US 12,352,013 B2
Control unit
Mikael Petersson, Växjö (SE); Norbert Rosenpek, Växjö (SE); and Erik Petersson, Växjö (SE)
Assigned to Volvo Construction Equipment AB, Eskilstuna (SE)
Appl. No. 17/926,135
Filed by Volvo Construction Equipment AB, Eskilstuna (SE)
PCT Filed May 18, 2021, PCT No. PCT/EP2021/063125
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Nov. 18, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/233908, PCT Pub. Date Nov. 25, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 2050577-2 (SE), filed on May 18, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0243125 A1, Aug. 3, 2023
Int. Cl. E02F 9/22 (2006.01); E02F 9/02 (2006.01); E02F 9/20 (2006.01)
CPC E02F 9/226 (2013.01) [E02F 9/02 (2013.01); E02F 9/2025 (2013.01); E02F 9/2217 (2013.01); E02F 9/2228 (2013.01); E02F 9/2278 (2013.01); E02F 9/2292 (2013.01)] 16 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A controller for a vehicle, said vehicle comprising a wheel axle fluid circuit adapted to feed wheel axle fluid to one or more wheel axles of said vehicle, said vehicle further comprising a propulsion assembly adapted to propel said vehicle, said controller being adapted to:
on the basis of at least the following:
information indicative of said propulsion assembly being inactive,
information indicative of an expected time range until an expected operation start time of said vehicle, and
information associated with a temperature of said wheel axle fluid,
determine an energy loss value indicative of energy losses associated with operating the vehicle without initiating a conditioning procedure, during which the temperature of said wheel axle fluid is increased as compared to a present temperature of said wheel axle fluid;
determine a conditioning value indicative of the energy required for the conditioning procedure;
determine whether or not the conditioning procedure should be initiated for said wheel axle fluid;
determine that said conditioning procedure should be initiated in response to determining that said conditioning value is smaller than said energy loss value; and
in response to determining that said conditioning procedure should be initiated, issue a signal to circuitry of said vehicle, causing the circuitry of said vehicle to initiate said conditioning procedure.