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Method and system for controlling a hybrid vehicle

  • US 9,278,684 B2
  • Filed: 02/24/2014
  • Issued: 03/08/2016
  • Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2014
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A method of controlling a hybrid vehicle, the hybrid vehicle including a powertrain, the powertrain including an internal combustion engine, an electric-motor generator, a control module, and an energy storage device, the energy storage device being configured to supply electrical energy to the electric motor-generator, the method comprising:

  • receiving, via the control module, route data regarding a desired trip, the route data including a desired destination;

    determining, via the control module, a load distribution along the desired trip based, at least in part, on the route data;

    determining, via the control module, a driving cycle of the hybrid vehicle based, at least in part, on the route data, wherein the driving cycle is a series of data points representing a speed of the vehicle versus time for the desired trip, the load distribution is based, at least in part, on the driving cycle, and the load distribution is a series of data points representing a load of the hybrid vehicle versus time along the desired trip;

    determining, via the control module, a load threshold based, at least in part, on the load distribution along the desired trip;

    determining, via the control module, a charge-depleting operating threshold based, at least in part, on a state of charge of the energy storage device;

    determining, via the control module, a charge-depleting range of the hybrid vehicle based, at least in part, on the route data, the state of charge of the energy storage device, and the driving cycle, wherein the load threshold is based, at least in part, on the charge-depleting range;

    comparing, via the control module, the charge-depleting range with a trip length of the desired trip in order to determine if the trip length is greater than the charge-depleting range, wherein determining the load distribution is performed if the trip length is greater than the charge-depleting range, and the charge-depleting range is a driving range that the hybrid vehicle is capable of traveling along the route while operating in the charge-depleting mode;

    determining an arithmetic mean position of all the data points in the load distribution, wherein the arithmetic mean position includes a first coordinate corresponding to the load of the hybrid vehicle and a second coordinate corresponding to time;

    commanding the powertrain, via the control module, to shift from a charge-depleting mode to a charge-sustaining mode when a load of the hybrid vehicle is equal to or greater than the load threshold, wherein the hybrid vehicle uses energy from the energy storage device when operating in the charge-depleting mode, and the hybrid vehicle only uses energy from the internal combustion engine when operating in the charge-sustaining mode; and

    commanding the powertrain, via the control module, to shift from the charge-sustaining mode to the charge-depleting mode when the hybrid vehicle has traveled a distance that is greater than or equal to the charge-depleting operating threshold since the powertrain shifted from the charge-depleting mode to the charge-sustaining mode.

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