JPH07132805A - Retarder system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To expedite starting of the braking force of a retarder by feeding gas from a gas feeding means into the retarder, in which a fluid flows between a rotating impeller and a fixed impeller, so as to control the amount of fluid flowing between the both impellers, by accumulating the gas in an accumulation means, and by feeding it into the retarder when the gas is to be fed. CONSTITUTION:Impeller-shape rotor 24 and stator 25 are provided in a housing 23. Compressed air is fed from an air tank 4 and is accumulated in an accumulator 7. The compressed air in the air tank 4 is fed into an oil sump 22 via a proportional electromagnetic valve 5. The electromagnetic valve 6 is then switched, and the air is fed into the oil sump 22 from the accumulator 7, along with the compressed air. As a result, the feeding pressure at the time of initial operation is increased, and oil is promptly fed from the oil sump 22 to the rotor 24 and to the stator 25, thus shortening the starting time of braking force.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a retarder system, and more particularly to a retarder system having a retarder for braking a rotating body by fluid.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a fluid retarder has been used as an auxiliary brake for large vehicles such as trucks, sightseeing buses, and crane trucks. The fluid retarder is attached to, for example, a rotary shaft on the output side of the transmission, and brakes the rotation of the rotary shaft by a fluid. Such a retarder
It is mainly composed of a pair of rotary impellers housed in the working chamber and facing each other. Each impeller is used, for example, in a fluid coupling, and has a plurality of radially extending blade members arranged in an annular shape. One of the impellers can be fixed to the rotating shaft, and the other is non-rotatably fixed to the housing. An oil sump that stores oil is arranged below the working chamber. When compressed air is sent to the oil sump from the outside, the oil in the oil sump is sent to the hydraulic oil chamber. The oil flowing from the rotary impeller moves radially outward by the centrifugal force and flows in the rotation direction. Then, the oil collides with the blade member of the fixed impeller, flows in the direction opposite to the rotating direction of the rotary impeller, and returns to the rotary impeller. The oil flowing from the fixed impeller blocks the rotation of the rotary impeller and brakes the rotating shaft.

The braking force exerted by the retarder is determined by the air pressure supplied into the retarder. That is, if the air pressure is high, the filling rate of oil in the working chamber becomes high,
The braking force increases. Conversely, if the air pressure is low, the filling rate of oil in the working chamber will be low, and the braking force will be low. Therefore, there is provided a control system that adjusts the air pressure to switch the retarder braking force in a plurality of steps. The control system generally includes an air tank that stores compressed air, a proportional solenoid valve that uses air from the air tank to pressurize the oil sump of the retarder, and a control that sends a signal to adjust the air pressure by the proportional solenoid valve. It is composed of a unit and a lever switch which is switched by an operation of an operator and sends an operation signal to the control unit.

[0004]

In the conventional retarder system, when the air proportional valve is opened by the signal from the control unit, compressed air is supplied from the air tank to the oil sump of the retarder. The oil is filled into the working chamber by pressurization. In this case, it takes time to fill the working chamber with a certain amount of oil. That is, the braking force rises slowly.

An object of the present invention is to accelerate the rising of the braking force of the retarder.

[0006]

A retarder system according to the present invention brakes a rotating body with a fluid,
It comprises a retarder, a gas supply means and a storage means. The retarder includes a rotary impeller that has fluid inside and is fixed to the rotating body, and a fixed impeller that receives fluid flowing from the rotary impeller, and the fluid flows between both impellers. The gas supply means supplies gas into the retarder to control the amount of fluid flowing between the impellers. The accumulation means accumulates the gas from the gas supply means, and supplies the accumulated gas into the retarder at the time of starting the gas supply from the gas supply means into the retarder.

[0007]

In the retarder system according to the present invention, the rotary impeller rotates together with the rotating body. When the gas is supplied from the gas supply means into the retarder, the fluid is supplied to the rotary impeller. The fluid flowing from the fixed impeller to the rotary impeller brakes the rotation of the rotary impeller. As a result, the rotating body is braked.

The accumulation means supplies the gas accumulated in advance at the start of gas supply by the gas supply means. Therefore, the atmospheric pressure in the retarder increases at the initial stage of operation, and the rotary impeller and the fixed impeller are quickly filled with the fluid. As a result, the braking force of the retarder rises faster.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The retarder system 1 shown in FIG. 1 mainly comprises a retarder 2 and a control system 3 for controlling the operation of the retarder 2. As shown in FIG. 2, the retarder 2 includes a working chamber 21 and an oil sump 22 provided below the working chamber 21. A rotor 24 and a stator 25 are arranged in the housing 23 of the working chamber 21 so as to face each other. The rotor 24 and the stator 25 are
It is an impeller in which a plurality of radially extending blade members are annularly arranged. The rotor 24 is fixed to the shaft 41 so as to rotate integrally therewith. The shaft 41 is supported by the housing 23 via a bearing 30, and its left end (not shown) can be connected to, for example, the shaft on the output side of the vehicle. On the other hand, the stator 25 is non-rotatably fixed to the housing 23 of the working chamber 21.

A predetermined amount of oil is stored in the oil sump 22. The first oil supply pipe 26 has one end opening near the bottom of the oil sump 22 and the other end opening into a torus space formed by the rotor 24 and the stator 25. Further, an opening 22a into which compressed air sent from a control system 3 described later flows is formed in the upper portion of the oil sump 22.

An oil cooler 13 is provided on the side of the oil sump 22. The oil cooler 13 collects the oil that has become hot between the rotor 24 and the stator 25, cools it, and then cools it again.
To return to. An oil return pipe 27 and a second oil supply pipe 2 are provided between the working chamber 23 and the oil cooler 13.
And 8 are provided. The oil cooler 13 circulates the cooling water of the vehicle inside, and the heat transferred from the oil to the cooling water is dissipated to the atmosphere by the radiator of the vehicle.

Next, the control system 3 will be described.
The control system 3 has an air tank 4 filled with compressed air, a proportional solenoid valve 5 and an electromagnetic switching valve 6 provided between the air tank 4 and the oil sump 22. A first pipe 10 is provided between the air tank 4 and the proportional solenoid valve 5 and the electromagnetic switching valve 6, and the proportional solenoid valve 5
And between the electromagnetic switching valve 6 and the oil sump 22 is a second
A pipe 11 is provided. The second pipe 11 is connected to the opening 22a of the oil sump 22 shown in FIG. The proportional solenoid valve 5 can select whether to supply or shut off the compressed air from the air tank 4 into the oil sump 22. Further, when air is supplied, the supply pressure can be adjusted in 5 steps. An accumulator 7 is connected to the electromagnetic switching valve 6. The electromagnetic switching valve 6 can switch between supplying compressed air from the air tank 4 to the accumulator 7 side or supplying compressed air in the accumulator 7 into the oil sump 22 via the second pipe 11.

The control system 3 is, for example, a CPU, RA
It further has a control unit 8 composed of a microcomputer having M, ROM and the like. Control unit 8
A proportional solenoid valve 5 and a solenoid switching valve 6 are connected to. Further, the control unit 8 is connected to a hand lever switch 9 provided on the driver's seat of the vehicle. The hand lever switch 9 is a device for the driver to determine the braking force of the retarder 2 and can shift the braking force in five steps. Furthermore, the control unit 8 has
The temperature sensor 12 provided on the cooling water outlet side of the oil cooler 13 is connected. Further, although not shown, the control unit 8 is connected to an overheat warning light provided in the driver's seat.

Next, the control operation of the retarder 2 by the control system 3 will be described with reference to the control flowchart shown in FIG. In particular, the operation of the program in the control unit 8 will be described. First, in step S1, various initial settings are performed. Here, the proportional solenoid valve 5 is closed. At step S2, a signal is sent to the electromagnetic switching valve 6 to supply compressed air from the air tank 4 to the accumulator 7. Accumulator 7
When a predetermined amount of air is accumulated in, the process proceeds to step S3 and waits for the hand lever switch 9 to be turned on. When it is detected that the lever 9 is turned on in step S3, the process proceeds to step S4. In step S4, a signal is sent to the proportional solenoid valve 5 to supply the compressed air in the air tank 4 into the oil sump 22. The supply pressure by the proportional solenoid valve 5 at this time is determined by the hand lever switch 9.

In step S5, the electromagnetic switching valve 6 is switched to connect the accumulator 7 and the oil sump 22. As a result, the compressed air accumulated in the accumulator 7 is supplied into the oil sump 22 together with the compressed air from the air tank 4. As described above, since the air from the accumulator 7 is added when the operation of the retarder 2 is started, the supply pressure at the initial operation is increased, and the oil is quickly supplied from the oil sump 22 to the rotor 24 and the stator 25. Therefore, the rising time until the braking force reaches a desired value can be significantly shortened.

In step S6, it is determined based on the signal from the temperature sensor 12 whether or not the cooling water has exceeded a predetermined temperature. If the water temperature exceeds the predetermined temperature, the process proceeds to step S7, a warning light (not shown) on the driver's seat is turned on, and then the process proceeds to step S8. If the water temperature does not exceed the predetermined value, the step directly proceeds to step S8. Move to. Step S8
Then, it is determined whether or not the driver has switched the hand lever switch 9. When the switch 9 is switched, the process proceeds to step S9, the adjustment pressure by the proportional solenoid valve 5 is changed, and then the process proceeds to step S10. If step S9 is not switched, the process directly goes to step S10. In step S10, it is determined whether or not the hand lever switch 9 has been turned off. When the hand lever switch 9 is not turned off, the process returns to step S6 and the temperature of the cooling water is checked again. When the hand lever switch 9 is turned off, the process proceeds to step S11, where the proportional solenoid valve 5 is closed. Then, the process returns to step S2 to accumulate the pressure in the accumulator 7.

In actual operation, the accumulator 7 is operated when a certain time elapses during the loop circulation from S6 to S10.
From the end of the discharge of air from, until the shift lever switch 9 is switched or turned off,
The oil sump 27 continues to be pressurized at the constant pressure set by the proportional solenoid valve 5.

[0018]

In the retarder system according to the present invention, the gas that has been previously accumulated by the accumulating means is supplied when the gas supplying means starts supplying gas into the retarder, so that the rotary impeller and the fixed impeller are filled with fluid. Speed up. As a result, the rise of the braking force by the retarder is accelerated.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a control configuration of a retarder system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of the retarder.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the control operation.

[Explanation of reference symbols] 1 retarder system 2 retarder 4 air tank 5 proportional solenoid valve 6 solenoid switching valve 7 accumulator 8 control unit 24 rotor 25 stator

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A retarder system for braking a rotating body by a fluid, wherein the rotating impeller has fluid inside and is fixed to the rotating body, and a fixed blade arranged to face the rotating impeller. A retarder including a wheel, in which a fluid flows between the impellers, a gas supply unit that supplies gas into the retarder to control the amount of fluid flowing between the impellers, and a gas from the gas supply unit And a storage unit configured to supply the accumulated gas into the retarder when the gas supply unit starts to supply the gas into the retarder.