Hybrid vehicle control apparatus

• US 9,969,271 B2
• Filed: 07/21/2016
• Issued: 05/15/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/22/2015
• 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): Trivedi, Atul
• Application Number:
  US15/216,033
• Publication Number:
  US 20170021730A1
• Time in Patent Office: 663 Days
• Field of Search: 701 22
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 6/445 Differential gearing distribution type
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/12 Speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/423 Torque
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/622 by satellite navigation
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/642 Slope of road
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/13 Maintaining the SoC within a determined range
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/14 Preventing excessive discharging
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 7/16 for vehicles comprising converters between the power source and the motor
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 7/18 Controlling the braking effect B60L7/12, B60L7/14, B60L7/16 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 7/20 Braking by supplying regenerated power to the prime mover of vehicles comprising engine-driven generators
• 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 10/26 for electrical energy, e.g. batteries or capacitors
• 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 20/14 in conjunction with braking regeneration
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/15 Road slope, i.e. the inclination of a road segment in the longitudinal direction
• 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 2554/00 Input parameters relating to objects
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/4041 Position
• 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 30/18127 : Regenerative braking
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/62 : Hybrid vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/64 : Electric machine technologies in electromobility
• 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: Y02T 90/16 : Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles

Abstract

A control apparatus for a hybrid vehicle including an internal combustion engine, a motor, and a storage battery and configured to charge the storage battery with electric power generated as a result of regenerative braking and electric power generated by using output of the engine. When a planned travel route of the vehicle includes a downhill section, the control apparatus executes a downhill control which decreases the remaining capacity of the storage battery before the vehicle enters the downhill section. In addition, when the downhill section includes a congestion section and the total distance of the congestion section is greater than a predetermined threshold, the control apparatus does not execute the downhill control.

Claims

1. A hybrid vehicle control apparatus applied to a hybrid vehicle which includes an internal combustion engine and a motor as drive sources of said hybrid vehicle, includes a storage battery for supplying electric power to said motor, and is configured to perform regenerative braking by using said motor, and charge said storage battery with electric power generated as a result of said regenerative braking and electric power generated by using output of said internal combustion engine,

said hybrid vehicle control apparatus comprising a control portion which controls said internal combustion engine in such a manner that said storage battery is charged and a remaining capacity of said storage battery approaches a predetermined target remaining capacity,

said control portion obtaining a planned travel route of said hybrid vehicle,

in the case where a target downhill section is contained in said planned travel route, said control portion executing downhill control when said hybrid vehicle travels in a particular section of a section which extends to an end point of said target downhill section from a downhill control start point which is shifted back from a start point of said target downhill section by a predetermined distance,

said particular section containing at least a section extending from said downhill control start point to the start point of said target downhill section, and

said downhill control changing said predetermined target remaining capacity to a remaining capacity smaller as compared with the case where said hybrid vehicle travels in sections other than said particular section,

wherein said control portion obtains traffic congestion information which represent a congestion section, and

said control portion prohibits execution of said downhill control when said target downhill section contains one or more congestion sections and a total distance of said one or more congestion sections contained in said target downhill section is greater than a predetermined distance threshold.

2. The hybrid vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said control portion is configured to set said predetermined distance threshold on the basis of a value which is proportional to a distance of said target downhill section containing said congestion section.