Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

National Semiconductor Corporation

Nick S Kapsokavathis

David W Walters

Mutasim Abdurrahman Salman

Xidong Tang

Xiaodong Zhang

Stephen Paul Sanders

Chandra S Namuduri

Yilu Zhang

Donald P Pfaff

Narayan Srinivasa

Swarup S Medasani

Qin Jiang

David S Mathews

Kenneth J Shoemaker

Leandro G Barajas

Michael F Matouka

Nick M Johnson

Zhenhui Yao

Yi Yuan

Marvin E Carpenter

Natalie A Parks

Chun F Cheah

Carl D Wright

Ke Chen

Toufic M Huazi

Sen M Kuo

Yaang Zhao

A method is provided for determining a battery's state-of-health. An initial battery voltage is measured after a first voltage drop during an initiation of an engine cranking phase. A battery voltage is monitored during the remainder of the engine cranking phase. A lowest battery voltage is determined during the remainder of the engine cranking phase. A determination is made if a voltage difference between the lowest battery voltage and the initial battery voltage at the initiation of the engine cranking phase is less than a voltage threshold. A low battery state-of-health is identified in response to the voltage difference being less than the voltage threshold.

Method for battery state-of-health monitoring using battery voltage during vehicle starting

Anomaly prediction of battery parasitic load includes processing input data related to a state of charge for a battery and a durational factor utilizing a machine learning algorithm and generating a predicted start-up state of charge. Warnings are issued if the predicted start-up state of charge drops below a threshold level within an operational time.

Method for anomaly prediction of battery parasitic load

A method is provided for determining a cranking capability of a starting system for an internal combustion engine. An average power output of a battery is determined for the starting system during a start engine cranking interval. A temperature of the starting system is determined at an initiation of the start engine cranking interval. A predetermined average power output capability for a battery having a full state of charge at the determined temperature is looked up. A predetermined minimum average power output required of the battery for starting the respective engine at the determined temperature is looked up. A state of function based on the determined average power outputs is determined. The cranking capability of the starting system is identified in response to the determined state of function.

Cranking capability estimation for a vehicular starting system

An electrical power storage device provides power to crank an internal combustion engine. Thereafter available power from the electric power storage device to crank the engine again is continually updated. Remedial measures are invoked if the available power is less than a predetermined power threshold.

Method and apparatus for managing power flow of an electric power storage device

A method and article of manufacture for monitoring an electrical energy storage device adapted to supply electrical power to a selectively actuable electric motor is described. This comprises determining a state of charge and a temperature of the electrical energy storage device subsequent to a stabilization period, and measuring a minimum voltage output from the electrical energy storage device during selective actuation of the electric motor. One of a plurality of predetermined threshold voltage states is selected based upon the state of charge and the temperature. The minimum voltage is compared to the selected predetermined threshold voltage.

Method and apparatus for monitoring an electrical energy storage device

An engine control system for use in connection with vehicles and the like allows the engine speed to be modified using the torque load from the electrical generator. The engine is subject to a torque load from a generator coupled to the engine. The controller compares the desired speed to the actual speed of the engine to determine an error value, and the torque load of the generator is modified (increased/decreased) based on the error value such that the absolute value of the error value is reduced. The generator control is combined with and arbitrated with respect to traditional spark control methods, thus reducing the need for spark timing that is substantially retarded from the mean best timing (MBT) setting. The electrical generator can operate in either voltage control mode or field duty cycle control mode, depending upon various conditions.

Methods and apparatus for an engine speed controller using generator torque load

An engine system includes an engine, an alternator, a load, and a controller that communicates with the engine, the alternator, and the load. The controller signals the engine to drive the alternator when the engine idles. When a load increase on the engine is detected, the controller reduces an alternator load on the engine in response to the load increase. Air flow into the engine is adjusted to compensate for the load increase, and concurrently the alternator load is increased. When a load decrease is detected, the alternator load is increased, and the air flow is subsequently adjusted while decreasing the alternator load. In another embodiment, spark timing of the engine is adjusted to compensate for the load decrease.

Idle speed control using alternator

Systems, methods and devices are described for controlling a vehicle electrical generator. A regulator for controlling a generator in response to an input signal received from a control module suitably includes a discriminator module, a processing module and a switching circuit. The discriminator determines whether the regulator is operating in voltage or torque control mode. If the input signal is a voltage control, the output generator produces a modulation signal to produce a desired voltage between two battery terminals. If the input signal is a torque control, the output generator produces one or more modulation signals (e.g. pulse width modulation signals) to control the torque of the generator. The modulation signals are applied across a field coil or other controllable element of the generator by a switching circuit that applies positive and/or negative voltage from the battery terminals as appropriate.

Systems and methods for control of vehicle electrical generator

A regulator voltage control includes measuring a current of a battery, determining a state of charge (SOC) of the battery based on the current, and determining a nominal optimum charging voltage as a function of the SOC of the battery. The nominal optimum charging voltage is converted to a % duty cycle, and a generator is operated relative to the % duty cycle for charging the battery. The nominal optimum charging voltage is reduced when either a battery charge current is below a predetermined value, or a current drawing accessory is turned on.

Battery voltage reduction

A fuel economy control method includes estimating a temperature of a battery, measuring a current of the battery, and measuring a voltage of the battery. A nominal optimum charging voltage is determined as a function of a state of charge (SOC) of the battery and the estimated temperature. The nominal optimum charging voltage is reduced to a fuel economy minimum charging voltage if the SOC is above a predetermined level and the current is within a predetermined range.

Method of improving fuel economy

A method of regulating a charge voltage delivered to a battery in an automobile, wherein the automobile has an engine and an ignition system capable of being activated with an ignition switch, is provided. The method includes the steps of periodically estimating the electrolyte temperature of the battery when the ignition switch is on, periodically sensing the voltage of the battery, using the estimated electrolyte temperature and the sensed voltage to estimate the electric current of the battery, using the estimated electric current to estimate the amp-hours into the battery, using the estimated amp-hours to estimate the state of charge of the battery when the engine is running, using the running state of charge and the estimated electrolyte temperature to determine an optimum charge voltage for the battery, using the sensed voltage to adjust the optimum charge voltage, communicating the optimum charge voltage to a generator, and using the generator to deliver a charge voltage to the battery wherein the charge voltage is regulated by the optimum charge voltage. Also, a system for implementing the method is provided. The system includes a generator, an engine control module, a sensor for sensing the temperature of air entering into the engine, an actuator capable of adjusting the idle speed of the engine, a data link, a body control module, a plurality of body controllers, and a plurality of electrical loads.

Method and system for regulating a charge voltage delivered to a battery

A active noise control system having a digital signal processor programmed to function as adaptive digital filter with an output saturation control is described. The programmed adaptive filter has a specified maximum value for its output signal, above which the output signal becomes clipped and a condition commonly known as filter output saturation occurs. According to the described system, the filter output signal value is monitored to detect the occurrence of filter output saturation. When output saturation is detected, the normal adaptation of the filter is modified to reduce the value of the filter output signal to prevent the further occurrence of filter output saturation. Based upon the detection of filter output saturation, a power reference level is established to estimate the maximum average power that the output signal can contain without causing saturation. The adaptation of filter weighting coefficients is then scaled in accordance with the difference between the established power reference level and a computed average power associated with the filter output signal to prevent the occurrence of filter output saturation.

Active noise control system

A active noise control system is described for attenuating an undesirable noise that containing multiple noise components having different frequencies. The system includes a configuration of signal generators and corresponding paired adaptive filters. Each signal generator produces a generator output signal containing one or more sinusoidal signal components, with each signal component having a frequency corresponding to a respective one of the noise frequency components. Separate signal generators are used to produce those sinusoidal components having frequencies corresponding to noise component that are adjacent with respect to their frequencies. Each adaptive filter operates on the generator output signal produced by its corresponding paired signal generator in accordance with its filtering characteristics to provide a respective filtered output signal. The filtered output signals from each adaptive filter are summed to obtain an output canceling signal, which drives an actuator to produce output canceling waves that are superpositioned with the undesirable noise. An error sensor measures the level of residual noise resulting from the superposition of the canceling waves and the undesirable noise, and provides an error signal for adapting the characteristics of the adaptive filters so as to minimize the level of residual noise.

A fuel composition sensor provides to a voltage divider comprising sensor and reference capacitors a voltage which oscillates between two voltages at a comparatively low frequency, such as 6 KHz, for lower power dissipation, but which switches fast to produce periodic fast voltage changes across the voltage divider to produce voltage spikes at the junction of the capacitors indicative of the capacitance ratio and thus of fuel composition.

Capacitive fuel composition sensor with slow oscillator and high speed

A method is described for attenuating the amplitudes of multiple harmonic noise components contained within noise generated by an internal combustion engine, based upon the rotation of the engine in its operating cycle. A signal representing selected multiple harmonic noise components is generated from a table of values, based upon the engine rotation. This signal is adaptively filtered to produce a canceling waveform, which is superimposed with the engine noise to attenuate the selected multiple noise harmonics. The method is useful for selecting and attenuating dominant noise harmonics produced at different engine speeds or by different types of engines, and the dominant harmonics of different forms of noise produced by the same engine.

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Shelby Township, MI, United States of America

Nick S Kapsokavathis