US 5,789,881 AGranted

Power source control apparatus for hybrid vehicles

AssigneeDenso Corporation

InventorsTsuneyuki Egami, Yousuke Setaka, Tatsuru Morioka, Keiichiro Banzai

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Abstract

A power source control apparatus for parallel and series hybrid vehicles is provided. The power source control apparatus determines a required torque of a power source consisting of a generator-motor and an internal combustion engine based on a parameter indicating an operational mode of the vehicle and interrupts fuel supply to the internal combustion engine in a cycle based on the required torque of the power source so as to minimize a fuel consumption. The power source control apparatus further determines a required torque of the generator-motor based on the required torque of the power source and an output torque of the internal combustion engine to switch an operation mode of the generator-motor between a generator mode and a motor mode so as to compensate for a variation in output of the internal combustion engine during the cyclic fuel cut control.

Claims18

Dependent claims

A power source control apparatus for a hybrid vehicle driven by a power source including an internal combustion engine and a generator-motor comprising:

a generator-motor driver actuating the generator-motor;
a battery unit supplying electric energy to the generator-motor through said generator-motor driver;
a required power source torque determining circuit determining a required torque of the power source based on a parameter indicating an operational mode of the vehicle;
a fuel supply controller interrupting fuel supply to the internal combustion engine in a cycle based on the required torque of the power source determined by said required power source torque determining circuit;
an engine output torque determining circuit determining an output torque of the internal combustion engine;
and
a required generator-motor torque determining circuit determining a required torque of the generator-motor based on the required torque of the power source determined by said required power source torque determining circuit and the output torque of the internal combustion engine determined by said engine output torque determining circuit, said required generator-motor torque determining circuit providing a signal indicative of the required torque of the generator-motor to said generator-motor driver to actuate the generator-motor so as to output the required torque of the generator-motor.

4 more elements

A hybrid vehicle having an accelerator pedal and a brake pedal comprising:

a power source including an internal combustion engine and a generator-motor, providing an output torque:
an accelerator sensor monitoring an operation of the accelerator pedal to determine an accelerator-manipulated variable;
a brake sensor monitoring an operation of the brake pedal to determine a brake-manipulated variable;
power source speed detector determining a speed of said power source;
a continuously variable transmission including a torque input element into which the output torque of said power source is inputted and a torque output element outputting torque to wheels of the vehicle;
a transmission speed sensor determining a speed of the torque output element of said continuously variable transmission;
a transmission controller controlling a gear ratio of said continuously variable transmission based on the speed of the torque output element determined by said transmission speed sensor and the speed of said power source determined by said power source speed detector;
a generator-motor driver actuating the generator-motor;
a battery unit supplying electric energy to the generator-motor through said generator-motor driver;
a required power source torque determining circuit determining a required torque of the power source based on the accelerator-manipulated variable and the brake-manipulated variable;
a fuel supply controller prohibiting fuel supply to the internal combustion engine in a cycle based on the required torque of the power source determined by said required power source torque determining circuit;
an engine output torque determining circuit determining an output torque of the internal combustion engine;
and
a required generator-motor torque determining circuit determining a required torque of the generator-motor based on the required torque of the power source determined by said required power source torque determining circuit and the output torque of the internal combustion engine determined by said engine output torque determining circuit, said required generator-motor torque determining circuit providing a signal indicative of the required torque of the generator-motor to said generator-motor driver to actuate the generator-motor so as to output the required torque of the generator-motor.

11 more elements

A hybrid vehicle having an accelerator pedal and a brake pedal comprising:

a vehicle drive electric motor providing an output torque to wheels of the vehicle;
an inverter actuating said vehicle drive electric motor;
a battery unit supplying electric energy to said vehicle drive electric motor through said inverter;
a power source including a generator-motor and an internal combustion engine, the internal combustion engine driving said generator-motor in a generator mode so as to produce electrical energy for charging said battery unit and driving said vehicle drive electric motor;
a motor speed sensor measuring a speed of said vehicle drive electric motor;
an accelerator sensor monitoring an operation of the accelerator pedal to determine an accelerator-manipulated variable;
a brake sensor monitoring an operation of the brake pedal to determine a brake-manipulated variable;
a generator-motor driver actuating the generator-motor in a motor mode;
a vehicle driver electric motor controller determining a required torque of said vehicle drive electric motor at least based on the accelerator-manipulated variable, the brake-manipulated variable, and the speed of said vehicle drive electric motor to determine a required power of the vehicle based on the required torque of said vehicle drive electric motor and the speed of said vehicle drive electric motor, said vehicle drive electric motor controller controlling said vehicle drive electric motor based on the required power of the vehicle through said inverter;
power source speed determining means for determining a speed of said power source;
a required power source torque determining circuit determining a required torque of said power source based on the required power of the vehicle determined by said vehicle drive motor controller and the speed of said power source determined by said power source speed determining means;
a fuel supply controller prohibiting fuel supply to the internal combustion engine in a cycle based on the required torque of the power source determined by said required power source torque determining circuit;
an engine output torque determining circuit determining an output torque of the internal combustion engine;
and
a required generator-motor torque determining circuit determining a required torque of the generator-motor based on the required torque of the power source determined by said required power source torque determining circuit and the output torque of the internal combustion engine determined by said engine output torque determining circuit, said required generator-motor torque determining circuit providing a signal indicative of the required torque of the generator-motor to said generator-motor driver to actuate the generator-motor so as to output the required torque of the generator-motor.

12 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.