JP2765608B2 - Throttle valve controller - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a throttle valve control mechanism for an internal combustion engine such as a gasoline engine, and more particularly to a throttle valve control device suitable for an automobile engine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, high-performance automobiles equipped with a high-power engine have been widely used. Torque is generated, driving wheels slip, and the running stability of the vehicle is impaired. Therefore, in such a case, so-called driving force control (traction control: TC) has been conventionally used in which the throttle valve is controlled in the closing direction independently of the accelerator operation to suppress the occurrence of slip. The throttle valve control device for that purpose is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 2-27503.
No. 1 can be seen.

In this prior art, a throttle mechanism is provided at the end of the rotary shaft of the throttle valve so that the throttle valve can be closed by an actuator such as a motor even when the accelerator lever is open. Further, according to the prior art, the actuator is also configured to perform idle speed control (ISC).

[0004]

The prior art described above does not sufficiently consider the provision of a fail-safe function and the simplification of the configuration, and is not suitable from the viewpoint of reliability and cost reduction. Had a problem.

That is, in the prior art, a spring is provided directly on the shaft of the throttle valve (throttle valve) to bias the throttle valve in the opening direction. In the worst case, the throttle valve may remain open. On the other hand, the driving force transmission system from the turning portion driven by the accelerator pedal to the throttle valve includes the setting portion, so that the configuration becomes complicated.

[0006] In view of the above problems, the present invention can provide a sufficient fail-safe property with a simple configuration.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a low-cost throttle valve control device.

[0007]

An object of the present invention is to provide a throttle valve comprising a butterfly valve, first and second lever members attached to a rotary shaft of the throttle valve, and a rotary shaft of the throttle valve. A first and a second rotating member rotatably held; a first elastic member for urging the first rotating member to rotate in the same direction as the direction in which the throttle valve closes; A second elastic member for urging the second rotating member in a direction opposite to a direction in which the throttle valve is closed, and a third elastic member connected between the first lever member and the first rotating member. The first and second lever members and the first and second rotating members each have a projection, and the first and second lever members have a protrusion.
Of the lever member is urged by the third elastic member in a direction in which a protrusion thereof comes into contact with a protrusion of the first rotation member. The first rotation member is provided with an accelerator pedal. The first elastic member has a first stopper member which is rotated in a direction opposite to a biasing direction by the first elastic member and regulates a return position of the first elastic member. The lever member has a second stopper member that regulates a minimum opening position when the throttle valve is rotated in the closing direction, and the second rotating member is rotatable by an actuator, When the projection is rotated in the direction opposite to the biasing direction of the second elastic member and its projection contacts the projection of the second lever member, the second
Is rotated in the direction in which the throttle valve closes, and the minimum opening degree of the throttle valve regulated by the first stopper member is smaller than the minimum opening degree of the throttle valve regulated by the second stopper member. This is achieved by configuring the opening to be larger.

[0008]

The first rotary member moved by the accelerator pedal is engaged with the first lever member by the projection by the elastic force of the third elastic member. Therefore, the throttle valve is operated by operating the accelerator pedal. The opening can be arbitrarily controlled. On the other hand, the second rotating member moved by the actuator is controlled to close the throttle valve against the elastic force of the third elastic member only when the second rotating member is engaged with the second lever member by the projection. Can be.

However, the throttle valve is only connected to the first rotating member by the third elastic member, and there is no separate member that exerts a force in the direction of opening the throttle valve.
A fail-safe function can be sufficiently provided. At this time, the connection between the first rotating member and the first lever member can be directly obtained by the projections, so that the configuration can be simplified.

Further, the minimum opening of the throttle valve regulated by the first stopper member is larger than the minimum opening of the throttle valve regulated by the second stopper member. Even when the accelerator pedal is in the return position,
Since the opening of the throttle valve can be controlled by the actuator,
An idle speed control function can also be provided.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a throttle valve control device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention. In the drawing, reference numeral 1 denotes a part of an intake pipe of an engine, in which a butterfly valve type throttle valve (throttle valve) 2 is internally provided by a throttle shaft (rotating shaft) 3. It is held rotatably. The throttle shaft 3 extends from both sides of the throttle valve 2 to the outside of the intake pipe 1, and an accelerator lever (first rotating member) 4 is rotatably held on one of the throttle shafts 3. A lever (first lever member) 5 is fixedly attached to the end.

The accelerator lever 4 is provided with a stopper portion 4a, which comes into contact with a stopper member (first stopper member) 1a provided on the intake pipe 1, whereby the fully closed position of the accelerator lever 4 is set. Stipulates. The accelerator lever 4 is connected to an accelerator pedal (not shown), as indicated by an alternate long and short dash line arrow.
Therefore, when the accelerator pedal is depressed, the throttle valve 2 is opened in the opening direction in accordance with the amount of depression.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a lost motion spring, which is provided between the accelerator lever 4 and the lever 5 and applies a biasing force to the accelerator lever 4 in the direction in which the throttle valve 2 opens with respect to the lever 5. To give.

7 is a return spring (first elastic member)
The throttle valve 2 is provided between the intake pipe 1 and the accelerator lever 4 to apply a biasing force to the accelerator lever 4 in the direction in which the throttle valve 2 closes.

The accelerator lever 4 has a projection 4b.
Is normally provided by the biasing force of the spring 6.
The projection 4b is in contact with the projection 5a of the lever 5. Therefore, the lever 5 can freely rotate only in the direction in which the throttle valve 2 closes with respect to the accelerator lever 4 by displacing the spring 6 (displacement in the direction of tightening in the figure). That is, the opening degree of the throttle valve 2 can be changed without changing the rotation position of the accelerator lever 4. For this reason, the spring 6 is called a lost motion spring.

Next, a lever (second lever member) 8 is fixedly attached to the other end of the throttle shaft 3. The protrusion 8 a provided on the lever 8 is connected to the intake pipe 1.
By contacting the stopper member (second stopper member) 1b provided in the above, the fully closed position of the throttle valve 2 is defined.

Further, a gear (second rotating member) 10 is rotatably held at the other end of the throttle shaft 3. A pinion (small gear) 11 attached to a rotating shaft of a motor (electric motor) 12 serving as a throttle actuator meshes with the gear 10. Therefore, electric power is supplied to the motor 12 so that the motor 12 is driven in a predetermined direction. By rotating, the gear 10 can be rotated.

The gear 10 is provided with a projection 10a. When the projection 10a comes into contact with the projection 8b of the lever 8, the gear 10 moves only in the direction in which the throttle valve 2 closes.
(Rotation) can be transmitted to the lever 8.

Next, reference numeral 9 denotes a spring (a second elastic member) provided between the gear 10 and the intake pipe 1.
Is generated so as to rotate the throttle valve 2 in a direction in which the throttle valve 2 opens. Therefore, when the motor 12 is not operating, the gear 10 is returned to a position corresponding to the fully open position of the throttle valve 2 by the elastic force of the spring 9.

Therefore, in this state, the rotation of the throttle valve 2 and the rotation of the motor 12 do not interfere with each other, and the rotation of the throttle valve 2 can be freely performed by operating the accelerator pedal. . When the motor 12 is operated, the gear 10 is rotated, and this rotation is
a to the lever 8 through the protrusion 8a and the throttle valve 2
Can be rotated in the closing direction.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.
This will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. These FIGS. 2 to 5
1 schematically shows the movement in the turning direction in FIG. 1 simulated by the movement in the left and right directions. As shown by the arrow, the movement in the left direction is the direction in which the opening of the throttle valve 2 opens. ,
Accordingly, the rightward movement indicates the direction in which the throttle valve 2 closes. In the drawing, the same symbols as those in FIG. 1 indicate the same parts, 13 is an accelerator pedal, and 14 is an accelerator wire. Note that the protrusion 8b is omitted, and the protrusion 8a is represented as a single body.

First, the normal operation without using the motor 12 will be described with reference to FIG. When the accelerator pedal 13 is not depressed, the return spring 7
The projection 4a is in contact with the stopper member 1a due to the elastic force of the above, and the accelerator lever 4 is in the fully closed position. on the other hand,
Projection 4b of accelerator lever 4 and projection 5a of lever 5
Are held in contact by the elastic force of the spring 6, the opening position of the accelerator lever 4 and the opening position of the throttle valve 2 are kept at the same position.

At this time, the opening position of the throttle valve 2 is set at a position corresponding to the fully closed position of the throttle valve 2 defined by the protrusion 8a of the lever 8 abutting on the stopper member 1b of the intake pipe 1.
The mounting positions of the respective stopper members 1a and 1b are set in advance so that the positions are opened by a predetermined angle θ.
On the other hand, at this time, since the gear 10 is in the fully opened position by the spring 9, the projection 10a of the gear 10 and the lever 8
Is not in contact with the projection 8b and is separated therefrom.

If the accelerator pedal 13 is depressed, the accelerator lever 4 is rotated via the accelerator wire 14 in the direction in which the throttle valve 2 opens, so that the throttle valve 2 is moved from its fully closed position. From the position opened by the angle θ, the protrusion 10 a of the gear 10 and the protrusion 8
accelerator pedal 1 within the range up to the position where
The throttle valve is operated in accordance with the stepping amount of No. 3 to control the throttle valve by a normal accelerator pedal.

Next, the control of the opening of the throttle valve 2 by the motor 12 in this embodiment is roughly classified into idle speed control and driving force control. Therefore, first, the case where the idle speed control (ISC) operation is performed will be described with reference to FIG. As described above, in this embodiment, when the accelerator pedal 13 is not depressed, the throttle valve 2 is at a position opened by an angle θ from the fully closed position, while the gear 10 is at a fully open position by the spring 9. .

Then, the motor 12 is controlled in this state,
By rotating the gear 10 in the closing direction, the protrusion 10a of the gear 10
Is brought to a position where it comes into contact with the projection 8a of the lever member 8, and thereafter, the opening of the throttle valve 2 can be arbitrarily controlled within the range of the opening θ by controlling the motor 12, and therefore, If the motor 12 is feedback-controlled according to the engine speed, idle speed control can be obtained.

Next, a case where the driving force control (TC) operation is performed will be described with reference to FIG. Now, accelerator pedal 1
Assuming that the throttle valve 4 is depressed to open the throttle lever 4 from the fully closed position by an angle θ ₁ ,
Open at (θ + θ ₁ ).

In this state, the gear 10 in the fully open position is rotated by the motor 12 in the closing direction by the elastic force of the spring 9, and the projection 10a and the projection 8a of the lever member 8 come into contact with each other. After that, the motor 1 is moved within the range of the angle (θ + θ ₁ ) and the angle θ.
2 allows the opening of the throttle valve 2 to be controlled, and
By detecting the slip of the drive wheels and controlling the motor 12, the throttle valve 2 is rotated in the closing direction from the opening position determined by the operation amount of the accelerator pedal 13 at that time,
A driving force control operation can be performed.

Next, the operation at the time of failure in this embodiment will be described. As is clear from FIGS.
In this embodiment, the contact between the projection 10a of the gear 10 and the projection 8a of the lever member 8 is such that only the force in the direction of operating the throttle valve 2 in the closing direction can be transmitted. Even if the motor 12 or the control unit (not shown) breaks down, the throttle valve 2 is not moved in the opening direction due to the malfunction of the motor 12. Therefore, in the unlikely event that the depression of the accelerator pedal 13 is stopped and then released, the engine can be returned to the idle rotation state, and the vehicle such as an automobile can be stopped as usual.

Further, the operation of the vehicle thereafter can be performed as usual by depressing the accelerator pedal 13. Therefore, according to this embodiment, the accelerator pedal is returned to the fully closed position with a minimum number of movable members. The throttle valve 2 can be controlled by the motor 12 in both cases when the operation is performed and when it is depressed.
With a simple configuration, it is possible to easily provide a throttle valve control device that can cope with both drive force control and idle speed control with a single motor and can also provide a fail-safe function and a limp home function. .

In the above embodiment, an electric motor (motor) is used as an actuator for controlling the opening of the throttle valve. However, the present invention is not limited to an electric actuator, but may be a pneumatic or negative pressure type. Needless to say, the present invention can be implemented by any type of actuator such as a hydraulic type, a hydraulic type, and the like, and the same effect can be obtained.

The mechanism for transmitting the driving force from the actuator to the throttle valve is not limited to the gear type, but may be of any type such as a belt type, a type using a link, or a type utilizing the pressure of liquid. It is needless to say that the same effect can be obtained.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. In FIG. 5, the same symbols as those in the embodiments of FIGS. 2 to 4 indicate the same parts.
FIG. 5 shows an initial state when the idling speed control operation is started. When the motor 12 operates to the closing side, the projection 10a of the gear 10 and the projection 8a of the lever member 8 contact each other. This shows a state in which contact has begun.

The motor 12 is moved from this state to the spring 6
The throttle valve 2 is controlled to rotate within a range where the angle from the angle θ becomes 0 while bearing the load due to the elastic force of the spring 9. FIG. 6 shows the relationship between the opening degree of the throttle valve 2 at this time and the torque (load torque) to be borne by the motor 2, where the opening degree θ of the throttle valve 2 is shown. Motor 12
Is expressed by T2, while the friction torque (sliding torque) of the motor 2 itself is expressed by T1.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the torque is set so that the relationship of T1 <T2 is satisfied. This is for the following reason. That is, if these torques have a relationship of T1> T2, the load torque applied to the motor 12 is limited within a range from the angle θ of the throttle valve 2 to the fully closed angle. In this case, even if the torque generated by the motor 12 changes,
This is because the operation is performed in a region where the opening of the throttle valve 2 does not change, in other words, in an unstable region, and it becomes difficult to control the opening of the throttle valve 2 at a small angle. .

However, in this embodiment, as described above, the relationship of T1 <T2 is established for these torques, so that it is easy to control the opening degree of the throttle valve 2 at a small angle. Can be obtained stably.

[0037]

According to the present invention, as an electronically controlled throttle valve control device capable of obtaining accurate and flexible control, the control function can be expanded and controlled while realizing a reliable fail-safe function and limp home function. Therefore, there is a great effect on improving the functionality of the electronically controlled throttle valve control device.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a throttle valve control device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram in a certain state for explaining the operation of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram in another state for explaining the operation of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram in still another state for explaining the operation of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram in a certain state for explaining the operation of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a characteristic diagram for explaining an operation in one embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 intake pipe 1a stopper member (first stopper member) 1b stopper member (second stopper member) 2 throttle valve (throttle valve) 3 throttle shaft 4 accelerator lever (first rotating member) 4a protrusion 4b protrusion Reference Signs List 5 lever member (first lever member) 5a projection 6 spring (third elastic member 7 return spring (first elastic member) 8 lever member (second lever member) 8a projection 8b projection 9 spring ( 2nd elastic member) 10 Gear (2nd rotating member) 11 Pinion (small gear) 12 Motor (actuator) 13 Accelerator pedal 14 Accel wire

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Yasuhiko Honda 2520, Odaiba, Katsuta-shi, Ibaraki Pref. Inspector in the Automotive Equipment Division, Hitachi, Ltd. Yoshihiko Seki (56) References JP-A-4-179798 (JP, A) Hikaru 3-32137 (JP, U) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) F02D 9/00-11/10

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] A throttle valve comprising a butterfly valve; first and second lever members attached to a rotary shaft of the throttle valve; and a first lever member rotatably held by the rotary shaft of the throttle valve. 1
, A second pivot member, a first elastic member that urges the first pivot member to pivot in the same direction as the direction in which the throttle valve closes, and a second elastic member that pivots the second pivot member. Throttle valve, comprising: a second elastic member that rotationally urges in a direction opposite to the closing direction; and a third elastic member that is connected between the first lever member and the first rotational member. In the control device, the first and second lever members and the first and second rotating members each have a protrusion, and the first lever member is formed by the third elastic member.
The projection is urged in a direction in which the projection comes into contact with the projection of the first rotating member, and the first rotating member is moved in the direction of urging by the first elastic member by operating an accelerator pedal. It has a first stopper member that is turned in the opposite direction and regulates the return position of the first elastic member, and the second lever member turns in the direction in which the throttle valve closes. A second stopper member that regulates the minimum opening position when the second rotation member is rotatable by an actuator, and is opposite to a biasing direction of the second elastic member. The second lever member is turned in a direction in which a throttle valve is closed when the protrusion comes into contact with the protrusion of the second lever member. Minimum opening of the throttle valve regulated by the stopper member A throttle valve control device characterized in that the minimum opening degree of the throttle valve regulated by the first stopper member is greater than the degree. 2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an initial elastic force provided by said second and third elastic members is larger than a total frictional force generated when said actuator drives a throttle valve. And a throttle valve control device.