Provided is a start-stop control apparatus to be mounted in a vehicle including an engine, a starter motor configured to restart the engine, and an auxiliary battery configured to supply electric power to the starter motor. The start-stop control apparatus includes a stop processing unit and an engine measuring unit. The stop processing unit stops idling of the engine while the vehicle is being stopped. The engine measuring unit measures an internal loss of the engine. The stop processing unit determines whether to stop the idling of the engine on the basis of the internal loss measured by the engine measuring unit and the state of charge of the auxiliary battery.

A method of controlling a hybrid vehicle includes commanding a first electric machine to provide a compensating torque. The compensating torque is based on a calculated cylinder pressure. The calculated cylinder pressure is calculated using a dynamic model. The model has an initializing input of engine crank position and real-time inputs of measured speed of the first electric machine and measured speed of the second electric machine.

Provided is a vehicle control device with which improved fuel economy and lowered exhaust gas emissions can be effectively achieved without adversely affecting the driver when traveling while following a leading vehicle. The present invention has: a following-determination means that, during travel while following a leading vehicle, determines, on the basis of the speed of the host vehicle, the speed of the leading vehicle, and the distance from the leading vehicle, whether the host vehicle will be able to follow the leading vehicle by coasting; and an idle stop determination means that, when the following-determination means has determined that the host vehicle will be able to follow the leading vehicle by coasting, and the driving/travel state of the host vehicle satisfies other traveling idle stop criteria, determines that a traveling idle stop should be performed; and is provided with a determination criteria updating means for updating the determination criteria for the idle stop determination means in regard to criteria such as the leading vehicle characteristics, road surface conditions, and weather. In the event that it has been determined, from the determination conditions that have been updated in regard to the leading vehicle characteristics, etc., that following by coasting is possible, a control to shut off the on-board engine is performed.

An internal combustion engine including a starter is shown. A method for monitoring the starter includes determining electrical energy consumed by pinion and motor solenoids operative to activate and rotate a pinion gear of an electrically-powered motor meshingly engageable to a starter ring gear portion of a flywheel of the engine during an engine starting event. Current ringing in the pinion and motor solenoids is monitored during the engine starting even, and a fault is identified in the pinion and motor solenoids based upon the current ringing and the electrical energy consumption of the starter during the engine starting event.

An engine electronic control unit (ECU) for a vehicle includes a non-volatile memory and a microcontroller. The non-volatile memory is configured to store an indicator of ignition status having an initial off-status. The microcontroller is coupled to the non-volatile memory and is configured to receive a SOC of a battery for the engine ECU. The microcontroller is further configured to determine the SOC is insufficient to power-up the engine ECU following a reset condition. The microcontroller is further configured to disable over-writing the indicator of ignition status in response to determining the SOC is insufficient.

A method for operating a vehicle that may be automatically stopped and started is described. In one example, the method includes starting an engine via expansion stroke combustion in response to a request to urgently start the engine. In addition, the method includes adjusting a position of a compression relief valve in response to a predicted urgency of an engine start.

A smart voltage dip simulator apparatus and method are configured to test a motor starter ride through circuit. The simulator apparatus includes a power supply, an output switch, a test switch, a test lamp, a time selector, and a programmable logic controller. The power supply provides an output voltage to the motor starter when an output switch is actuated. A test of the motor starter is executed and a duration of the test is controlled by a selected time setting. The controller includes code therein configured to apply a predetermined dip to reduce the applied input voltage to the power supply and to generate the output voltage applied to the motor starter for the selected duration of the test. A method is performed to operate the simulator.

A system for discharging or charging a capacitor of a hybrid vehicle according to the present disclosure includes a target state of charge (SOC) module and a capacitor charge/discharge module. The target SOC module determines a target state of charge of the capacitor based on a speed of the vehicle. The capacitor charge/discharge module determines whether a state of charge of a capacitor is greater than a target state of charge. The capacitor charge/discharge module dissipates power from the capacitor to at least one of a battery of the vehicle and an electrical load of the vehicle when the state of charge of the capacitor is greater than the target state of charge.

A battery starting and charging system that monitors battery and other sensor readings; tracks vehicle state, determines a charging voltage based on battery temperature and vehicle state; sets the alternator to charge the battery with the charging voltage; determines current collected parameters based on the battery and other sensor readings; and makes vehicle start predictions based on the current collected parameters. The system can also determine whether the vehicle actually started; add the current collected parameters to a set of start events if it started, and to a set of no-start events if it didn't start. The start prediction can also be based on the sets of start and no-start events for one or multiple vehicles. The collected parameters and start predictions can also be based on collected weather data. The system can use a local interconnect network (LIN) alternator with a LIN network.

System, methods, and other embodiments described herein relate to delaying a start of an internal combustion engine (“ICE”) in a hybrid vehicle. In one embodiment, a method includes identifying a stopping location, a regenerative braking event that assists in stopping the hybrid vehicle at the stopping location, and an actual energy value based on a regenerative braking energy generated during the regenerative braking event. The method includes determining an estimated energy value, based on a predicted regenerative braking energy from a predicted braking event, that causes the hybrid vehicle to stop at the stopping location. The method includes determining an energy savings value based, at least in part, on a difference between the actual energy value and the estimated energy value. The method includes, responsive to the ICE being off, delaying the start of the ICE based, at least in part, on the energy savings.