A method and a system for improving operation of a hybrid vehicle are presented. In one example, an engine exhaust after treatment device is cooled at an opportunistic time. The approach may provide improved cooling for exhaust after treatment devices and it may also improve vehicle emissions.

A vehicle control apparatus is provided with: a first controlling device that controls an internal combustion engine to switch an air fuel ratio after an air intake quantity of the internal combustion engine increases to a first predetermined quantity in switching the internal combustion engine from a first combustion mode to a second combustion mode, the air fuel ratio in the second combustion mode being larger than that in the first combustion mode; and a second controlling device that controls the internal combustion engine to perform a suppression operation for suppressing a decrease of a rotation number of the internal combustion engine during at least one portion of a predetermined period at which the air intake quantity increases due to the switching from the first combustion mode to the second combustion mode.

A traction control device reducing an output of an engine unit for suppressing a spin of a driving wheel of a motorcycle, includes: a first spin detection unit detecting a spin of a rear wheel based on a vehicle speed calculated from a rotation of a front wheel being a driven wheel to which a driving force is not transmitted from the engine unit, and a vehicle speed calculated from a rotation of the rear wheel being the driving wheel to which the driving force is transmitted; and a second spin detection unit detecting the spin of the rear wheel based on a vehicle speed calculated from the rotation of the front wheel, and a vehicle speed calculated from a rotation of the engine unit.

A method for controlling an air control valve in a diesel hybrid vehicle includes an engine stop detection step for detecting whether a diesel engine is stopped and a vehicle speed is less than a predetermined speed, a first noise and vibration blockade step for controlling a throttle valve to be closed when the diesel engine is stopped and the vehicle speed is less than the predetermined speed, and a first throttle valve control step for closing and then opening again the throttle valve for a predetermined time.

A method and a system for improving operation of a hybrid vehicle are presented. In one example, an engine exhaust after treatment device is cooled at an opportunistic time. The approach may provide improved cooling for exhaust after treatment devices and it may also improve vehicle emissions.

Systems and methods for adjusting an engine air flow transfer function and engine actuators based on the engine air flow transfer function are presented. The system and method may be applied to hybrid powertrains having a capability to estimate engine torque based on operating characteristics of a motor during vehicle operation.

Methods and systems are presented for improving performance of a vehicle operating in a cruise control mode where a controller adjusts torque output from a vehicle to maintain vehicle speed within a desired range while preventing the unnecessary downshifts. The methods and systems include adapting a vehicle dynamics model and a vehicle fuel consumption model that provide input to nonlinear model predictive controller.

When a start request for an internal combustion engine is made with 1) a clutch disconnected, 2) a crankshaft rotating at a specified rotation speed or greater, and 3) fuel injection by an injector stopped, a controller for a vehicle executes: a first process that identifies, from the cylinders, a target cylinder that is in a compression stroke when the request is made; a second process that calculates a requested injection position based on the rotation speed; a third process that calculates, as a start crank position, a rotation position of the crankshaft advanced from the requested injection position by a specified rotation amount; and a fourth process that outputs a command signal that instructs a target injector to inject fuel at the crank position only if the rotation position of the crankshaft obtained when the request is made is advanced from the crank position.

A dual-motor mixed-hybrid powertrain system, by performing pulse modulation control, i.e., series-hybrid intelligent start-stop control or parallel-hybrid intelligent power switching control, on the instantaneous power time-varying functions of an engine and a battery pack, can convert the surface working condition of an analog electric control engine into a simpler line working condition of a digital pulse control (DPC) engine, either a pre-determined high-state line working condition in the high-efficiency combustion area or a pre-determined non-combustion low-state line working condition with zero fuel consumption and zero pollutant emissions multiplexed in time. The traditional fixed one-to-one bidirectional mapping between an engine working condition and a vehicle working condition is converted into a dynamically adjustable many-to-many bidirectional mapping to achieve the full coverage of any overall vehicle working condition, achieving decoupling between a DPC engine working condition and the overall vehicle working condition and decoupling between software and hardware of a hybrid powertrain.

An electronic control unit includes processing circuitry. A hybrid electric vehicle has an electric traveling mode, in which the hybrid electric vehicle travels with a system clutch disengaged and an engine in a stopped state, and a hybrid traveling mode, in which the hybrid electric vehicle travels with the system clutch engaged and engine operating. The processing circuitry is configured to control, when the traveling mode is switched from the electric traveling mode to the hybrid traveling mode, a throttle opening degree of the engine at the time of completion of engagement of the system clutch in accordance with the atmospheric pressure such that a constant intake air amount is obtained regardless of the level of the atmospheric pressure.