PREDICTIVE POWERTRAIN CONTROL USING POWERTRAIN HISTORY AND GPS DATA

• US 20130268150A1
• Filed: 02/27/2013
• Published: 10/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/04/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: FCA US LLC (Stellantis NV)
• Original Assignee: FCA US LLC (Stellantis NV)
• Inventors: Weslati, Feisel, Krupadanam, Ashish A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,972,090 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 10/11 Stepped gearings
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/26 for electrical energy, e.g. batteries or capacitors
• 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 2050/0075 Automatic parameter input, automatic initialising or calibrating means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/10 Historical data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 903/93 Conjoint control of different elements

Abstract

A method and powertrain apparatus that predicts a route of travel for a vehicle and uses historical powertrain loads and speeds for the predicted route of travel to optimize at least one powertrain operation for the vehicle.

Claims

1. A method of controlling a vehicle powertrain, said method comprising:

determining a present location of the vehicle;

predicting a route of travel for the vehicle from the present location based on the current day and time;

retrieving historical powertrain loads and speeds for the predicted route of travel; and

optimizing a powertrain operation based on the retrieved historical powertrain loads and speeds.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the optimized powertrain operation comprises one of shift scheduling and battery control.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein predicting the route of travel comprises:

searching recorded history to determine if the present location is associated with another historical location that is typically traveled after the present location for a matching day and time; and

adding the another historical location to the predicted route of travel if it is determined that the present location is associated with another historical location that is typically traveled after the present location for a matching day and time.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the another historical location is not added if additional information indicates that a different location should be added to the predicted route.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the additional information is input from a vehicle to vehicle data source.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the additional information is input from a vehicle to infrastructure data source.

7. The method of claim 1, The method of claim 1, wherein determining the present location of the vehicle further comprises recording the present location with a time stamp.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the present location is a GPS location.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising recording present powertrain speed and load with a time stamp to be used as part of the powertrain'"'"'s history.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein route information includes battery charging locations.

11. A powertrain apparatus for a vehicle, said apparatus comprising:

a controller adapted to;

determine a present location of the vehicle;

predict a route of travel for the vehicle from the present location based on the current day and time;

retrieve historical powertrain loads and speeds for the predicted route of travel; and

optimize a powertrain operation based on the retrieved historical powertrain loads and speeds.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the optimized powertrain operation comprises one of shift scheduling and battery control.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the controller predicts the route of travel by:

searching recorded history to determine if the present location is associated with another historical location that is typically traveled after the present location for a matching day and time; and

adding the another historical location to the predicted route of travel if it is determined that the present location is associated with another historical location that is typically traveled after the present location for a matching day and time.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the another historical location is not added if additional information indicates that a different location should be added to the predicted route.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the additional information is input from a vehicle to vehicle data source.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the additional information is input from a vehicle to infrastructure data source.

17. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the controller records the present location with a time stamp.

18. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the present location is a GPS location.

19. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the controller further records present powertrain speed and load with a time stamp to be used as part of the powertrain'"'"'s history.

20. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein route information includes battery charging locations.