Patent ID: 9421846
Filing Date: 2016-08-23
CPC Classification: B60H,B60W,Y02T,Y10S

Claim Text:
1. A vehicle control system for a hybrid vehicle comprising: an engine for producing a driving force for the hybrid vehicle; a motor-generator for generating electric power when the motor-generator is driven to rotate by the engine; an electric-power charging device connected to the motor-generator for charging the electric power generated at the motor-generator and for supplying the electric power to an electric load of an accessory device mounted to the hybrid vehicle; a heating system being operated by use of waste heat from the engine; and a vehicle control device for controlling a running condition of the hybrid vehicle, wherein the vehicle control device comprises; a heating demand determining portion for determining whether there is a demand for a heating operation of a vehicle compartment; a charging capacity determining portion for determining, based on a charging state of the electric-power charging device, whether there is a remaining charging capacity for the electric-power charging device; an upper-limit value setting portion for setting an upper limit value of the charging state of the electric-power charging device depending on an existence-nonexistence of the remaining charging capacity of the electric-power charging device; and an engine-mode setting portion for setting an operating mode of the engine, wherein, when the heating demand determining portion determines that there is the demand for the heating operation of the vehicle compartment and when the charging capacity determining portion determines that there is the remaining charging capacity for the electric-power charging device, (i) the upper-limit value setting portion sets the upper limit value of the charging state at a level-up upper-limit value, which is larger than an ordinary upper-limit value, and (ii) the engine-mode setting portion changes the operating mode of the engine to an engine-efficiency prioritizing mode, and wherein, when the heating demand determining portion determines that there is the demand for the heating operation of the vehicle compartment and when the charging capacity determining portion determines that there is no remaining charging capacity for the electric-power charging device, (iii) the upper-limit value setting portion sets the upper limit value of the charging state at the ordinary upper-limit value, and (iv) the engine-mode setting portion changes the operating mode of the engine to a waste-heat prioritizing mode, wherein an engine efficiency of the waste-heat prioritizing mode is lower than that of the engine-efficiency prioritizing mode.