System and methods for extracting water from an electric air conditioning system for water injection
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsThomas G. Leone, Kenneth James Miller
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods and systems are provided for adjusting a ratio of friction to regenerative brake effort and running an electric air conditioning compressor to collect condensed water for water injection into an engine. In one example, a method may include adjusting the air conditioning compressor load of the electric AC system and the ratio of friction to regenerative brake effort based on a water level in a water storage tank of the water injection system. Further, the method may include directing energy from regenerative braking to a battery and/or to the AC compressor in response to the battery state of charge.
Claims18
A method for a hybrid vehicle system, comprising:
- adjusting an air conditioning (AC) compressor load of an electric AC system and a ratio of friction to regenerative brake effort during braking by running an AC compressor of the electric AC system to increase the AC compressor load, and decreasing the ratio of friction to regenerative brake effort, which includes brake power, in response to a level of water in a water reservoir coupled to a water injection system being below a threshold water level.
A method for a hybrid vehicle system, comprising:
- during a first condition, increasing a ratio of friction braking to regenerative braking in response to a state of charge (SOC) of a battery being above a threshold SOC during a vehicle braking event;
- and
- during a second condition, decreasing the ratio of friction braking to regenerative braking and running an AC compressor of an electric AC system coupled to the battery in response to the SOC of the battery being above the threshold SOC during the vehicle braking event, collecting condensate from the AC system, and storing the collected condensate at a water reservoir of a water injection system,
- wherein the first condition includes a water level of the water reservoir above a threshold water level and the second condition includes the water level of the water reservoir below the threshold level.
A hybrid vehicle system, comprising:
- a battery;
- an electric air conditioning (AC) system including an AC compressor coupled to the battery;
- a regenerative brake system coupled to the battery and the AC compressor;
- a water injection system including a water reservoir fluidly coupled to the electric AC system and one or more water injectors coupled to an engine of the hybrid vehicle system;
- and
- a controller including non-transitory memory with computer-readable instructions for:
- running the AC compressor using electrical energy recovered from the regenerative brake system during a braking event and adjusting a ratio of friction braking to regenerative braking based on a level of water in the water reservoir, the ratio of friction braking to regenerative braking decreasing in response to the level of water in the water reservoir being less than a threshold water level.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.