CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to and the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2020-0122813, filed on Sep. 23, 2020, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to an apparatus and method of controlling a fuel gauge in a circuit mode of a vehicle.

BACKGROUND

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.

In general, in order to detect the current amount of fuel stored in a fuel tank of a vehicle, a fuel gauge is operated using a thermostat bimetal via ascent and descent of a float installed in a fuel tank. Generally, when the current fuel amount is lowered to 10% or less, a fuel shortage warning light installed in a cluster within the vehicle is turned on. In response thereto, with reference to the fuel shortage warning light, a driver goes to a nearby gas station and injects fuel before the fuel tank becomes empty.

When a vehicle travels on a circuit, fuel is rapidly and quickly consumed due to rapid acceleration and rapid deceleration. In general, a fuel gauge is lowered to the state ‘empty’ from the state ‘full’ depending on a preset damping time. We have discovered that when a vehicle travels on a circuit, the drop in the level shown on a fuel gauge does not reflect the actual consumption of fuel. Thus, even though the fuel gauge is not lowered to the state ‘empty’, the vehicle becomes incapable of traveling.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure provides an apparatus and method of controlling a fuel gauge in a circuit mode of a vehicle for inhibiting a phenomenon whereby a vehicle becomes incapable of traveling before a fuel gauge indicates the state ‘empty’.

The present disclosure provides an apparatus and method of controlling a fuel gauge in a circuit mode of a vehicle for determining whether a driving mode of the vehicle is a circuit mode or a general mode and differently applying a method of deriving a current fuel amount.

In one form, an apparatus for controlling a fuel gauge in a circuit mode of a vehicle is provided. The apparatus includes a vehicle mode determiner configured to compare a damping time as a setting value for limiting a fall time of the fuel gauge with a response time as a time taken for the fuel gauge to actually descend to a state ‘empty’ from a state ‘full’ due to fuel consumption of an engine, and to determine whether a driving mode of the vehicle is a general mode or a circuit mode, a fuel amount calculator configured to calculate a current fuel amount of the vehicle based on fuel consumption (FCO) of the engine or a change in resistance of a fuel sender depending on the driving mode of the vehicle, and a fuel gauge controller configured to control the fuel gauge based on the calculated current fuel amount.

For example, the response time may be a value obtained by dividing a total amount of fuel to be consumed while the fuel gauge is changed to the state ‘empty’ from the state ‘full’, by the FCO.

For example, the damping time may be a value obtained by multiplying a predetermined previous damping time by a damping time tuning value equal to or greater than 1.

For example, when the response time is less than the damping time, the vehicle mode determiner may count a circuit entry ON flag, and when the damping time is equal to or less than the response time, the vehicle mode determiner may count a circuit entry OFF flag.

For example, after the engine is ignited, the vehicle mode determiner may reset the previously counted circuit entry flag.

For example, the vehicle mode determiner may reset count of the circuit entry OFF flag when the circuit entry ON flag is counted, and the vehicle mode determiner may reset count of the circuit entry ON flag when the circuit entry OFF flag is counted.

For example, the vehicle mode determiner may determine whether the circuit entry ON flag is counted for a delay time when a counted number of the circuit entry ON flag reaches a preset number, and when the circuit entry ON flag is counted for the delay time, the vehicle mode determiner may determine the driving mode of the vehicle as a circuit mode.

For example, when a mode of the vehicle is the circuit mode, the fuel amount calculator may calculate the current fuel amount of the vehicle based on a value obtained by multiplying the FCO by an FCO tuning value, and the FCO tuning value may be a value greater than 1.

For example, the vehicle mode determiner may determine whether the circuit entry OFF flag is counted for a delay time when a counted number of the circuit entry OFF flag reaches a preset number, and when the circuit entry OFF flag is counted for the delay time, the vehicle mode determiner may determine the driving mode of the vehicle as the general mode.

For example, when the mode of the vehicle is the general mode, the fuel amount calculator may calculate the current fuel amount based on the change in resistance of the fuel sender, the fuel gauge controller may control the fuel gauge based on the damping time that is changed depending on a change in a speed of the vehicle, and the damping time may be a value obtained by multiplying a predetermined previous damping time by a damping time tuning value that is a value equal to or greater than 1.

In another form, a method of controlling a fuel gauge in a circuit mode of a vehicle is provided. The method includes comparing a damping time as a setting value for limiting a fall time of the fuel gauge with a response time as a time taken for the fuel gauge to actually descend to a state ‘empty’ from a state ‘full’ due to fuel consumption of an engine, and determining whether a driving mode of the vehicle is a general mode or a circuit mode, by a controller, calculating a current fuel amount of the vehicle based on a change in resistance of a fuel sender when a mode of the vehicle is the general mode, and calculating the current fuel amount of the vehicle based on a value obtained by multiplying fuel consumption (FCO) of the engine by an FCO tuning value when the mode of the vehicle is the circuit mode, by the controller, and controlling the fuel gauge based on the calculated current fuel amount, by the controller.

For example, the damping time may be a value obtained by multiplying a predetermined previous damping time by a damping time tuning value equal to or greater than 1, and the response time may be a value obtained by dividing a total amount of fuel to be consumed while the fuel gauge is changed to the state ‘empty’ from the state ‘full’, by the FCO.

For example, the determining whether the driving mode of the vehicle is the general mode or the circuit mode may include determining whether the response time is greater than 0, counting circuit entry ON flag when the damping time is greater than the response time, and counting the circuit entry OFF flag when the response time is equal to or greater than the damping time, and counting any one of the circuit entry ON flag or the circuit entry OFF flag and checking whether the one counted flag is continuously counted for a preset delay time.

For example, when any one of the circuit entry ON flag or the circuit entry OFF flag is counted, count of other one flag other than the one counted flag may be reset.

For example, when the circuit entry ON flag is counted, the controller may determine whether the circuit entry ON flag is continuously counted for a first delay time, when the circuit entry OFF flag is counted, the controller may determine whether the circuit entry OFF flag is continuously counted for a second delay time, and the first delay time may be set to be less than the second delay time to reduce a frequency at which the driving mode of the vehicle is switched to the general mode from the circuit mode.

For example, the controller may determine the driving mode of the vehicle as the circuit mode when the circuit entry ON flag is continuously counted for the first delay time, and the controller may determine the driving mode of the vehicle as the general mode when the circuit entry OFF flag is continuously counted for the second delay time.

For example, when the circuit entry OFF flag instead of the circuit entry ON flag is counted for the first delay time or the circuit entry ON flag instead of the circuit entry OFF flag is counted for the second delay time, the controller may maintain a current driving mode of the vehicle.

For example, the controlling the fuel gauge may include controlling the fuel gauge by applying the damping time that is changed depending on a speed of the vehicle, to the current fuel amount derived based on a change in resistance of the fuel sender, when the driving mode of the vehicle is the general mode, by the controller, and controlling the fuel gauge depending on the current fuel amount derived based on a final FCO obtained by applying an FCO tuning value to the FCO when the driving mode of the vehicle is the circuit mode, by the controller.

Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. It should be understood that the description and specific examples are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

