Systems and methods for dynamic gear state and vehicle speed management
First Claim
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1. A method comprising:
- determining a projected engine power requirement for an engine of a vehicle based on route information, the projected engine power requirement comprising a base power and an incremental power, wherein the base power includes an engine power required to maintain a vehicle speed under a baseline route condition and the incremental power includes an incremental engine power required to maintain the vehicle speed under the route information differing from the baseline route condition, and wherein the route information includes at least a portion ora route to be traveled by the vehicle;
determining a projected change of the vehicle speed based on the projected engine power requirement;
generating a gear request based on the projected engine power requirement and the projected change of vehicle speed, wherein the gear request defines a gear state of a transmission connected to the engine such that at least one of the vehicle'"'"'s drivability, trip time and fuel economy are improved over at least a portion of the route;
communicating the gear request to the transmission;
generating a vehicle reference speed based on the projected engine power requirement and the projected change of vehicle speed such that the vehicle reference speed may deviate from the vehicle speed; and
communicating the vehicle reference speed to an engine controller, wherein the engine controller operates upon the vehicle reference speed to change the vehicle speed to be at or near the vehicle reference speed.
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Abstract
According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a control system, apparatus, and method includes dynamic optimization of at least one of a vehicle reference speed and/or transmission gear state of a vehicle by determining current and future engine power requirements from the current and forward-looking route conditions to improve performance, drivability, and/or fuel economy of the vehicle over what is achievable through conventional gear state selection via static calibration tables and conventional shifting strategies. The selection of the vehicle reference speed and gear state can be performed independently of one another in one embodiment, and complementary of one another in another embodiment.
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Citations
32 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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determining a projected engine power requirement for an engine of a vehicle based on route information, the projected engine power requirement comprising a base power and an incremental power, wherein the base power includes an engine power required to maintain a vehicle speed under a baseline route condition and the incremental power includes an incremental engine power required to maintain the vehicle speed under the route information differing from the baseline route condition, and wherein the route information includes at least a portion ora route to be traveled by the vehicle; determining a projected change of the vehicle speed based on the projected engine power requirement; generating a gear request based on the projected engine power requirement and the projected change of vehicle speed, wherein the gear request defines a gear state of a transmission connected to the engine such that at least one of the vehicle'"'"'s drivability, trip time and fuel economy are improved over at least a portion of the route; communicating the gear request to the transmission; generating a vehicle reference speed based on the projected engine power requirement and the projected change of vehicle speed such that the vehicle reference speed may deviate from the vehicle speed; and communicating the vehicle reference speed to an engine controller, wherein the engine controller operates upon the vehicle reference speed to change the vehicle speed to be at or near the vehicle reference speed. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An apparatus comprising:
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a gear state module structured to operate on a controller to control the gear state of a transmission connected to an engine of a vehicle, the gear state module structured to interpret route condition information for a route and a prescribed vehicle speed;
to determine an engine power vector, the engine power vector defining the engine power required to substantially maintain the prescribed vehicle speed;
to select a gear state for the transmission such that at least one of the vehicle'"'"'s drivability, trip time and fuel economy are improved for at least a portion of the route;
to communicate the gear state to the transmission,wherein the gear state module includes an engine power sensor structured to generate the engine power vector, the engine power sensor including a base power block and an incremental power block, wherein the base power block is configured to calculate a base power vector, the base power vector including a portion of the engine power vector needed to power the vehicle at or near the prescribed vehicle speed under a baseline route condition, and wherein the incremental power block is configured to calculate an incremental power vector, the incremental power vector including the portion of the engine power vector needed to power the vehicle at or near the prescribed vehicle speed under a deviation of the current route condition and the forward route condition from the baseline route condition, and the engine power sensor further including a change state block structured to generate a power change vector, the power change vector defining a relative change in the current route condition and the forward route condition, wherein the engine power sensor adds the base power vector and the incremental power vector to generate the engine power vector. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A system comprising:
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an engine for a vehicle; a transmission mechanically coupled to the engine; a source of route information, the route information including current and forward route conditions of at least a portion of a route of the vehicle traveling at or near a vehicle speed; a controller structured to determine a desired gear state of the transmission for the route by operating on the route information to determine engine power requirements through a period defined by the route information, the controller configured to interpret the route information and the vehicle speed;
to determine an engine power requirement, the engine power requirement defining a desired power from the engine in response to the route information and an anticipated change in the vehicle speed;
to select a gear state for the transmission such that that at least one of the vehicle'"'"'s drivability, trip time and fuel economy are improved over the period through at least a portion of the route; and
to communicate the gear state to the transmission, wherein the controller further comprises an engine power change block configured to determine the engine power requirement using an incremental power block and a base power block, a mode selection block configured to deterimine the anticipated change in the vehicle speed, and/or a gear state selection block configured to determine the gear state from the engine power requirement and the anticipated change in vehicle speed. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification