VEHICLE CONTROL APPARATUS

• US 20120290179A1
• Filed: 12/17/2009
• Published: 11/15/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Oishi, Toshiya, Takagi, Masashi, Shimada, Michihito, Minase, Yuki, Okaya, Kenichi, Miyazaki, Tsutomu
• Granted Patent: US 9,145,115 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/54
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2260/08 Coordination of integrated systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 7/042 by electrical means, e.g. using travel or force sensors
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 7/12 for automatic initiation; for initiation not subject to will of driver or passenger limiting speed of vehicles other than rail vehicles B60K31/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/06 including control of combustion engines
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/10 including control of change-speed gearings
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/119 including control of all-wheel-driveline means, e.g. transfer gears or clutches for dividing torque between front and rear axle B60W10/14 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0019 Control system elements or transfer functions
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/10 Accelerator pedal position
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/12 Brake pedal position
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/00 Purposes of road vehicle drive control systems not related to the control of a particular sub-unit, e.g. of systems using conjoint control of vehicle sub-units
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/18054 at stand still, e.g. engine in idling state hill holding B60W30/18118
• 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: B60W 50/10 Interpretation of driver requests or demands
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 29/02 peculiar to engines driving vehicles; peculiar to engines driving variable pitch propellers
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/08 for idling F02D41/06, F02D41/16 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 45/00 Electrical control not provided for in groups F02D41/00 - F02D43/00
• CPC Class Codes: F02N 11/0822 related to action of the driver
• CPC Class Codes: F02N 2200/101 Accelerator pedal position
• CPC Class Codes: F02N 2200/102 Brake pedal position
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/40 Engine management systems

Abstract

Disclosed is a vehicle control apparatus which can prevent the deterioration of drivability. The ECU can set a control accelerator opening degree to be converted when a control permission condition is established. The control accelerator opening degree is equal to or larger than an accelerator lower limit which is larger than an idle determination value for determining an automatic stopping of an engine by an eco-run. The control accelerator opening degree thus set can prevent the drivability from being deteriorated without the automatic stopping of the engine being caused even if the accelerator opening degree is converted to reduce the torque of the engine with the establishment of the control permission condition.

Claims

1. A vehicle control apparatus for a vehicle provided with a power source, an accelerator pedal, and a brake pedal, the vehicle control apparatus comprising:

an accelerator opening degree detection unit that detects a depression amount of the accelerator pedal as an actual accelerator opening degree;

a brake detection unit that detects a depression of the brake pedal;

a power transmission interruption unit that interrupts a power transmission to be transmitted from the power source to driving wheels;

a permission condition determination unit that determines a control permission condition being established when the depression of the accelerator pedal is detected by the accelerator opening degree detection unit, and the depression of the brake pedal is detected by the brake detection unit;

an output control unit that executes a reduction control to reduce a driving force to be outputted by the power source by converting the actual accelerator opening degree detected by the accelerator opening degree detection unit to a control accelerator opening degree when the control permission condition established is determined by the permission condition determination unit; and

a power transmission interruption prohibition unit that prohibits interrupting the power transmission to be transmitted from the power source to the driving wheels by the power transmission interruption unit when the control permission condition is established.

2. The vehicle control apparatus as set forth in claim 1, in which

the power source has an engine,

the power transmission interruption unit is operative to interrupt the power transmission by having the engine automatically stopped with a predetermined stoppage condition established, and

the power transmission interruption prohibition unit is operative to prohibit the power transmission interruption unit from having the engine automatically stopped when the reduction control is executed by the output control unit.

3. The vehicle control apparatus as set forth in claim 2, in which

the power transmission interruption unit is operative to have the engine automatically stopped when the control accelerator opening degree is not more than an idle determination value preliminarily set, and

the power transmission interruption prohibition unit is operative to allow the control accelerator opening degree to be converted by the output control unit to have a value equal to or larger than accelerator lower limit value that is larger than the idle determination value.

4. The vehicle control apparatus as set forth in claim 2, in which

the power transmission interruption unit is operative to have the engine automatically stopped when the control accelerator opening degree is not more than an idle determination value preliminarily set, and

the power transmission interruption prohibition unit is operative to prohibit the power transmission interruption unit from having the engine automatically stopped when the control permission established is determined by the permission condition determination unit.

5. The vehicle control apparatus as set forth in claim 2, which further comprises

an idle determination unit that determines an idle state when the actual accelerator opening degree or the control accelerator opening degree is not more than an idle determination value preliminarily set, and in which

the power transmission interruption unit is operative to have the engine automatically stopped when the idle state is determined by the idle determination unit, and

the power transmission interruption prohibition unit is operative not to allow the idle determination unit to determine the idle state even if the control accelerator opening degree is not more than the idle determination value during the execution of the reduction control by the output control unit.

10. The vehicle control apparatus as set forth in claim 1, in which

the permission condition determination unit is operative to determine that the control permission condition is established when the depression of the brake pedal is detected by the brake detection unit in the state that the depression of the accelerator pedal is detected by the accelerator detection unit.

11. The vehicle control apparatus as set forth in claim 1, which further comprises

a speed reduction determination unit that detects the state of the vehicle to determine a speed reduction of the vehicle, and in which

the permission condition determination unit is operative to determine that the control permission condition is established when the speed reduction of the vehicle is determined by the speed reduction determination unit.

12. The vehicle control apparatus as set forth in claim 11, which further comprises

a brake depression force detection unit that detects a depression amount of the brake pedal, and in which

the speed reduction determination unit is operative to determine the speed reduction in accordance with the depression amount of the brake pedal detected by the brake depression force detection unit.

13. The vehicle control apparatus as set forth in claim 11, which further comprises

a vehicle body speed detection unit that detects a travel speed of the vehicle from the rotation number of driven wheels, and in which

the speed reduction determination unit is operative to determine the speed reduction in accordance with the varied rotation number of the driven wheels detected by the vehicle body speed detection unit.

14. The vehicle control apparatus as set forth in claim 1, which further comprises

a vehicle speed detection unit that detects a vehicle speed, and in which

the output control unit is operative to execute the reduction control when the vehicle speed detected by the vehicle speed detection unit is not less than a predetermined vehicle speed.

15. The vehicle control apparatus as set forth in claim 1, in which

the output control unit is operative to execute the reduction control when the control permission condition established for no less than a predetermined time is determined by the permission condition determination unit.

16. The vehicle control apparatus as set forth in claim 1, in which

the output control unit is operative to finish the reduction control when the amount of depression of the accelerator pedal detected by the accelerator opening degree detection unit is varied larger than a predetermined depression amount.

17. The vehicle control apparatus as set forth in claim 1, in which

the output control unit is operative to finish the reduction control of the driving force outputted from the power source when the brake pedal not depressed is detected by the brake detection unit.

6. A vehicle control apparatus for a vehicle provided with a power source, an accelerator pedal, and a brake pedal, the vehicle control apparatus comprising:

an accelerator opening degree detection unit that detects a depression amount of the accelerator pedal as an actual accelerator opening degree;

a brake detection unit that detects a depression of the brake pedal;

a driving force generation interruption unit that interrupts a power transmission to be generated from the driving force to driving wheels;

a permission condition determination unit that determines a control permission condition being established when the depression of the accelerator pedal is detected by the accelerator opening degree detection unit, and the depression of the brake pedal is detected by the brake detection unit;

an output control unit that executes a reduction control to reduce a driving force to be outputted by the power source by converting the actual accelerator opening degree detected by the accelerator opening degree detection unit to a control accelerator opening degree when the control permission condition established is determined by the permission condition determination unit;

a driving force generation interruption prohibition unit that prohibits interrupting the driving force to be generated to the driving wheels by the driving force generation interruption unit when the control permission condition is established; and

a braking unit that brakes the driving wheels, and in which

the driving force generation interruption unit is operative to interrupt the driving force generation to the driving wheels by executing a retaining control that retains the braking of the driving wheels by the braking unit when a predetermined braking retaining condition is established, and

the driving force generation interruption prohibition unit is operative not to allow the driving force generation interruption unit to execute the retaining control when the reduction control is executed by the output control unit.

7. The vehicle control apparatus as set forth in claim 6, in which

the driving force generation interruption unit is operative to execute the retaining control when the control accelerator opening degree is not more than an idle determination value preliminarily set, and

the driving force generation interruption prohibition unit is operative to allow the control accelerator opening degree to be converted by the output control unit to have a value no less than accelerator lower limit that is larger than the idle determination value.

8. The vehicle control apparatus as set forth in claim 6, in which

the driving force generation interruption unit is operative to execute the retaining control when the control accelerator opening degree is not more than an idle determination value preliminarily set, and

the driving force generation interruption prohibition unit is operative not to allow the driving force generation interruption unit to execute the retaining control when the control permission established is determined by the permission condition determination unit.

9. The vehicle control apparatus as set forth in claim 6, which further comprises

an idle determination unit that determines an idle state when the actual accelerator opening degree or the control accelerator opening degree is not more than an idle determination value preliminarily set, and in which

the driving force generation interruption unit is operative to execute the retaining control when the idle state is determined by the idle determination unit, and

the driving force generation interruption prohibition unit is operative not to allow the idle determination unit to determine the idle state even if the control accelerator opening degree is not more than the idle determination value during the execution of the reduction control by the output control unit.