Nissan Motor Company Limited

Kouichi Kuroda

Yoshitaka Deguchi

Hiroshi Takahashi

Itsuro Muramoto

Hiroshi Sato

Hiroshi Abe

Taketoshi Kawabe

Nobusuke Toukura

Yoshihiro Sato

Along with detecting speed of a hybrid vehicle, a drive/brake power command value for the vehicle is set, and an efficiency indication which indicates the efficiency of fuel utilization is also set. An operational point for an internal combustion engine and an electric motor of the vehicle is determined which makes the amount of charge into a battery smaller, the greater is this efficiency indication, based upon the detected vehicle speed, and the drive/brake power command value and the efficiency indication. In this manner, it is possible to control the engine and the motor so as to bring the remaining amount of charge in the battery to a target value while keeping the fuel consumption over the route to be travelled as low as possible.

Control device and control method for hybrid vehicle

An apparatus and method of driving control of a hybrid vehicle in the invention divides a route into a plurality of section on the basis of a point at which start of the vehicle is predicted and a point at which stop of the vehicle is predicted or a start point of a regeneration section in which the motor continuously performs a regenerating operation for a predetermined time or longer as a border; estimates a vehicle speed pattern for each of the plurality of sections on the basis of a road condition and a driving history; and sets an operating schedule of the engine and the motor so as to minimize the fuel consumption of the engine to the destination on the basis of the vehicle speed pattern and fuel consumption characteristics of the engine.

Driving control apparatus of hybrid vehicle and method thereof

A driving force control system for an automotive vehicle using driving torque produced by at least one of an internal combustion engine and an electric motor for propulsion, and including a battery and a power-transmission mechanism having a continuously variable transmission, comprises sensors detecting vehicle speed, engine speed, an accelerator operating amount, a state of charge of the battery. An electronic control unit calculates a target engine speed needed to realize the vehicle speed, the target driving torque and the target generated electric energy at the lowest fuel consumption, considering an efficiency of each of the engine, the electric motor, and the power-transmission mechanism, so as to operate the engine, the electric motor, and/or the power-transmission mechanism always at their optimum operating points depending on the ratio of a first time rate of doing work for the driver's required driving torque to a second time rate of doing work for the required generated electric energy, as well as the sum of the first and second time rates.

Driving force control system for automotive vehicle

A control device detects a curve in front of a vehicle based on the vehicle position and map information, and a driver's accelerator pedal operation is detected based on a sensor output. When a curve is detected in front of the vehicle and it is detected that the driver has released the accelerator pedal, a speed ratio of the automatic transmission is modified to generate a deceleration force.

Vehicle drive force control device

A shift control apparatus for use in an automotive vehicle including an engine, an automatic transmission, and an engine accelerator operable to change the amount of air permitted to enter the engine. The apparatus monitors the speed of operation of the accelerator and repetitively samples the accelerator operation speed to accumulate the last accelerator operation speed values for a short period of time so as to form a first frequency distribution of the accelerator operation speed values and accumulate the last accelerator operation speed values for a long period of time so as to form a second frequency distribution of the accelerator operation speed values. The first frequency distribution corresponds to a driver's present vehicle driving inclination and the second frequency distribution corresponds to a driver's normal vehicle driving inclination. A deviation of the first frequency distribution from the second frequency distribution is detected and used to select one of a plurality of shift schedules. A shift change is produced in the automatic transmission according to the selected shift schedule.

Shift control apparatus

A downhill coasting situation detecting device for an automotive vehicle comprises a sensor for detecting an opening degree of a throttle valve for an engine of the automotive vehicle, a first derivative calculating device for calculating a first derivative of the vehicle speed, a second derivative calculating device for calculating a second derivative of the vehicle speed, and a downhill coasting situation determining device for determining that the automotive vehicle being in a downhill coasting situation in which the vehicle being coasting on a downhill road in accordance with a condition in which the opening degree of the throttle valve is zero and the first derivative of vehicle speed is positive and besides the second derivative of vehicle speed is nearly equal to zero. With the downhill coasting situation detecting device, the downhill coasting situation can be exactly detected, so that e.g. down-shifting for obtaining further engine braking can be automatically executed in the downhill coasting situation.

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Yokosuka, Japan

Kouichi Kuroda