Hybrid vehicle

• US 20030221883A1
• Filed: 05/23/2003
• Published: 12/04/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Saito, Osamu, Sugiyama, Tetsu, Kubodera, Masao
• Granted Patent: US 7,077,223 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 180/65.2
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 6/44 Series-parallel type
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 6/48 Parallel type
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 6/52 Driving a plurality of drive axles, e.g. four-wheel drive
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 6/54 Transmission for changing ratio
• 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 20/00 Control systems specially adapted for hybrid vehicles hybrid vehicle design, B60K6/00; electric vehicles B60L
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 20/11 using model predictive control [MPC] strategies, i.e. control methods based on models predicting performance utilising navigation and traffic information in the control strategy B60W20/12
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/106 Rate of change
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0097 Predicting future conditions
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/40 Engine management systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/62 Hybrid vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/72 Electric energy management in electromobility

Abstract

A hybrid vehicle comprises an engine and a motor as power sources, the output power of at least one of the engine and the motor being transmitted to driving wheels for driving the hybrid vehicle, an accelerator pedal for increasing and decreasing driving power of the hybrid vehicle, and a drive control section which is provided for operating and stopping the engine and the motor, and which is adapted to control the engine and the motor in such a manner that when the engine is stopped and the motor is operated solely for driving the hybrid vehicle, change in desired output power is predicted, and the engine is maintained to be stopped, even when the predicted output power falls in a drive zone in which the engine is supposed to be operated, when the movement of the accelerator pedal in a predetermined period is less than a predetermined amount, and that the motor is controlled so as to output the predicted output power for continuing drive of the vehicle solely by the motor.

Claims

1. A hybrid vehicle comprising:

an engine and a motor as power sources, the output power of at least one of the engine and the motor being transmitted to driving wheels for driving the hybrid vehicle;

an accelerator pedal for increasing and decreasing driving power of the hybrid vehicle; and

a drive control section which is provided for operating and stopping the engine and the motor, and which is adapted to control the engine and the motor in such a manner that when the engine is stopped and the motor is operated solely for driving the hybrid vehicle, change in desired output power is predicted, and the engine is maintained to be stopped, even when the predicted output power falls in a drive zone in which the engine is supposed to be operated, when the movement of the accelerator pedal in a predetermined period is less than a predetermined amount, and that the motor is controlled so as to output the predicted output power for continuing drive of the vehicle solely by the motor.

2. A hybrid vehicle according to claim 1, wherein a drive zone in which the motor is operated solely for driving the hybrid vehicle is defined as a motor drive zone.

3. A hybrid vehicle according to claim 1, wherein change in desired output power is predicted based on the movement of the accelerator pedal in the predetermined period.

4. A hybrid vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the drive control section is further adapted to control in such a manner that the engine is started regardless of whether or not the movement of the accelerator pedal in the predetermined period is less than the predetermined amount when the predicted output power is greater than the maximum output power of the motor.

5. A hybrid vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the drive control section is further adapted to control in such a manner that the engine is started when the movement of the accelerator pedal in the predetermined period is greater than the predetermined amount.

6. A hybrid vehicle according to claim 4, wherein the drive control section is further adapted to control in such a manner that the motor is maintained to output power even after starting of the engine.

7. A hybrid vehicle according to claim 6, wherein the drive control section is further adapted to control in such a manner that the output power of the motor is decreased as the output power of the engine increases after starting of the engine.

8. A hybrid vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the drive control section is further adapted to control in such a manner that change in the output power of the motor is limited in a predetermined range.

9. A hybrid vehicle comprising:

an engine and a motor as power sources, the output power of at least one of the engine and the motor being transmitted to driving wheels for driving the hybrid vehicle;

an accelerator pedal for increasing and decreasing driving power of the hybrid vehicle; and

a drive control section which is provided for operating and stopping the engine and the motor, and which is adapted to control the engine and the motor in such a manner that, when the motor is operated solely for driving the hybrid vehicle, the engine is started when the movement of the accelerator pedal in a predetermined period is greater than a predetermined amount.

10. A hybrid vehicle according to claim 9, wherein a drive zone in which the motor is operated solely for driving the hybrid vehicle is defined as a motor drive zone, and the drive control section is further adapted to control in such a manner that the engine is started in the motor drive zone.

11. A hybrid vehicle according to claim 9, wherein the movement of the accelerator pedal in the predetermined period is determined by the rate at which the accelerator pedal is depressed.

12. A hybrid vehicle according to claim 9, wherein the drive control section is further adapted to control in such a manner that the motor is maintained to output power even after starting of the engine.

13. A hybrid vehicle according to claim 9, wherein the drive control section is further adapted to control in such a manner that the output power of the motor is decreased as the output power of the engine increases after starting of the engine.

14. A hybrid vehicle according to claim 12, wherein the drive control section is further adapted to control in such a manner that the output power of the motor after starting of the engine is limited to be less than the maximum output power of the motor.

15. A hybrid vehicle according to claim 14, wherein the maximum output power of the motor is set to be greater than the power which is necessary to drive the hybrid vehicle solely by the motor.