Control apparatus of hybrid vehicle

• US 8,874,295 B2
• Filed: 09/27/2012
• Issued: 10/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Aishin AI Company Limited (Aisin Corp.), Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd. (Aisin Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Aishin AI Company Limited (Aisin Corp.), Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd. (Aisin Corp.)
• Inventors: Terakawa, Tomomitsu, Hosoi, Yasuhiro, Kitamura, Yuichiro, Suzuki, Yoshihide, Ueda, Katsunori, Aoyama, Yoshiyuki, Kobayashi, Kazutaka, Miyazaki, Takeshige, Murakami, Tuyoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Algahaim, Helal A
• Assistant Examiner(s): PATEL, SHARDUL D
• Application Number:
  US13/628,504
• Publication Number:
  US 20130079966A1
• Time in Patent Office: 761 Days
• Field of Search: 701/22, 180/65.265, 903/930
• US Class Current: 701/22
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2006/4808 Electric machine connected or connectable to gearbox output shaft
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 6/543 the transmission being a continuously variable transmission
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/02 including control of driveline clutches
• 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 20/00 Control systems specially adapted for hybrid vehicles hybrid vehicle design, B60K6/00; electric vehicles B60L
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 20/19 for achieving enhanced acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 20/30 Control strategies involving selection of transmission gear ratio control of change speed gearings, together with other vehicle sub-units B60W10/10; HEV transmission gearing B60K6/36; gearings and control thereof F16H
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2510/244 Charge state
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/19 Improvement of gear change, e.g. by synchronisation or smoothing gear shift
• CPC Class Codes: B60Y 2400/71 Manual or semi-automatic, e.g. automated manual transmissions
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/62 Hybrid vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 903/93 Conjoint control of different elements

Abstract

A control apparatus of a hybrid vehicle includes an automatic transmission, a clutch, a motor, a battery, a driving assist control device performing a driving assist control by driving the motor to generate an assist torque, a gear shift assist control device performing a gear shift assist control by driving the motor in response to a decrease of the engine torque caused by the disengagement state of the clutch, an SOC value detection device detecting an SOC value, and a first mode switch device switching an operation mode of the hybrid vehicle from a normal mode in which the driving assist control and the gear shift assist control are performed to a battery power preserving mode in which the driving assist control is prohibited and the gear shift assist control is permitted in a case where the SOC value is equal to or smaller than a first predetermined value.

Claims

1. A control apparatus of a hybrid vehicle, comprising:

an automatic transmission including an input shaft driven to rotate by an engine torque of an engine mounted at a hybrid vehicle, an output shaft rotatably connected to driving wheels, and a plurality of gear sets configured to connect the input shaft and the output shaft to be rotatable at different gear ratios, the automatic transmission including a changing device that selects one of the plurality of gear sets to cause the selected one of the plurality of gear sets to be rotatably connected to the input shaft and the output shaft;

a gear shift operation control device controlling a gear shift operation of the automatic transmission;

a clutch being switchable by a clutch driving device between an engagement state where an output shaft of the engine and the input shaft of the automatic transmission are rotatably connected to each other and a disengagement state where the connection between the output shaft of the engine and the input shaft of the automatic transmission is released;

a motor rotatably connected to the driving wheels;

a battery connected to the motor;

a driving assist control device performing a driving assist control by driving the motor as necessary in a driving state of the hybrid vehicle to generate an assist torque;

a gear shift assist control device performing a gear shift assist control by driving the motor to generate the assist torque in response to a decrease of the engine torque transmitted to the driving wheels caused by the disengagement state of the clutch in a state where a gear shift condition is satisfied;

an SOC value detection device detecting an SOC value of the battery; and

a first mode switch device switching an operation mode of the hybrid vehicle from a normal mode in which the driving assist control and the gear shift assist control are performed to a battery power preserving mode in which the driving assist control is prohibited and the gear shift assist control is permitted in a case where the SOC value detected by the SOC value detection device is equal to or smaller than a first predetermined value.

2. The control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a second mode switch device switching the operation mode from the battery power preserving mode to an assist prohibition mode in which the driving assist control and the gear shift assist control are prohibited in a case where the SOC value is equal to or smaller than a second predetermined value that is smaller than the first predetermined value.

3. The control apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a warning device informing a passenger in the hybrid vehicle that the operation mode is switched to the assist prohibition mode.

4. The control apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a gear shift feeling deterioration inhibition device easing a torque fluctuation that occurs in association with a torque drop during the gear shift operation in a case where the gear shift assist control is prohibited.

5. The control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a battery temperature detection device detecting a temperature of the battery and a third mode switch device switching the operation mode to an assist prohibition mode in which the driving assist control and the gear shift assist control are prohibited in a case where the temperature of the battery detected by the battery temperature detection device is smaller than a predetermined temperature.

6. The control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the operation mode is switched to the battery power preserving mode in which the driving assist control device prohibits the driving assist control and permits the gear shift assist control in a case where the SOC value is greater than the second predetermined value.

7. The control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the first predetermined value is 50% and the second predetermined value is 40%.

8. The control apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the gear shift feeling deterioration inhibition device reduces a shifting time period after which a gear position of the automatic transmission is changed to a next gear position.

9. A control apparatus of a hybrid vehicle, comprising:

an automatic transmission including an input shaft driven to be rotated by an engine torque of an engine mounted on a hybrid vehicle, an output shaft rotatably connected to driving wheels, and a plurality of gear sets configured to connect the input shaft and the output shaft to be rotatable at different gear ratios, the automatic transmission including a changing device that selects one of the plurality of gear sets to cause the selected one of the plurality of gear sets to be rotatably connected to the input shaft and the output shaft;

a gear shift operation control device controlling a gear shift operation of the automatic transmission;

a clutch being switchable by a clutch driving device between an engagement state where an output shaft of the engine and the input shaft of the automatic transmission are rotatably connected to each other and a disengagement state where the connection between the output shaft of the engine and the input shaft of the automatic transmission is released;

a motor rotatably connected to the driving wheels;

a battery connected to the motor;

a driving assist control device performing a driving assist control by driving the motor as necessary in a driving state of the hybrid vehicle to generate an assist torque;

a gear shift assist control device performing a gear shift assist control by driving the motor to generate the assist torque in response to a decrease of the engine torque transmitted to the driving wheels caused by the disengagement state of the clutch in a state where a gear shift condition is satisfied;

an SOC value detection device detecting an SOC value of the battery;

a battery temperature detection device detecting a temperature of the battery;

a gear shift feeling deterioration inhibition device performing gear shift feeling deterioration inhibition for easing a torque fluctuation that occurs in association with a torque drop during the gear shift operation in a case where the gear shift assist control is prohibited; and

a control unit that allows or prohibits each of the driving assist control, the gear shift assist control, and the gear shift feeling deterioration inhibition, based on the SOC value and the temperature of the battery.

10. The control apparatus according to claim 9, wherein when the temperature of the battery is equal to or greater than a predetermined temperature and the SOC value is equal to or smaller than a first predetermined value, the control unit prohibits the driving assist control, and allows the gear shift assist control to be performed in the state where the gear shift condition is satisfied.

11. The control apparatus according to claim 10, wherein when the temperature of the battery is equal to or smaller than a second predetermined value that is smaller than the first predetermined value, the control unit further prohibits the gear shift assist control.

12. The control apparatus according to claim 9, wherein when the temperature of the batter is smaller than a predetermined temperature, the control unit prohibits the driving assist control and the gear shift assist control, and allows the gear shift feeling deterioration inhibition to be performed during the gear shift operation.