Patent ID: 9108615
Filing Date: 2015-08-18
Classification: B60K,B60W,F16D,Y02T,Y10S,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A hybrid vehicle, comprising: a driven wheel; a transmission shaft operatively connected to the driven wheel to cause the driven wheel to rotate in response to rotation of the transmission shaft; an electric motor operatively connected to the transmission shaft and selectively actuatable to provide power to rotate the transmission shaft; an internal combustion engine having an output shaft; and a multimode clutch operatively connected to the transmission shaft and the output shaft of the internal combustion engine, wherein the multimode clutch has a first mode wherein the multimode clutch allows the output shaft and the transmission shaft to rotate independently of each other in both directions, and a second mode wherein the multimode clutch operatively couples the output shaft to the transmission shaft so that the output shaft and the transmission shaft rotate together in one direction and allows the output shaft and the transmission shaft to rotate independently of each other in an opposite direction; a multimode clutch actuator operatively connected to the multimode clutch and configured to selectively place the multimode clutch in the first mode and the second mode; and a controller operatively connected to the electric motor and the multimode clutch actuator, the controller being configured to transmit clutch mode control signals to the multimode clutch actuator to cause the multimode clutch actuator to place the multimode clutch in the first mode and the second mode; a first speed sensor operatively connected to the internal combustion engine and to the controller, and configured to detect an engine speed of the internal combustion engine and to transmit first speed sensor signals to the controller having values corresponding to the detected engine speed; a second speed sensor operatively connected to the transmission shaft and to the controller, and configured to detect a shaft speed of the transmission shaft and to transmit second speed sensor signals to the controller having values corresponding to the detected shaft speed; and an engine throttle operatively connected to the internal combustion engine and to the controller, and configured to receive engine throttle control signals from the controller having values corresponding to a desired engine speed for the internal combustion engine and to cause the internal combustion engine to operate at the desired engine speed of the engine throttle control signals, wherein the controller is configured to determine that the multimode clutch is to transition from the second mode to the first mode, to transmit engine speed control signals to the engine throttle with the desired engine speed being less than the detected engine speed in response to determining that the multimode clutch is to transition from the second mode to the first mode, to compare the detected engine speed to the detected shaft speed, and to transmit clutch mode control signals to the multimode clutch actuator to place the multimode clutch in the first mode in response to determining that the detected engine speed is different than the detected shaft speed by a predetermined differential speed.