JPH0636356Y2 - Automatic transmission for vehicle - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to an automatic transmission for a vehicle, and in particular, it controls engine rotation, clutch, and transmission in response to operation of a shift tower for instructing shift change, The present invention relates to a vehicle automatic transmission that shifts gears based on a command.

[Conventional technology]

Generally, in an automobile or the like, an automatic transmission equipped with a torque converter is usually used. However, in commercial vehicles such as trucks and buses, automatic transmissions of the type equipped with many torque converters have not spread as much as passenger cars due to fuel consumption problems.

Therefore, in commercial vehicles, as a fuel-saving automatic transmission with less loss, a full-automatic system that automatically shifts by adding a sensor and an operating actuator to a normal mechanical clutch and transmission has been developed. The applicant has already proposed this kind of technology (Japanese Utility Model Application No. 57-1).
77192 etc.).

Generally, the shift tower of the automatic transmission is as shown in Fig. 7, and the box 2 is linearly in the first speed, the second speed, the automatic drive range (D range), the neutral N, the reverse R.
Etc. are provided, and automatic shifting is performed by setting the shift lever 1 to the automatic drive range.

However, the automatic transmission of the fully automatic system that electronically controls the mechanical clutch and mechanical transmission uses a computer to control various driving situations such as automatically shifting up or down in anticipation of upcoming situations. If all are done, the control device becomes complicated and expensive, and the reliability problem arises.

Therefore, Japanese Patent Application No. 59-41629 (Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 60-154650)
The applicant of the present invention has proposed a method of shifting from a straight road or a flat road to a curve running or an uphill running as instructed by the driver.

On the other hand, for the purpose of reducing the load of clutch operation, there is a semi-automatic system in which the gear shift operation is performed only by operating the shift lever 1 at each comb tooth-shaped position of the box 2 shown in FIG. The applicant of the present invention has devised Japanese Utility Model Application No. 60-46728 as an automatic transmission in which control is not complicated as much as in a fully automatic system by promoting automation of this system.

However, in the above-mentioned device, the gear shift control according to the shift change command can be satisfactorily performed when sequentially performing the upshift from the start or when the downshift is performed in the middle, but during the deceleration traveling, the neutral shift is performed once. If the gear is set again and the vehicle is re-accelerated, the shift change command must be issued many times depending on the vehicle speed during deceleration, and even if the gear is set after judging that the gear can be set without overrunning. However, if the rotation speed at this time was close to the maximum rotation speed, the gear could not be set, and there was a problem that a shift change command had to be issued to set the gear to a higher gear in order to accelerate.

In the above device, the gear is set to neutral in order to prevent engine stop during deceleration and prevent frequent downshifts.

As the decelerating traveling state as described above, for example, when decelerating by depressing the accelerator pedal with a red signal or the like and performing a braking operation, the transmission shift position is set to the neutral position and decelerating traveling is performed. When it turned blue and accelerated again, it was not possible to quickly and reliably shift up to the target gear position several steps away from neutral.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object thereof is to select up-shift or down-shift according to a driver's intention when a gear is set again after the transmission shift position is set to neutral during deceleration. It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic transmission for a vehicle that can be manually shifted and that can quickly and reliably shift up and down to a target gear position several steps away from neutral.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

The present invention for achieving the above object provides a neutral (N) automatic transmission for a vehicle, which controls engine rotation, a clutch, and a transmission in response to an operation of a shift tower, and performs a gear shift based on an operation of the shift tower. , Shift up (U) and shift down (D) designated positions, shift tower designated position detection means, transmission shift position detection means, and vehicle speed detection means When a shift change command is issued from the designated position detection means by means of either, the shift change command is either upshift or downshift, and when the output from the shift position detection means is neutral, vehicle speed detection when a shift change occurs The vehicle speed output from A selection means for selecting a possible temporary target gear stage and a target gear stage that matches the shift change command from among the temporary target gear stages selected by the selection means, and the shift change command is a shift up (U) command. Sometimes, a higher gear is set as the target gear, and when the shift change command is a downshift (D) command, a lower gear is set as the target gear, and a shift set of the target gear is set by the output from the setting means. It is characterized by having a transmission control means including a shift set control means for instructing a transmission actuator.

[Action]

According to the above configuration, when the shift change command is issued from the designated position detection means by the operation of the shift tower by the driver's intention, and if the output from the shift position detection means is neutral, the selection means of the transmission control means , A temporary target gear that is capable of shift change is selected by taking in the vehicle speed output from the vehicle speed detection means when a shift change occurs, and a target gear that meets the shift change command is selected from among the temporary target gears selected by the setting means. When the shift change command is the upshift command, the higher gear is set as the target gear position, and when the shift change command is the downshift command, the lower gear position is set as the target gear position.

Then, based on the output from the setting means, the shift set control means of the transmission control means instructs the transmission actuator to shift set to the target gear stage.

Therefore, when the gear position is set again after the transmission shift position has been set to neutral during deceleration,
Manual shift operation is possible by selecting the designated positions for upshift and downshift according to the driver's intention, and it is also possible to quickly and reliably shift up and down to a target gear position several steps away from neutral. .

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

1 and 2 are a hardware configuration and a control block diagram showing an entire automatic transmission for a vehicle according to the present invention.

In the figure, 11 is an engine, and a transmission 13 is attached to the engine 11 via a mechanical clutch 12. An output shaft of the transmission 13 is connected to a rear axle (not shown) via a propeller shaft 14. In addition, the engine 11 is provided with a fuel injection pump 15.

The clutch 12 includes a clutch stroke sensor 16 for detecting whether the clutch is engaged or disengaged from the stroke amount, that is, whether it is in the range A (connected state) or the range C (disengaged state) in FIG. A clutch actuator 17 for driving a clutch, which is equipped with, for example, a valve, is mounted.
The range B in FIG. 3 is in the half-clutch state.

Further, the transmission 13 includes a counter shaft rotation sensor 18 for detecting the rotation speed of the counter shaft, a vehicle speed sensor 19 for detecting the rotation speed of the output shaft,
A transmission actuator 20 that shifts the transmission 13 and a shift position sensor 21 that detects a shift position of the transmission 13 are provided.

Reference numeral 22 is a clutch pedal position sensor that detects the position of the clutch pedal 23, 24 is an accelerator pedal, and 25 is an accelerator switching device.

The above is a general matter of the vehicular automatic transmission to which the present invention is applied, and the shift tower 26, which is the point of the vehicular automatic transmission according to the present invention, is as follows.

As shown in FIG. 4, the shift tower 26 is provided with a substantially cross-shaped cutout portion 26c at the upper part of the guide box 26b, and the shiftup U and shiftdown D are provided in the vertical direction of the cutout portion 26c.
The designated positions of the automatic shift A and the neutral N are provided in the lateral direction. Shift lever 26
A reverse button 26d is provided on a.

Inside the guide box 26b, though not shown, designated position detecting means (sensor) for detecting the designated position corresponding to the commanded positions of the shift up U, shift down D, automatic shift A and neutral N, that is, detection. A switch is provided.

The vertical shift up U and shift down D give a signal only when the shift lever 26a is pushed by hand, and when the hand is released, the shift lever 26a returns to the central portion of the cutout portion 26c and the signal stops. In addition, the lateral automatic shift A and neutral N are set by operating the shift lever 26a.
Shift lever 26
a must be manually returned to the center of cutout 26c.

Further, when the reverse button 26d is pressed, even if a signal is sent in either the up-shifting U direction or the down-shifting D direction, priority is given to setting the reverse gear.

On the other hand, the control unit 27 that controls the clutch 12 and the transmission 13 includes a shift tower 26,
A shift change control unit 28 that issues a shift change command when a shift change request condition is satisfied based on a signal from the clutch pedal position sensor 22 (when a shift designation operation is normally performed), and its shift change control. Based on the signal from the shift position sensor 21 when the shift change command is output from the section 28, the transmission 13
The synchro speed at the specified shift stage is calculated by the input from the vehicle speed sensor 19 and the calculated value is compared with the rotation speed (current rotation speed) measured by the counter shaft rotation speed sensor 18 to synchronize the synchro speed. A synchro determination unit 29 that determines the state, a transmission control unit 31 that receives a synchro detection signal from the synchro determination unit 29 and issues a drive signal to the transmission actuator 20 via a relay box 30, and the shift change control unit.
A clutch connection / disconnection control unit 32 that controls the drive of the clutch actuator 17 based on a command from 28, and an engine control unit 33 that switches the accelerator operation from manual to automatic by controlling the accelerator switching device 25 when a shift change command is output. And are provided.

The structure of the present invention includes the position of the shift lever 26a, namely, neutral N, shift up U, and shift down.
D, designated position detecting means for detecting the automatic shift A, neutral detecting means (shift position detecting means) for detecting whether or not the transmission 13 is in neutral, and vehicle speed detecting means for detecting the rotational speed of the output shaft of the transmission 13. , Selecting means for taking in the vehicle speed output and selecting a provisional target gear stage capable of shift change, and selecting a target gear stage that is compatible with a shift change command from among the selected provisional target gear stages, and a high target for a shift up U command Transmission control means having setting means for setting a low target gear step when a gear down is set and a low target gear step when a downshift D command is issued, and shift set control means for instructing the transmission actuator 20 to shift set the target gear step Has become.

In addition, the shift change control unit 28 outputs an alarm signal to the transmission error lamp 34 or the clutch error lamp 35 when a malfunction occurs in the shift change operation.

When the shift change operation is completed, the shift change control unit 28 indicates to the shift completion lamp 37, when the clutch operation and the accelerator operation are switched to the manual operation, and the double clutch command lamp 38 indicates the shift completion and the double clutch instruction. , And sends signals to the buzzer 36, respectively.

Furthermore, 39 and 40 are the ON relays of the exhaust brake that are used to obtain the synchronization of the transmission 13 quickly, and temporarily release these when performing a shift change operation while manually operating the exhaust brake. In order to operate the exhaust OFF relay, 41 is a transmission position indicator for displaying the position of the transmission 13, 42 is the shift completion lamp 37 and a buzzer.
It is a reset button that resets 36 etc.

The embodiment of the present invention is constructed as described above, and its operation will be described below with reference to the flow chart of FIG.

First, when the control unit 27 is activated by the clock, the designated position of the shift tower is detected by operating the shift lever 26a of the shift tower 26 (step 100). That is, the designated position according to the operation of the shift lever 26a is neutral (N), reverse (Rev),
A determination is made as to whether automatic shift (AUTO), shift up (UP), or shift down (DOWN) is performed (steps 102, 104, 10).
6,108,110).

If YES in step 102, step 112
Then, control is performed to operate the transmission actuator 20 according to a command from the transmission control unit 31 and set the transmission 13 to neutral. If YES is determined in step 104,
The output of the vehicle speed sensor 19 is fetched (step 114), it is determined whether the detected vehicle speed V is lower than the reverse gear set upper limit vehicle speed Vo (step 116), and YES is determined in this step.
If it is determined that the transmission 13 is activated, the transmission actuator 20 is operated in response to a command from the transmission control unit 31, and the transmission 13
Reverse gear set control is performed and the processing in this routine ends.

If YES is determined in step 106, the output of the vehicle speed sensor 19 is fetched (step 120) and the vehicle speed data is read (step 122). After this, step 1
Moving to 24, it is determined whether or not gear shifting is necessary, and if NO is determined, the processing in this routine ends,
If YES is determined, the process proceeds to step 126, and it is determined whether or not shift up is performed. YES at this step
If it is determined to be, shift up control is performed (step 128), and if it is determined to be NO, shift down control is performed (step 130).

Up to this point, the operation is the same as the previous operation (Japanese Patent Application No. 60-46728), and the following is the point of the automatic transmission for vehicle of the present invention.

On the other hand, when YES is determined in steps 108 and 110, the process proceeds to steps 132 and 134, and it is determined whether or not the current transmission 13 is neutral. When YES is determined in each of the steps 132 and 134, the process proceeds to step 136. step 1
At 36, the output of the vehicle speed sensor 19 is fetched, and step 138
The process shifts to a process for selecting a shiftable gear speed based on the vehicle speed data of.

In the process of step 138, shiftable gears are selected based on the vehicle speed data shown in FIG. For example, when traveling at 20 Km / h, the third target speed and the fourth speed are selected as the provisional target gear stages. The gear stage selection range in FIG. 6 is a range of engine speeds so that three or more shift stages cannot be performed at the same vehicle speed (up to two shift stages) at the same vehicle speed. is there.

After step 138, the process proceeds to step 140, and it is determined based on the vehicle speed whether there is a gear stage capable of gear shift change. When YES is determined, the process proceeds to step 142 and the number of gear stages selected. It is determined whether or not When NO is determined in this step 142, the routine proceeds to step 144, in which the higher gear is used for the shift-up command and the lower gear is used for the down-shift command with respect to the two selected provisional target gears. Then, the process proceeds to step 146.

If YES in step 142, the process proceeds to step 146 to execute shift set control to the target gear,
A command is sent to the transmission actuator 20, all the processing in this routine is completed, and the operation of the present invention is completed.

If NO in step 140, the process proceeds to step 148, and it is determined based on the output of the clutch stroke sensor 16 whether the clutch is OFF. If NO is determined in this step, error processing is performed (step 150), and if YES is determined, step 152 is executed.
Move to processing. In step 152, it is determined whether or not gear change operation is being performed, and if NO is determined, the process proceeds to step 154, gear shift control for the first speed is performed, and the processing in this routine ends.

If YES in step 152, step 156
Move to processing. In step 156, the target shift stage is changed, and the process proceeds to step 158. In step 158,
The shift set control to the target stage is performed, and all the processes in this routine are completed.

If NO is determined in step 132, the process proceeds to step 160, and it is determined whether or not the current shift stage is the highest stage. If the gear is shifted to the highest gear in this step, the process in this routine is ended, and if not shifted to the highest gear, the process proceeds to step 162.
In step 162, it is determined whether or not the gear shifting operation is in progress, and NO is determined.
If it is determined that the shift up control is performed, the process proceeds to step 164.

On the other hand, if YES is determined in step 162, it is determined whether or not the shift to the highest gear is being performed (step 166), and if NO is determined in this step, a process for changing the gear shift target gear is performed ( Step 168) and then the process of step 168.

Furthermore, when NO is determined in step 134, the process proceeds to step 170, it is determined whether or not the current shift stage is the lowest stage, and when YES is determined, the process in this routine is ended. , NO, the process proceeds to step 172, and it is determined whether or not the gear shifting operation is being performed.

If YES is determined in this step, Step 174
Then, it is determined whether or not the shift to the lowest gear is in progress. If NO is determined in this step, the gear shift process of the gear shift target stage is performed (step 176), and if YES is determined, the process proceeds to step 178 and shift down control is executed. Even when it is determined to be NO in step 172, the process proceeds to step 178, and downshift control is executed.

[Effect of device]

As described above, according to the present invention, after shifting the transmission to the neutral position during deceleration,
When the gear is set again, it is directly operated by operating the shift lever of the shift tower, and when the shift lever commands a shift up or a shift down, the temporary target gear stage according to the vehicle speed is selected and the shift change command shifts up. When the command is issued, the target gear is set to a high gear position, and when the shift change command is a downshift command, the gear is set to a low target gear position, and the gear is set to the set target gear. After making it neutral
When the gear is set again, it is possible to perform a manual shift operation by selecting a designated position for upshifting or downshifting according to the driver's intention, and it is possible to shift up and down down to the target gear speed quickly and surely. The operability can be improved.

Therefore, for example, during deceleration due to a red traffic light, when the transmission shift position is set to neutral, the signal turns blue, and even when accelerating again, it is possible to immediately shift up to a shift position several steps away from neutral. Therefore, an excellent operability effect can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a hardware configuration diagram showing an entire vehicle automatic transmission according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block configuration diagram of FIG.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the operating characteristics of a clutch stroke sensor, FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a shift tower of an automatic transmission for a vehicle according to the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the device according to the present invention. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the relationship between vehicle speed and engine speed, and FIGS. 7 and 8 are perspective views showing the appearance of a conventional shift tower. 11 …… Engine, 12 …… Clutch, 13 …… Transmission, 16 …… Clutch stroke sensor, 17 …… Clutch actuator, 18 …… Counter shaft sensor, 19 ……
Vehicle speed sensor, 20 ... transmission actuator,
21 …… Shift position sensor, 26 …… Shift tower, 27 …… Control unit, 28 …… Shift change controller, 29…
… Synchro judgment unit, 31 …… Transmission control unit, 32
...... Clutch on / off control unit, 33 …… Engine control unit.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An automatic transmission for a vehicle, which controls engine rotation, a clutch and a transmission in response to an operation of a shift tower and performs a gear shift based on an operation of the shift tower, in a neutral (N) and a shift up (U). , A shift tower with a designated position for downshift (D), a designated position detecting means for the shift tower, a shift position detecting means for the transmission, and a vehicle speed detecting means are provided, and the designated position detecting means is operated by operating the shift tower. When a shift change command is issued, the shift change command is either upshift or downshift, and when the output from the shift position detection means is neutral, the vehicle speed output from the vehicle speed detection means at the time of a shift change is output. Temporary eyes that can be captured and changed The target means that matches the shift change command is selected from the selection means that selects the gear speed and the provisional target gear speed that is selected by the selection means, and the higher gear is targeted when the shift change command is the shift up (U) command. Setting means for setting as a gear stage and setting a lower gear as a target gear stage when the shift change command is a downshift (D) command, and a shift set of the target gear stage is instructed to the transmission actuator by an output from the setting device. An automatic transmission for a vehicle, comprising: transmission control means including shift set control means.