Patent ID: 8904761
Filing Date: 2014-12-09
Classification: B60K,B60L,B60W,F02D,F02N,Y02T

Abstract:
1. A control apparatus for a power unit that outputs a power and is equipped with an internal combustion engine and a catalyst that purifies components in exhaust gas discharged from a combustion chamber of the internal combustion engine, comprising: a controller that: sets, as an engine start threshold, a threshold that concerns an output power as a power output from the power unit and is used to determine whether to start operation of the internal combustion engine or not; sets, as an engine stop threshold, a threshold that concerns an output power and is used to determine whether to stop operation of the internal combustion engine or not; starts operation of the internal combustion engine when a required power as an output power required of the power unit during stop of operation of the internal combustion engine becomes equal to or larger than the engine start threshold; stops operation of the internal combustion engine when the required power becomes equal to or smaller than the engine stop threshold during operation of the internal combustion engine; obtains a reference engine start threshold that is an output power larger than zero and has been prepared in advance as a criterion for setting the engine start threshold; obtains a reference engine stop threshold that is an output power equal to or larger than zero and has been prepared in advance as a criterion for setting the engine stop threshold; obtains a start threshold correction threshold that is a threshold equal to or larger than zero and has been prepared in advance as a criterion which concerns a purification capacity of the catalyst and is used to determine whether to correct the reference engine start threshold or not; sets a value smaller than the reference engine start threshold as the engine start threshold when the purification capacity of the catalyst is lower than the start threshold correction threshold, sets a value equal to the reference engine start threshold or a value larger than the reference engine start threshold as the engine start threshold when the purification capacity of the catalyst is equal to or higher than the start threshold correction threshold; and sets a value equal to the reference engine stop threshold as the engine stop threshold regardless of the purification capacity of the catalyst.