum legal speed.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising defining a desired speed within said allowable speed range.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said selecting a control speed comprises:

identifying a potential control speed based on said energy consumption rates; and

selecting between said desired speed and said potential control speed by balancing an energy consumption differential between an energy consumption rate at said desired speed and an energy consumption rate at said potential control speed against a speed differential between said desired speed and said potential control speed.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said allowable vehicle operating range comprises hybrid operating states including operation solely under fuel power and operation solely under battery power, and said generating a control output includes selecting one of said hybrid operating states based on said energy consumption rates.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said hybrid operating states further include operation under both fuel power and battery power.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said allowable vehicle operating range comprises transmission gear states, and said generating a control output includes selecting one of said transmission gear states based on said energy consumption rates.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said allowable vehicle operating range includes an allowable speed range, a range of available transmission gear states within said allowable speed range, and a range of hybrid operating states, and said generating a control output to said vehicle includes selecting a control speed, a transmission gear state, and a hybrid operating state.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said monitoring vehicle operating characteristics comprises analyzing vehicle load and road topology.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said monitoring vehicle operating characteristics further comprises analyzing at least one of weather conditions, traffic conditions, road conditions, tire pressure, vehicle maintenance history, and driver operating patterns.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising projecting said energy consumption rates across said allowable vehicle operating range over a planned travel route.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising generating a speed change schedule on the basis of said projected energy consumption rates.

15. The method of claim 14, said method further comprising updating said speed change schedule in coordination with an adaptive cruise control module.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising generating a transmission shift strategy on the basis of said projected energy consumption rates.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising generating a hybrid powertrain energy consumption schedule on the basis of said projected energy consumption rates.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising generating a hybrid powertrain battery charging schedule on the basis of said projected energy consumption rates.

19. The method of claim 13, further comprising generating travel route recommendations on the basis of said projected energy consumption rates.

20. A method for improving energy efficient operation of a vehicle, comprising:

operating said vehicle under cruise control;

initiating an energy efficiency mode including defining an allowable speed range and a desired speed within said allowable speed range;

monitoring vehicle operating characteristics;

estimating energy consumption rates across said allowable speed range and for a plurality of transmission gear states on the basis of said vehicle operating characteristics; and

selecting a cruise speed within said allowable speed range and a transmission gear state on the basis of said energy consumption rates.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising previewing potential future vehicle operating characteristics based on a planned travel route, wherein said selecting a cruise speed includes forming a speed control strategy and a transmission gear state strategy over said planned travel route.