EHC warmup notification
AssigneeToyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.
InventorAlessandro Concas
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and methods of electrically heating catalyst (EHC) driver notification are provided. With the goal of increasing driver cooperation in reducing emissions, EHC driver notification systems notify the driver when the EHC is in an inefficient operation state. This notification is provided to the driver so that the driver may consciously operate the vehicle in a fashion that reduces emissions while the EHC is in the inefficient operation state. EHC driver notifications systems may also restrict operation of the vehicle when the EHC is in an inefficient operation state. However, for safety reasons, these systems provide the driver a function to bypass the restriction as needed.
Claims18
A computer implemented method comprising:
- obtaining a temperature of an electrically heated catalyst (EHC) in a vehicle;
- determining an amount of time it will take the EHC to heat to a corresponding threshold EHC temperature;
- based on the amount of time it will take the EHC to heat to the corresponding threshold EHC temperature, restricting acceleration of the vehicle during operation of an internal combustion engine in the vehicle;
- and
- based on the amount of time it will take the EHC to heat to the corresponding threshold EHC temperature, providing EHC-relevant display content on a user interface of the vehicle.
A computer implemented method comprising:
- obtaining data associated with a current operational state of an electrically heated catalyst (EHC) in a vehicle;
- comparing the data associated with the current operational state of the EHC with corresponding threshold value data;
- based on the comparison, restricting acceleration of the vehicle by artificially impeding travel range of an accelerator pedal of the vehicle;
- and
- providing a bypass function to bypass the acceleration restriction.
A vehicle comprising:
- one or more processors including machine-executable instructions in non-transitory memory to:
- obtain data associated with a current operational state of an electrically heated catalyst (EHC) in the vehicle;
- compare the data associated with the current operational state of the EHC with corresponding threshold value data;
- based on the comparison, restrict acceleration of the vehicle by artificially impeding travel range of an accelerator pedal of the vehicle;
- and
- provide a bypass function to bypass the acceleration restriction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.