Inputs for optimizing performance in hybrid vehicles
First Claim
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1. A method comprising:
- determining information about a future path of a vehicle that is operating using stored energy and consumable fuel, and where said vehicle includes a source for said stored energy that can be recharged, and where said future path of the vehicle comprises a path all the way from a starting point of a trip to a destination;
recharging said battery by running a motor, said recharging occuring only at certain times; and
using said information, along with a level of charge of said source at said starting point, to determine an amount of said stored energy to be used by said vehicle for movement of the vehicle along said path to said destination, said amount of stored energy being used is an amount which will deplete the source of stored energy when at said destination, and to determine a total future recharge time over the entire trip to recharge the battery at the destination, and to control consumption of stored energy based on the determined amount of energy to be used.
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Abstract
A hybrid vehicle controller operates to use GPS navigation information to determine how much energy should be delivered from or sent to, the battery. The battery charge can be better managed by using knowledge of the future path of the vehicle.
104 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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determining information about a future path of a vehicle that is operating using stored energy and consumable fuel, and where said vehicle includes a source for said stored energy that can be recharged, and where said future path of the vehicle comprises a path all the way from a starting point of a trip to a destination; recharging said battery by running a motor, said recharging occuring only at certain times; and using said information, along with a level of charge of said source at said starting point, to determine an amount of said stored energy to be used by said vehicle for movement of the vehicle along said path to said destination, said amount of stored energy being used is an amount which will deplete the source of stored energy when at said destination, and to determine a total future recharge time over the entire trip to recharge the battery at the destination, and to control consumption of stored energy based on the determined amount of energy to be used. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A controller for a hybrid vehicle, comprising:
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a monitoring part, which monitors a state of charge of a charge storage unit in a vehicle; a motor which runs to recharge a battery; a future trip detection part, which determines information about a future trip of the vehicle including a path of said future trip all the way from a starting point of said future trip to a destination of said future trip; and a processing part, using said information to determine an amount of said stored energy to be used by said vehicle for movement of the vehicle all the way from said starting point to said destination, said amount of stored energy set by said processing part to deplete the source of stored energy and to determine a total future motor run time of said motor, all the way from said starting point to when at said destination, and to control consumption of stored energy based on the determined amount of energy to be used and said future motor run time. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method comprising:
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determining first information about a future path of a vehicle that is operating using stored energy and consumable fuel, and which includes a source for said stored energy, that can be recharged; determining second information which represents a temporary condition, in which said vehicle is creating an excess amount of pollution, where said excess amount of pollution is temporary and will terminate after a certain time period; and Using both said first information, and said second information along with a level of charge of said source, to determine an amount of said stored energy to be used by said vehicle, where said system draws more aggressively from said stored energy when said second information indicates that pollution is being caused by the vehicle by more than a first amount of pollution, where said first amount of pollution is an amount during operation of a vehicle when a catalytic converter of said vehicle is working properly, and said second information indicating that pollution is being caused by the vehicle by more than said first amount is a temporary period of pollution which is terminated when said catalytic convertor becomes hot. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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Specification