JPH03213731A - Automobile clutch control device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To increase engine speed to the extent possible to cope with overload by stopping the supply of an exciting current to a powder clutch temporarily upon discriminating the entry into the accelerating state, and resuming current application afterwards. CONSTITUTION:A control circuit 4, upon discriminating acceleration demand on the basis of the output of a throttle sensor 7, computes temporary stop time corresponding to the operating state and stops temporarily the supply of an exciting current to the powder clutch 3 of a transmission 2 through an exciting current on off circuit 10 and an exciting circuit 11. An engine 1 is kept at an idle, and when the engine speed detected by an engine speed sensor 5 is increased to the extent possible to cope with overload, the supply of the exciting current is resumed. Also at the shift action time of an automatic transmission 2 detected by a shift position sensor 9, the powder clutch 3 is released temporarily in the same way. Accelerating and speed change performance can be thus improved.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) This invention controls the excitation current of an electromagnetic powder clutch in a transmission in order to optimally control the engine state during acceleration and gear shifting of an automobile. The present invention relates to a control device for an automobile clutch.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, it has been proposed to use electromagnetic powder clutches in clutch mechanisms in automobile transmissions (especially automatic transmissions). In this electromagnetic powder clutch, when an excitation current is applied, magnetic powder sealed between the clutch plates is magnetized and combined, thereby tightening the clutch plates and transmitting power.

A system has been proposed in which the value of the excitation current supplied to the electromagnetic powder clutch is controlled in accordance with the driving conditions of the vehicle, such as the amount of accelerator and engine speed, when the vehicle starts or runs.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the conventional example, during general driving, the electromagnetic powder clutch is supplied with an excitation current and maintained in the engaged state in order to transmit the engine output to the drive wheels. It was structured like this. For this reason, when the driver depresses the accelerator to accelerate, the engine and transmission are connected, which may cause an excessive engine load, and in this case, the engine speed increases. This could lead to deterioration in acceleration performance.

Further, in the automatic transmission using the electromagnetic powder clutch, since the shift operation is automatically performed, the electromagnetic powder clutch remains engaged even during the shift operation. For this reason, during a shift operation, the engine load may become excessive, which may lead to a decrease in shift performance.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the problems described above, a first invention provides a driving determination means for determining whether or not the automobile is running, and a driving determination means for determining whether or not the automobile is in an acceleration state. an acceleration determining means for determining; and a temporary suspension of the excitation current, which stops the supply of excitation current to the electromagnetic powder clutch for a predetermined period of time when the acceleration determination means determines that the acceleration state has entered, and then restarts the supply of the excitation current. It is characterized by comprising means.

Further, the second invention is applied to an automatic transmission using an electromagnetic powder clutch, and includes a shift detection means for detecting the presence or absence of a shift operation of the transmission, and a driving determination means for determining whether or not the automobile is running. and when the running determination means can clearly determine that the vehicle is running, and the shift detection means detects a shift operation, the supply of excitation current to the electromagnetic powder clutch is stopped for a predetermined period of time, and then the energization is resumed. The present invention is characterized by comprising excitation current temporary stopping means.

(Function) The first invention has the above configuration, so that when the automobile accelerates,
By temporarily disengaging the electromagnetic powder clutch, the engine can be idled and its rotational speed can be increased to a level that can handle the overload.

Further, according to the second invention, with the above configuration, the electromagnetic powder clutch is temporarily released during a shift operation of the automatic transmission, thereby causing the engine to idle and increasing its rotational speed to a level that can cope with an overload. can be raised.

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment common to the first invention and the second invention.

In the figure, the control circuit 4 is an electronic control circuit constructed using a microcomputer, and is composed of a microchip computer, a semiconductor memory, an input/output circuit, and the like. This control circuit 4 includes an engine rotation speed sensor 5 that detects the rotation speed of the engine 1, an accelerator switch 6 that detects whether or not the accelerator is depressed, a throttle sensor 7 that detects the throttle valve opening, and a throttle sensor 7 that detects the vehicle speed. A shift position sensor 9 that detects the shift position of the automatic transmission 2, and a shift switch 12 that is provided in the hydraulic circuit of the automatic transmission 2 and is turned on when shifting.
Each output signal has been input. The control circuit 4 also outputs a control signal to an excitation current on/off circuit 10 for turning on and off an excitation circuit 11 of the TA powder clutch 3 used in the clutch mechanism of the automatic transmission 2.

The automatic transmission 2 is equipped with an electromagnetic powder clutch 3 in its clutch mechanism, and when an excitation current is supplied to the electromagnetic powder clutch 3 from an excitation circuit 11, the magnetic powder sealed between the clutch plates is activated by magnetic force. When the clutch plates are engaged and the clutch plates are engaged, power is transmitted, and when the excitation current stops, the state is released and power transmission is stopped.

The excitation current on/off circuit 10 operates the excitation circuit 11 to supply the excitation current to the electromagnetic powder clutch 3 and commands the electromagnetic powder clutch 3 to stop energization when a signal instructing the start of the excitation current is inputted from the control circuit 4. It is a switching circuit that stops the excitation circuit 11 and stops the supply of excitation current when a signal is input, and is made up of a relay circuit and a switching element.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the contents of the temporary stop control of the excitation current of the electromagnetic powder clutch 3 according to the present invention among the controls executed in the control circuit 4. Explain.

When the routine shown in FIG. 2 is started, it is determined in step 21 whether or not the automobile is running. This is determined based on output signals from the engine speed sensor 5, accelerator switch 6, throttle sensor 7, vehicle speed sensor 8, and shift position sensor 9. That is, based on the output of the engine speed sensor 5, it can be determined that the engine speed is equal to or higher than the predetermined value, and the accelerator switch 6 is turned on (
It is determined that the throttle valve opening is at least a predetermined value based on the output of the throttle sensor 7, and it is determined that the throttle valve opening is at least a predetermined value based on the output of the vehicle speed sensor 8. It is determined that the vehicle is running when it is determined that the vehicle speed is above a predetermined value and the shift position is determined to be a forward or reverse position (a position other than neutral) based on the output of the shift position sensor 9. do.

If it is determined in step 21 that the automobile is running, then in step 22 it is determined whether acceleration is requested by the driver. That is, the amount of increase in the throttle valve opening is determined based on the output of the throttle sensor 7, and if this amount of increase exceeds a predetermined amount, it is determined that acceleration is requested.

When it is determined in step 22 that acceleration is not requested, it is determined in step 23 whether or not a shift operation has been performed in the automatic transmission 2 based on the output of the shift switch 12.

If it is determined in step 22 that acceleration has been requested, or if it is determined in step 23 that a shift operation has been performed, then in step 24, a temporary stop time Ts corresponding to the operating state is calculated. . This temporary stop time Ts is a time during which the supply of excitation current to the IE magnetic powder clutch 3 is temporarily stopped. Further, the driving state is determined based on parameters such as the engine speed, throttle valve opening, vehicle speed, and shift position. Then, the optimum suspension time Ts corresponding to these operating state parameters is calculated by a pre-programmed function,
Alternatively, it is determined by looking up a data table associated with the data table in advance.

The correspondence relationship between this driving time and temporary stop time is, for example,
The larger the increase in engine load, such as when there is a sudden increase in the amount of acceleration when the engine speed is low or the vehicle speed is low, the longer the engine idle time, so the temporary stop time Ts is lengthened. make it a thing.

When the temporary stop time Ts is calculated in step 24, in step 25, a stop command signal is output to the excitation current on/off circuit 10, the operation of the excitation circuit 11 is stopped, and the excitation current of the electromagnetic powder clutch 3 is supply will be stopped. As a result, the electromagnetic powder clutch 3 is released, the engine 1 and the transmission 2 are disconnected, and the engine 1 becomes idle.

At this time, since the accelerator amount is increasing for acceleration, the engine speed increases.

Then, in step 26, it is determined whether the temporary stop time Ts has elapsed. In this case, the temporary stop time Ts calculated in step 24 is set in a timer counter, and the progress is determined based on whether the timer counter has finished calculating the temporary stop time Ts. Pause time Ts
The state in which the supply of exciting current is stopped is maintained until the time period elapses.

Then, when the temporary stop time Ts has elapsed, step 27
Then, an energization command signal is output to the excitation current on/off circuit 10, and the routine ends. As a result, the excitation circuit 11
is activated, the supply of excitation current to the electromagnetic powder clutch 3 is resumed, the electromagnetic powder clutch 3 is engaged, and the engine output is transmitted to the driving wheels.

As described above, the control device of this embodiment releases the 'wiLai powder clutch 3 for a temporary stop time Ts corresponding to the operating state during acceleration or shift operation,
During this time, after the engine 1 is idled to increase the rotational speed, the electromagnetic powder clutch 3 is controlled to be re-engaged, thereby improving acceleration performance and shift performance.

In the above embodiment, an example was shown in which the temporary stop control of the electromagnetic powder clutch 3 is performed both during acceleration and during a shift operation. It may also be one that performs control.

Further, the configuration in which the electromagnetic powder clutch 3 is temporarily stopped during acceleration can be applied not only to automatic transmissions but also to manual transmissions in which the electromagnetic powder clutch 3 is used.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained in detail above, the first invention provides that when an automobile equipped with a transmission using an electromagnetic powder clutch accelerates,
By temporarily releasing the electromagnetic powder clutch, it is possible to idle the engine and increase its rotational speed to a level that can cope with an overload. This allows smooth acceleration and improved acceleration performance.

Further, the second invention is such that, during a shift operation of an automatic transmission using an electromagnetic powder clutch, by temporarily releasing the electromagnetic powder clutch, the engine is idled and its rotational speed is adjusted to a level that can cope with an overload. can be raised to. Thereby, the shift operation can be performed smoothly and the speed change performance can be improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment common to the first invention and the second invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the contents of the control according to the present invention among the controls executed in the control circuit. be. 1... Engine 2... Transmission 3... Electromagnetic powder clutch 4... Control circuit 5... Engine speed sensor 6... Accelerator switch 7... Throttle sensor 8... Vehicle speed sensor 9...Shift position sensor 10...Exciting current on/off circuit 11...Exciting circuit

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A control device for an automobile clutch that is installed in a transmission that uses an electromagnetic powder clutch as a clutch mechanism, which is released in a de-energized state and is engaged when an excitation current is applied, and that controls the excitation current of the electromagnetic powder clutch. , a driving determination means for determining whether the automobile is running; an acceleration determining means for determining whether the automobile has entered an accelerating state; and the acceleration determining means determines that the automobile has entered an accelerating state. 1. A control device for a clutch for an automobile, comprising excitation current temporary stopping means that stops supply of excitation current to the electromagnetic powder clutch for a predetermined period of time when the electromagnetic powder clutch is activated, and then resumes energization. (2) A control device for an automobile clutch that is installed in a transmission that uses an electromagnetic powder clutch as a clutch mechanism, which is released in a de-energized state and is engaged by applying an excitation current, and controls the excitation current of the electromagnetic powder clutch. , a shift detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of a shift operation of the transmission; a running determining means for determining whether the automobile is running; and a driving determining means that determines that the vehicle is running; A clutch for an automobile, comprising excitation current temporary stop means that stops the supply of excitation current to the electromagnetic powder clutch for a predetermined period of time when a shift operation is detected by the shift detection means, and then restarts the supply of the excitation current. control device.