Control computer for a drive train of a hybrid vehicle

1. A computer for controlling a drivetrain of a hybrid vehicle comprising at least one combustion engine, at least one electric machine, at least one battery and at least one “heated” catalytic converter comprising an internal heating system, said computer being configured to:

a) determine a plurality of values for a criterion (C conso ) pertaining to an energy consumption of the drivetrain, said consumption criterion (C conso ) being a function of:

i) a distribution of torque between the at least one combustion engine and the at least one electric machine,

ii) at least one combustion mode of the combustion engine, and

iii) an energy consumption by the catalytic converter,

b) select a minimum value (C min ) of the consumption criterion (C conso ) from among the plurality of determined values,

c) apply, over a predefined time interval, a combustion engine torque command (TQ eng_cmd ) to the at least one combustion engine, an electric machine torque command (TQ elec_cmd ) to the at least one electric machine, a command (P ehc_cmd ) pertaining to the energy consumption by the catalytic converter to the at least one “heated” catalytic converter and a command (CM cmd ) pertaining to the combustion mode of the combustion engine to the at least one combustion engine, the commands corresponding to the selected minimum value (C min ) of the consumption criterion (C conso ),

the consumption criterion (C conso ) being determined by executing the following formula:

C conso =P fuel +α(SOC)P elec +β(mNOx/d)*( mNOx /v −NO x lim )+ α (SOC)*P ehc +β(mNOx/d)*dNO x EHC /v ,

where P fuel is the power derived from the consumption of fuel, as a function of a current engine speed, of a combustion engine torque and of the combustion mode of the combustion engine, α(SOC) is an equivalence factor connecting the consumption of electrical energy by the electric machine and the consumption of fuel by the combustion engine as a function of a state of charge (SOC) of the battery, P elec is an operational electrical power of the electric machine, mNOx is the total mass of pollutants emitted since a start of a vehicle journey, or in other words, since the last time the vehicle started, d is the distance covered by the vehicle since the start of the vehicle journey,

β(mNOx/d) is a harmful exhaust emissions penalty factor,

mNOx is a flow rate of harmful exhaust gases discharged into the atmosphere and is dependent on the combustion engine torque (TQeng) and on the combustion mode of the combustion engine, v is the speed of the vehicle, NO x lim is the maximum limit for the emission of pollutants, and

α (SOC) is an equivalence factor connecting the consumption of electrical energy by the internal heating system of the catalytic converter and the consumption of fuel by the combustion Pent is engine as a function of the state of charge (SOC) of the battery, P ehc the electrical power used by the internal heating system of the catalytic converter, dNO x EHC is an estimate of the reduction of pollutant emissions after use of the catalytic converter.

2. The computer as claimed in claim 1 , configured to determine the plurality of values of a consumption criterion (C conso ), to select the minimum value (C min ) and to apply the combustion engine torque command (TQ eng_cmd ), the electric machine torque command (TQ elec_cmd ), the command (P ehc_cmd ) pertaining to the energy consumption by the catalytic converter and the command (CM cmd ) pertaining to the combustion mode of the combustion engine corresponding to the minimum value (C min ), regularly, every 10 milliseconds to every 1 second.

3. A method for controlling a drivetrain of a hybrid vehicle comprising at least one combustion engine, at least one electric machine, at least one battery and at least one “heated” catalytic converter comprising an internal heating system, said method being implemented by a computer as claimed in claim 1 , the method comprising:

a) determining a plurality of values for a criterion (C conso ) pertaining to the energy consumption of the drivetrain, said consumption criterion (C conso ) being a function of:

i) the distribution of torque between the at least one combustion engine and the at least one electric machine,

ii) at least one combustion mode of the combustion engine, and

iii) the energy consumption due to the use of the catalytic converter,

b) selecting the minimum value (C min ) of the consumption criterion (C conso ) from among the plurality of determined values,

c) applying, over a predefined time interval, the combustion engine torque command (TQ eng_cmd ), the electric machine torque command (TQ elec_cmd ), the command (P ehc_cmd ) pertaining to the energy consumption by the catalytic converter and the command (CM cmd ) pertaining to the combustion mode of the combustion engine corresponding to the selected minimum value (C min ) of the consumption criterion (C conso ),

wherein the consumption criterion (C conso ) is defined according to the following formula:

C conso =P fuel +α(SOC)P elec +β(mNOx/d)*( mNOx /v −NO x lim )+ α (SOC)*P ehc +β(mNOx/d)*dNO x EHC /v ,

where P fuel is the power derived from the consumption of fuel, as a function of the current engine speed, of the combustion engine torque (TQeng) and of the combustion mode of the combustion engine, α(SOC) is an equivalence factor connecting the consumption of electrical energy by the electric machine and the consumption of fuel by the combustion engine as a function of the state of charge (SOC) of the battery, P elec is the operational electrical power of the electric machine, mNOx is the total mass of pollutants emitted since the start of the vehicle journey, or in other words, since the last time the vehicle started, d is the distance covered by the vehicle since the start of the vehicle journey,

β(mNOx/d) is the harmful exhaust emissions penalty factor,

mNOx is the flow rate of harmful exhaust gases discharged into the atmosphere and is dependent on the combustion engine torque (TQ eng ) and on the combustion mode of the combustion engine, v is the speed of the vehicle, NO x lim is the maximum limit for the emission of pollutants, and

α (SOC) is an equivalence factor connecting the consumption of electrical energy by the internal heating system of the catalytic converter and the consumption of fuel by the combustion engine as a function of the state of charge (SOC) of the battery, P ehc is the electrical power used by the internal heating system of the catalytic converter, dNO x EHC is an estimate of the reduction of pollutant emissions after use of the catalytic converter.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3 executed regularly, every 10 milliseconds to every 1 second.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the step of applying the combustion engine torque command (TQ eng_cmd ), the electric machine torque command (TQ elec_cmd ), the command (P ehc_cmd ) pertaining to the energy consumption by the catalytic converter and the command (CM cmd ) pertaining to the combustion mode of the combustion engine is defined over a predefined time interval of between 10 milliseconds and 1 second.

6. The method as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the step of applying the combustion engine torque command (TQ eng_cmd ), the electric machine torque command (TQ elec_cmd ), the command (P ehc_cmd ) pertaining to the energy consumption by the catalytic converter and the command (CM cmd ) pertaining to the combustion mode of the combustion engine is defined over a predefined time interval of 10 milliseconds.

7. The method as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the step of applying the combustion engine torque command (TQ eng_cmd ), the electric machine torque command (TQ elec_cmd ), the command (TQ eng_cmd ) pertaining to the energy consumption by the catalytic converter and the command (CM cmd ) pertaining to the combustion mode of the combustion engine is defined over a predefined time interval of between 10 milliseconds and 1 second.

8. The method as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the step of applying the combustion engine torque command (TQ eng_cmd ), the electric machine torque command (TQ elec_cmd ), the command (P ehc_cmd ) pertaining to the energy consumption by the catalytic converter and the command (CM cmd ) pertaining to the combustion mode of the combustion engine is defined over a predefined time interval of 10 milliseconds.

9. A hybrid vehicle comprising:

at least one internal combustion engine,

at least one electric machine,

at least one battery,

at least one “heated” catalytic converter comprising an internal heating system, and

a computer for controlling a drivetrain of the hybrid vehicle, said computer being configured to:

a) determine a plurality of values for a criterion (C conso ) pertaining to an energy consumption of the drivetrain, said consumption criterion (C conso ) being a function of:

i) a distribution of torque between the at least one combustion engine and the at least one electric machine,

ii) at least one combustion mode of the combustion engine, and

iii) an energy consumption by the catalytic converter,

b) select a minimum value (C min ) of the consumption criterion (C conso ) from among the plurality of determined values,

c) apply, over a predefined time interval, a combustion engine torque command (TQ eng_cmd ) to the at least one combustion engine, an electric machine torque command (TQ elec_cmd ) to the at least one electric machine, a command (P ehc_cmd ) pertaining to the energy consumption by the catalytic converter to the at least one “heated” catalytic converter and a command (CM cmd ) pertaining to the combustion mode of the combustion engine to the at least one combustion engine, the commands corresponding to the selected minimum value (C min ) of the consumption criterion (C conso ),

the consumption criterion (C conso ) being determined by executing the following formula:

C conso =P fuel +α(SOC)P elec +β(mNOx/d)*( mNOx /v −NO x lim )+ α (SOC)*P ehc +β(mNOx/d)*dNO x EHC /v ,

where P fuel is the power derived from the consumption of fuel, as a function of a current engine speed, of a combustion engine torque and of the combustion mode of the combustion engine, α(SOC) is an equivalence factor connecting the consumption of electrical energy by the electric machine and the consumption of fuel by the combustion engine as a function of a state of charge (SOC) of the battery, P elec is an operational electrical power of the electric machine, mNOx is the total mass of pollutants emitted since a start of a vehicle journey, or in other words, since the last time the vehicle started, d is the distance covered by the vehicle since the start of the vehicle journey,

β(mNOx/d) is a harmful exhaust emissions penalty factor,

mNOx is a flow rate of harmful exhaust gases discharged into the atmosphere and is dependent on the combustion engine torque (TQ eng ) and on the combustion mode of the combustion engine, v is the speed of the vehicle, NO x lim is the maximum limit for the emission of pollutants, and

α (SOC) is an equivalence factor connecting the consumption of electrical energy by the internal heating system of the catalytic converter and the consumption of fuel by the combustion engine as a function of a state of charge (SOC) of the battery, P ehc the electrical power used by the internal heating system of the catalytic converter, dNO x EHC is an estimate of the reduction of pollutant emissions after use of the catalytic converter.

10. The vehicle as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the internal heating system of the catalytic converter is electrical.