METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS OF VEHICLES

• US 20110202211A1
• Filed: 02/12/2010
• Published: 08/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations Incorporated (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: PARK, JEONG J., CAWTHORNE, WILLIAM R., WANG, WEI D., MEDEMA, BRIAN R., BUUR, HANNE, RAFTARI, ABBAS, CUI, JACKIE L., WELCHKO, BRIAN A., HITI, SILVA
• Granted Patent: US 9,623,817 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/22
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/423 Torque
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/03 for supply of electrical power to vehicle subsystems or for circuit arrangements for charging batteries H02J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/08 including control of electric propulsion units, e.g. motors or generators
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 20/11 using model predictive control [MPC] strategies, i.e. control methods based on models predicting performance utilising navigation and traffic information in the control strategy B60W20/12
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2710/083 Torque
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/64 Electric machine technologies in electromobility

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for controlling an electrical system of a vehicle. Sensors are used to obtain first data for a first path of calculations and second data for a second path of calculations. The first path comprises a first plurality of calculations of generating a value of a parameter pertaining to the electrical system, and the second path comprises a second plurality of calculations of monitoring the electrical system with respect to the first path. A processor is coupled to the plurality of sensors, and is configured to determine whether a data frozen flag is active, perform the first plurality of calculations of the first path using the first data if the first data flag is inactive, and perform the second plurality of calculations of the second path if the first data flag is active.

Claims

1. A method for controlling an electrical system of a vehicle using first data for a first path of calculations and second data for a second path of calculations, the first path comprising a first plurality of calculations of generating a value of a parameter pertaining to the electrical system, the second path comprising a second plurality of calculations of monitoring the electrical system with respect to the first path, and the method comprising the steps of:

determining whether the first data is ready for processing along the first path using a processor;

performing calculations of the first path using the first data and the processor; and

performing calculations of the second path using the processor and the second data if the first data is not ready for processing along the first path.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of performing the calculations of the second path comprises the step of performing redundant calculations of the first plurality of calculations using the second data and the processor to thereby generate a redundant value of the parameter.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of performing the calculations of the second path comprises the step of performing a backward calculation from the value of the parameter to generate a derived input value using the processor.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of performing calculations of the first path comprises the step of processing a plurality of requested functions for use in determining the value of the parameter using the processor if the data is ready for processing along the control path.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining whether the data is ready for processing along the first path comprises the step of determining whether a data frozen flag is active using the processor.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of performing the calculations of the second path comprises the steps of:

performing the calculations of the second path using the processor and the second data so long as the data frozen flag is active; and

setting the data frozen flag to inactive if the first data becomes ready for processing at any time during the performing of the calculations of the second path.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of performing the calculations of the second path comprises the steps of:

storing results of the calculations of the second path using the processor upon completion of the calculations of the second path; and

setting the data frozen flag to inactive using the processor upon completion of the calculations of the second path.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising the steps of:

storing preliminary results from the calculations of the second path using the processor if the first data becomes ready for processing at any time during the performing of the calculations of the second path; and

returning to performing the calculations of the first path using the processor upon storing the preliminary results if the first data becomes ready for processing at any time during the performing of the calculations of the second path.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the step of determining whether the data is ready for processing along the first path comprises the step of determining whether a plurality of data frozen flags are active using the processor, each of the plurality of data frozen flags corresponding to a respective one of the first plurality of calculations of the first path and a respective one of the second plurality of calculations of the second path;

the step of performing the calculations of the first path comprises the step of performing those of the first plurality of calculations for which the corresponding data frozen flag is inactive using the processor; and

the step of performing the calculations of the second path comprises the step of performing those of the second plurality of calculations for which the corresponding data frozen flag is active using the processor.

10. A method for controlling an electrical system of a vehicle using control data for a control path of a first plurality of calculations of the electrical system and monitoring data for a monitoring path of a second plurality of calculations for monitoring the control path, the method comprising the steps of:

determining whether a plurality of data frozen flags are active using a processor, each of the plurality of data frozen flags corresponding to a respective one of the first plurality of calculations of the first path and a respective one of the second plurality of calculations of the second path;

performing those of the first plurality of calculations for which the corresponding data frozen flag is inactive using the processor;

performing those of the second plurality of calculations for which the corresponding data frozen flag is active using the processor;

storing results of the second plurality of calculations upon completion of the second plurality of calculations; and

setting the data frozen flag to inactive using the processor upon completion of the second plurality of calculations.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the steps of:

generating a plurality of values from the first plurality of calculations of the control path using the processor; and

generating a plurality of redundant values from the second plurality of calculations of the monitoring path, each of the plurality of redundant values corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of values using the processor.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising the steps of:

generating a plurality of values from the first plurality of calculations of the control path using the processor; and

performing a plurality of backward calculations from the plurality of values to generate a plurality of derived input values using the processor.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising the steps of:

storing preliminary results from the second plurality of calculations using the processor if the corresponding data frozen flags become inactive at any time during the performing of the corresponding second plurality of calculations; and

returning to performing the first plurality of calculations using the processor if the corresponding data frozen flags become inactive at any time during the performing of the corresponding second plurality of calculations.

14. A system for controlling an electrical system of a vehicle, the system comprising:

a plurality of sensors used to obtain first data for a first path of calculations and second data for a second path of calculations, the first path comprises a first plurality of calculations of generating a value of a parameter pertaining to the electrical system, the second path comprises a second plurality of calculations of monitoring the electrical system with respect to the first path; and

a processor coupled to the plurality of sensors and configured to;

determine whether a data frozen flag is active;

perform the first plurality of calculations of the first path using the first data if the first data flag is inactive; and

perform the second plurality of calculations of the second path if the first data flag is active.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to perform redundant calculations of the first plurality of calculations using the second data to thereby generate a redundant value of the parameter.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to perform a backward calculation from the value of the parameter to generate a derived input value using the processor.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to:

perform the second plurality of calculations of the second path using the second data so long as the data frozen flag is active; and

set the data frozen flag to inactive if the first data becomes ready for processing at any time during the performing of the second plurality of calculations of the second path.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured to:

store results of the second plurality of calculations of the second path upon completion of the second plurality of calculations of the second path; and

set the data frozen flag to inactive using the processor upon completion of the second plurality of calculations of the second path.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor is further configured to:

store preliminary results from the second plurality of calculations of the second path if the first data becomes ready for processing at any time during the performing of the second plurality of calculations of the second path; and

return to performing the first plurality of calculations of the first path upon storing the preliminary results if the first data becomes ready for processing at any time during the performing of the second plurality of calculations of the second path.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to:

determining whether a plurality of data frozen flags are active using the processor, each of the plurality of data frozen flags corresponding to a respective one of the first plurality of calculations of the first path and a respective one of the second plurality of calculations of the second path;

performing those of the first plurality of calculations for which the corresponding data frozen flag is inactive; and

performing those of the second plurality of calculations for which the corresponding data frozen flag is active.