Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

Hitachi Automotive Products (usa), Inc.

Jeremy Moore

Mark Eifert

A system for selectively consuming and storing electrical energy in a hybrid vehicle. The system includes an electric motor/generator unit having a rotary shaft and an internal combustion engine having a main shaft. A continuously variable transmission mechanically couples the electric motor/generator rotary shaft to the engine main shaft. A control circuit varies the amount of torque of the electric motor/generator unit rotary shaft between a negative and a positive value as a function of the operating condition of the vehicle. The control circuit also controls the transmission to vary the transmission ratio as a function of the engine operating conditions.

System for selectively consuming and storing electrical energy in a hybrid vehicle

The invention relates to a method for reducing the exhaust emissions during the cold start of an internal combustion engine (). According to the method, a starter motor () is operated in parallel with the internal combustion engine () until the operating temperature of an exhaust gas catalytic converter () is reached, to thereby relieve the power demand on the internal combustion engine and thereby to minimize the production of pollutants. The heating of catalytic converter () can preferably be accelerated by retarded spark timing, by a delayed shift in automatic transmission () and/or by an electrical heater coupled to catalytic converter ().

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Ypsilanti, MI, United States of America

Jeremy Moore