Daimler Trucks North America LLC

Freightliner Corporation

Dieter Reckels

Shivkumar Duraiswamy

Cristin Paun

Shiva Duraiswamy

Elmar Boeckenhoff

Derek James Rotz

Nitin Magoo

A torque management system and method is described by which the torque provided by an engine can be controlled based on a mass of the vehicle and, if available, instantaneous and/or predictive slope information. Also, in some modes of operation, torque can be controlled based on speed limit information for upcoming road segments to be traveled by a vehicle. In addition to controlling the maximum allowable torque, optionally the minimum allowable torque can also be controlled to prevent inadvertent decelerations of the vehicle. A driver/operator can optionally override the torque control and the history of override requests can optionally be used to adjust overrides of the system. A plurality of torque control approach sub-methods can be made available with the appropriate sub-mode being selected depending, for example, upon the extent of the available information.

Vehicle torque management

A Vehicle Disturbance Estimator determines estimates of a vehicle disturbance force according to vehicle operating conditions. The determined vehicle disturbance force estimate can be used, for example, in connection with controlling a cruise control system for the vehicle, in connection with fuel economy evaluations and testing, and in connection with vehicle diagnostics. A plurality of sets of inputs can be used to determine plural vehicle disturbance estimates for time periods during which a cruise control is on, the vehicle is being driven in the highest gear, and the vehicle is not being braked by any brakes. The plurality of vehicle disturbance estimates can be averaged to provide an output corresponding to an average vehicle disturbance estimate over a plurality of sampling time periods. Kalman filtering can be used to determine the vehicle disturbance estimates. Signals corresponding to the plural disturbance estimates can be provided as an input to a cruise control, with the cruise control then being operable to control the speed of the motor vehicle, based at least in part upon the vehicle disturbance estimate.

Vehicle disturbance estimator and method

An improved vehicle cooling system is disclosed having the capability of controlling various thermal components of the system to effectively control the heating and cooling of an engine of the vehicle based on instantaneous vehicle and ambient conditions and also based upon predictive conditions. These predictive conditions can include information about the upcoming terrain of the route along which the vehicle will travel.

Predictive auxiliary load management (PALM) control apparatus and method

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Portland, OR, United States of America

Dieter Reckels