CONTROL OF A HYBRID VEHICLE WITH A MANUAL TRANSMISSION

• US 20120150371A1
• Filed: 12/09/2010
• Published: 06/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Swales, Shawn H., Yang, Hong, Maguire, Joel M., Dusenberry, Donald L., Ross, Craig S.
• Granted Patent: US 8,768,547 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/22
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 6/485 Motor-assist type
• 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 20/00 Control systems specially adapted for hybrid vehicles hybrid vehicle design, B60K6/00; electric vehicles B60L
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 20/40 Controlling the engagement or disengagement of prime movers, e.g. for transition between prime movers power-up or power-down of the driveline B60W30/192
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2510/1015 Input shaft speed, e.g. turbine speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/10 Accelerator pedal position
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/14 Clutch pedal position
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2710/025 Clutch slip, i.e. difference between input and output speeds
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2710/0644 Engine speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2710/0666 Engine torque
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2710/083 Torque
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/1884 Avoiding stall or overspeed of the engine
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/62 Hybrid vehicles

Abstract

A vehicle includes a transmission that receives torque from an engine and/or a motor. A clutch assembly that may be actuated by a driver is operably disposed between the transmission and the motor, the engine, or both. A controller is configured to control the torque provided by the motor and the engine to prevent engine stall, excessive engine flare, or both, during manual actuation of the clutch assembly by the driver of the vehicle.

Claims

1. A vehicle comprising:

a transmission;

an engine configured to provide an engine torque to the transmission;

a motor configured to provide a motor torque to the transmission;

a clutch assembly operably disposed between the transmission and at least one of the motor and the engine, wherein the clutch assembly is configured to be manually actuated by a driver of the vehicle; and

a controller configured to control the torques provided by the motor and the engine to prevent at least one of engine stall and excessive engine flare during the manual actuation of the clutch assembly by the driver of the vehicle.

2. A vehicle as set forth in claim 1, further comprising an accelerator pedal configured to be actuated by the driver, and wherein the controller is configured to control the engine speed based on the actuation of the accelerator pedal.

3. A vehicle as set forth in claim 2, wherein the controller is configured to identify a driver request based on the actuation of the accelerator pedal and control a speed of the engine at least partially based on the driver request.

4. A vehicle as set forth in claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to control the engine to maintain a speed above a predetermined stall speed.

5. A vehicle as set forth in claim 4, wherein the controller is configured to control the motor torque to maintain the speed of the engine above the predetermined stall speed.

6. A vehicle as set forth in claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to control the engine to maintain a speed that meets a driver request.

7. A vehicle as set forth in claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to control the engine to maintain a speed that reduces slip in the clutch assembly.

8. A vehicle as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a clutch pedal configured to actuate the clutch assembly, wherein the controller is configured to determine a driver request based on a position of the clutch pedal.

9. A vehicle as set forth in claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to control the engine torque to reduce engine flare.

10. A vehicle as set forth in claim 1, wherein the transmission has an input shaft and wherein the controller is configured to control a speed of the engine based at least in part on a speed of the input shaft while the clutch assembly is at least partially engaged.

11. A vehicle as set forth in claim 1, wherein the engine and the motor are configured to provide torque to a crankshaft, and wherein the controller is configured to control the torques provided by the engine and the motor to the crankshaft.

12. A vehicle as set forth in claim 11, wherein the transmission includes an input shaft and wherein the clutch assembly is operatively disposed on the crankshaft and the input shaft of the transmission to transfer torque from at least one of the engine and motor to the transmission.

13. A vehicle as set forth in claim 1, wherein the transmission includes an input shaft and further comprising an input sensor configured to measure a speed of the input shaft.

14. A vehicle as set forth in claim 13, wherein the controller is configured to control a speed of the engine based at least in part on the speed of the input shaft.

15. A vehicle as set forth in claim 13, wherein the controller is configured to identify at least one of an upshift and a downshift based at least in part on a change in the speed of the input shaft.

16. A method of preventing at least one of engine stall and excessive engine flare in a vehicle, the method comprising:

receiving a vehicle speed;

receiving a position of an accelerator pedal;

receiving a gear selection;

determining a desired crankshaft torque from at least one of the vehicle speed, the position of the accelerator pedal, and the gear selection, wherein the desired crankshaft torque is sufficient to prevent engine stall during manual actuation of a clutch assembly by a driver of the vehicle;

commanding, via a controller, each of an engine and a motor to provide at least a portion of the desired crankshaft torque during actuation of the clutch assembly by the driver.

17. A method as set forth in claim 16, further comprising:

receiving a clutch pedal position; and

wherein determining the desired crankshaft torque is based at least in part on the clutch pedal position.

18. A method as set forth in claim 16, further comprising determining a desired engine torque and a desired motor torque based at least in part on the desired crankshaft torque.

19. A method as set forth in claim 18, wherein determining the desired engine torque and the desired motor torque is further based at least in part on a vehicle constraint.

20. A method as set forth in claim 19, wherein the vehicle constraint includes at least one of an anti-flare speed limit, an anti-stall speed limit, a motor torque speed limit, an engine torque speed limit, and a battery power limit.