Vehicle control using an estimated outside air temperature

• US 9,020,671 B2
• Filed: 02/20/2012
• Issued: 04/28/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Lindemann, Todd P., Kinser, Christopher A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chen, Shelley
• Application Number:
  US13/400,302
• Publication Number:
  US 20130218378A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,163 Days
• Field of Search: 701/22
• US Class Current: 701/22
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00778 the input being a stationary vehicle position, e.g. parking or stopping
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00807 the input being a specific way of measuring or calculating an air or coolant temperature
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/662 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2250/16 by display
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2260/44 by parameter estimation
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2260/52 drive range estimation, e.g. of estimation of available travel distance
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2260/54 Energy consumption estimation
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2260/56 Temperature prediction, e.g. for pre-cooling
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/16 with provision for separate direct mechanical propulsion
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/61 by batteries charged by engine-driven generators, e.g. series hybrid electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/12 responding to state of charge [SoC]
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3469 Fuel consumption; Energy use; Emission aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/004 Indicating the operating range of the engine economical driving B60R16/0236, F02B77/084; measuring liquid fuel of an engine G01F9/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/62 Hybrid vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/7072 Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/72 Electric energy management in electromobility
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/16 Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles

Abstract

A vehicle includes a vehicle system, an outside air temperature (OAT) sensor, a clock, and a controller. The controller includes recorded garage temperatures and actual OAT profiles. At the key-on event, a controller-executed method includes recording an initial temperature reading from the OAT sensor and corresponding time of day from the clock. The controller determines whether the vehicle is in a garage using the profile of recorded temperatures and the time of day, and estimates an OAT for the corresponding time of day when the vehicle is in the garage. An operation of the vehicle system is controlled using the estimated OAT before the vehicle leaves the garage. The system may be a navigation system, and the operation may be modification of a calculated electric vehicle range. The system may be an HVAC or other system in another embodiment.

Claims

1. A vehicle comprising:

an electric traction motor that generates motor output torque to propel the vehicle in an electric vehicle (EV) mode;

a rechargeable energy storage system (RESS) that supplies electrical energy to the electric traction motor, wherein the RESS has a state of charge (SOC) and a capacity;

a vehicle system including a navigation system configured to calculate a remaining EV range as a function of the SOC and the capacity of the RESS;

an outside air temperature (OAT) sensor mounted outside of the vehicle;

a clock; and

a controller in communication with the OAT sensor and the clock, wherein the controller includes memory on which is recorded a garage temperature profile and an actual OAT profile;

wherein the controller is configured to;

detect a key-on event of the vehicle;

record an initial temperature reading from the OAT sensor;

record the time of day of the initial temperature reading, wherein the time of day is communicated to the controller by the clock;

determine, in response to the key-on event, whether the vehicle is located in a garage using the garage temperature profile, the actual OAT profile, and the time of day;

estimate an OAT for the corresponding time of day when the vehicle is in the garage; and

control an operation of the vehicle system using the estimated OAT before the vehicle leaves the garage, including;

if the vehicle is in the garage, modifying the calculated EV range using the estimated OAT before the vehicle leaves the garage; and

if the vehicle is not in the garage, modify the calculated EV range using the measured OAT from the OAT sensor.

2. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the function is a multiplication of the calculated EV range by a calibrated gain corresponding to the estimated OAT.

3. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to determine whether the vehicle is located in a garage by calculating a difference between the garage temperature profile and the actual OAT profile for a given time of day, and thereafter comparing the calculated difference to a calibrated threshold.

4. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the OAT sensor is a single thermocouple mounted to the vehicle.

5. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to periodically sample temperature measurements from the OAT sensor while the vehicle is being actively driven, and to calculate and record an average of the sampled measurements as one temperature profile in the profile of recorded temperatures.

6. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the vehicle system also includes a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, and wherein the controller is configured to control the operation of the vehicle system by adjusting a setting of the HVAC system, includes:

if the vehicle is in the garage, adjusting the setting using the estimated OAT before the vehicle leaves the garage; and

if the vehicle is not in the garage, adjusting the setting using the measured OAT from the OAT sensor.

7. A vehicle comprising:

an electric traction motor that generates motor output torque to propel the vehicle in an electric vehicle (EV) mode;

a rechargeable energy storage system (RESS) that supplies electrical energy to the traction motor, wherein the RESS has a state of charge (SOC) and a capacity;

a navigation system configured to calculate a remaining EV range as a function of the SOC and the capacity of the RESS;

an outside air temperature (OAT) sensor mounted to the vehicle;

a clock; and

a controller in communication with the RESS, the OAT sensor, and the clock, and having tangible, non-transitory memory on which is recorded a profile of recorded temperatures, wherein the profile of recorded temperatures includes a garage temperature profile and an actual OAT profile;

wherein the controller is configured to;

detect a key-on event of the vehicle;

determine, in response to the key-on event, whether the vehicle is located in a garage by calculating a difference between the garage temperature profile and the actual OAT profile and comparing the difference to a calibrated threshold;

estimate an OAT when the vehicle is in the garage;

if the vehicle is in the garage, modify the calculated EV range using the estimated OAT before the vehicle leaves the garage; and

if the vehicle is not in the garage, modify the calculated EV range using the measured OAT from the OAT sensor.

8. The vehicle of claim 7, wherein the controller is configured to modify the calculated EV range by multiplying the calculated EV range by a calibrated gain corresponding to the estimated OAT.

9. The vehicle of claim 7, wherein the controller is configured to periodically sample measurements from the OAT sensor while the vehicle is being actively driven, and to calculate and record an average of the sampled measurements as one temperature profile in the profile of recorded temperatures.

10. The vehicle of claim 7, wherein the garage temperature profile and the actual OAT profile are a calculated average of previous respective garage and actual OAT measurements for the same time of day.

11. A method comprising:

detecting a key-on event in a vehicle having an electric traction motor configured to generate motor output torque to propel the vehicle in an electric vehicle (EV) mode, a rechargeable energy storage system (RESS) configured to supply electrical energy to the electric traction motor and having a state of charge (SOC) and a capacity;

recording, via a controller, an initial temperature reading from an outside air temperature (OAT) sensor;

recording, via the controller, the time of day of the initial temperature reading;

calculating a remaining EV range as a function of the SOC and the capacity of the RESS;

determining, in response to the detected key-on event, whether the vehicle is located in a garage using a profile of recorded temperatures and the time of day, wherein the profile of recorded temperatures includes a garage temperature profile and an actual OAT profile;

estimating an actual OAT for the corresponding time of day when the vehicle is in the garage; and

if the vehicle is in the garage, modifying the calculated EV range using the estimated OAT before the vehicle leaves the garage; and

if the vehicle is not in the garage, modifying the calculated EV range using the measured OAT from the OAT sensor mounted to the vehicle.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein calculating the EV range includes multiplying the calculated EV range by a calibrated gain corresponding to the estimated OAT.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein determining whether the vehicle is located in the garage includes:

calculating, via the controller, a difference between the garage profile and the actual OAT profile for a given time of day; and

comparing the calculated difference to a calibrated threshold.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

periodically sampling measurements from the OAT sensor while the vehicle is being actively driven; and

calculating and recording an average of the sampled measurements as one temperature profile in the profile of recorded temperatures.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the vehicle includes a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, the method further comprising:

if the vehicle is in the garage, adjusting a setting of the HVAC system using the estimated OAT before the vehicle leaves the garage; and

if the vehicle is not in the garage, adjusting the setting of the HVAC system using the measured OAT from the OAT sensor.