VEHICLE DRIVE CONTROL APPARATUS

• US 20110082624A1
• Filed: 12/14/2010
• Published: 04/07/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: YAMAMOTO, Shinsuke
• Granted Patent: US 8,498,802 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/41
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/06 including control of combustion engines
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/20 including control of steering systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2510/202 Steering torque
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/125 Lateral acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/14 Yaw
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/18018 Start-stop drive, e.g. in a traffic jam
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 29/02 peculiar to engines driving vehicles; peculiar to engines driving variable pitch propellers
• CPC Class Codes: F02N 11/0825 related to prevention of engine restart failure, e.g. disabling automatic stop at low battery state
• CPC Class Codes: F02N 11/0833 Vehicle conditions F02N11/0822, F02N11/0825 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F02N 11/084 State of vehicle accessories, e.g. air condition or power steering
• CPC Class Codes: F02N 11/10 Safety devices F02N11/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F02N 2200/0805 Detection of vehicle emergency state, e.g. from ABS, ESP, external sensors
• CPC Class Codes: F02N 2200/0808 Steering state, e.g. state of power assisted steering
• CPC Class Codes: F02N 2200/104 Driver's intention to turn, e.g. by evaluating direction indicators
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/40 Engine management systems

Abstract

In a vehicle drive control apparatus, a behavior determination unit determines whether a vehicle behavior is in a stable state or an unstable state based on a vehicle turning behavior. An engine stop control unit avoids stopping the engine as automatic stop conditions are not satisfied when the vehicle behavior is determined to be in an unstable state during operation of the engine. When the vehicle behavior is in a stable state and other automatic stop conditions are satisfied during operation of the engine, the engine stop control unit stops the engine. During stability control performed by a stability ECU, the engine stop control unit avoids stopping the engine as the automatic stop conditions are not satisfied.

Claims

1. A vehicle drive control apparatus comprising

an engine stop control unit which stops an engine when an automatic stop condition for automatically stopping the engine is satisfied during operation of the engine, and

a behavior determination unit which determines whether a behavior of a vehicle is in a stable state or an unstable state, wherein

the engine stop control unit avoids stopping the engine as the automatic stop condition is not satisfied when the behavior of the vehicle is determined to be in an unstable state during operation of the engine.

2. The vehicle drive control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the behavior determination unit determines whether the behavior of the vehicle is in a stable state or an unstable state based on a turning behavior of the vehicle.

3. The vehicle drive control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a vehicle behavior control unit which controls vehicle behavior, wherein

the engine stop control unit avoids stopping the engine during vehicle behavior control performed by the vehicle behavior control unit as the automatic stop condition is not satisfied.

4. The vehicle drive control apparatus according to any one of claims 1, wherein

the engine stop control unit stops the engine in a case that the vehicle is decelerated to or lower than a specified vehicle speed at which the engine is to be automatically stopped and that the behavior of the vehicle is determined to be in a stable state, and the engine stop control unit avoids stopping the engine in a case that the behavior of the vehicle is determined to be in an unstable state even when the vehicle is decelerated to or lower than the specified vehicle speed.

5. A vehicle drive control apparatus comprising:

an engine start control unit which starts an engine when an automatic start condition for automatically starting the engine is satisfied during stopping of the engine; and

a behavior determination unit which determines whether a behavior of a vehicle is in a stable state or an unstable state, wherein

the engine start control unit starts the engine as the automatic start condition is satisfied when the behavior of the vehicle is determined to be in an unstable state during stopping of the engine.

6. The vehicle drive control apparatus according to claim 5, wherein

the behavior determination unit determines whether the behavior of the vehicle is in a stable state or an unstable state based on a turning behavior of the vehicle.

7. The vehicle drive control apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a steering assistance unit which assists steering force, wherein

the engine start control unit avoids starting the engine as the automatic start condition is not satisfied during steering force is assisted by the steering assistance unit even when the behavior of the vehicle is determined to be in an unstable state.