System And Method For Controlling A Vehicle

• US 20120197468A1
• Filed: 01/28/2011
• Published: 08/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Frederick, Kenneth, Smith, Matthew D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,818,589 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 10/26 for electrical energy, e.g. batteries or capacitors
• 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 20/12 using control strategies taking into account route information estimation or calculation of non-directly measurable driving parameters B60W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2510/244 Charge state
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/20 Road profile, i.e. the change in elevation or curvature of a plurality of continuous road segments
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/192 Mitigating problems related to power-up or power-down of the driveline, e.g. start-up of a cold engine
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/62 Hybrid vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 903/903 having energy storing means, e.g. battery, capacitor

Abstract

Location information may be used to adjust the engine start/stop characteristics of a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) in order to increase the amount of electric vehicle (EV) mode driving, particularly near a destination in which an ignition-off event may occur. Common ignition-off locations may be learned and stored in a database along with the number of ignition-off occurrences associated with each learned location. The vehicle may calculate current distance to a nearest ignition-off location stored in the database using positioning system coordinates and may determine whether to adjust one or more engine pull-ups based at least in part on the distance and the corresponding number of ignition-off occurrences.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving coordinates from a positioning system corresponding to a current location of a vehicle;

comparing the current location with coordinate information corresponding to a plurality of waypoints stored in a database to determine a nearest waypoint, each of the waypoints associated with a location of the vehicle where at least one prior ignition-off event occurred and a number of prior ignition-off events that occurred at the location;

calculating a distance from the current location of the vehicle to the nearest waypoint; and

adjusting an engine pull-up characteristic based at least in part upon the distance and the number of prior ignition-off events associated with the nearest waypoint.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of adjusting the engine pull-up characteristic includes:

increasing an electric vehicle (EV) threshold, corresponding to an amount of power requested by a driver through an accelerator pedal, required to start an engine when the vehicle is operating with the engine off.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of adjusting the engine pull-up characteristic includes:

decreasing a state of charge (SOC) threshold associated with a battery, the SOC threshold corresponding to a minimum amount of charge the battery can contain without starting an engine in order to recharge the battery.

4. A method comprising:

determining a current location of a vehicle;

calculating a distance from the current location to a nearest waypoint stored in a database; and

adjusting an engine pull-up characteristic based at least in part upon the distance and a score associated with the nearest waypoint.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of determining a current location of a vehicle includes:

receiving coordinate information for the vehicle from a positioning system associated with the vehicle.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the database includes a plurality of waypoints, each associated with a location of the vehicle where at least one prior ignition-off event occurred.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the score is stored in the database along with coordinates for the nearest waypoint.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the score is based at least in part upon a number of prior ignition-off events associated with the nearest waypoint.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the score is further based upon the recentness of at least one of the number of prior ignition-off events associated with the nearest waypoint.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

detecting an occurrence of a new ignition-off event; and

determining whether a new location associated with the new ignition-off event corresponds to a stored location associated with one of the waypoints stored in the database.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

storing the new location of the new ignition-off event as a new waypoint in the database upon a determination that the new location does not correspond to a stored location associated with one of the waypoints stored in the database.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

upon a determination that the new location of the new ignition-off event does correspond to a stored location associated with one of the waypoints stored in the database, increasing a count of ignition-off events associated with said one of the waypoints stored in the database.

13. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of adjusting an engine pull-up characteristic based at least in part upon the distance and a score associated with the nearest waypoint includes:

increasing an amount of power, requested by a driver through an accelerator pedal, required to start an engine when the vehicle is operating in an electric vehicle (EV) mode.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of increasing an amount of power required to start the engine includes increasing an electric vehicle (EV) threshold associated with the position of the accelerator pedal.

15. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of adjusting an engine pull-up characteristic based at least in part upon the distance and a score associated with the nearest waypoint includes:

decreasing a minimum state of charge (SOC) threshold associated with a battery.

16. A vehicle system comprising:

an engine;

a positioning system that obtains location information associated a current location of a vehicle;

a database including a plurality of waypoints, each associated with a location of the vehicle where at least one prior ignition-off event occurred; and

a controller, in communication with the positioning system, the database and the engine, configured to;

calculate a distance from the current location to a nearest waypoint stored in the database; and

adjust an engine pull-up characteristic based at least in part upon the distance and a score associated with the nearest waypoint.

17. The vehicle system of claim 16, wherein the score is based at least in part upon a number of prior ignition-off events associated with the nearest waypoint.

18. The vehicle system of claim 17, wherein the score is further based upon the recentness of at least one of the number of prior ignition-off events associated with the nearest waypoint.

19. The vehicle system of claim 16, further comprising:

an accelerator pedal in communication with the controller,

wherein adjusting an engine pull-up characteristic based at least in part upon the distance and the score associated with the nearest waypoint includes increasing an electric vehicle (EV) threshold, corresponding to an amount of power requested by a driver through the accelerator pedal, required to start the engine when the vehicle is operating with the engine off.

20. The vehicle system of claim 16, further comprising:

a battery in communication with the controller,

wherein adjusting an engine pull-up characteristic based at least in part upon the distance and the score associated with the nearest waypoint includes decreasing a minimum state of charge (SOC) threshold associated with the battery.