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US 8,919,100 B2Granted
Method of using a regenerative brake system for heating a motor vehicle catalytic converter and powering other electrical accessories
AssigneeGM Global Technology Operations LLC
InventorsMark W. Verbrugge, Karthik Ramanathan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for a motor vehicle includes using a regenerative brake system that produces electric current as a result of application of said regenerative brakes and sending at least a fraction of the electric current directly to an electrical accessory of the vehicle and bypassing the battery. One electrical accessory may be an electrically heated catalytic converter.
Claims6
A method of heating a catalytic converter for a motor vehicle comprising:
- providing a regenerative brake system in said motor vehicle for producing electric current as a result of application of said regenerative brake system;
- and
- sending at least a fraction of said electric current directly to an electric heater that is incorporated with said catalytic converter to heat said catalytic converter and bypassing a battery in said motor vehicle;
- having a controller determine said fraction of electric current to be supplied directly to the electric heater through a power distribution system by using one or more inputs and comparing said inputs with a respective predetermined referenced input and said power distribution system directing a remaining fraction of electric current from said regenerative brake system to said battery or an accessory power bus;
- determining said fraction of electric current to be supplied directly to the electric heater by determining an error factor (e) based on a reference input subtracted from an actual input;
- and
- said error factor being inputted into said controller.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.