# US 7,610,974 B2 · Hybrid vehicle and control method of hybrid vehicle

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- Number: US 7,610,974 B2
- Document ID: US7610974B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 11/792,694
- Filed: 2006-01-30
- Published: 2008-05-08
- Granted: 2009-11-03
- Earliest claimed: 2005-01-31
- Assignees: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
- Inventors: Tetsuya Abe
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US7610974B2

## CPC

- B60W 20/10: Controlling the power contribution of each of the prime movers to meet required power demand
- B60K 6/365: with the gears having orbital motion
- B60K 6/445: Differential gearing distribution type
- B60K 6/448: Electrical distribution type
- B60K 6/52: Driving a plurality of drive axles, e.g. four-wheel drive
- B60K 6/547: the transmission being a stepped gearing
- B60L 58/15: Preventing overcharging
- B60W 10/06: including control of combustion engines
- B60W 10/08: including control of electric propulsion units, e.g. motors or generators
- B60W 10/18: including control of braking systems
- B60W 20/00: Control systems specially adapted for hybrid vehicles {(hybrid vehicle design, B60K6/00; electric vehicles B60L)}
- F02D 13/04: using engine as brake
- F02D 29/02: peculiar to engines driving vehicles; peculiar to engines driving variable pitch propellers
- B60K 1/02: comprising more than one electric motor
- B60L 2240/421: Speed
- B60L 2240/486: Operating parameters
- B60W 2510/081: Speed
- B60W 2510/244: Charge state
- B60W 2520/10: Longitudinal speed
- B60W 2540/10: Accelerator pedal position
- B60W 2540/12: Brake pedal position
- B60W 2540/16: Ratio selector position
- B60W 2710/0605: Throttle position
- B60W 2710/0644: Engine speed
- B60W 2710/081: Speed
- F16H 2037/0866: {Power-split transmissions with distributing differentials, with the output of the CVT connected or connectable to the output shaft}
- Y02T 10/62: Hybrid vehicles
- Y02T 10/64: Electric machine technologies in electromobility
- Y02T 10/70: Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
- Y10S 903/903: having energy storing means, e.g. battery, capacitor
- 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
- B60K: ARRANGEMENT OR MOUNTING OF PROPULSION UNITS OR OF TRANSMISSIONS IN VEHICLES; ARRANGEMENT OR MOUNTING OF PLURAL DIVERSE PRIME-MOVERS IN VEHICLES; AUXILIARY DRIVES FOR VEHICLES; INSTRUMENTATION OR DASHBOARDS FOR VEHICLES; ARRANGEMENTS IN CONNECTION WITH COOLING, AIR INTAKE, GAS EXHAUST OR FUEL SUPPLY OF PROPULSION UNITS IN VEHICLES
- B60L: PROPULSION OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES (arrangements or mounting of electrical propulsion units or of plural diverse prime-movers for mutual or common propulsion in vehicles B60K1/00, B60K6/20; arrangements or mounting of electrical gearing in vehicles B60K17/12, B60K17/14; preventing wheel slip by reducing power in rail vehicles B61C15/08; dynamo-electric machines H02K; control or regulation of electric motors H02P); SUPPLYING ELECTRIC POWER FOR AUXILIARY EQUIPMENT OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES (electric coupling devices combined with mechanical couplings of vehicles B60D1/64; electric heating for vehicles B60H1/00); ELECTRODYNAMIC BRAKE SYSTEMS FOR VEHICLES IN GENERAL (control or regulation of electric motors H02P); MAGNETIC SUSPENSION OR LEVITATION FOR VEHICLES; MONITORING OPERATING VARIABLES OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES; ELECTRIC SAFETY DEVICES FOR ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES
- F02D: CONTROLLING COMBUSTION ENGINES (vehicle fittings, acting on a single sub-unit only, for automatically controlling vehicle speed B60K31/00; conjoint control of vehicle sub-units of different type or different function, road vehicle drive control systems for purposes other than the control of a single sub-unit B60W)
- F16H: GEARING
- Y02T: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO TRANSPORTATION
- Y10S: TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS

## Abstract

In a hybrid vehicle where an engine, a first motor, and a driveshaft are all connected to a planetary gear mechanism and the driveshaft is further linked to a second motor, when a battery is in an unchargeable state in the release of both an accelerator and a brake (step S130), a throttle opening TH* and a valve timing VVT* for air intake and exhaust are set to increase a pumping loss of the engine with an increase in absolute value of a braking power demand, which is to be output to the driveshaft (step S170). The engine is controlled with the throttle opening TH* and the valve timing VVT*, while the second motor is under regenerative control to generate electric power. The first motor used for motoring of the engine is then controlled to consume the electric power generated by the regenerative control of the second motor.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A hybrid vehicle, comprising:
an internal combustion engine that is rotatable independently of a driving state of said hybrid vehicle;
a rotational resistance adjustment structure that adjusts a rotational resistance of the internal combustion engine;
an engine-starting motor that is driven for motoring of the internal combustion engine;
an accumulator unit that is chargeable and dischargeable;
a driving motor that has power generation capability and inputs and outputs driving power through transmission of electric power to and from at least one of the engine-starting motor and the accumulator unit; and
an accelerator-brake-released state control module that, when the accumulator unit is in an unchargeable state at a timing of a braking force demand by release of both an accelerator and a brake, controls the rotational resistance adjustment structure to adjust the rotational resistance of the internal combustion engine according to the braking force demand, controls the driving motor to drive said hybrid vehicle with a braking force equivalent to the braking force demand and to generate regenerative electric power, and controls the engine-starting motor to consume the regenerative electric power generated by the driving motor by having the engine-starting motor operate to motor the internal combustion engine.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

A hybrid vehicle in accordance with claim 1, wherein the rotational resistance adjustment structure regulates a throttle opening to adjust the rotational resistance of the internal combustion engine.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

A hybrid vehicle in accordance with claim 1, wherein the rotational resistance adjustment structure regulates an air intake-exhaust timing to adjust the rotational resistance of the internal combustion engine.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

A hybrid vehicle in accordance with claim 1, wherein when the accumulator unit is in the unchargeable state at the timing of the braking force demand, the accelerator-brake-released state control module controls the rotational resistance adjustment structure to increase the rotational resistance of the internal combustion engine with an increase in braking force demand.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

A hybrid vehicle in accordance with claim 1, said hybrid vehicle further comprising:
a gearshift position setting module that, in response to a driver's operation, selects and sets one gearshift position among multiple available gearshift positions, which require multiple different levels of braking force in the release of the accelerator and the brake,
wherein when the accumulator unit is in the unchargeable state at the timing of the braking force demand, said accelerator-brake-released state control module controls the rotational resistance adjustment structure to adjust the rotational resistance of the internal combustion engine corresponding to the selected gearshift position.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

A hybrid vehicle in accordance with claim 5, wherein said accelerator-brake-released state control module controls the rotational resistance adjustment structure to increase the rotational resistance of the internal combustion engine in response to selection and setting of a gearshift position requiring a higher level of braking force among the multiple available gearshift positions.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

A hybrid vehicle in accordance with claim 1, said hybrid vehicle further comprising:
a gearshift position setting module that, in response to a driver's operation, selects and sets one gearshift position among multiple available gearshift positions, where the multiple available gearshift positions include a drive position requiring a first braking force as the braking force demand in the release of both the accelerator and the brake and a brake position requiring a second braking force, which is greater than the first braking force, as the braking force demand in the release of both the accelerator and the brake,
wherein when the accumulator unit is in the unchargeable state at the timing of the braking force demand, said accelerator-brake-released state control module controls the rotational resistance adjustment structure to adjust the rotational resistance of the internal combustion engine to a first rotational resistance in response to selection and setting of the drive position as the selected gearshift position, while controlling the rotational resistance adjustment structure to adjust the rotational resistance of the internal combustion engine to a second rotational resistance, which is higher than the first rotational resistance, in response to selection and setting of the brake position as the selected gearshift position.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

A hybrid vehicle in accordance with claim 1, said hybrid vehicle being driven by directly utilizing part of output power of the internal combustion engine.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

A hybrid vehicle in accordance with claim 8, said hybrid vehicle further comprising:
a three shaft-type power input output assembly that is linked to three shafts, an output shaft of the internal combustion engine, a rotating shaft of the engine-starting motor, and a driveshaft linked with an axle of said hybrid vehicle, and automatically inputs and outputs power from and to a residual one shaft based on powers input from and output to any two shafts among the three shafts.

### Claim 10 (depends on 8)

A hybrid vehicle in accordance with claim 8, wherein the engine-starting motor is a pair-rotor motor having a first rotor that is connected to an output shaft of the internal combustion engine and a second rotor that is connected to a driveshaft linked with an axle of said hybrid vehicle and rotates relative to the first rotor through an electromagnetic function.

### Claim 11

A control method of a hybrid vehicle including: an internal combustion engine that is rotatable independently of a driving state of said hybrid vehicle; a rotational resistance adjustment structure that adjusts a rotational resistance of the internal combustion engine; an engine-starting motor that is driven for motoring of the internal combustion engine; an accumulator unit that is chargeable and dischargeable; and a driving motor that has power generation capability and inputs and outputs driving power through transmission of electric power to and from at least one of the engine-starting motor and the accumulator unit,
when the accumulator unit is in an unchargeable state at a timing of a braking force demand by release of both an accelerator and a brake, said control method controls the rotational resistance adjustment structure to adjust the rotational resistance of the internal combustion engine according to the braking force demand, controls the driving motor to drive said hybrid vehicle with a braking force equivalent to the braking force demand and to generate regenerative electric power, and controls the engine-starting motor to consume the regenerative electric power generated by the driving motor by having the engine-starting motor operate to motor the internal combustion engine.