| Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
|---|
| 180650290 | Control of battery specific to hybrid operation | 16 |
| 20090044996 | METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE OPERATING CHARACTERISTICS OF A HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLE - A control method for operating internal combustion engine electric hybrid vehicles with smaller battery packs, particularly in configurations where an electric motor (E/M) or electric motor/generator (E/MG), a battery, and associated controls are inserted between the engine and a continuously variable or automatic transmission. The interaction between the combustion engine and battery operated electric motor is controlled by taking energy into the batteries only if it is more efficient than throttling the engine and operating the engine at a lower efficiency. Additionally, the batteries are charged to a certain state or the batteries are maintained at a particular state of charge. A goal of the invention is to obtain the best possible fuel economy while maintaining good driveability. | 02-19-2009 |
| 20090101421 | Hybrid vehicle and controlling method thereof - When an ignition key is turned ON, a control apparatus predicts the arrival time to a chargeable location (such as home). When the control apparatus determines that the expected arrival time is in the nighttime, it sets SOC control upper and lower limit values for an EV traveling-importance mode that are lower than SOC control upper and lower limit values for an HV traveling-importance mode, and controls an SOC of a battery based on the upper and lower limit values. | 04-23-2009 |
| 20090114463 | SELF-LEARNING CONTROL SYSTEM FOR PLUG-IN HYBRID VEHICLES - A system is provided to instruct a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle how optimally to use electric propulsion from a rechargeable energy storage device to reach an electric recharging station, while maintaining as high a state of charge (SOC) as desired along the route prior to arriving at the recharging station at a minimum SOC. The system can include the step of calculating a straight-line distance and/or actual distance between an orientation point and the determined instant present location to determine when to initiate optimally a charge depleting phase. The system can limit extended driving on a deeply discharged rechargeable energy storage device and reduce the number of deep discharge cycles for the rechargeable energy storage device, thereby improving the effective lifetime of the rechargeable energy storage device. This “Just-in-Time strategy can be initiated automatically without operator input to accommodate the unsophisticated operator and without needing a navigation system/GPS input. | 05-07-2009 |
| 20090229898 | Controller for Electric Storage Device and Vehicle with Controller for Electric Storage Device - A controller for an electric storage device, one side of which is linked with a generator or a motor generator that is rotated by power of an engine to generate AC electrical power and includes a rectifier that converts the AC electrical power into DC electrical power, and the other side of which is linked with an on-vehicle battery and an auxiliary device, includes a switching element, an electric storage battery that is connected in parallel with the switching element, and a control unit that switches the switching element. The control unit turns the switching element ON when a state of charge of the electric storage battery is greater than a state of charge necessary for starting the engine and a voltage of the on-vehicle battery is less than a voltage necessary for starting the engine. | 09-17-2009 |
| 20090277702 | Hybrid vehicle and method of controlling the same - A controller obtains a planned travel distance from a current position of a vehicle to a preset charging point from a car navigation system, and based on the obtained planned travel distance, sets upper and lower limit values for controlling SOC of an electric storage lower as it comes closer to the charging point. The controller controls the SOC of the electric storage such that the SOC is within the set upper and lower limits of SOC control. | 11-12-2009 |
| 20090301801 | Vehicle equipped with electrical storage device, and charging cable - A vehicle includes a charging inlet for connection with a ground line and a pair of power lines used to charge an electrical storage device from outside the vehicle; a terminal of the charging inlet for connection with the ground line; and a GND relay that connects the terminal to a body earth of the vehicle. Desirably, the vehicle further includes an ECU that controls charging of the electrical storage device. Before charging of the electrical storage device is started after the pair of power lines and the ground line are connected to the charging inlet, the ECU opens the GND relay and then determines whether there is a disconnection in the ground line. | 12-10-2009 |
| 20100000809 | CHARGE/DISCHARGE CONTROL DEVICE FOR SECONDARY BATTERY AND HYBRID VEHICLE USING THE SAME - A state estimation value indicating a battery state is successively calculated from time to time according to a battery model capable of dynamically estimating the internal state of the secondary battery by using an inspection value of a sensor group indicating the secondary battery behavior. By using the sate estimation value at each moment estimated by the battery model expression at each predetermined cycle, an I/O-enabled time is predicted when a predetermined power is continuously inputted (charged) or outputted (discharged) from the current moment. A load operation instruction of the secondary battery is set so as to avoid overcharge and over-discharge of the secondary battery according to the operation request to the load and by considering the predicted characteristics between input/output power and input/output-allowed time. | 01-07-2010 |
| 20100025132 | Vehicle battery systems and methods - The invention provides for a high occupancy or heavy-duty vehicle with a battery propulsion power source, which may include lithium titanate batteries. The vehicle may be all-battery or may be a hybrid, and may have a composite body. The vehicle battery system may be housed within the floor of the vehicle and may have different groupings and arrangements. | 02-04-2010 |
| 20100155162 | COOLING SYSTEM, VEHICLE EQUIPPED WITH THE COOLING SYSTEM, AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE COOLING SYSTEM - A fan motor is controlled via a switching circuit from the moment when a cooling fan control routine is started until the moment when the rotational speed of the fan motor reaches a control-switching speed so that the higher the detected auxiliary battery voltage is when the cooling fan control is started, the lower the command duty ratio that is set. Accordingly, it is possible to activate the fan motor more reliably and to avoid generating excessive operating noise by the cooling fan when the fan motor is activated. | 06-24-2010 |
| 20100252344 | Method for Controlling an Output Torque of an Electric Variable Transmission by Battery Power Management - In a method for controlling an output torque of an electric variable transmission having an input coupled to a combustion engine and at least one electric motor that is at least feedable by a battery and able to recuperate energy into the battery, the battery power is limited to a maximum continuous battery power when the transmission is in a stationary operating point with a continuous revolution speed. The battery power is increased and limited to a maximum transient battery power that is greater than the maximum continuous battery power in a non-stationary operating point, upon a request for changing the gear-ratio (ratio between transmission input and output-speed) or upon a request for changing the transmissions output revolution speed. | 10-07-2010 |
| 20100258369 | METHOD FOR DRIVING A MICRO-HYBRID SYSTEM FOR VEHICLE AND AN ENERGY STORAGE UNIT, AND HYBRID SYSTEM FOR IMPLEMENTING SAME - A micro-hybrid system ( | 10-14-2010 |
| 20100270095 | HYBRID CONSTRUCTION MACHINE AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING HYBRID CONSTRUCTION MACHINE - A hybrid construction machine including an internal combustion engine, a motor generator, a hydraulically driven working element, and a rotation mechanism rotationally driven by a rotation electric motor includes a charge storage part provided between the motor generator and the rotation electric motor, wherein the charge storage part includes a constant voltage charge storage part configured to maintain its voltage value within a certain range; and a variable voltage charge storage part configured to tolerate a variation in the voltage value of the charge storage part due to the electric motor and the generator operation of the motor generator or the power running and the regenerative operation of the rotation electric motor. | 10-28-2010 |
| 20100288569 | Carbon fiber composite body, multi-fuel engine charging system, electrically driven car - A very light, very small (½ lane width) carbon fiber composite hull, single passenger (or two passenger in tandem F18 cockpit style) Formula-One-form-factor, flex-fuel, plug-in hybrid with swappable battery packs. The battery pack not being used will be charged by a home charging station that uses solar panels during the day and a computer to control the charge and which completes the charge from the grid at night or at low demand times to even out the load on the grid. The flex fuel engine may only drive a generator like in the case of the Chevy Volt and will run on ethanol, compressed natural gas or gasoline. The car will have very low drag as the Formula One front and rear aerodynamic wings will be extended to cover the open wheels to reduce vortices. These wings will also be covered with solar panels to provide partial trickle charge while the car is in the sun while parked at work etc. | 11-18-2010 |
| 20100300781 | Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle - A vehicle propulsion system and a method of its operation are described. As one example, the vehicle propulsion system includes a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. The method may include starting the engine responsive to different criteria, including criteria related to potential degradation effects that may occur due to excessive durations of engine off vehicle operation. | 12-02-2010 |
| 20110048823 | HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLE BATTERY THERMAL MANAGEMENT - A method of operating a vehicle powertrain system where the powertrain system includes a fuel controlled engine, an electric motor, and a battery, the fuel, controlled engine and the electric motor capable of powering the powertrain system. The powertrain system is capable of operating in a plurality of operational modes. The method includes detecting a current value representative of a current flowing through a portion of the battery, calculating a first value representative of the current over a predetermined amount of time, and de-rating at least one of the plurality of operational modes in response to the calculated first value. | 03-03-2011 |
| 20120160580 | BRAKE CONTROL DEVICE - A fluid pressure brake unit generates a friction braking force by supplying an operating fluid to a wheel cylinder provided to each wheel of a vehicle so as to press a brake pad against the wheel. A regenerative brake unit generates a regenerative braking force by electric power regeneration to a motor that drives the wheel. A battery collects electric power from the motor. A low-temperature determination unit determines that the temperature of the battery is low when the temperature of the battery is below a predetermined temperature range. A battery temperature increasing unit generates, when the temperature of the battery is determined to be low, a braking force to the vehicle by at least either a fluid pressure brake unit or a regenerative brake unit during acceleration of the vehicle by the motor or the engine. | 06-28-2012 |
