Engine control apparatus

• US 7,487,033 B2
• Filed: 05/21/2007
• Issued: 02/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Subaru Corp.
• Original Assignee: Fuji Jukogyo KK (Subaru Corp.)
• Inventors: Hijikata, Kenji
• Primary Examiner(s): KWON, JOHN
• Application Number:
  US11/802,175
• Publication Number:
  US 20070271026A1
• Time in Patent Office: 624 Days
• Field of Search: 701/101, 701/103, 701/104, 701/105, 701/113, 123/434, 123/681, 123/685, 123/406.11, 123/406.23, 123/406.24, 123/406.35, 123/406.47
• US Class Current: 701/113
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 11/105 characterised by the function converting demand to actuation, e.g. a map indicating relations between an accelerator pedal position and throttle valve opening or target engine torque
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2200/501 Vehicle speed
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2200/604 Engine control mode selected by driver, e.g. to manually start particle filter regeneration or to select driving style
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2250/18 Control of the engine output torque

Abstract

An engine control apparatus of the present invention sets a target torque τe, when the save mode m2 is set as an engine mode, according to the formula:
τe←TRQ2*RATIO1+TRQ3*(1−RATIO1)

Basic target torque TRQ2 and TRQ3 are set based on the engine speed Ne and the throttle opening-degree θacc and with reference to the normal mode map Mp1 and the power mode map Mp3 respectively. The correction factor RATIO1 is an addition rate which is set based on an accelerator opening-degree θacc and a vehicle speed V and with reference to a correction factor map Mr1. The correction factor map Mr1 stores a correction factor RATIO1 near 0 (although 1≧RATIO1>0) when the vehicle speed V is low and the accelerator opening-degree θacc is high.

Claims

1. An engine control apparatus for controlling an engine in a mode which is set from plurality of engine control modes including at least a high output mode for controlling the engine with a higher output and an output restricted mode for controlling the engine with a lower restricted output than that in the high output mode, comprising:

mode determining unit configured to determine which one of the high output mode and the output restricted mode is set as the control mode;

vehicle speed detecting unit configured to detect a vehicle speed;

required output detecting unit configured to detect an output required by an external operation; and

target output setting unit configured to set a target output by correcting an output performance in the output restricted mode into the higher output range, when the mode determining unit determines that the output restricted mode is set as the control mode, and the detected vehicle speed is low and the detected required output is large.

3. The engine control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the required output detecting unit is an accelerator opening-degree detecting unit, and

the target output setting unit sets the target output, when the output restricted mode is set as the control mode, by setting a correction factor for correcting the output performance of the output restricted mode to a higher output range and correcting the output performance by using the correction factor, based on the vehicle speed and the accelerator opening-degree detected by the accelerator opening-degree detecting unit and with reference to a correction factor map, when the vehicle speed is low and the accelerator opening-degree as the required output detected by the accelerator opening-degree detecting unit is high.

5. The engine control apparatus according to claim 3, wherein

the correction factor map stores the correction factor for setting an addition rate for the output performance of the high output mode and the output performance of the output restricted mode, and

the target output setting unit sets the target output according to the addition rate set by the correction factor, when the vehicle speed is low and the accelerator opening-degree is high, by adding the output performance of the high output mode by the addition rate larger than that for the output performance of the output restricted mode.

7. The engine control apparatus according to claim 3, wherein

the target output setting unit sets the correction factor by an interpolation based on the vehicle speed and the accelerator opening-degree.

9. The engine control apparatus according to claim 5, wherein

the target output setting unit sets the correction factor by an interpolation based on the vehicle speed and the accelerator opening-degree.

2. An engine control apparatus for controlling an engine in a mode which is set from plurality of engine control modes including at least a high output mode for controlling the engine with a higher output and an output restricted mode for controlling the engine with a lower restricted output than that in the high output mode, comprising:

mode determining unit configured to determine which one of the high output mode and the output restricted mode is set as the control mode;

vehicle speed detecting unit configured to detect a vehicle speed;

required output detecting unit configured to detect an output required by an external operation; and

target output setting unit configured to set a target output by correcting an output performance in the high output mode into the lower output range, when the mode determining unit determines that the high output mode is set as the control mode, and the detected vehicle speed is low and the detected required output is small.

4. The engine control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the required output detecting unit is an accelerator opening-degree detecting unit, and

the target output setting unit sets the target output, when the high output mode is set as the control mode, by setting a correction factor for correcting the output performance of the high output mode to a lower output range and correcting the output performance by using the correction factor, based on the vehicle speed and the accelerator opening-degree detected by the accelerator opening-degree detecting unit and with reference to a correction factor map, when the vehicle speed is low and the accelerator opening-degree as the required output detected by the accelerator opening-degree detecting unit is low.

6. The engine control apparatus according to claim 4, wherein

the correction factor map stores the correction factor for setting an addition rate for the output performance of the high output mode and the output performance of the output restricted mode, and

the target output setting unit sets the target output according to the addition rate set by the correction factor, when the vehicle speed is low and the accelerator opening-degree is low, by adding the output performance of the output restricted mode by the addition rate larger than that for the output performance of the high output mode.

8. The engine control apparatus according to claim 4, wherein

the target output setting unit sets the correction factor by an interpolation based on the vehicle speed and the accelerator opening-degree.

10. The engine control apparatus according to claim 6, wherein

the target output setting unit sets the correction factor by an interpolation based on the vehicle speed and the accelerator opening-degree.