WO2012098311A1

WO2012098311A1 - Method for controlling the operation of a power train of a motor vehicle provided with a computer

Info

Publication number: WO2012098311A1
Application number: PCT/FR2011/053133
Authority: WO
Inventors: Florian DOUX; Florent FARAMOND
Original assignee: Peugeot Citroën Automobiles SA
Priority date: 2011-01-17
Filing date: 2011-12-21
Publication date: 2012-07-26
Also published as: FR2970517B1; CN103313892B; CN103313892A; FR2970517A1; EP2665633A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for controlling the operation of a power train of a motor vehicle provided with a computer, said method comprising a step of determining a need for automatic reactivation of said power train, following an unintended step of resetting said computer having deactivated said power train, according to information (E1, E2, E3, E4, E5, E6, E7, E8, E9, E10) relating to the context in which the vehicle is found.

Description

METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE OPERATION OF A MOTORPROOF GROUP OF A MOTOR VEHICLE EQUIPPED WITH A

CALCULATOR

[Oooi] The present invention claims the priority of the French application 1 150352 filed January 17, 201 1 whose content (text, drawings and claims) is here incorporated by reference.

The present invention relates to a method for controlling the operation of a power unit of a motor vehicle equipped with a computer.

[Ooo3] There are known control methods for the different powertrains or GMPs used, ie powertrains comprising an internal combustion engine, hybrid powertrains comprising an internal combustion engine and an electric motor, or powertrain groups. comprising an electric motor.

[ooo4] Currently following a reset of the calculator of a motor vehicle, or "reset" of the calculator in English, the restarting or reactivation of the conventional powertrain comprising for its sole engine an internal combustion engine or engine, is either transparent or imperceptible to the driver in the case of a vehicle equipped with a manual gearbox, or intrusive or noticeable to the driver in the case of a vehicle equipped with an automatic or piloted gearbox, because the driver must reactivate the power train manually with conditions that require, for example, pressing the brake pedal and the shift lever in the neutral position, resulting in actions that may seem long, impractical and not intuitive if the vehicle is moving when resetting the computer.

[ooo5] For a more complex powertrain, hybrid or electric, a rehabilitation or reactivation is more complex because the rotation of the internal combustion engine, thanks to its inertia (nonexistent on an electric vehicle or can be voluntarily stopped on a hybrid vehicle ) is no longer a valid criterion to infer that the vehicle must be running or in operation. Indeed, after a reset or reset of the computer, the internal combustion engine can be cut and the electrical part off (from has its own protective devices). Also it is necessary to determine if the situation observed is normal (eg key in contact position after being in the non-contact position), or if it is due to a reset of the computer. In the latter case, if the context in which the vehicle is located, particularly the security and regulatory context, allows it, the algorithm used to restart the vehicle without intervention of the driver (no action by the ignition key , do not step on the brake pedal, or put the gear lever in the neutral position required) and limit or avoid an inadvertent deceleration that may be dangerous in certain situations. [ooo6] Currently, the problem of untimely reinitialization of a motor vehicle calculator, or, in other words not initiated by the driver, is not treated for all types of powertrain, because in the case a GMP equipped only with an internal combustion engine with a manual gearbox, an untimely reset of the computer is almost or completely imperceptible to the driver (if the crankshaft of the internal combustion engine is rotating after a reset of the computer , the control command does not see the difference with a drive by a starting member of the starter or alternator-starter type and therefore the command control injects simply the air / fuel mixture necessary for combustion, and the internal combustion engine restarts). In addition, in the case of a GMP equipped with an internal combustion engine with an automatic or piloted gearbox, resetting the computer is not at all imperceptible to the driver (due to the conventional procedures requiring support the brake pedal and setting the gear lever in the neutral position to take into account the driver's intention to start with the ignition key).

[Ooo7] An object of the invention is to overcome the previous problems, and to provide a method of controlling the operation of a powertrain of a motor vehicle with a calculator, imperceptible to the driver.

[Ooo8] It is proposed, according to one aspect of the invention, a method of controlling the operation of a powertrain of a motor vehicle equipped with a computer, said method comprising a step of determining a need for reactivation automatic said powertrain, following an untimely step of resetting said computer having disabled said powertrain, based on information of the context in which the vehicle is. [ooo9] Thus, whatever the powertrain of the vehicle, in case of accidental reinitialization of the computer, it is possible to detect a need for automatic reactivation of the powertrain or GMP, imperceptibly for the driver.

[ooi o] In one embodiment, the step of determining a need for automatic reactivation of said powertrain comprises a sub-step of activating / deactivating a fault level outputting information comprising: • information representative of an ongoing analysis of the powertrain context;

• information representative of the end of a powertrain context analysis; and · information representative of the presence of the powertrain context defect level, taken into account when the powertrain context analysis is completed.

[ooi i] For example, three possible fault levels are defined that can take the status present value or the absent state value, with only one fault level present in the present state at most.

Thus, one can, for example, define two fault levels for which the automatic activation of the GMP is allowed, but performed differently, and a third level for which the automatic activation of the GMP is not allowed. In one embodiment, the step of determining a need for automatic reactivation of said powertrain comprises a substep of inhibition or interruption of automatic reactivation of said powertrain, outputting, to said sub step of activating / deactivating a fault level, information comprising:

• information representative of a inhibition of automatic reactivation of said powertrain; and

Information representative of an interruption of automatic reactivation of said powertrain, based on information comprising: information representative of a state of the powertrain; information representative of an external prohibition of automatic reactivation of said powertrain; information representative of an external detection of the presence of the driver; an information representative of the position of the accelerator pedal; information representative of a contact on a primary brake contactor; · Information representative of a contact on a secondary brake contactor; and

• information representative of the speed of the vehicle.

According to one embodiment, the step of determining a need for automatic reactivation of said powertrain comprises a substep of untimely reset confirmation of the computer, outputting, to said sub-step of activation / deactivation of a fault level, information comprising information representative of a confirmation of untimely reinitialization of the computer, based on information comprising:

• information representative of the speed of the vehicle;

• information representative of a state of the powertrain;

• information representative of a state of the contactors of the high-voltage battery; and In the case of the presence of an internal combustion engine, information representative of a state of the internal combustion engine.

In one embodiment, the step of determining a need for automatic reactivation of said powertrain comprises a sub-step of rehabilitation of the fault levels, outputting, to said activation substep / deactivation of a fault level, information comprising information representative of a restoration of the defect levels in the absence state, based on information comprising information representative of a state of the powertrain.

[ooi 6] In addition, said substep of activation / deactivation of a fault level receives, as input, information representative of the speed of the vehicle, and in the case of the presence of an internal combustion engine, a information representative of a state of the internal combustion engine. According to another aspect of the invention, there is also provided a motor vehicle comprising a computer and a powertrain, said computer being adapted to implement a method as described above.

The invention will be better understood from the study of some embodiments described by way of non-limiting examples and illustrated by the appended drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates the environment of the method according to one aspect of the invention; and

FIG. 2 illustrates the method according to one aspect of the invention. In the set of figures, the elements having the same references are similar. In Figure 1, is illustrated the method of the invention in its environment.

The determination V of a need or not for automatic reactivation of the GMP after a reset of the computer by processing context information of the vehicle, including security and regulatory information, to determine on the one hand if the calculator comes from be reset unexpectedly and on the other hand if the security and regulatory conditions are met to reactivate the GMP automatically, or in other words restart the vehicle without intervention of the driver rather than do nothing in the absence manual intervention of the driver.

Safety and regulatory information means external data or internal control of the vehicle to: · confirm the inadvertent nature of the software reset to estimate or limit the duration of the software reset to calculate the time elapsed since the software reset, securely detect the presence of the driver

and which in fine make it possible to impose certain mandatory or non-mandatory constraints such as, for example, maximum rehabilitation times (or in the absence of non-rehabilitations by inhibition or interruption of GMP activation).

automatic)

The result of the processing of the information carried out by the determination V is transmitted in the form of fault levels to the functions IV of fault management and reconfiguration (classic in a control automobile control).

According to the present or absent state of the fault levels transmitted by the V determination to the functions of fault management and reconfiguration IV.

If the context information of the vehicle, such as the speed of the vehicle, cause a need for automatic reactivation GMP by the determination V then the latter informs the function of management of defects and reconfigurations IV must automatically reactivate the GMP without wait for an action on the ignition key on the driver's side, nor on the brake pedal, nor take into account the position of the lever of the gearbox: this particular process of automatic reactivation of the GMP starts and applies on request IV functions to supervision III:

• if there is no new anomaly and the possible reinstatement times are respected, the automatic reactivation of the GMP is a success: the driver continues to use his vehicle despite the history of unintentional reinitialization of the computer ( with a high probability that the driver did not feel the anomaly). The determination V then informs the IV functions that the automatic reactivation of the GMP is a success: the level of default initially transmitted to the present state causing the automatic reactivation is transmitted in the absent state;

• if there is a new anomaly, causing an abnormally long automatic reactivation of the GMP for which the regulatory times are no longer respected, or during which the driver wishes to voluntarily stop his vehicle, (by an action on the key contact in the non-contact position): the determination V again informs the functions IV which then interrupt the reactivation automatic GMP by informing the supervision III, and if the interruption does not originate a driver action, the IV functions also inform the driver II for example by a human-machine interface or HMI, such as a STOP light. · If the safety and regulatory conditions are not met: the IV functions inform the driver II by an HMI such as a STOP LED. If the driver manually reactivates the GMP by an action on the ignition key or if the driver cuts out the contact by action on the ignition key, then the level of fault initially transmitted to the present state at the origin of the ignition key. driver information II by HMI is transmitted in the absent state.

FIG. 2 illustrates in more detail the various sub-steps or sub-functions of the method according to one aspect of the invention, and particularly of the step of determining a need for automatic reactivation of said powertrain, following an untimely step of resetting said computer having deactivated said powertrain, according to information E1, E2, E3, E4, E5, E6, E7, E8, E9, E10 of the context in which the vehicle is located.

A sub-step V_04 for activating / deactivating a fault level outputs information comprising:

• information S1 representative of an ongoing analysis of the powertrain context;

• information S2 representative of the end of a powertrain context analysis; and an information S3, S4, S5 representative of the presence of the powertrain context defect level, taken into account when the analysis of the powertrain context ends. It is possible to define three possible levels of fault that can take the current state value or absent state, a single level of defect can be in the present state at most. A substep V_01 of inhibition or interruption of automatic reactivation of the powertrain, outputs, to the sub-step V_04 activation / deactivation of a fault level, information comprising:

• information ΕΊ representative of a inhibition of automatic reactivation of said powertrain; and

An information E'2 representative of an interruption of automatic reactivation of said powertrain,

From information comprising:

• information E1 representative of a state of the powertrain; An information E2 representative of an external prohibition of automatic reactivation of said powertrain;

An information E3 representative of an external detection of the presence of the driver;

• information E4 representative of the position of the accelerator pedal;

An information E5 representative of a contact on a primary brake contactor;

An information E6 representative of a contact on a secondary brake contactor; and • E7 information representative of the speed of the vehicle.

The automatic activation of the GMP is inhibited (can not begin) as soon as one of the following conditions is satisfied: · the driver is not considered as present (Condition 1);

• the speed of movement of the vehicle is strictly less than a threshold (Condition 2);

• the time elapsed since the state of the GMP at rest or inactive exceeds a threshold (Timer_a); The time elapsed since not obtaining the state of the GMP to active exceeds a threshold (Timer_b)

In the latter case, the automatic reactivation of the GMP, if it is in progress, is interrupted.

The driver can be considered as present (Condition 1) via several criteria:

An external criterion of conductive presence E3;

• a criterion for depressing the accelerator pedal E4;

• a criterion of depression of the brake pedal secured by the simultaneous information of the primary contactors E5 and secondary E6, the primary contactor means the main sensor and sufficient (except in case of failure) to reflect the brake pedal support and by secondary contactor the sensor used in redundancy of the primary contactor which makes it possible to reflect (except in case of failure on this second sensor) the support on the brake pedal. • a criterion of non-zero speed of the vehicle for a GMP in the state of rest or inactive.

Each criterion is considered only for a state of the GMP at rest or inactive, when the information used is valid. If a criterion is verified then we add an increment that can be calibrated to a sum representative of the presence of the driver inside the vehicle.

When this sum is greater than or equal to a minimum threshold that can be calibrated, it is considered that the driver is present.

This way of detecting the presence of the driver by combining increments or weightings only in two states of the very specific GMP can bring robustness and modularity to this detection.

The two timings delay_a and timeout_b as well as the speed of movement of the vehicle and the presence of the driver allow to adjust to regulatory and / or safety requirements if necessary (eg maximum time allowed rehabilitation, rehabilitation allowed at no speed). null only ...).

A sub-step V_02 for confirmation of untimely reinitialization of the computer, outputs, to the substep V_04 of activation / deactivation of a fault level, information comprising a representative information E'3 a confirmation of untimely reinitialization of the computer, based on information comprising:

An information E7 representative of the speed of the vehicle; An information E1 representative of a state of the powertrain; An information E8 representative of a state of the contactors of the high-voltage battery; and

In the case of the presence of an internal combustion engine, information E10 representative of a state of the internal combustion engine. The confirmation of the reset of the untimely calculator can be done via several criteria:

An external detection criterion E8 (for example derived from the history of each reset of the computer);

• if an internal combustion engine is present, a condition criterion of the E10 internal combustion engine at rest and GMP inactive

(Inconsistency between the condition of the internal combustion engine and the condition of the GMP);

• a criterion for the presence of closed disconnectors of the E9 high-voltage battery for a GMP in the idle or inactive state (Inconsistency between the state of the discontactors and the state of the GMP): This criterion is an indicator of the duration of the soft software reset (if this reset exceeds a certain time, the close intelligence of the discontactors will open them for security)

• a criterion of non-zero vehicle speed E7 for a GMP at idle or inactive state.

Each criterion is considered only for a state of the GMP at rest or inactive, when the information used is valid. If a criterion is verified then we add an increment that can be calibrated to a sum representative of the presence of the driver inside the vehicle. When this sum is greater than or equal to a minimum threshold that can be calibrated, it is considered that there is indeed a computer reset inadvertent.

This way of confirming the resetting of the driver's computer by combining increments or weights only in a time window makes it possible to bring robustness and modularity in this detection while complying with safety or regulatory requirements.

A sub-step V_03 for the recovery of the fault levels, outputs, to the substep V_04 of activation / deactivation of a fault level, information comprising a representative information E'4 of a rehabilitation of the defect levels in the absence state, based on information comprising information (E1) representative of a state of the powertrain. Inactive GMP defects following an unexpected reinitialization of the computer forced to absent according to several criteria depending on the state of the GMP.

If the state of the GMP is active since a threshold period is that the GMP has been reactivated either automatically successfully or manually by intervention of the driver.

If the state of the GMP is maintenance after deactivation of the GMP is that the user cut his vehicle by using the ignition key before or during the automatic reactivation of the GMP.

The sub-step V_04 for activating / deactivating a fault level also receives, at the input, an information item E7 representative of the speed of the vehicle, and in the case of the presence of an internal combustion engine, an information E10 representative of a state of the internal combustion engine. The absent or present state of the fault levels following an unwanted computer reset is transmitted to the IV functions when one of the following three conditions is verified:

• no fault is present and an untimely reinitialization of the computer is identified since a time which can be calibrated in the absence of condition of rehabilitations: one of the levels of defect passes to the present state, the other levels of defect to the absent state;

• a fault level is in the present state but it is rehabilitated: the level of defect in the present state returns to the absent state, the other levels of defect being already in the absent state;

• a fault is present but the automatic reactivation of the GMP must be interrupted if it is in progress: fault level 3 goes to the present state, the other fault level to the absent state.

The choice of the level of fault returned to the present state (1, 2 or 3 in this case), depends on the speed of the vehicle, the state of the engine and the authorization of action automatic.

The present invention avoids a possible panic driver, due to a deceleration and lack of response of the vehicle if a reset of the computer occurs during running and under certain conditions by automatically rehabilitating the GMP. For GMPs equipped with an automatic or piloted gearbox, the invention makes it possible to avoid certain dangerous situations due to the possible deceleration during a reinitialization of the computer and / or to avoid complaints from customers.

With the development of increasingly sophisticated vehicles, including hybrid or electric, this type of strategy is needed.

Claims

1. A method of controlling the operation of a powertrain of a motor vehicle equipped with a computer, said method comprising a step of determining a need for automatic reactivation of said powertrain, following an untimely step of resetting said computer having deactivated said powertrain, according to information (E1, E2, E3, E4, E5, E6, E7, E8, E9, E10) of the context in which the vehicle is located.

The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of determining a need for automatic reactivation of said powertrain comprises a sub-step (V_04) for activating / deactivating a fault level outputting information comprising :

information (S1) representative of an ongoing analysis of the powertrain context;

an information item (S2) representative of the end of an analysis of the

powertrain context; and

information (S3, S4, S5) representative of the presence of the powertrain context defect level, taken into account when the analysis of the powertrain context ends.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein three possible fault levels are defined that can take the present state value or the absent state value, a single fault level that can be in the present state at most.

4. The method of claim 2 or 3, wherein the step of determining a need for automatic reactivation of said powertrain comprises a substep (V_01) of inhibition or interruption of automatic reactivation of said powertrain, outputting to said fault level enabling / disabling substep (V_04), information including:

information (ΕΊ) representative of an inhibition of automatic reactivation of said power unit; and

information (E'2) representative of an interruption of automatic reactivation of said powertrain,

from information including:

information (E1) representative of a state of the group

power train;

information (E2) representative of an external prohibition of automatic reactivation of said powertrain;

information (E3) representative of an external presence detection of the driver;

information (E4) representative of the position of the accelerator pedal;

information (E5) representative of a contact on a primary brake contactor;

information (E6) representative of a contact on a secondary brake contactor; and

information (E7) representative of the speed of the vehicle.

5. Method according to one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the step of determining a need for automatic reactivation of said powertrain comprises a sub-step (V_02) confirmation of untimely reinitialization of the computer, outputting, to said activation / deactivation substep (V_04) a fault level, information comprising information (E'3) representative of a confirmation of untimely reinitialization of the computer, based on information comprising:

information (E7) representative of the speed of the vehicle;

information (E1) representative of a state of the group

power train;

information (E8) representative of a state of the contactors of the high-voltage battery; and

if an internal combustion engine is present, a

information (E10) representative of a state of the internal combustion engine.

6. Method according to one of claims 2 to 5, wherein the step of determining a need for automatic reactivation of said powertrain comprises a sub-step (V_03) for rehabilitation of fault levels, outputting, to destination of said fault level activation / deactivation sub-step (V_04), information comprising information (E'4) representative of a restoration of the absent-state fault levels, from information comprising information (E1) representative of a state of the powertrain.

7. Method according to one of claims 2 to 6, wherein said sub-step (V_04) for activating / deactivating a fault level also receives, as input, information (E7) representative of the speed. of the vehicle, and in the case of the presence of an internal combustion engine, information (E10) representative of a state of the internal combustion engine.

8. Motor vehicle comprising a computer and a powertrain, characterized in that said computer is adapted to implement the method according to one of claims 1 to 7.