Researchers Submit Patent Application, "Method and System for Controlling a Driveline of a Hybrid Vehicle", for Approval (USPTO 20150375732)
By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Politics & Government Week -- From
Washington, D.C.
, VerticalNews journalists report that a patent application by the inventors NORDLOF, Mats (Ornskoldsvik, SE); NOREUS, Olof (Domsjo, SE), filed on January 24, 2014, was made available online on January 7, 2016.
The patent's assignee is BAE Systems Hagglunds Aktiebolag.
News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: "It is known in propulsion of vehicles to use series hybrid driveline comprising an internal combustion engine unit arranged to drive a generator unit for generating electrical energy, together with at least one electric motor unit arranged to be supplied with said electrical energy.
"One problem with such drivelines is that the power of the installed internal combustion engine rarely or never can be fully utilized.
"WO0025417 discloses a system for controlling a vehicle's hybrid driveline with an internal combustion engine and an electric motor, where the driveline is arranged to be controlled for operation of the internal combustion engine along an ideal operating line for optimized efficiency."
As a supplement to the background information on this patent application, VerticalNews correspondents also obtained the inventors' summary information for this patent application: "These and other objects, which will become apparent from the following description, are achieved by a method, system, vehicle, and computer program and computer program product of the initially mentioned kind and which further exhibit the features indicated in the characterizing part of appended independent claims 1, 8, 15, 16 and 17. Preferred embodiments of the method and system are defined in appended dependent claims 2-7 and 9-14.
"According to the invention, the objects are achieved by a method for controlling a driveline of a vehicle, which driveline comprises at least one internal combustion engine unit for driving a generator unit for generating electrical energy, at least one electric motor unit arranged to be supplied with said electric energy from said generator unit, said driveline comprising an AC/DC conversion unit configured to convert AC voltage from the generator unit into DC voltage, a DC/AC conversion unit configured to convert said DC voltage to controllable AC power, wherein said DC voltage is provided in an intermediate DC voltage stage, together with means for controlling the driveline of the vehicle, comprising the steps of, by means of said means: i) controlling the driveline based on desired efficiency, or ii) controlling the driveline based on desired power output and iii) based on criteria related to the performance of said internal combustion engine unit, selecting control based on desired efficiency or desired power output. This enables use of the available power of the internal combustion engine unit in a reliable and efficient manner. Since all available power is utilized the internal combustion engine unit does not have to be over-dimensioned. Fault tolerance acceptance is hereby increased since the power that is still available in performance-reducing fault conditions of the internal combustion engine unit can be fully utilized by controlling the torque of the internal combustion engine so that the control unit of the internal combustion engine can regulate to maximum torque given any prevailing restrictions. Furthermore, lowest possible energy consumption without engine shutdown is enabled by optimizing the operating point of the internal combustion engine unit.
"In one embodiment of the method, said performance comprises the maximum power that can be delivered by the internal combustion engine unit. This enables use of the available power of the internal combustion engine unit in a reliable and efficient manner.
"In one embodiment, the method comprises the step of controlling said driveline based on desired efficiency in case the desired power output is less than the maximum power that said internal combustion engine unit can deliver. This enables the lowest possible energy consumption without engine shutdown by optimizing the operating point of the internal combustion engine unit.
"In one embodiment of the method, the step of controlling said driveline based on desired efficiency comprises selection of a suitable operating point of the internal combustion engine unit, wherein said electric drive motor unit is controlled such that a desired tractive force of said electric motor unit is achieved. Hereby efficiency is optimized.
"In one embodiment the method comprises the step of controlling said driveline based on desired power output in case the desired power output exceeds or coincides with the maximum power deliverable by said internal combustion engine. This reduces the risk that the throttle unit of the internal combustion engine unit bottoms and so avoids that power reduction of the internal combustion engine unit causes the internal combustion engine unit to stop. Consequently, engine shutdown is hereby avoided.
"In one embodiment of the method, the step of controlling said driveline based on desired power output includes driving the internal combustion engine unit with maximum power through maximum throttle, and controlling the motor speed by controlling the torque of the generator unit while controlling the power output of the driving motor. This reduces the risk that the throttle unit of the internal combustion engine unit bottoms and so avoids that power reduction of the internal combustion engine unit causes the internal combustion engine unit to stop. Consequently, engine shutdown is hereby avoided.
"In one embodiment, the method comprises the step of switching between control based on desired efficiency and control based on desired power output, based on operating parameters of said driveline, comprising torque of the internal combustion engine unit and motor speed of the internal combustion engine unit. This enables the lowest possible energy consumption without engine shutdown through internal combustion engine unit operating point optimization.
"According to the invention, the objects are achieved by a system for controlling a driveline of a vehicle, which driveline comprises at least an internal combustion engine unit for driving a generator unit for generating electrical energy, at least one electric motor unit arranged to be supplied with said electric power from said generator unit, wherein said driveline comprises an AC/DC conversion unit configured to convert the AC voltage from the generator unit into DC voltage, a DC/AC conversion unit configured to convert said DC voltage to controllable AC power, wherein said DC voltage is provided in an intermediate DC voltage stage, together with means for controlling the driveline of the vehicle, wherein said means for controlling the driveline comprises means for controlling the driveline based on desired efficiency, and means for controlling the driveline based on the desired power output, and means for selecting control based on desired efficiency or desired power output, based on criteria relating to the performance of the internal combustion engine unit. This enables use of the available power of the internal combustion engine unit in a reliable and efficient manner. Since all available power is utilized, the internal combustion engine unit does not have to be over-dimensioned. Fault tolerance acceptance is hereby increased since the power still available in performance-reducing fault conditions of the internal combustion engine unit can be fully utilized by controlling the torque of the internal combustion engine so that the control unit of the internal combustion engine can regulate to maximum torque given any prevailing restrictions. Furthermore, this enables the lowest possible energy consumption without engine shutdown by optimizing the operating point of the internal combustion engine unit.
"In one embodiment of the system, said performance comprises the maximum power deliverable by the internal combustion engine. This enables use of the available power of the internal combustion engine unit in a reliable and efficient manner.
"In one embodiment, the system comprises means for controlling said driveline based on desired efficiency if the desired power output is less than the maximum power deliverable by said internal combustion engine unit. This enables the lowest possible energy consumption without engine shutdown by optimizing the operating point of the internal combustion engine unit.
"According to one embodiment of the system, said means for controlling said driveline based on desired efficiency comprises means for selecting a suitable operating point of the internal combustion engine unit, and means for controlling said electric drive motor unit such that a desired tractive force of said electric motor unit is achieved. Hereby efficiency is optimized.
"In one embodiment, the system comprises means for controlling said driveline based on desired power output if the desired power output exceeds or coincides with the maximum power deliverable by said internal combustion engine unit. This reduces the risk that the throttle unit of the internal combustion engine unit bottoms and so avoids that power reduction of the internal combustion engine unit causes the internal combustion engine unit to stop. Consequently, engine shutdown is hereby avoided.
"In one embodiment of the system, said means for controlling said driveline based on desired power output comprises means for driving the internal combustion engine unit with maximum power through maximum throttle, and means for controlling the motor speed by controlling the torque of the generator unit while controlling the power output of the drive motor. This reduces the risk that the throttle unit of the internal combustion engine unit bottoms and so avoids that power reduction of the internal combustion engine unit causes the internal combustion engine unit to stop. Consequently, engine shutdown is hereby avoided.
"According to one embodiment, the system comprises means for switching between control based on desired efficiency and control based on desired power output, based on operational parameters of said driveline, comprising the torque of the internal combustion engine unit and the motor speed of the internal combustion engine unit. This enables the lowest possible energy consumption without engine shutdown by optimizing the operating point of the internal combustion engine unit.
DESCRIPTION
"This invention will be better understood by reference to the following detailed description read together with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the different views, and in which:
"FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a motor vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention;
"FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a block diagram of a system for controlling a driveline of a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.
"FIGS. 3a-b schematically illustrate a block diagram of a first control principle for controlling the system in FIG. 2 according to an embodiment of the present invention;
"FIG. 4 schematically illustrates the power over speed characteristics of an internal combustion engine unit of a vehicle based on the control principle in FIGS. 3a-b;
"FIGS. 5a-b schematically illustrates a block diagram of a second control principle for controlling the system in FIG. 2 according to an embodiment of the present invention;
"FIG. 6 schematically illustrates a block diagram of a method according to the present invention;
"FIG. 7 schematically illustrates a block diagram of a method according to the present invention; and
"FIG. 8 schematically illustrates a computer according to an embodiment of the present invention."
For additional information on this patent application, see: NORDLOF, Mats; NOREUS, Olof. Method and System for Controlling a Driveline of a Hybrid Vehicle. Filed January 24, 2014 and posted January 7, 2016. Patent URL: http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.html&r=6797&p=136&f=G&l=50&d=PG01&S1=20151231.PD.&OS=PD/20151231&RS=PD/20151231
Keywords for this news article include: Computers, BAE Systems Hagglunds Aktiebolag.
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