Method and apparatus for displaying energy flow in hybrid vehicle

• US 9,156,355 B2
• Filed: 04/24/2013
• Issued: 10/13/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hyundai Mobis Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hyundai Mobis Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Choi, Min Jae
• Primary Examiner(s): BLOUNT, ERIC
• Application Number:
  US13/869,297
• Publication Number:
  US 20130278404A1
• Time in Patent Office: 902 Days
• Field of Search: 340/438, 340/461, 180/65.21, 701/22, 345/418, 345/7
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/00 Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/60 Instruments characterised by their location or relative disposition in or on vehicles arrangements of lighting devices on dashboards B60Q3/10
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 6/00 Arrangement or mounting of plural diverse prime-movers for mutual or common propulsion, e.g. hybrid propulsion systems comprising electric motors and internal combustion engines ; Control systems therefor, i.e. systems controlling two or more prime movers, or controlling one of these prime movers and any of the transmission, drive or drive units arrangement or mounting in vehicles of electrical gearing, in which an electrical machine serves only as reduction gearing and not as the prime mover and in which no electrical storing means are used B60K17/12; control and regulation of purely electrical prime movers B60L; prime-movers comprising electrical and internal combustion motors in a common engine block or housing per se F02B65/00; electric motors or motor-generators used for starting the combustion engine F02N11/04; electric motors for synchronising gearing F16H3/12 Informative references: mechanical gearings with secondary electric drive F16H3/72; arrangements for handling mechanical energy structurally associated with the dynamo-electric machine H02K7/00; machines comprising structurally interrelated motor and generator parts H02K51/00; dynamo-electric machines not otherwise provided for in H02K see H02K99/00
• 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 20/50 Control strategies for responding to system failures, e.g. for fault diagnosis, failsafe operation or limp mode
• CPC Class Codes: B60Y 2400/92 Driver displays

Abstract

Provided are a method and apparatus for displaying energy flow in a hybrid vehicle. The present invention adds a function, which displays breakdown and abnormal state information on modules and is not provided by an energy flow displaying function of the existing hybrid vehicle, to the energy flow displaying function, thus removing inconvenience of the existing energy flow displaying function that cannot check information on breakdown and abnormal states of a vehicle.

Claims

1. An apparatus for displaying energy flow in a hybrid vehicle including an engine module, a motor module, a battery module, and a vehicle driving wheel module, in which power shift between the modules is displayed in the form of graphics, the apparatus comprising:

a head unit controller analyzing messages received from the respective modules, and determining whether the messages comprise power shift information or breakdown state information;

a graphics controller graphics-processing the respective modules into icons, processing the power shift information into a line type of graphics indicating power shift between corresponding icons, if it is determined that the messages comprise the power shift information, or processing the breakdown state information into a text type of graphics indicating the breakdown state of each of the modules, if it is determined that the messages comprise the breakdown state information.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the graphics controller processes the breakdown state information into graphics of a specific color.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising a display unit simultaneously displaying the icons, the line type of graphics, and the text type of graphics on one screen according to control by the graphics contoller,

wherein the display unit changes a color of the screen to the specific color and displays the text type of graphics according to control by the graphics controller.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the graphics controller receives the breakdown state information through CAN communication.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the received breakdown state information comprises information, indicating a broken-down module, and information indicating a kind of breakdown of the broken-down module.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the kind of breakdown is a state in which power from the broken-down module is abnormally supplied.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the display unit displays the abnormal supply state as letters.

8. A method of displaying energy flow in a hybrid vehicle that includes an engine module, a motor module, a battery module, and a vehicle driving wheel module, and includes a head unit including a graphics controller processing power shift between the modules in the form of graphics and a head unit controller analyzing messages received from the respective modules, the method comprising:

analyzing, by the head unit controller, the messages received from the respective modules, and determining whether the messages comprise power shift information of breakdown state information;

graphics-processing, by the graphics controller, the respective modules into predetermined icons;

processing, by the graphics controller, power shift between corresponding icons into a line type of graphics on the basis of power shift information between the modules, if it is determined that the messages comprise the power shift information;

processing a breakdown state of each of the modules into a text type of graphics on the basis of the received breakdown state information, if it is determined that the messages comprise the breakdown state information.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising simultaneously displaying, by a display unit, the icons, the line type of graphics, and the text type of graphics on one screen according to control by the graphics controller, wherein simultaneously displaying the icons, the line type of graphics, and the text type of graphics on one screen comprises processing a color of screen into a specific color prior to processing the text type of graphics.