Back to results
US 10,518,652 B2Granted
Fuel cell vehicle with power modules
AssigneeToyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.
InventorsSheldon Z. Brown, Giorgio L. Zoia, Takehito Yokoo
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of operating a vehicle includes, using a master power control module, and in response to a propulsion demand global to the vehicle, operating a master-assigned motor to which a wheeled drivetrain is mechanically connected to satisfy a share of the propulsion demand. The method additionally includes, using a slave power control module, and in response to the propulsion demand, operating a slave-assigned motor to which the drivetrain is mechanically connected to satisfy a remaining share of the propulsion demand.
Claims18
A vehicle, comprising:
- at least one processor;
- and
- a memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processor and storing:
- a master power control module including instructions that when executed by the at least one processor cause the at least one processor to:
- monitor for vehicle demands global to the vehicle based on actual information about the vehicle, and thereby identify a propulsion demand global to the vehicle;
- and
- in response to identifying the propulsion demand:
- operate a master-assigned motor to which a wheeled drivetrain is mechanically connected to satisfy a share of the propulsion demand;
- and
- generate simulated information about the vehicle for a slave power control module, the simulated information about the vehicle indicative of a remaining share of the propulsion demand;
- and
- a slave power control module including instructions that when executed by the at least one processor cause the at least one processor to:
- independently monitor for vehicle demands global to the vehicle based on the simulated information about the vehicle, and thereby identify only the remaining share of the propulsion demand;
- and
- in response to identifying the remaining share of the propulsion demand;
- operate a slave-assigned motor to which the drivetrain is mechanically connected to satisfy the remaining share of the propulsion demand.
13 more elements
A method of operating a vehicle, comprising:
- using a master power control module:
- monitoring for vehicle demands global to the vehicle based on actual information about the vehicle, and thereby identifying a propulsion demand global to the vehicle;
- and
- in response to identifying the propulsion demand:
- operating a master-assigned motor to which a wheeled drivetrain is mechanically connected to satisfy a share of the propulsion demand;
- and
- generating simulated information about the vehicle for a slave power control module, the simulated information about the vehicle indicative of a remaining share of the propulsion demand;
- and
- using a slave power control module:
- independently monitoring for vehicle demands global to the vehicle based on the simulated information about the vehicle, and thereby identifying only the remaining share of the propulsion demand;
- and
- in response to identifying the remaining share of the propulsion demand:
- operating a slave-assigned motor to which the drivetrain is mechanically connected to satisfy the remaining share of the propulsion demand.
10 more elements
A vehicle, comprising:
- at least one processor;
- and
- a memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processor and storing:
- a master power control module including instructions that when executed by the at least one processor cause the at least one processor to:
- monitor for vehicle demands global to the vehicle based on actual information about the vehicle, and thereby identify an auxiliary demand global to the vehicle;
- and
- in response to identifying the auxiliary demand:
- identify a master-assigned auxiliary demand and a slave-assigned auxiliary demand;
- operate a master-assigned auxiliary element to satisfy the master-assigned auxiliary demand;
- and
- generate simulated information about the vehicle for a slave power control module, the simulated information about the vehicle indicative of the slave-assigned auxiliary demand, but not the master-assigned auxiliary demand;
- and
- a slave power control module including instructions that when executed by the at least one processor cause the at least one processor to:
- independently monitor for vehicle demands global to the vehicle based on the simulated information about the vehicle, and thereby identify only the slave-assigned auxiliary demand;
- and
- in response to identifying the slave-assigned auxiliary demand:
- operate a slave-assigned auxiliary element to satisfy the slave-assigned auxiliary demand.
14 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.