JP2006335351A - Driving force controller for hybrid vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the driving force controller of a hybrid vehicle for effectively carrying out the regeneration by a motor. <P>SOLUTION: This driving force controller is provided with an engine 2, a front motor 3 installed at a front wheel 8 side of a vehicle and a rear motor 4 installed at a rear wheel 9 side of the vehicle. When carrying out the regeneration of deceleration energy in the deceleration of a vehicle, the regeneration quantity of the front motor 3 and the regeneration quantity of the rear motor 4 are respectively calculated, and regeneration is carried out with the larger regeneration quantity of the rear motor 3 or 4, and when calculating the regeneration quantity of the front motor 3, the efficiency of a transmission 5 connected to the front motor 3 and the transmission loss of a rear differential 10 are added, and when calculating the regeneration quantity of the rear motor 4, the efficiency of the rear differential 10 to be connected to the rear motor 4 and the transmission loss of the transmission 5 are added. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a driving force control apparatus for a hybrid vehicle including an engine, a first electric motor, and a second electric motor as a vehicle driving source.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a driving force control device that controls the driving force of a hybrid vehicle that includes an engine and a motor as a vehicle driving source has been proposed.
For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique regarding a driving force control device for a hybrid vehicle in which front wheels are driven by an engine and rear wheels are driven by a motor.

JP 2002-235576 A (paragraph numbers [0009] and [0012], FIG. 1)

However, in the above-described conventional technology, the motor only functions as an electric motor, and the generator that drives the motor is driven by an engine, and has a mechanism that can collect travel energy when the vehicle is decelerated or the like. Not. For this reason, in order to further improve fuel efficiency, motors that function not only as an electric motor but also as a generator are provided on the front wheel side and the rear wheel side of the vehicle, respectively. It is desirable to be able to regenerate.
However, the standard and performance of an electric motor (for example, a front motor) that drives the front wheel side and an electric motor (for example, a rear motor) that drives the rear wheel side may be different. However, there is a problem that it is not always efficient to regenerate with each motor.

  Therefore, the present invention provides a driving force control device for a hybrid vehicle that can effectively perform regeneration by an electric motor.

  The invention according to claim 1 of the present invention made to achieve the above object is characterized in that one of the front and rear wheels (for example, front wheel 8 and rear wheel 9 in the embodiment described later) is an engine (for example, embodiment described later). Engine 2) and a first electric motor (for example, a front motor 3 in an embodiment described later), and the other of the front and rear wheels is a second electric motor (for example, a rear motor 4 in an embodiment described later). In the driving force control apparatus for a hybrid vehicle that is driven by the motor, the regeneration amount of the first electric motor and the regeneration amount of the second electric motor are respectively calculated when the deceleration energy is regenerated during vehicle deceleration. When the regeneration is performed with the larger regeneration amount and the regeneration amount of the first electric motor is calculated, a transmission (for example, the rear motor) connected to the first electric motor is calculated. In consideration of the efficiency of the transmission 5) in the embodiment and the transmission loss of the rear differential (for example, the rear differential 10 in the embodiment described later), the regenerative amount of the second motor is calculated. In addition, the efficiency of the rear differential connected to the second electric motor and the transmission loss of the transmission are taken into account.

  According to the present invention, when the vehicle is decelerated, it is possible to effectively recover surplus travel energy by performing regeneration with an electric motor having a large amount of regeneration, so that energy can be used more effectively. It becomes. In addition, since regeneration is performed by only one of the first motor and the second motor, the other motor can perform independent control, and the degree of freedom of the travel mode can be increased. Thereby, according to the driving | running | working state of a vehicle, it can control so that said other electric motor may contribute to a fuel consumption improvement. For example, the other electric motor may be driven alone or together with the engine to provide driving force to the vehicle, or may be stopped.

  In addition, since the regenerative amount in the first electric motor and the second electric motor can be calculated with higher accuracy, the regeneration can be controlled more efficiently.

  The invention according to claim 2 is the clutch according to claim 1, wherein the engine and the first electric motor are connected to or disconnected from the wheel (for example, a starting clutch 20 in an embodiment described later). When the engine and the first electric motor and the wheel are separated by the clutch, regeneration is performed by the second electric motor.

  According to the present invention, by separating the clutch, it is possible to prevent the engine friction from being transmitted to the wheels when the vehicle travels in an extremely low speed region or the like. By performing regeneration with the second electric motor that is not affected by engine friction, it is possible to recover surplus travel energy more efficiently.

The invention according to claim 3 is described in claim 2, wherein the clutch is a starting clutch of a transmission.
According to the present invention, since the clutch of the existing transmission is used, it is not necessary to newly provide a special (new) clutch, and the number of parts can be reduced and the cost can be reduced.

The invention according to a fourth aspect is the invention according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein when it is detected that the wheel is slipping, the first electric motor and the second electric motor It is characterized by prohibiting regeneration in the electric motor.
According to this invention, since the fluctuation of the rotation speed of the wheel accompanying regeneration in the slip state in which the wheel slips can be prevented, the behavior stability of the vehicle body can be secured, and early recovery from the slip state can be achieved. It becomes possible.

As described above, according to the first aspect of the invention, surplus travel energy can be recovered effectively, so that energy can be used more effectively. Further, the other electric motor can be controlled so as to contribute to improvement in fuel consumption in accordance with the running state of the vehicle. In addition, since the regenerative amount in the first electric motor and the second electric motor can be calculated with higher accuracy, it becomes possible to control the regeneration more efficiently.
According to the invention which concerns on Claim 2, while being able to reduce the energy loss by engine friction, it becomes possible to collect | recover surplus driving energy more efficiently.
According to the invention of claim 3, it is not necessary to newly provide a special (new) clutch, and the number of parts can be reduced and the cost can be reduced.
According to the fourth aspect of the invention, the behavior stability of the vehicle body can be ensured, and early recovery from the slip state can be achieved.

Hereinafter, a driving force control apparatus for a hybrid vehicle in an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating a driving force control apparatus for a hybrid vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, this hybrid vehicle includes an engine 2, a front motor 3, and a rear motor 4 as drive sources. The front motor 3 is directly connected in series while being sandwiched between the engine 2 and the transmission 5. Then, the power of at least one of the engine 2 and the front motor 3 is transmitted to the output shaft 12 via the transmission 5 to drive the front wheels 8.
On the other hand, the rear motor 4 transmits the power to the output shaft 13 via the rear differential 10 to drive the rear wheel 9. That is, the hybrid vehicle in the present embodiment is a four-wheel drive vehicle in which the front wheels 8 can be driven by at least one of the engine 2 and the front motor 3 and the rear wheels 9 can be driven by the rear motor 4.

  When the driving force is transmitted from the front wheel 8 side to the front motor 3 side during deceleration of the hybrid vehicle, the front motor 3 functions as a generator to generate a so-called regenerative braking force, and the kinetic energy of the vehicle body is used as electric energy. to recover. Similarly, when driving force is transmitted from the rear wheel 9 side to the rear motor 4 side during deceleration of the hybrid vehicle, the rear motor 4 functions as a generator to generate regenerative braking force, and the kinetic energy of the vehicle body is used as electric energy. to recover.

Driving and regenerative operation of the front motor 3 and the rear motor 4 are performed by a power drive unit (PDU) 6 in response to a control command from an ECU (not shown).
The power drive unit 6 is connected to a front motor 3 and a rear motor 4 and a high-voltage nickel-hydrogen battery 7 that transfers electric energy. The battery 7 further includes, for example, a module in which a plurality of cells are connected in series. A plurality of modules are connected in series.

  In the present embodiment, the transmission 5 is constituted by a continuously variable transmission (CVT), and a starting clutch 20 is provided between the transmission 5 and the output shaft 12. By controlling the starting clutch 20, the engine 2 and the front motor 3 can be connected to and disconnected from the front wheels 8, and energy can be transmitted and cut off between these drive sources and the front wheels 8.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing determination of the regeneration efficiency of the front motor 3 and the rear motor 4 shown in FIG. First, in step S10, when entering the regeneration process determination mode in the motors 3 and 4, it is determined whether or not the vehicle is decelerating in step S12. If the determination result is YES, the process proceeds to step S14, and if the determination result is NO, the series of processes in this flowchart is terminated. This is because the regeneration process is preferably performed by recovering excess travel energy and should not be performed at times other than during deceleration.

In step S14, it is determined whether or not the wheels 8, 9 are slipping.
If the determination result is YES, control for prohibiting regeneration is performed in step S16, and the series of processes in this flowchart is terminated. Thus, since the regeneration in the slip state in which the wheels 8 and 9 slip is prohibited, fluctuations in the rotational speed of the wheels 8 and 9 due to regeneration can be prevented. As a result, the behavior stability of the vehicle body can be secured, and early recovery from the slip state can be achieved.
If the determination result in step S14 is NO, the process proceeds to step S18, and the process proceeds to a process for determining whether the regeneration process is performed by the front motor 3 or the rear motor 4.

In step S18, it is determined whether or not the starting clutch 20 is separated (OFF). If this determination result is YES, regeneration control by the rear motor (rear M / G) 4 is performed. This is because when the starting clutch 20 is separated, the front motor 3 is disconnected from the wheels 8 and 9 and cannot regenerate. Thus, by performing regeneration with the rear motor 4 when the starting clutch 20 is separated in an extremely low speed region of the vehicle, etc., energy loss due to engine friction can be reduced, and excess traveling energy can be efficiently recovered. It becomes possible.
If the decision result in the step S18 is NO, the process proceeds to a step S20 to search the regeneration efficiency of the motors 3 and 4. This will be described later with reference to FIG.

  In step S22, the regeneration efficiency (rear regeneration efficiency) ηrr of the rear motor 4 is compared with the regeneration efficiency (front regeneration efficiency) ηfr of the front motor 3, and the rear regeneration efficiency ηrr is determined from the front regeneration efficiency ηfr. If it is larger, the control proceeds to step S26 to perform regeneration by the rear motor 4, and if the rear regeneration efficiency ηrr is smaller than the front regeneration efficiency ηfr, the control proceeds to step S28 to perform regeneration by the front motor 3. . Then, a series of processing ends.

A procedure for calculating the regeneration efficiency in each of the motors 3 and 4 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a search procedure for the regeneration efficiency of each of the rear motor 4 and the front motor 3 shown in FIG. FIGS. 5 and 6 are explanatory diagrams showing a procedure for calculating the regenerative amount of each of the front motor 3 and the rear motor 4.
First, the deceleration force F is calculated in step S30. This deceleration force F is calculated from the amount of depression of the brake pedal. In step S32, the vehicle speed V is detected.
Then, the determination of the front regeneration efficiency and the rear regeneration efficiency is performed as follows.

  When searching for the front regeneration efficiency, the friction of the rear part (rear motor 4 and related accessories) is calculated in step S34. This friction is subtracted from the deceleration force F, and the foot torque T is calculated by multiplying the subtracted value by the radius R of the wheel 8.

Further, the shaft speed Nmot_fr of the front motor 3 is calculated by multiplying the vehicle speed V by the proportional coefficient ratio_fr on the front side. In step S36, a map search is performed for the transmission efficiency η of the transmission 5 from the rotation speed Nmot_fr and the input torque T, and the foot shaft torque T is multiplied by the transmission efficiency η. Further, the shaft torque (referred to as front shaft torque) T of the front motor 3 is calculated by multiplying by the proportional coefficient ratio_fr.
In step S38, the friction of the engine 2 is calculated based on the vehicle speed V and the like, and the friction is subtracted from the front shaft torque T. Next, in step S40, the map is searched for the regenerative efficiency of the front motor 3 from the rotational speed Nmot_fr and the front shaft torque T, and in step S42, the front regenerative efficiency ηfr is calculated from the map. The output work Wfr is calculated by multiplying the front regeneration efficiency ηfr by the subtracted front shaft torque T, and further multiplying the motor rotational speed Nmot by 2π and dividing by 60. This output work Wfr becomes the regenerative amount in the front motor 3.

  On the other hand, when searching for the rear regeneration efficiency, the friction of the front portion (the front motor 3 and related accessories) is calculated in step S44. This friction is subtracted from the deceleration force F, and the foot torque T is calculated by multiplying the subtracted value by the radius R of the wheel 9.

  Further, the shaft speed Nmot_rr of the rear motor 4 is calculated by multiplying the vehicle speed V by the proportional coefficient ratio_rr on the rear side. In step S46, the transmission efficiency η of the rear differential 10 is searched from the rotational speed Nmot_rr and the input torque T, and the foot shaft torque T is multiplied by the transmission efficiency η. Further, the shaft torque (referred to as rear shaft torque) T of the rear motor 4 is calculated by multiplying by the proportional coefficient ratio_rr.

In step S48, a map search is performed for the regeneration efficiency of the rear motor 4 from the rotational speed Nmot_rr and the rear shaft torque T. In step S50, the rear regeneration efficiency ηrr is calculated from the map. The output work Wrr is calculated by multiplying the rear regenerative efficiency ηrr by the rear shaft torque T and further multiplying the motor rotational speed Nmot by 2π and dividing by 60. This output work Wrr becomes the regenerative amount in the rear motor 4.
FIG. 7 is a graph showing the relationship between the vehicle speed V under a certain traveling condition (for example, the state of the starting clutch 20) and the regeneration amounts of the front motor 3 and the rear motor 4 calculated as described above. From the same figure, the magnitude relationship between the front regeneration amount Wfr and the rear regeneration amount Wrr is reversed depending on whether the vehicle speed V is greater than or less than the reference speed V0. Therefore, by comparing the vehicle speed V with the reference speed V0, it is possible to select the motors 3 and 4 that perform the regeneration process. In addition, this graph shall be changed for every driving condition.

  FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an example when the hybrid vehicle is traveling. As shown in the figure, when the vehicle is traveling at a constant speed, the regeneration process is not performed (time t = 0 to A). When the vehicle starts to decelerate and can perform the regeneration process, the regeneration process is performed by one of the motors 3 and 4 as described above (time t = A to B). When the vehicle speed is extremely low and the start clutch 20 is OFF, the rear motor 4 performs a regeneration process (time t = B˜).

As described above, when the vehicle is decelerating, by performing regeneration with the motor 3 or 4 having the larger regeneration amount, surplus travel energy can be recovered effectively, so that energy can be used more effectively. It becomes possible to do. Further, since regeneration is performed by only one of the front motor 3 and the rear motor 4 (for example, the front motor 3), the other motor (for example, the rear motor 4) can perform independent control, and the degree of freedom of the travel mode. Can be increased.
In the present embodiment, the regenerative amount of each motor 3, 4 is calculated in consideration of the transmission loss of the transmission 5 and the rear differential 10, so the regenerative amount of each motor is calculated with higher accuracy. This makes it possible to control regeneration more efficiently.

  Further, the present invention is not limited to the hybrid vehicle shown in FIG. 1 but can be applied to a hybrid vehicle that does not include the start clutch 20 as shown in FIG. In this case, control can be performed in the same manner as the hybrid vehicle shown in FIG. 1 except that the determination in step S18 is always NO.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a driving force control apparatus for a hybrid vehicle in a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic block diagram which shows the modification of the driving force control apparatus of the hybrid vehicle in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. 3 is a flowchart showing determination of regeneration efficiency of the front motor and the rear motor shown in FIG. 1. It is explanatory drawing which shows the search procedure of the regeneration efficiency of each rear motor and front motor shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the procedure which calculates the regeneration possible amount of the front motor shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the procedure which calculates the regeneration possible amount of the rear motor shown in FIG. 2 is a graph showing a relationship between a vehicle speed and a regeneration amount of a front motor and a rear motor shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example at the time of driving | running | working of the hybrid vehicle shown in FIG. 1, FIG.

Explanation of symbols

2 Engine 3 Front motor 4 Rear motor 5 Transmission 8 Front wheel 9 Rear wheel 10 Rear differential 20 Starting clutch

Claims (4)

In the driving force control device for a hybrid vehicle in which one of the front and rear wheels is driven by the engine and the first electric motor and the other of the front and rear wheels is driven by the second electric motor.
In performing regeneration of deceleration energy at the time of vehicle deceleration, the regeneration amount of the first motor and the regeneration amount of the second motor are respectively calculated, and regeneration is performed on the motor with the larger regeneration amount, When calculating the regenerative amount of the first electric motor, taking into account the efficiency of the transmission connected to the first electric motor and the transmission loss of the rear differential,
When calculating the regeneration amount of the second electric motor, the driving force control device for a hybrid vehicle, which takes into account the efficiency of the rear differential connected to the second electric motor and the transmission loss of the transmission . A clutch for connecting or disconnecting the engine and the first electric motor and the wheel;
2. The driving force control apparatus for a hybrid vehicle according to claim 1, wherein when the engine, the first electric motor, and the wheels are separated by the clutch, regeneration is performed by the second electric motor.   The driving force control apparatus for a hybrid vehicle according to claim 2, wherein the clutch is a transmission starting clutch.   4. The hybrid vehicle according to claim 1, wherein regeneration of the first electric motor and the second electric motor is prohibited when it is detected that the wheel is slipping. 5. Driving force control device.

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