Controlling apparatus for vehicle

• US 9,694,711 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2016
• Issued: 07/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2015
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Jidosha Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Jidosha Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
• Inventors: Mitsuoka, Hidetaka
• Primary Examiner(s): Alharbi, Adam
• Application Number:
  US15/198,099
• Publication Number:
  US 20170015212A1
• Time in Patent Office: 369 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 15/20 for control of the vehicle or its driving motor to achieve a desired performance, e.g. speed, torque, programmed variation of speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 15/2045 for optimising the use of energy
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2210/30 AC to DC converters
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2210/40 DC to AC converters
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/16 longitudinal
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/52 related to converters
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/526 Operating parameters
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/642 Slope of road
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/68 Traffic data
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2260/24 Coasting mode
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 7/14 for vehicles propelled by ac motors
• 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 2520/10 Longitudinal speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/16 Ratio selector position
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/15 Road slope, i.e. the inclination of a road segment in the longitudinal direction
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/00 Input parameters relating to objects
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/801 Lateral distance
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2555/60 Traffic rules, e.g. speed limits or right of way
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/18072 Coasting
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/18127 Regenerative braking
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0097 : Predicting future conditions
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 63/50 : Signals to an engine or motor
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/60 : Other road transportation technologies with climate change mitigation effect
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/64 : Electric machine technologies in electromobility
• 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 controlling apparatus is provided for controlling a vehicle including a motor for traveling and an inverter for driving the motor. The controlling apparatus includes: an obtainer acquiring information on a front of the vehicle; a determiner judging whether the vehicle is in a coasting state in a regeneration prohibited mode in which a regenerative brake is disabled or not; an estimator forming, if the determiner judges that the vehicle is in the coasting state in the regeneration prohibited mode, an estimate of whether the coasting state in the regeneration prohibited mode is to last for at shortest a predetermined period or not on a basis of the information acquired by the obtainer; and a controller shutting down the inverter if the estimator estimates that the coasting state in the regeneration prohibited mode is to last for at shortest the predetermined period.

Claims

1. A controlling apparatus for controlling a vehicle including a motor for traveling and an inverter for driving the motor, the controlling apparatus comprising:

an obtainer acquiring information on a front of the vehicle;

a determiner judging whether the vehicle is in a coasting state in a regeneration prohibited mode in which a regenerative brake is disabled or not;

an estimator forming, if the determiner judges that the vehicle is in the coasting state in the regeneration prohibited mode, an estimate of whether the coasting state in the regeneration prohibited mode is to last for at shortest a predetermined period or not on a basis of the information acquired by the obtainer; and

a controller shutting down the inverter if the estimator estimates that the coasting state in the regeneration prohibited mode is to last for at shortest the predetermined period.

2. The controlling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the obtainer acquires a distance from the vehicle to an object on a road in front of the vehicle; and

the estimator estimates that the coasting state in the regeneration prohibited mode is to last for at shortest the predetermined period if the distance acquired by the obtainer is longer than or equal to a predetermined distance.

3. The controlling apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the object is a preceding-vehicle traveling in a lane through which the vehicle is traveling.

4. The controlling apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the predetermined distance is set to increase with increase in a velocity of the vehicle.

5. The controlling apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the predetermined distance is set to increase with increase in a velocity of the vehicle.

6. The controlling apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the predetermined distance is set as a quadratic function of the velocity of the vehicle.

7. The controlling apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the predetermined distance is set as a quadratic function of the velocity of the vehicle.

8. The controlling apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising

a detector detecting a slope of a road on which the vehicle is traveling, and wherein

the estimator forms the estimate on a basis of both the information acquired by the obtainer and the slope detected by the detector.

9. The controlling apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the estimator estimates that the coasting state in the regeneration prohibited mode is not to last for at shortest the predetermined period regardless of the information acquired by the obtainer if an absolute value of the slope detected by the detector is larger than a predetermined value.

10. The controlling apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the predetermined value is set to increase as a velocity of the vehicle increases on an upslope and as the velocity of the vehicle decreases on a downslope.