Vehicle Transmission Gear Control Using Speed-Profile Simulation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current gear selection strategies for vehicles, particularly heavy-duty vehicles, do not adequately optimize fuel efficiency, reduce component wear, and ensure safety, as they fail to effectively manage speed profiles and gear shifts in response to varying road conditions.
Innovation Solution
A method that involves establishing a desired speed profile for a road segment, performing multiple simulations of vehicle responses to different gear control actions, determining costs for each simulation, and selecting the gear control action with the lowest costs to maintain the speed profile within established limits, thereby optimizing gear shifts and improving operational efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If conventional gear selection strategies are used, then the transmission control is simple, but fuel efficiency is not optimized and component wear increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs multiple simulations of vehicle responses to different gear control actions before actually executing a gear shift. By evaluating multiple potential gear control actions through simulations and selecting the optimal one based on cost functions, the system prepares in advance to make the most fuel-efficient gear selection decision, thereby improving fuel efficiency while managing complexity through structured simulation-based evaluation
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the approach from simple rule-based gear selection to simulation-based evaluation by varying parameters such as gear control actions, speed profiles, and cost functions. By establishing desired speed profiles and evaluating multiple gear control actions with different cost parameters, the system optimizes fuel efficiency through parameter-driven decision making
2Adaptability or versatility
If frequent gear changes are made to adapt to varying road conditions, then vehicle performance is improved, but component wear increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs simulations of vehicle responses to different gear control actions before executing actual gear shifts. By evaluating the consequences of potential gear changes through simulations and selecting actions based on cost functions that account for wear, the system adapts to varying road conditions while minimizing unnecessary gear changes that would increase component wear
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses cost functions to evaluate simulated vehicle responses and selects gear control actions that balance adaptability with component protection. The cost evaluation provides feedback on the implications of gear changes, enabling the system to adapt to road conditions while avoiding excessive gear shifts that would accelerate component wear
3Use of energy by moving object
If gear control actions are optimized for fuel efficiency, then fuel consumption decreases, but speed profile adherence may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The system establishes desired speed profiles as a parameter for evaluating gear control actions. By incorporating speed profile adherence into the cost function evaluation alongside fuel consumption metrics, the system balances both objectives and selects gear control actions that optimize fuel efficiency while maintaining acceptable speed profile adherence
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs simulations to evaluate how different gear control actions affect both fuel consumption and speed profile adherence before making decisions. By anticipating the effects of gear changes on speed through simulations, the system can select actions that minimize fuel consumption while ensuring speed profile requirements are met
Data Source
AI summary
Methods for controlling a transmission of a vehicle are provided. Such methods includeestablishing a desired speed profile for the vehicle when travelling along a road segment,performing a plurality of simulations, each of a vehicle response, in the road segment, to a respective gear control action, wherein the gear control action differs from one simulation to another, wherein the simulations include an aim to keep the speed on the speed profile, or within one or more established limits of deviations from the speed profile,determining costs for the simulated vehicle responses,selecting, in dependence on the determined costs, one of the gear control actions,controlling the transmission with the selected gear control action.