JP2012225410A - Range detector of automatic transmission - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a range detector of automatic transmission which appropriately determines an actually selected range when an output of an inhibitor switch detecting a range selected with a shift lever is abnormal.SOLUTION: The range detector is constituted such that a signal-combined pattern output from a plurality of output terminals according to a shift lever operation, is changed, and that the range where the shift lever is positioned is detected based on the pattern. When the output pattern is an abnormal one different from normal patterns each defined about ordinary ranges consisting of traveling ranges and non-travelling ranges, and about intermediate ranges arranged between adjacent ordinary ranges, the range where a pattern having only one signal different from the abnormal pattern is defined as a normal one, is determined as the range where the shift lever is positioned.

Description

  The present invention relates to a range detection device for an automatic transmission mounted on a vehicle, and more particularly to a device for coping with an abnormality in the detection device, and belongs to the technical field of an automatic transmission for a vehicle.

  In an automatic transmission mounted on a vehicle, as a range selected by a driver's lever operation, a D (forward) range or R (reverse) range that is a travel range, and a P (parking) that is a non-travel range. A range, an N (neutral) range, and the like are set, and control is performed in a mode corresponding to each range. A range detection device for detecting the range selected by operating the shift lever is provided for the control according to the range and for displaying the selected range on the display unit in front of the driver's seat. .

  For example, Patent Document 1 includes a movable contact A that responds to the operation of the shift lever and four fixed contacts B1 to B4 that are in sliding contact with the contact A, as shown in FIG. It is disclosed that the combination pattern of ON and OFF of the four switches C1 to C4 is different depending on the range where the shift lever is located, and the range selected by the driver is detected from the pattern. Has been.

  In addition to such a contact type, a non-contact type in which a magnetic field generated by a magnet is detected by a plurality of sensors, and a range selected by a combination pattern of ON-OFF signals output from these sensors is detected. In any case, the range is detected based on the output pattern of the ON-OFF signal output from the plurality of output terminals to the controller.

  In this case, in this type of range detection device, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, the normal range to be selected by the driver such as P, R, N, and D as the range to be detected. In addition, it is also configured to detect intermediate ranges such as PR range between adjacent P range and R range, RN range between R range and N range, ND range between N range and D range, etc. .

  This is because an insensitive zone that is not fixed regardless of which of the two sides is located between the adjacent normal ranges makes it unclear which range is determined by the overlap of detection ranges of switches and sensors. This is for avoiding this or setting the start timing of the control in the mode corresponding to the next normal range at the time of switching the range between the normal ranges.

JP 2004-116605 A

  By the way, in the range detection apparatus configured as described above, an abnormal pattern different from the normal pattern defined as the output pattern of the normal range and the intermediate range may be output from the output terminal due to disconnection or short circuit. In this case, since the range in which the shift lever is located is unknown, the invention described in Patent Document 1 performs fault diagnosis and performs protection control of the automatic transmission such as limiting the engine torque and engine speed. It has become.

  However, such protection control sacrifices the traveling performance of the vehicle, and it is possible to control the mode according to the range selected by the driver as much as possible even when the abnormal pattern of the range detection device is output. It is desired. Therefore, the present invention determines whether the range is the normal range or the intermediate range even when an abnormal pattern is output from the range detection device, and realizes control in a mode in accordance with the driver's request as much as possible. Is an issue.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is configured as follows.

  First, the invention according to claim 1 of the present application changes the combination pattern of signals output from a plurality of output terminals in response to the operation of the shift lever, and sets the range in which the shift lever is positioned based on the output pattern. In the automatic transmission range detection device for detecting, when the output pattern is a normal pattern defined for a normal range composed of a travel range and a non-travel range and an intermediate range provided between adjacent normal ranges. First determining means for determining a range in which the pattern is defined as a range in which the shift lever is located, and the output pattern is an abnormal pattern different from the normal pattern, and one of the normal patterns and one signal When the shift lever is positioned within the range where the normal pattern is defined, And having a second judging means judges that.

  The invention according to claim 2 is the invention according to claim 1, wherein the second determination means is configured such that the output pattern is an abnormal pattern and the normal pattern is different from the abnormal pattern by one signal. When the number is 1, the range in which the normal pattern is defined is determined as the range in which the shift lever is located.

  The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the second determination means is configured such that the output pattern is an abnormal pattern, and the abnormal pattern and the signal are one. There are two different normal patterns, and when the ranges in which the normal patterns are defined are the travel range and the non-travel range, the travel range is determined as the range where the shift lever is located. .

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to third aspects of the present invention, the second determination means is configured so that the output pattern is an abnormal pattern, and the abnormal pattern When there are two normal patterns that differ by only one signal, and the ranges defined by these normal patterns are both intermediate ranges, the range in which the shift lever is positioned is determined as the neutral range. To do.

  With the above configuration, according to the invention of each claim of the present application, the following effects can be obtained.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, when an abnormal pattern different from the normal pattern defined for each range is output from a plurality of output terminals, the output pattern and the normal signal differ by only one. Since the range in which the pattern is defined is determined as the range in which the shift lever is located, the range is specified even when the abnormal pattern is output, and it is possible to continue running without sacrificing running performance.

  In this case, according to the invention described in claim 2, when there is one normal pattern different from the abnormal pattern by one signal, it is determined that the range in which the normal pattern is defined is the range in which the shift lever is located. Therefore, high determination accuracy can be obtained.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, there are two normal patterns that differ from the output abnormal pattern by one signal, and the ranges in which these normal patterns are defined are the traveling range and the non-driving range. In some cases, the traveling range is determined to be the range where the shift lever is located. Therefore, when the actual shift lever position is the traveling range, the range is correctly determined, and the driver Will be able to run as intended.

  Further, when the shift lever is in the non-traveling range, even if it is determined that the shift lever is in the non-traveling range, the vehicle does not travel if the shift lever is actually in the non-traveling range, and the shift lever is in the traveling range. Compared with the case where the non-traveling range is determined, the risk of hindering the control of the mode intended by the driver is reduced, and actual harm is suppressed.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, there are two normal patterns that differ from the output abnormal pattern by one signal, and the ranges in which these normal patterns are defined are intermediate ranges. Since the range where the shift lever is located is determined as the neutral range, even if the actual range is any intermediate range, no actual harm is caused.

  In other words, the intermediate range is originally a range that only passes during the operation of the shift lever, and is not a range that specifies one of the travel control modes. Rather, it is less harmful than accidentally specifying the intermediate range and hindering control in the normal range immediately thereafter.

It is a block diagram which shows the control system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a table | surface which shows the relationship between a normal pattern and a determination range. It is a table | surface which shows the relationship between an abnormal pattern and a determination range. It is a flowchart which shows the example of control of range determination. It is a flowchart which shows the example of another control same as the above. It is a table | surface which shows the relationship between the abnormal pattern by the example of control of FIG. 5, and the determination range. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the conventional inhibitor switch.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

  FIG. 1 shows a range detection device according to an embodiment of the present invention. This range detection device is provided with an inhibitor switch 10 that operates by operating a shift lever (not shown), and the switch 10. It is comprised with the controller 20 into which the ON-OFF signal output from the 1st-4th output terminals 11-14 is input, respectively.

  Then, the controller 20 determines the range where the shift lever is located from the combination pattern of ON and OFF of the four ON-OFF signals, and for the control in the mode according to the range in the automatic transmission 30. The determined range is transmitted to the automatic transmission 30 and the determined range is transmitted to the display unit 40 in order to display the selected range on the display unit 40 provided in the driver's seat of the vehicle. It has become.

  Here, in this embodiment, as a range indicating the position of the shift lever, a normal range to be selected by a driver of P, R, N, and D and an intermediate range between adjacent normal ranges are set. In this case, since the normal ranges are arranged in the above order, the intermediate range is the PR range between the P range and the R range, the RN range between the R range and the N range, and the N range and the D range. An ND range exists between the ranges, and the above seven ranges are configured to be detected.

  For these normal range and intermediate range, as shown in FIG. 2, ON / OFF patterns of the first to fourth output terminals are defined, and the other nine abnormal patterns are as shown in FIG. This is a combination of ON and OFF.

  Here, in this embodiment, the normal pattern of each range shown in FIG. 2 is defined with the following regularity.

  First, in a row of seven ranges from the P range to the D range, the adjacent patterns are defined so that ON and OFF are different one by one.

  In addition, the normal ranges P, R, N, and D are 2 ON and 2 OFF, and the intermediate ranges PR, RN, and ND are 1 or 3 ON and 3 or 1 OFF. Has been.

  Therefore, among the abnormal patterns shown in FIG. 3, normal patterns that are different from one or three abnormal patterns by ON and OFF by one are all normal range normal patterns, and ON is 0, 2 All normal patterns that differ from one or four abnormal patterns by one ON or OFF are all normal patterns in the intermediate range.

  Further, in the normal range pattern of the normal patterns shown in FIG. 2, two ONs are shifted one by one from the fourth output terminal side to the first output terminal side in the order of P → R → N → D. Is defined as

  From this, in the normal ranges that are not adjacent in the above order, that is, between the R range and the D range, both of which are travel ranges, and between the P range and the N range, which are both non-travel ranges, All of the terminals are switched on, and all terminals are switched on and off. Accordingly, when a normal pattern that is different from one of the abnormal patterns by one ON or OFF is a pattern of two normal ranges, the two normal ranges are always a combination of a travel range and a non-travel range.

  As a result of the above, the normal pattern ranges that differ from the nine abnormal patterns shown in FIG. 3 by only one ON and OFF are as described in the “determination candidate range” column of FIG.

  Next, the range determination control by the controller 20 will be described.

  This control is performed in accordance with the flowchart shown in FIG. 4. First, in step S1, the ON-OFF signals output from the first to fourth output terminals 11 to 14 of the inhibitor switch 10 are read. It is determined whether the combination pattern of ON and OFF indicated by the signal, that is, the output pattern matches any of the normal patterns shown in FIG.

  If there is a matching normal pattern, in step S3, the range of the normal pattern is recognized as the range where the shift lever is located (hereinafter referred to as “actual range”).

  On the other hand, if the output pattern does not match any of the normal patterns shown in FIG. 2, that is, if the output pattern is one of the nine abnormal patterns shown in FIG. 3, the abnormal pattern is turned ON in step S4. , It is determined whether there is only one normal pattern range different from OFF, that is, only one or two determination candidate ranges shown in FIG.

  For example, in the case of an abnormal pattern in which all the output terminals at the left end in FIG. 3 are OFF, a normal pattern different from this by only one ON and OFF is a pattern having only one ON and corresponds to FIG. Is found to be only the PR range pattern. In addition, in the case of an abnormal pattern in which only the second first output terminal from the left is ON, a normal pattern that is different from this by one ON and OFF is two ON patterns, which correspond from FIG. It turns out that it is N range and D range, and the judgment candidate range at the time of abnormal pattern output will be one in the former case and two in the latter case.

  If it is determined by such a determination operation that there is one determination candidate range, step S5 is executed next, and the range determined as the determination candidate is determined as the actual range.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S4 that there are two normal patterns that differ from the output abnormal pattern by only one ON / OFF, and there are two determination candidate ranges, then in step S6, the two It is determined whether or not one determination candidate range is an intermediate range.

  In this case, as described above, the two determination candidate ranges are either the intermediate range or the normal range, and if both are the intermediate range, in step S7, The range is determined to be the N range.

  If both are in the normal range, as described above, one is the traveling range and the other is the non-traveling range, so in step S8 it is determined that the traveling range is the actual range. For example, if the output abnormal pattern is the second pattern from the left in FIG. 3, the determination candidate ranges in which normal patterns different by one ON and OFF are defined are the N range and the D range. The D range that is the travel range is determined to be the actual range.

  As described above, any one of the first to fourth output terminals 11 to 14 of the inhibitor switch 10 has an ON failure due to a short circuit or an OFF failure due to a disconnection or the like. When only one different abnormal pattern is output, the actual range where the shift lever is located is determined from the relationship between the abnormal pattern and the normal pattern.

  In addition, it is unlikely that the ON failure or the OFF failure occurs at a plurality of output terminals at the same time. Also, an abnormal pattern that is different from a normal pattern by two ON and OFF coincides with other normal patterns, or other Since the normal pattern differs from ON / OFF by one, the case where the output pattern is different from the normal pattern by two ON / OFF is not considered.

  First, when there is one normal pattern judgment candidate range that is different from the output abnormal pattern by one ON or OFF, the shift lever is determined by determining that the range is the actual range where the shift lever is located. The position range is determined with high accuracy.

  Further, in the case where there are two determination candidate ranges, if both of them are intermediate ranges, the range where the shift lever is located is set to the N range.

  In this case, the actual range is considered to be one of the intermediate ranges. However, since the intermediate range is not a range that specifies one of the travel control modes, even if it is determined as a neutral range, it will cause a real harm to the travel control. Rather, it is less harmful than specifying the intermediate range by mistake and hindering control in the normal range immediately thereafter.

  Furthermore, in the case where there are two determination candidate ranges, when the two are a normal range travel range and a non-travel range, the actual range where the shift lever is located is determined to be the travel range.

  In this case, if the actual shift lever position is the travel range, the range is correctly determined, and the control is performed in the mode intended by the driver.

  On the other hand, if the actual shift lever position is in the non-traveling range, the determination of the range is incorrect, but if the shift lever position is actually in the non-traveling range, the vehicle will not travel and the shift Compared with the case of determining the non-traveling range when the position of the lever is the traveling range, there is less possibility of hindering the control of the mode intended by the driver, and actual harm is suppressed.

  According to the output pattern examples shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, even when the output pattern from the inhibitor switch 10 is one of the normal patterns, any one of the output terminals becomes the original normal pattern due to a failure. As a result of outputting a signal in which ON and OFF are opposite, it may be assumed that it matches another normal pattern. In this case, it is erroneously determined that the range of the output normal pattern is the actual range where the shift lever is located. Become.

  For example, if a pattern in which the first and second output terminals are OFF and the third and fourth output terminals are ON is output, as shown in FIG. 2, it is a normal pattern defined for the P range. Although the range is determined to be the P range, in fact, because of the ON failure of the fourth output terminal, the normal pattern of the P range was output even though the position of the shift lever was the PR range. Next, a control example having an operation for such a case will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  Steps S11 to S18 of this flowchart are the same as steps S1 to S8 of the flowchart of FIG. 4, but when it is determined in step S12 that the output pattern is a normal pattern, the flag F is set to “1” in step S21. It is determined whether or not.

  The flag F is reset to “0”, for example, when the engine is started or when the failure of the inhibitor switch 10 is repaired. After that, the flag F is held at “0” unless an abnormal pattern is output. Therefore, when the abnormal pattern is not output, the determination of the actual range at the time of outputting the normal pattern is performed in step S13 as in step S3 of the flowchart of FIG.

  When it is determined in step S12 that the output pattern is an abnormal pattern, the actual range determination control at the time of output of the abnormal pattern is performed according to steps S14 to S18 in accordance with steps S14 to S18. Is called.

  However, in this control example, when it is determined in step S12 that an abnormal pattern has been output, “1” is set in the flag F in step S22. Therefore, during the subsequent operation of the shift lever, when a normal pattern is output from the inhibitor switch 10, steps S23 to S25 are executed through steps S12 to S21.

  In this case, in this control example, the output normal pattern range and the normal pattern range that is different from this pattern by one ON and OFF are set as the determination candidate ranges.

  Further, as described above, since the normal patterns of the seven ranges from the P range to the D range are set so that the ON and OFF of the adjacent patterns are different one by one, as shown in FIG. The judgment candidate range is the range of the output normal pattern and the adjacent range. When the patterns of the P range and the D range located at both ends of the seven range columns are outputted, the judgment candidate range is 2 When the pattern of the other range is output, there are three determination candidate ranges.

  In step S23, it is determined whether or not there is a travel range among the determination candidate ranges extracted as described above. If so, in step S24, the actual travel position of the shift lever is determined. If it is determined that the range does not exist, in step S25, the N range is set to the actual range where the shift lever is located.

  For example, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 6, when the output pattern is a normal pattern of the D range or ND range, it is determined that the output pattern is the D range, and the output pattern is a normal pattern of the R range, PR range, or RN range. Is determined to be the R range, and when the output pattern is a normal pattern of the P range or the N range, it is determined to be the N range.

  As a result, even when the normal pattern is output after the abnormal pattern is output once, the actual range where the shift lever is positioned is appropriately determined as in the case where the abnormal pattern is output. Become.

  In addition, the definition of the pattern about each range in the above embodiment is an example, Comprising: Even if it is another definition example, this invention can be implemented.

  As described above, according to the present invention, even when the output of the range detection device that detects the range selected by the shift lever is abnormal, the range where the shift lever is actually located is appropriately determined, and the vehicle Since the running performance is maintained, the automatic transmission equipped with this type of range detection device or the manufacturing industry of a vehicle equipped with the automatic transmission may be suitably used.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Range detection apparatus 11-14 Output terminal 20 1st, 2nd determination means (controller)

Claims (4)

In a range detection device for an automatic transmission that detects a range in which a shift lever is located based on a change pattern of signals output from a plurality of output terminals in response to an operation of the shift lever.
When the output pattern is a normal pattern defined for a normal range consisting of a travel range and a non-travel range and an intermediate range provided between adjacent normal ranges, the range in which the pattern is defined is shifted to the shift lever. First determination means for determining a range in which is located;
When the output pattern is an abnormal pattern different from the normal pattern and the signal is different from any one of the normal patterns by one, the range in which the normal pattern is defined is the range where the shift lever is positioned. A range detection device for an automatic transmission, comprising: a second determination means for determining.   When the output pattern is an abnormal pattern and there is one normal pattern that differs from the abnormal pattern by one signal, the second determination means determines the range in which the shift lever is positioned within the range in which the normal pattern is defined. The range detection device for an automatic transmission according to claim 1, wherein:   The second determination means includes two normal patterns in which the output pattern is an abnormal pattern and the signal differs from the abnormal pattern by one, and a range in which the normal pattern is defined is not a travel range and a non-travel The range detection device for an automatic transmission according to claim 1 or 2, wherein when the range is a range, the traveling range is determined to be a range where the shift lever is located.   The second determination means is that the output pattern is an abnormal pattern, and there are two normal patterns that differ from the abnormal pattern by one signal, and the ranges in which the normal patterns are defined are intermediate ranges. 4. The range detection device for an automatic transmission according to claim 1, wherein the range in which the shift lever is located is determined to be a neutral range. 5.

Images