US 11,305,748 B2Granted

System and method for activating a secondary axle

AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC

InventorsJose Velazquez Alcantar, Joseph Jay Torres, Matthew John Shelton

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

A vehicle includes a primary axle powered by an actuator and a secondary axle powered by a motor. The secondary axle includes a differential, first and second halfshafts, first and second wheels, a first electric clutch selectively coupling the first wheel to the first halfshaft, and a second electric clutch selectively coupling the second wheel to the second halfshaft. A vehicle controller is programmed to: responsive to a request to activate the secondary axle and a first speed difference between the first and second wheels being less than a first threshold, engage the first and second clutches at a same time, and, in response to the request to activate the secondary axle and the first speed difference between the first and second wheels exceeding the first threshold, engage one of the clutches and then subsequently engage the other of the clutches once the one of the clutches is fully engaged.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A vehicle comprising:

a primary axle powered by an actuator;
a secondary axle powered by a motor, the secondary axle including a differential, first and second halfshafts connected to the differential, first and second wheels, a first electric clutch selectively coupling the first wheel to the first halfshaft, and a second electric clutch selectively coupling the second wheel to the second halfshaft;
and
a controller electrically connected to the first and second clutches and programmed to:
in response to (i) a request to activate the secondary axle, (ii) a first speed difference between the first and second wheels being less than a first threshold, and (iii) an average speed of the first and second halfshafts being within a second threshold of the speed difference between the first and second wheels, engage the first and second clutches at a same time, and
in response to (i) the request to activate the secondary axle and (ii) the first speed difference between the first and second wheels exceeding the first threshold, engage one of the clutches and then subsequently engage the other of the clutches once the one of the clutches is fully engaged.

3 more elements

A vehicle comprising:

a primary axle powered by a primary actuator;
a secondary axle powered by a secondary actuator, the secondary axle including a differential, left and right halfshafts connected to the differential, left and right wheels, a left electric clutch selectively coupling the left wheel to the left halfshaft, and a right electric clutch selectively coupling the right wheel to the right halfshaft;
and
a controller programmed to, in response to a request to activate the secondary axle and a first speed difference between the left and right wheels exceeding a first threshold,
engage the right clutch and subsequently engage the left clutch when the vehicle is accelerating and turning right, and
engage the left clutch and subsequently engage the right clutch when the vehicle is accelerating and turning left.

3 more elements

A vehicle comprising:

a primary axle powered by a primary actuator;
a secondary axle powered by a secondary actuator, the secondary axle including a differential, left and right halfshafts connected to the differential, left and right wheels, a left electric clutch selectively coupling the left wheel to the left halfshaft, and a right electric clutch selectively coupling the right wheel to the right halfshaft;
and
a controller programmed to, in response to (i) a request to activate the secondary axle, (ii) a first speed difference between the left and right wheels exceeding a first threshold, (iii) the vehicle accelerating, and (iv) the vehicle turning right,
command the secondary actuator to speed control in which the secondary actuator is controlled to reduce a second speed difference between the right wheel and the right halfshaft,
command the secondary actuator to torque control and engage the right clutch once the second speed difference is less than a second threshold,
command, once the right clutch is engaged, the secondary actuator to speed control in which the secondary actuator is controlled to reduce a third speed difference between the left wheel and the left halfshaft, and
command the secondary actuator to torque control and engage the left clutch once the third speed difference is less than a third threshold.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 16/698,006Filed 27 Nov 2019
Published: US 2021/0155219 A127 May 2021
Granted: 19 Apr 2022
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification17 codes

B60K 1/00
Arrangement or mounting of electrical propulsion units
B60W 10/119
Conjoint control of vehicle sub-units of different type or different function: including control of all-wheel-driveline means, e.g. transfer gears…
B60K 1/02
Arrangement or mounting of electrical propulsion units: comprising more than one electric motor
B60K 17/02
Arrangement or mounting of transmissions in vehicles: characterised by arrangement, location, or kind of clutch

Family

US 2021/0155219 A1Pre-grant publication · published 27 May 2021
US 11,305,748 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

Timeline

Citations

Open elsewhere

Building an agent or pulling many patents? Use the API or MCP server instead of scraping pages. Get an API key