Display unit for a hybrid vehicle

Abstract

A display unit for a hybrid vehicle having at least one internal combustion engine-powered drive and at least one electric motor-powered drive, includes the following components: a first electronic determining module for determining the proportion of the current or averaged total fuel consumption used for charging the energy accumulator for the electric motor-powered drive, and/or for determining the proportion of the current or averaged total fuel consumption used to drive the hybrid vehicle; and a first display element for displaying at least this determined charge-fuel proportion and/or this determined drive-fuel proportion, in addition to the total fuel consumption.

Claims

1. A display unit for a hybrid vehicle having at least one internal combustion engine-powered drive and at least one electric motor-powered drive, the display unit comprising: a first electronic determining module that determines a charge/fuel proportion and a drive/fuel proportion, wherein the charge/fuel proportion is a proportion of total fuel consumption which is used to charge an energy accumulator for the electric motor-powered drive, the drive/fuel proportion is a proportion of the total fuel consumption which is used to drive the hybrid vehicle, and a sum of the charge/fuel proportion and the drive/fuel proportion is equal to the total fuel consumption; and a first display element that receives the charge/fuel proportion and the drive/fuel proportion from the first electronic determining module, and displays the charge/fuel proportion, the drive/fuel proportion, and the total fuel consumption.

2. The display unit according to claim 1, further comprising: a second electronic determining module that determines an electrical increase in range on the basis of the charge/fuel proportion; and a second display element that displays the electrical increase in range in at least one defined form of representation.

3. The display unit according to claim 2, wherein a form of representation of the electrical increase in range is defined by: a route extension per unit of time, an increase in charge per unit of time, or a route extension per route section traveled, in addition to a display of a current charge status.

4. The display unit according to claim 3, wherein the form of representation of the electrical increase in range is defined within the display of the current charge status.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a schematic view of components of an exemplary display unit according to the invention, in particular for displaying the charging speed and the charge/fuel proportion.

(2) FIG. 2 is a possible supplementary display of driving data in an onboard computer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(3) FIG. 1 illustrates a first display element A1 and a second display element A2 for a hybrid vehicle (not illustrated in more detail), in particular for a combination instrument and/or for a headup display. The first display element A1 serves at least to display a charge/fuel proportion, here e.g. “2 I charge”. The second display element A2 serves at least to indirectly display the charging speed, here preferably in two various forms of representation, e.g. “+2 [km/min]” and a triangular arrow for characterizing a percentage increase in charge from +1[%/min] here within the display range, which is basically provided for displaying the current charging status L_ act. The combination instrument and/or the headup display of hybrid vehicles already have/has, according to the prior art, displays of the energy supply in the form of a state of charge of the high voltage accumulator as a percentage and/or the residual range of the electric drive in kilometers.

(4) To be more precise, the display unit according to the invention in FIG. 1 comprises the following components:

(5) (i) a first electronic determining module 1 for determining the proportion (here e.g. 2 I/100 km) of the current overall fuel consumption (here e.g. 8 I/100 km) which is used to charge the energy accumulator for the electric motor-powered drive, and for determining the proportion (here e.g. 6 I/100 km) of the current overall fuel consumption (here e.g. 8 I/100 km) which is used to operate or drive the hybrid vehicle;
(ii) a first display element A1 for displaying the determined charge/fuel proportion of here 2 I and of the determined drive fuel proportion of here 6 I in addition to the overall fuel consumption of here 8 I/100 km, wherein the display element in this exemplary embodiment provides, in addition to the specific numbers, a bar display for simple relative comparison of the two proportions;
(iii) a second electronic determining module 2 for determining the electrical increase in range based on the current determined charge/fuel proportion of here 2 I/100 km in two forms of representation, e.g. +2 [km/min] and +1[%/min]; and
(iv) a second display element A2 for displaying the electrical increase in range +2 [km/min] and +1[%/min], as a result of which the charge rate can be easily viewed by the driver.

(6) Examples of forms of representation of the first display element A1: Overall fuel consumption for driving and charging, e.g. 8 I/100 km, instantaneous fuel consumption for driving, e.g. 6 I/100 km, instantaneous fuel consumption for charging, e.g. 2 I/100 km, or e.g. in the following form of representation: −2 I/h or 2 I/charged electrical range or relative: low/middle/high and/or in a bar display (ratio for consumption for driving to the consumption for charging, see FIG. 1).

(7) The average fuel consumption for charging can also be indicated, e.g. 3 liters/full charge of high voltage accumulator (3 [I/100%]).

(8) Examples of forms of representation of the second display element A2: According to FIG. 1, the charging speed is indicated by +2 [km/min], that is to say in the form of representation of distance per unit of time. It could also be indicated as the distance gained per distance traveled, e.g. +2 [km/km]. Additionally or alternatively, the charging speed can also be indicated as a percentage per time with respect to the current or full charging status, e.g. +1[%/min]. According to the exemplary embodiment in FIG. 1, this form of representation is preferably illustrated in a superimposed fashion within the display for the current charge status L_ act.

(9) Supplementary driving data are shown in an onboard computer in FIG. 2. Here, the information I1 to I4 is as follows:

(10) I1=purely electrically traveled distance with energy (120 kWh) charged at the charging plug;

(11) I2=purely electrically traveled distance with energy (specific consumption 7.41 per 100 km gained electrical range) charged “onboard” by means of the internal combustion engine (raising of the load point);

(12) I3=purely electrically traveled distance; and

(13) I4=total distance traveled.

(14) The foregoing disclosure has been set forth merely to illustrate the invention and is not intended to be limiting. Since modifications of the disclosed embodiments incorporating the spirit and substance of the invention may occur to persons skilled in the art, the invention should be construed to include everything within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereof.