JP2002267012A - Detent device for manual shaft of automatic transmission - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate bad influence upon the sensing operation of a position sensor by preventing shaft dislocation and/or inclination of a manual shaft using a detent device. SOLUTION: The detent device 5 for the manual shaft 43 of an automatic transmission is composed of a detent lever 51 fixed to the manual shaft coupled with the position sensor and a detent spring 53 to put a roller 52 in pressure contact with the cam face 51a of the lever 51, and further has a restricting means as a flange 52a on the roller for restricting the displacement of the detent lever other than the displacement due to rotation round the axis of the manual shaft. Thereby the displacement due to vibration of the manual shaft is suppressed by the restraint of the detent lever, which prevents the position sensor from involving an error in sensing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a manual shaft detent device for operating a manual valve and a position sensor of an automatic transmission.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An automatic transmission has a manual shaft mechanically connecting a manual valve and a shift device for operating a manual valve disposed in a valve body as a hydraulic control device. The manual shaft is provided with a detent device for holding the manual valve at each switching position, and further connected with a position sensor for detecting a range position. Conventionally, this position sensor is of a type in which the range position of the automatic transmission is determined by an electronic control device from a combination of opening and closing of a large number of contacts arranged on a large number of concentric circles. Therefore, the use of a non-contact type position sensor that does not require many contact arrangements by directly detecting the rotational displacement of the manual shaft has begun to be studied. As a detection element of such a non-contact type position sensor, a Hall element that changes a magnetic flux change into an electric signal is used.

[0003]

By the way, when the above-mentioned non-contact type sensor is used, especially when it is an analog output type, the position sensor is required to have a slight axis deviation or inclination of the manual shaft. Since the output changes due to the influence, there is a concern that an error may occur in determining the range position based on the output. Such a misalignment of the manual shaft is mainly caused by the vibration in the axial direction, and the vibration causes the fitting portion between the rotor of the sensor and the manual shaft to be worn to increase the gap, thereby further increasing the error. May be conducive. In addition, the inclination of the manual shaft is caused by the detent device itself that applies a load in a lateral direction with respect to the rotation axis of the manual shaft. That is, the inclination of the shaft by the detent device is generally such that the detent device includes a detent lever fixed to a manual shaft, and a detent spring that presses a roller against a cam surface of the detent lever. This is considered to be caused by a structure that is asymmetrical with respect to the axis, because of the shape of a cockscomb protruding in the direction.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a detent device in which the displacement of the detent lever in the detent device is restricted to prevent the manual shaft from being displaced or inclined, thereby eliminating the influence on the detection of the position sensor. Aim. Next, a second object of the present invention is to enable accurate range position detection by a non-contact type position sensor.

[0005]

An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic transmission having a detent lever fixed to a manual shaft connected to a position sensor, and a detent spring for pressing a roller against a cam surface of the detent lever. In the manual shaft detent device,
This is achieved by a configuration having a restricting means for restricting the displacement of the detent lever other than the displacement due to the rotation of the manual shaft around the axis.

[0006] In the above arrangement, the restricting means may be an axial movement restricting means for restricting an axial movement of the detent lever.

Alternatively, the restricting means may be a tilt restricting means for restricting the inclination of the detent lever.

Further, the restricting means may comprise an axial movement restricting means for restricting an axial movement of the detent lever, and an inclination restricting means for restricting an inclination of the detent lever.

Specifically, the axial movement restricting means includes:
It is composed of a collar protruding from the roller with a detent lever interposed therebetween.

It is also effective that the axial movement restricting means is constituted by a concave curved surface of a roller abutting on a cam surface of the detent lever.

On the other hand, the inclination restricting means comprises a pair of detent levers having a pair of cam surfaces which are point-symmetric with respect to the axis of the manual shaft, and a pair of detents which press the respective rollers against the pair of cam surfaces of the detent lever. Consists of a spring.

[0012]

According to the structure of the first aspect of the present invention, by restricting the movement of the detent lever fixed to the manual shaft, only the intended rotational displacement of the manual shaft is transmitted to the position sensor. Become like Therefore, according to this configuration, it is possible to prevent the displacement of the position sensor from being caused by the displacement of the manual shaft in an unintended direction, and as a result, it is possible to reliably detect the range position even if a non-contact type sensor is used. Can be performed.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the movement of the detent lever is restricted in the axial direction, thereby eliminating the detection error of the position sensor mainly due to the axial displacement of the manual shaft with respect to the detecting element. Can be.

Next, in the configuration according to the third aspect, by restricting the inclination of the detent lever, it is possible to eliminate a detection error of the position sensor mainly caused by the inclination of the manual shaft with respect to the detecting element.

Furthermore, in the configuration according to the fourth aspect, by restricting both the axial movement and the inclination of the detent lever, the detection error of the position sensor due to the axial displacement and the inclination of the manual shaft with respect to the detecting element is eliminated. As a result, the range position detection accuracy can be further improved.

Further, in the configuration according to the fifth aspect, the displacement of the manual shaft in the axial direction can be restricted only by modifying the roller of the detent spring in the conventional detent device. It is possible to realize a detent device that does not need to change the arrangement position and the arrangement space.

In addition, in addition to the above-described effects, in the configuration according to the sixth aspect, the axial positioning without play of the detent lever is automatically performed by the concave curved surface of the roller.
The effect of improving the axial position accuracy of the manual shaft and thereby further improving the detection accuracy of the position sensor is obtained.

Further, in the configuration according to the seventh aspect, since the lateral load applied to the manual shaft can be offset by the symmetry of the entire detent device, the position sensor can be detected due to misalignment or bending of the manual shaft. The effect on accuracy can be eliminated.

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the configuration of the entire manual valve operating system including the detent device of the present invention in a combination of a perspective view and a sectional view. This operation system includes a manual valve 1 and a position sensor 2 as operation targets, a shift device 3 as operation means, a link mechanism 4 connecting them, and a detent device 5 attached thereto.

The manual valve 1 is constituted by a spool valve 70 built in a valve body 7 disposed in an automatic transmission case (a case section is shown by a broken line in the figure). Is connected to the detent lever 51 of the detent device 5 so as to be rotatable with a predetermined play, and the spool 71 moves in the axial direction by pseudo-linear movement of the connecting portion due to rotation of the detent lever 51. It has been.

The position sensor 2 is attached to the outside of the automatic transmission case 6 by fixing means (not shown).
A detection rotor (rotated in the figure, shown in cross section by a diagonal line that rises to the left) 21 rotatably disposed in the unit case 20 and tightly fitted to the manual shaft to prevent rotation, and a detection element having a Hall element as a pickup. (Not shown) and a circuit board 22 to which a detection element is fixed and which supplies power and performs signal processing. In general, this type of device for detecting a range position is integrated with a neutral start switch for enabling the engine to be started only in the neutral (N) and parking (P) range positions for ensuring safety. Therefore, in some cases, the position sensor is referred to as a position sensor regardless of the presence or absence of the neutral start switch.

The shift device 3 has a Bowden wire (an example shown) 41 having one end fixed to the shift lever 31 or the other end of a push-pull rod connected to a pin at the tip of a lever 42, and a manual shaft via the lever 42. 43.

A manual shaft (shown by a broken line) 4
Numeral 3 is rotatably supported by the automatic transmission case 6, and has a tip end protruding out of the case through an opening of the automatic transmission case 6.
Is press-fitted into the rotor 21 at the portion penetrating therethrough, and is further connected to the base end side of the lever 42 with the tip thereof stopped and fixed. The manual shaft 43 is connected and fixed to a detent lever (shown in cross section by a broken line rising to the right in the figure) 51 of the detent device 5 in the automatic transmission case 6. The detent spring 53 with the roller 52 constituting the other part of the detent device 5 has its distal end roller 52 pressed against the cam surface of the detent lever 51 and the base end thereof is fixed to the automatic transmission case 6.

The operation system having such a structure is a range position switching operation in which the shift lever 31 is swung about an axis only showing the center line in the figure, and a wire (or push-pull rod) in the sheath tube of the Bowden wire 41 is used. Is pushed and pulled, and the lever 42 rotates, so that the manual shaft 4
3, the manual valve 70 connected thereto is switched, and an electric signal corresponding to the rotation of the manual shaft 43 at that time is output from the position sensor 2 to a shift control unit (not shown). Thus, each range position is determined by signal processing in the shift control unit. In this operation, the detent device 5 performs a mechanism for holding the manual valve at each range position.

The present invention is applied to the detent device 5 as a restricting means for restricting the displacement of the detent lever 51 other than the displacement caused by the rotation of the manual shaft 43 around the axis.

First, in the first embodiment shown in a perspective view in FIG. 2, the regulating means is embodied as an axial movement regulating means for regulating the axial movement of the detent lever 51. In this embodiment, the axial movement restricting means is provided on the roller 52 having a reduced diameter portion rotatably supported by the detent spring 53 by folding the fork-shaped portion at the tip of the detent spring 53. It is composed of a flange 52a protruding across the lever 51. That is, the rollers 52 are provided with flanges 5 at both ends thereof at an interval substantially corresponding to the thickness of the detent lever 51.
2a. By adopting such a configuration, the detent lever 51 is restricted by both the flanges 52a and does not move in the thickness direction even when vibration is applied thereto. Therefore, the manual shaft 43 fixed to the detent lever 51 is also required. Axial vibration is regulated.

According to such an embodiment, by restricting the movement of the detent lever 51 fixed to the manual shaft 43, only the intended rotational displacement of the manual shaft 43 is transmitted to the position sensor 2. Therefore, according to this configuration, it is possible to prevent a shift in the detection of the position sensor 2 due to the displacement of the manual shaft 43 in an unintended direction due to vibration or the like, and as a result, the range position can be detected by a non-contact type sensor. Can be surely carried out even if is used.

Further, an advantage of the first embodiment is that the displacement of the manual shaft in the axial direction can be restricted only by modifying the roller of the detent spring in the conventional detent device. A detent device that does not require a change in the installation position or the installation space can be realized.

Next, in the second embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the restricting means is also embodied as an axial movement restricting means for restricting the axial movement of the detent lever 51. In this embodiment, the axial movement is restricted. The regulating means is the detent lever 51
Is formed by the concave curved surface 52b of the roller 52 abutting on the cam surface 51a. In other words, the roller 52 has a drum shape. In the configuration of the second embodiment, even when vibration is applied to the detent lever 51, the detent lever 51 is always returned in the direction of the minimum diameter of the concave curved surface 52b by the spring load.
There is no displacement, whereby the manual shaft 43 fixed to the detent lever 51 is also restrained from vibrating in the axial direction. In this case, the cam surface 51a side of the detent lever 51 is also a concave curved surface 5 on the roller 52 side.
The position restriction effect is further improved by forming a convex curved surface having a curvature equal to or larger than the curvature of 2b.

The advantages of the second embodiment are the same as those of the first embodiment, except that the concave surface 5
2b, the detent lever 51 is automatically positioned without play in the axial direction.
3 is that the position accuracy in the axial direction is improved, and thereby the detection accuracy of the position sensor 2 can be further improved.

Finally, the third embodiment shown in FIG. 4 is different from the previous one in that the restricting means comprises a detent lever 5.
1 constitutes an inclination restricting means for restricting the inclination. In this embodiment, the inclination restricting means includes a pair of cam surfaces 51 a and 51 b which are point-symmetric about the axis of the manual shaft 43.
Point symmetric detent lever 51A having
A pair of detent springs 5 that press the respective rollers 52, 54 against a pair of cam surfaces 51a, 51b of 1A.
3, 55. In this case, both rollers 52,
The roller 54 has a cylindrical shape like a conventional ordinary roller, but it is naturally effective to use a roller as in the first and second embodiments.

By adopting such a configuration, the manual shaft 43 is in a state where the roller 52 is pressed against the valley of the cam surface 51b at the symmetric position and the roller 52 is pressed against the valley of the cam surface 51a. When the manual shaft 43 rotates from this position and the peak of the cam surface 51a moves to push the roller 52, the peak of the cam surface 51b at the symmetric position also moves to push the roller 54. Will be. As a result, the manual shaft 43
Regardless of the rotational position, a balanced spring load is always received. Therefore, strictly speaking, the inclination restricting means in this embodiment comprises a cam surface 51b provided on the detent lever 51A and a roller 54 pressed against the cam surface 51b.
And the detent spring 55.

The advantage of the third embodiment is that the lateral load applied to the manual shaft 43 can be offset by the symmetry of the entire detent device 5, so that the position sensor 2 due to misalignment or bending of the manual shaft 43 can be used. This has the effect of eliminating the influence on the detection accuracy.

As described above, the present invention has been described in detail based on the embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various concrete configurations may be changed within the scope of the claims. Can be implemented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a mechanism showing a combination of a perspective view and a cross-sectional view of an entire configuration of a manual valve operation system including a detent device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a detent device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a detent device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a detent device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Position Sensor 43 Manual Shaft 51 Detent Lever 51A Point Symmetric Detent Lever (Inclination Restriction Means) 51a Cam Surface 51b Cam Surface (Inclination Restriction Means) 52 Roller 52a Flange (Axial Movement Restriction Means) 52b Concave Curved Surface (Axial Movement Restriction Means) 53) Detent spring 54 Roller (tilt restricting means) 55 Detent spring (tilt restricting means)

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A detent device for an automatic transmission manual shaft, comprising: a detent lever fixed to a manual shaft connected to a position sensor; and a detent spring pressing a roller against a cam surface of the detent lever. A detent device for a manual shaft of an automatic transmission, comprising a restricting means for restricting displacement of a detent lever other than displacement caused by rotation of the shaft around an axis. 2. The automatic transmission manual shaft detent apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said restriction means is an axial movement restriction means for restricting an axial movement of said detent lever. 3. The automatic transmission manual shaft detent apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said restricting means is an inclination restricting means for restricting an inclination of said detent lever. 4. The automatic transmission according to claim 1, wherein said restricting means comprises an axial movement restricting means for restricting axial movement of said detent lever, and an inclination restricting means for restricting inclination of said detent lever. Manual shaft detent device. 5. The automatic transmission manual shaft detent apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said axial movement restricting means is constituted by a flange protruding from said roller with a detent lever sandwiched therebetween. 6. The detent apparatus for a manual shaft of an automatic transmission according to claim 2, wherein said axial movement restricting means comprises a concave curved surface of a roller abutting on a cam surface of said detent lever. 7. A detent lever having a pair of cam surfaces which are point-symmetric with respect to an axis of the manual shaft, and a pair of detents which press respective rollers against the pair of cam surfaces of the detent lever. The detent device for an automatic transmission manual shaft according to any one of claims 3 to 6, comprising a spring.