Driver-assisted fuel reduction strategy and associated apparatus, system, and method
First Claim
1. A controller for controlling fuel consumption in an internal combustion engine of a vehicle having a driver-actuated accelerator pedal, comprising:
- an economy fueling mode activation module configured to receive a throttle input value and determine whether the throttle input value falls within defined limits, the throttle input value being controllable by a driver of the vehicle via positioning of the accelerator pedal, wherein the economy mode activation module is configured to activate an economy fueling mode in response to determining the throttle input value falls within the defined limits for a defined amount of time while the internal combustion engine is operating under a standard fueling mode, the economy fueling mode requiring less fuel consumption than the standard fueling mode, wherein the economy mode activation module is an acceleration economy mode activation module and the throttle input value corresponds with rates of change of the position of the accelerator pedal; and
a standard fueling mode activation module configured to receive the throttle input value and determine whether the throttle input value falls within the defined limits, wherein the standard fueling mode activation module is configured to activate the standard fueling mode in response to determining the throttle input value does not fall within the defined limits for the defined amount of time while the internal combustion engine is operating under the economy fueling mode.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
According to one embodiment, an apparatus for controlling fuel consumption in an internal combustion engine of a vehicle having a driver-actuated accelerator pedal includes an economy mode activation module and a standard fueling module. The economy mode activation module is configured to compare throttle input data with defined limits. The throttle input data is controllable by a driver of the vehicle via positioning of the accelerator pedal. The economy mode activation module is configured to control the fuel consumption of the internal combustion engine via an economy fuel map if the throttle input data falls within the defined limits for a defined amount of time. The standard fueling mode activation module is configured to control the fuel consumption of the internal combustion engine via a standard fuel map if the throttle input data does not fall within the defined limits for the defined amount of time.
-
Citations
18 Claims
-
1. A controller for controlling fuel consumption in an internal combustion engine of a vehicle having a driver-actuated accelerator pedal, comprising:
-
an economy fueling mode activation module configured to receive a throttle input value and determine whether the throttle input value falls within defined limits, the throttle input value being controllable by a driver of the vehicle via positioning of the accelerator pedal, wherein the economy mode activation module is configured to activate an economy fueling mode in response to determining the throttle input value falls within the defined limits for a defined amount of time while the internal combustion engine is operating under a standard fueling mode, the economy fueling mode requiring less fuel consumption than the standard fueling mode, wherein the economy mode activation module is an acceleration economy mode activation module and the throttle input value corresponds with rates of change of the position of the accelerator pedal; and a standard fueling mode activation module configured to receive the throttle input value and determine whether the throttle input value falls within the defined limits, wherein the standard fueling mode activation module is configured to activate the standard fueling mode in response to determining the throttle input value does not fall within the defined limits for the defined amount of time while the internal combustion engine is operating under the economy fueling mode. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12)
-
-
2. A controller for controlling fuel consumption in an internal combustion engine of a vehicle having a driver-actuated accelerator pedal, comprising:
-
an economy fueling mode activation module configured to receive a throttle input value representing a throttle valve position and determine whether the throttle input value falls within defined limits, the throttle input value being controllable by a driver of the vehicle via positioning of the accelerator pedal, wherein the economy mode activation module is configured to activate an economy fueling mode in response to determining the throttle input value falls within the defined limits for a defined amount of time while the internal combustion engine is operating under a standard fueling mode, the economy fueling mode requiring less fuel consumption than the standard fueling mode, wherein the economy mode activation module is a steady state economy mode activation module and the throttle input value comprises throttle input values corresponding with positions of the accelerator pedal; and a standard fueling mode activation module configured to receive the throttle input value and determine whether the throttle input value falls within the defined limits, wherein the standard fueling mode activation module is configured to activate the standard fueling mode in response to determining the throttle input value does not fall within the defined limits for the defined amount of time while the internal combustion engine is operating under the economy fueling mode, wherein the defined limits comprise a throttle input value upper limit and a throttle input value lower limit, and wherein a throttle input percent difference between the upper limit and lower limit is between about 10% and about 75%. - View Dependent Claims (3)
-
-
8. A controller for controlling fuel consumption in an internal combustion engine of a vehicle having a driver-actuated accelerator pedal, comprising:
-
an economy fueling mode activation module configured to receive a throttle input value representing a throttle valve position and determine whether the throttle input value falls within defined limits, the throttle input value being controllable by a driver of the vehicle via positioning of the accelerator pedal, wherein the economy mode activation module is configured to activate an economy fueling mode in response to determining the throttle input value falls within the defined limits for a defined amount of time while the internal combustion engine is operating under a standard fueling mode, the economy fueling mode requiring less fuel consumption than the standard fueling mode; a standard fueling mode activation module configured to receive the throttle input value and determine whether the throttle input value falls within the defined limits, wherein the standard fueling mode activation module is configured to activate the standard fueling mode in response to determining the throttle input value does not fall within the defined limits for the defined amount of time while the internal combustion engine is operating under the economy fueling mode; and at least one economy fuel map corresponding to the economy fueling mode, and a standard fuel map corresponding to the standard fueling mode, wherein; the economy mode activation module comprises a steady state economy mode activation module, the throttle input value comprises throttle input values corresponding with positions of the accelerator pedal, the defined limits comprise predetermined throttle input value limits, the at least one economy fuel map comprises a steady state economy fuel map, and the predetermined amount of time comprises a first defined amount of time; the apparatus further comprises an acceleration economy mode activation module configured to compare throttle input rate of change values with defined throttle input rate of change value limits, the throttle input rate of change values being controllable by the driver of the vehicle via positioning of the accelerator pedal over time, and the at least one economy fuel map comprises an acceleration economy fuel map, wherein the acceleration economy mode activation module is configured to control the fuel consumption of the internal combustion engine via the acceleration economy fuel map in response to the throttle input rate of change values falling within the throttle input rate of change value limits for a second defined amount of time; and the standard fueling mode activation module is configured to control the fuel consumption of the internal combustion engine via the standard fuel map in response to the throttle input values not falling within the defined throttle input value limits for the first defined amount of time and the throttle input rate of change values do not fall within the throttle input rate of change value limits for the second defined amount of time. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10)
-
-
13. A controller for controlling fuel consumption in an internal combustion engine of a vehicle having a driver-actuated accelerator pedal, comprising:
-
an economy fuel map, wherein the economy fuel map comprises a steady state fuel map; a standard fuel map; an acceleration fuel map; and an operating mode determination module configured to; receive a throttle input value representing a throttle valve position and switch control of a fueling operation mode of the engine to an economy fueling mode based on an economy fuel map from a standard fueling mode based on the standard fuel map and switch control of the fueling operation mode of the engine to the standard fueling mode from the economy fueling mode, the switching of the fueling operation mode of the engine based on the throttle input value; and switch control of the fueling operation of the engine between the steady state fuel map, acceleration fuel map, and standard fuel map based on whether the position of the accelerator pedal remains within first limits for a first amount of time and whether a rate of change of the position of the accelerator pedal remains within second limits for a second amount of time. - View Dependent Claims (14)
-
-
15. A method for controlling fuel consumption in an internal combustion engine of a vehicle having a driver-actuated accelerator pedal, comprising:
-
determining whether a throttle input value falls within defined upper and lower limits for a defined period of time, wherein the throttle input value corresponds with rates of change of the position of the accelerator pedal; generating a fuel command for the engine operating under a standard fueling mode based on a standard fuel map to switch to an operation under an economy fueling mode based on an economy fuel map in response to the throttle input value falling within the defined upper and lower limits for the defined period of time, the economy fueling mode requiring less fuel consumption than the standard fueling mode; and generating a fuel command for the engine operating under the economy fueling mode to switch to an operation under the standard fueling mode in response to the throttle input value not falling within the defined upper and lower limits for the defined period of time, wherein the economy mode is an acceleration economy mode. - View Dependent Claims (16, 18)
-
-
17. A method for controlling fuel consumption in an internal combustion engine of a vehicle having a driver-actuated accelerator pedal, comprising:
-
determining whether a throttle input value falls within defined upper and lower limits for a defined period of time, wherein the throttle input value comprises a rate of change of the position of a throttle of the engine generating a fuel command for the engine operating under a standard fueling mode based on a standard fuel map to switch to an operation under an economy fueling mode based on an economy fuel map in response to the throttle input value falling within the defined upper and lower limits for the defined period of time, the economy fueling mode requiring less fuel consumption than the standard fueling mode; and generating a fuel command for the engine operating under the economy fueling mode to switch to an operation under the standard fueling mode in response to the throttle input value not falling within the defined upper and lower limits for the defined period of time.
-
Specification