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US 12,752,622 B2Granted
System and method for allocating battery power for electric vehicles with a disconnect clutch
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsYanan Zhao, Kyle Culek, Guopeng Hu, Matthew Shelton, Yang Xu, Zhengyu Dai, Ashok Rodrigues
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods and system are described for allocating power to two electric machines when closing of a disconnect clutch is requested. In one example, the allocation of power may be based on a level of urgency for closing the disconnect clutch. Priority for supplying power to a secondary drive unit may be increased in response to a high urgency level.
Claims20
A method for operating a vehicle, comprising:
- adjusting an amount of power delivered to a main drive unit (MDU) and a secondary drive unit (SDU) in response to a request to close a disconnect clutch and a maximum amount of power that is available from a traction battery, where the disconnect clutch includes an input side and an output side, wherein the input side is coupled to the SDU and the output side is coupled to a differential and is configured to couple the SDU to a first axle and a second axle of the vehicle,
- wherein a requested amount of SDU power is delivered to the SDU and a requested amount of MDU power is delivered to the MDU when a total of the requested amount of SDU power and the requested amount of MDU power is not greater than the maximum amount of power that is available from the traction battery.
A vehicle system, comprising:
- a first electric machine selectively coupled to a front axle via a disconnect clutch, wherein an input of the disconnect clutch is coupled to the first electric machine and an output of the disconnect clutch is coupled to a first differential;
- a front drive unit configured to transfer power from the first electric machine to the front axle;
- a second electric machine coupled to a rear axle via a second differential;
- a rear drive unit configured to transfer power from the second electric machine to the rear axle;
- a traction battery electrically coupled to the first electric machine and the second electric machine;
- and
- one or more controllers including executable instructions stored in non-transitory memory that cause the one or more controllers control power delivery to the first electric machine and the second electric machine according to a first strategy in response to not operating the first electric machine in a speed synchronization mode and in response to operating the first electric machine in the speed synchronization mode when a total power requested by the first electric machine and second electric machine is not greater than the power available from the traction battery,
- and additional executable instructions that cause the one or more controllers to control power delivery to the first electric machine and the second electric machine according to a second strategy in response to operating the first electric machine in the speed synchronization mode.
5 more elements
A method for operating a vehicle, comprising:
- judging whether a total power requested of a secondary drive unit (SDU) and main drive unit (MDU) of the vehicle is greater than a power available from a traction battery of the vehicle;
- and
- adjusting an amount of electric power delivered to the SDU to synchronize a rotational speed of the SDU to a driveline rotational speed in response to a request to close a disconnect clutch when a total amount of power requested by the SDU and MDU is greater than the power available from the traction battery, where the disconnect clutch is configured to couple the SDU to a wheel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.