VEHICLE CONTROL APPARATUS

• US 20120046814A1
• Filed: 08/17/2011
• Published: 02/23/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/20/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Sugimoto, Hitoki
• Granted Patent: US 9,238,402 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/22
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 6/445 Differential gearing distribution type
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2200/1015 Engines misfires
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/22 Safety or indicating devices for abnormal conditions in air/fuel ratio feedback systems F02D41/1495, in electric control linkage F02D11/107, in purge control systems F02M25/0809
• CPC Class Codes: F02N 11/0829 related to special engine control, e.g. giving priority to engine warming-up or learning
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/40 Engine management systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/62 Hybrid vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/72 Electric energy management in electromobility

Abstract

A vehicle control apparatus for a vehicle that includes an internal combustion engine and an electric motor, and that is capable of traveling by motive power from at least one of the internal combustion engine and the electric motor includes: a control portion that causes the vehicle to travel in a travel mode of a plurality of travel modes that differ in an engine start condition for the internal combustion engine; and a determination portion that determines whether exhaust from the internal combustion engine has deteriorated, wherein the determination portion changes the deterioration determination condition for determining that the exhaust has deteriorated, according to the travel mode.

Claims

1. A control apparatus for a vehicle that includes an internal combustion engine and an electric motor, and that is propelled by motive power from at least one of the internal combustion engine and the electric motor, the control apparatus comprising:

a control portion that controls the vehicle to travel in a travel mode of a plurality of travel modes that differ in an engine start condition for the internal combustion engine; and

a determination portion that determines whether exhaust from the internal combustion engine has deteriorated,

wherein the determination portion changes a deterioration determination condition for determining whether the exhaust has deteriorated, in accordance with the travel mode.

2. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of travel modes includes a first travel mode in which driving of the internal combustion engine is not permitted in principle and a second travel mode in which the driving of the internal combustion engine is permitted in principle, and the determination portion sets the deterioration determination condition to a first condition in the first travel mode, and sets the deterioration determination condition to a second condition, which is less easily satisfied than the first condition, in the second travel mode.

3. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the vehicle further includes a battery that supplies electric power to the electric motor,

wherein the driving of the internal combustion engine is not permitted unless load is high in the first travel mode, and the driving of the internal combustion engine is permitted when either the load is high or when SOC of the battery has decreased to a vicinity of a lower-limit value of a predetermined range of the SOC.

4. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the first condition is satisfied when a physical quantity that indicates a misfire has occurred in the internal combustion engine exceeds a first threshold value, and the second condition is satisfied when the physical quantity exceeds a second threshold value that is greater than the first threshold value.

5. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the physical quantity is a state quantity of the internal combustion engine which increases according to occurrence of misfire of the internal combustion engine.

6. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the first threshold value is the state quantity that occurs when an amount of pollutants contained in the exhaust equals a predetermined amount in the first travel mode, and the second threshold value is the state quantity that occurs when the amount of pollutants equals the predetermined amount in the second travel mode.

7. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the state quantity is a number of misfires that occur in the internal combustion engine over a prescribed number of revolutions of the internal combustion engine.

8. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the state quantity is at least one of magnitude of vibration of the internal combustion engine, a number of occurrences of the vibration, and air/fuel ratio of the internal combustion engine.

9. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein if the first condition is satisfied in the first travel mode, the control portion performs a continuous operation of prohibiting stop of the internal combustion engine and continues operating the internal combustion engine, and if the first condition is satisfied in the second travel mode, the determination portion determines whether the exhaust has deteriorated using a third condition, which differs from the first condition and from the second condition, as the deterioration determination condition when or after a predetermined period of time elapses following start of the continuous operation.

10. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the first condition is satisfied when a physical quantity that corresponds to a misfire of the internal combustion engine exceeds a first threshold value, and the second condition is satisfied when the physical quantity exceeds a second threshold value that is greater than the first threshold value, and the third condition is satisfied when the physical quantity exceeds a third threshold value that is greater than the second threshold value.

11. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the vehicle further comprises:

a battery that that supplies electric power to the electric motor, and

a switch that a user uses to select the travel mode that the user demands from the plurality of travel modes and input the selected travel mode, and wherein the control portion selects the travel mode based on state of charge of the battery and output of the switch.

12. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the vehicle further includes a notification portion that notifies a user if the determination portion determines that the exhaust from the internal combustion engine has deteriorated.

13. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 3 wherein when the load is high is at least one of when an output that a user demands exceeds a dischargeable electric power of the battery and when vehicle speed exceeds 100 km/h.

14. A method of controlling a control apparatus for a vehicle that includes an internal combustion engine and an electric motor, and that is propelled by at least one of the internal combustion engine and the electric motor, the control method comprising:

controlling the vehicle to travel in a travel mode of a plurality of travel modes that differ in an engine start condition for the internal combustion engine;

determining whether exhaust from the internal combustion engine has deteriorated; and

changing a deterioration determination condition for determining that the exhaust has deteriorated, according to the travel mode.