An operating method for a hybrid car which has an electric motor for driving the vehicle and an internal combustion engine for power generation. Using an operational expression including a motor output correction factor whose value is variably adjusted to different values depending on whether the engine is operated for battery charging or the engine is stopped, a required motor current supply that matches the vehicle operating state represented by an actual vehicle speed and an accelerator pedal depression depth is calculated, and the motor current supply is controlled in accordance with the result of the calculation. Consequently, the cruising range of the hybrid car is increased, and also the power performances and exhaust gas characteristics of the hybrid car are improved.
A generator controller used in hybrid electric vehicle. The battery current is sampled and accumulated for T seconds. The obtained accumulated value is used to determine the control target of the generated power. Since the generated power is controlled according to the accumulated current of the battery which fits the battery's characteristic compared to the charged-and-discharged power, the battery's state of charge (SOC) can be more accurately controlled within the target zone. When the SOC of the battery is initially outside the target zone, the SOC is adjusted within the target zone by forcibly discharging or charging the battery. The precision of SOC control can be improved compared to when the SOC of the battery is controlled using the charged-and-discharged power.
A hybrid electric vehicle is equipped with a combustion engine for driving a generator or a combustion engine for driving vehicle wheels. The hybrid electric vehicle has a battery unit, an electric drive motor, the combustion engine directly or indirectly usable for driving wheels, and a controller for controlling operations of the electric drive motor and the combustion engine. The hybrid electric vehicle is further provided with a microcomputer for determining whether or not the battery unit meets a predetermined specification. When the battery unit is determined as failing to meet the predetermined specification by the microcomputer, the controller limits an output of the electric drive motor or the combustion engine.
The hybrid vehicle having an engine, an electric motor, a starter motor that starts the engine, and a power drive unit that drives the electric motor. The control apparatus includes an engine start controller which starts the engine when an engine start is requested. The engine start controller starts the engine using the electric motor if the temperature of the electric motor or the power drive unit is less than a predetermined value. In contrast, if at least one of the temperature of the electric motor or the power drive unit is no less than the predetermined value, the engine start controller starts the engine using the starter motor.
A generating control device for a hybrid vehicle includes a motor 13 for driving the hybrid vehicle, a battery 12 for driving the motor, a generator 11 for supplying the motor 13 and the battery 12 with electricity, an engine 10 for driving the generator 11 and a control unit 16. In operation, the unit 16 operates to change the operations of the generator 11 and the engine 10 in both of the normal generating mode and the battery protection mode. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the deterioration of the battery 12 of the hybrid vehicle and to ensure the fine driving performance.
A hybrid drive system including an engine and an electric motor at least one of which is operated as drive power source to drive a motor vehicle in a selected one of different operation modes. The system is adapted to prevent concurrent operations to change the operation mode and the speed ratio of a power transmitting device or the ratio of torque distribution to front and rear drive wheels, or concurrent operations to change the operation mode and switch the power transmitting device from a non-drive state to a drive state, for avoiding a shock due to a torque variation which would arise from the concurrent operations. The system is alternatively adapted to cut a power transfer from the drive power source to the power transmitting device, or hold the output of the drive power source substantially constant, when the power transmitting device is switched from the non-drive state to the drive state.
