# US 2023/0067494 A1 · Systems and methods for variable energy regeneration cruise control

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- Number: US 2023/0067494 A1
- Document ID: US20230067494A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 17/462,636
- Filed: 2021-08-31
- Published: 2023-03-02
- Earliest claimed: 2021-08-31
- Assignees: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.
- Applicants: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.
- Inventors: NATHAN C. WESTOVER
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20230067494A1

## CPC

- B60W 30/18127: {Regenerative braking}
- B60W 10/08: including control of electric propulsion units, e.g. motors or generators
- B60W 20/14: in conjunction with braking regeneration
- B60W 30/143: {Speed control (B60W30/16 takes precedence)}
- B60W 30/16: Control of distance between vehicles, e.g. keeping a distance to preceding vehicle
- B60W 2510/244: Charge state
- B60W 2554/406: Traffic density
- B60W 2720/10: Longitudinal speed
- B60W 2754/30: Longitudinal distance
- B60W: CONJOINT CONTROL OF VEHICLE SUB-UNITS OF DIFFERENT TYPE OR DIFFERENT FUNCTION; CONTROL SYSTEMS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR HYBRID VEHICLES; ROAD VEHICLE DRIVE CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR PURPOSES NOT RELATED TO THE CONTROL OF A PARTICULAR SUB-UNIT

## Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for implementing variable energy regeneration cruise control, which involves dynamically increasing a limit of allowed energy regeneration in order to meet the deceleration need of the vehicle. The system and techniques leverage variable energy regeneration to allow for the additional energy resulting from deceleration to be stored (e.g., in a vehicle battery) for further use rather than being lost. Consequently, by ultimately providing additional stored energy, the disclosed variable energy regeneration cruise control system can realize advantages over conventional cruise control systems. A system can be programmed to dynamically adjust an amount of regenerative energy for decelerating a vehicle while a cruise control is activated. A regenerative braking system can decelerate the vehicle and store an amount of captured energy based on the amount of adjusted regenerative energy.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A system comprising:
a cruise control system programmed to:
dynamically adjust an amount of regenerative energy for decelerating a vehicle while a cruise control is activated; and
a regenerative braking system decelerating the vehicle and storing an amount of captured energy based on the amount of adjusted regenerative energy.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, further comprising a high-voltage (HV) battery storing the captured energy from decelerating the vehicle using the regenerative braking system and wherein the vehicle comprises a hybrid vehicle.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The system of claim 2, wherein the decelerating the vehicle using the regenerative braking system comprises transferring kinetic energy from a motion of the vehicle to the captured energy that is storable in the HV battery.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the cruise control system dynamically adjusts the amount of regenerative energy by calculating a temporary threshold of energy regeneration that is employed by the cruise control system while cruise control is activated

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The system of claim 4, wherein the cruise control system is further programmed to calculate the temporary threshold of energy regeneration by increasing a standard threshold of energy regeneration for the vehicle.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The system of claim 5, wherein the cruise control system is programmed to decelerate the vehicle using the regenerative braking system until the amount of captured energy reaches the temporary threshold of energy regeneration.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the cruise control system comprises a dynamic radar cruise control system.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The system of claim 7, wherein the dynamic radar cruise control is programmed to automatically control the vehicle to maintain a preset vehicle speed while the cruise control is activated.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The system of claim 8, wherein the dynamic radar cruise control is programmed to decelerate the vehicle using the regenerative braking system while maintaining the preset vehicle speed.

### Claim 10 (depends on 7)

The system of claim 7, wherein the dynamic radar cruise control is programmed to automatically control the vehicle to maintain a preset vehicle-to-vehicle distance while the cruise control is activated.

### Claim 11 (depends on 8)

The system of claim 8, wherein the dynamic radar cruise control decelerates the vehicle using the regenerative braking system while maintaining the preset vehicle-to-vehicle distance.