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US 8,136,614 B2Granted
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorMichael Jon Andri
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of operating a hybrid vehicle propulsion system includes selectively operating the engine to consume fuel stored on-board the vehicle based on a residence time of the fuel stored on-board the vehicle and further based on a profile of ambient conditions over the residence time.
Claims8
A vehicle propulsion system, comprising:
- an electric battery configured to store electrical energy on-board the vehicle;
- a fuel tank configured to store fuel on-board the vehicle;
- an internal combustion engine configured to consume the fuel from the fuel tank to produce an engine output;
- an electric motor configured to consume the electrical energy from the electric battery to produce a motor output;
- and
- a control system configured to:
- periodically receive electrical energy from an electrical energy source located external the vehicle;
- discharge the energy storage device to operate the electric motor to produce the motor output;
- selectively operate the engine to combust fuel stored on-board the vehicle to produce the engine output;
- and
- increase engine operation based on whether a residence time of the fuel stored on-board the vehicle is greater than a threshold, the threshold adjusted responsive to ambient conditions and fuel composition.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.