IP Library Granted Patent US 12697959
Granted Patent B2
US 12697959 · App. 18/936,013 · Granted Aug 4, 2026

Vehicle control device

Inventor: Shunsuke Urabe (Okazaki, JP)
Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
B60W20/16B60W10/06B60W10/08B60W10/26F02P5/1504
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12697959
App. No.
18/936,013
Granted
Aug 4, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

A vehicle control device for controlling a power source so as to drive a vehicle in a selected one of a plurality of modes so as to drive the vehicle in at least one power source for outputting power to a drive shaft connected to the axle, and for controlling the power source so as to gradually decrease the torque output to the drive shaft toward a required torque at the time of accelerator-off over a target lowering time, wherein the target lowering time is set to be n times the inverse of the resonance frequency of the drive system including the power source, and n is an integer equal to or greater than a value of 1 and is changed in accordance with the traveling mode.

Claims (13)

1 . A vehicle control device to be used for a vehicle including at least one power source that outputs power to a drive shaft connected to an axle, the vehicle control device being configured to:

control the power source such that the vehicle travels in one travel mode selected from a plurality of modes;

control, at an accelerator off time, the power source such that torque output to the drive shaft gradually reduces over a target lowering time toward required torque for the accelerator off time; and

set the target lowering time to n times an inverse of a resonance frequency of a drive system including the power source, wherein

the n is an integer having a value of 1 or more, and is changed according to the travel mode,

wherein the modes include a first mode and a second mode that emphasizes an output responsiveness of travel torque compared to the first mode, and the n is made smaller when the travel mode is the second mode than when the travel mode is the first mode, and

wherein, in a case where the travel mode is the second mode, the n is made larger when a predetermined condition for prohibiting an immediate reduction in torque to be output to the drive shaft is met than when the predetermined condition is not met.

2 . The vehicle control device according to claim 1 , wherein:

the vehicle includes a motor as the power source and a battery that exchanges electric power with the motor; and

the predetermined condition includes a condition that an absolute value of an input limit as allowable maximum power allowed to be input to the battery is smaller than a predetermined threshold value.

3 . The vehicle control device according to claim 1 , wherein:

the vehicle includes an engine as the power source in which an exhaust control device including an exhaust control catalyst that controls exhaust gas is attached to an exhaust system; and

the predetermined condition includes a condition that ignition retardation to retard an ignition timing of the engine is prohibited to suppress a temperature rise of the exhaust control catalyst.