Hybrid vehicle control apparatus

• US 9,758,153 B2
• Filed: 08/23/2016
• Issued: 09/12/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Ogawa, Yuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Mawari, Redhwan K
• Application Number:
  US15/244,411
• Publication Number:
  US 20170088117A1
• Time in Patent Office: 385 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 6/445 Differential gearing distribution type
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/13 Maintaining the SoC within a determined range
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/15 Preventing overcharging
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 7/10 Dynamic electric regenerative braking B60L7/22 takes precedence
• 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 20/12 using control strategies taking into account route information estimation or calculation of non-directly measurable driving parameters B60W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/20 Road profile, i.e. the change in elevation or curvature of a plurality of continuous road segments
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/25 Road altitude
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2710/244 Charge state
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2720/103 Speed profile
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2754/00 Output or target parameters relating to objects
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/18127 Regenerative braking
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0097 Predicting future conditions
• 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 10/72 Electric energy management in electromobility
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 903/93 Conjoint control of different elements
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 903/947 Characterized by control of braking, e.g. blending of regeneration, friction braking

Abstract

A control apparatus for a hybrid vehicle including an internal combustion engine, a motor, and a storage battery and which charges the storage battery with electric power generated as a result of regenerative braking and electric power generated by using an output of the engine. When a planned travel route includes a downhill section whose height difference is greater than a predetermined height difference threshold, the controller executes a downhill control operation that decreases the target remaining capacity of the storage battery. The controller increases the height difference threshold as the estimated average speed of the vehicle during travel in the downhill section increases, to thereby restrain the execution of the downhill control for a downhill section in which an increase in the remaining capacity is not expected due to a large air resistance acting on the vehicle.

Claims

1. A hybrid vehicle control apparatus for controlling a hybrid vehicle which includes an internal combustion engine and a motor as drive sources of the vehicle, and a storage battery that supplies electric power to the motor, the vehicle being configured to perform regenerative braking by using the motor as a generator, and charge the storage battery with electric power generated as a result of the regenerative braking and electric power generated by using an output of the internal combustion engine, the hybrid vehicle control apparatus comprising:

a controller configured to control the internal combustion engine and the motor so that the vehicle produces a demanded drive force and a remaining capacity of the storage battery remains above a predetermined minimum target remaining capacity, the controller being further configured to;

obtain a planned travel route of the vehicle and extract a downhill section from the planned travel route as a target-downhill-section, the downhill section having a height difference between a start point and an end point of the downhill section, the height difference being greater in absolute value than a predetermined height difference threshold; and

when the target-downhill-section is extracted, execute a downhill control operation while the vehicle travels in a particular section, the particular section extending to the end point of the target-downhill-section from a downhill control start point which is located upstream of the start point of the target-downhill-section by a predetermined distance, the downhill control operation decreasing the predetermined minimum target remaining capacity at least in a portion of the particular section between the downhill control start point and the start point of the target-downhill-section compared with when the vehicle travels in sections other than the particular section,

wherein the controller sets the predetermined height difference threshold based on an estimated average speed of the vehicle during travel in the downhill section, so that when the estimated average speed is a first speed, the predetermined height difference threshold is set to a relatively larger value as compared to when the estimated average speed is a second speed lower than the first speed.

2. The hybrid vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the controller extracts the target-downhill-section from downhill sections each composed of continuous road sections whose road types are only an expressway or only a non-expressway;

and

the controller estimates that the estimated average speed is the first speed when the road type of the downhill section is the expressway and estimates that the estimated average speed is the second speed when the road type of the downhill section is the non-expressway.

3. The hybrid vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller estimates the estimated average speed based on an average speed at which the vehicle or vehicles other than the vehicle traveled through the downhill section in the past.

4. A hybrid vehicle control apparatus for controlling a hybrid vehicle which includes an internal combustion engine and a motor as drive sources of the vehicle, and a storage battery that supplies electric power to the motor, the vehicle being configured to perform regenerative braking by using the motor as a generator, and charge the storage battery with electric power generated as a result of the regenerative braking and electric power generated by using an output of the internal combustion engine, the hybrid vehicle control apparatus comprising:

a controller configured to control the internal combustion engine and the motor so that the vehicle produces a demanded drive force and a remaining capacity of the storage battery remains above a predetermined minimum target remaining capacity, the controller being further configured to;

obtain a planned travel route of the vehicle and extract a downhill section from the planned travel route as a target-downhill-section, the downhill section having a height difference between a start point and an end point of the downhill section, the height difference being greater in absolute value than a predetermined height difference threshold; and

when the target-downhill-section is extracted, execute a downhill control operation that decreases the predetermined minimum target remaining capacity while the vehicle travels in at least a portion of a particular section as compared with when the vehicle travels in sections other than the particular section, the particular section extending between the end point of the target-downhill-section and a downhill control start point which is located upstream of the start point of the target-downhill-section by a predetermined distance, the portion of the particular section in which the predetermined minimum target remaining capacity is reduced including at least a section between the downhill control start point and the start point of the target-downhill-section,

wherein the controller sets the predetermined height difference threshold to a relatively larger value when an estimated average speed is a first speed as compared to when the estimated average speed is second speed which is lower than the first speed,

the estimated average speed being an estimated speed of the vehicle during travel in the downhill section.

5. The hybrid vehicle control apparatus according to claim 4, wherein

the controller extracts the target-downhill-section from downhill sections each composed of continuous road sections whose road types are only an expressway or only a non-expressway;

and

the controller estimates that the estimated average speed is the first speed when the road type of the downhill section is the expressway and estimates that the estimated average speed is the second speed when the road type of the downhill section is the non-expressway.

6. The hybrid vehicle control apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the controller estimates the estimated average speed based on an average speed at which the vehicle or vehicles other than the vehicle traveled through the downhill section in the past.