JPH0726562B2 - Engine throttle valve controller - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a throttle valve control device for an engine, and more particularly, to a throttle valve control device for controlling an output of an automobile engine, particularly by an electronically controlled actuator.

(Prior Art) Generally, the intake air amount control of an automobile engine is performed by opening / closing control of a throttle valve provided in an intake passage. And
Normally, this throttle valve is mechanically controlled to open and close in conjunction with the accelerator pedal.

By the way, recently, for the purpose of improving driving feeling and running performance of an automobile, a throttle valve and an accelerator pedal are not simply mechanically connected to each other by a wire cable or the like as in the past, but an electronic control is performed between them. A signal (accelerator depression amount signal) obtained by converting the accelerator depression amount into an electric amount through a means, and a signal indicating another engine operating state or vehicle running state such as an engine speed signal, a gear position signal, and a wheel slip signal. Development of a throttle valve control device that sequentially calculates the optimal throttle opening corresponding to the above, and opens and closes the throttle valve by an electronically controlled actuator that operates based on an electrical signal corresponding to the calculated control amount. It is being advanced.

However, in such an electric throttle valve control device, when the electronic control actuator for driving the throttle valve or the electronic control device fails while the vehicle is traveling, the throttle valve remains open regardless of the driver's intention. There is a possibility that the vehicle will run out of control. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a safety device that can avoid such a dangerous situation.

Conventionally, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 61-54933, in an engine equipped with an electric throttle valve control device, it is connected in series with a first throttle valve that is drive-controlled by an electronically controlled actuator. It has been proposed that a second throttle valve with which the accelerator pedal is interlocked is arranged so that the second throttle valve functions as a safety throttle valve when the first throttle valve remains open. . Further, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-60331, a first throttle valve that interlocks with an accelerator pedal and an electric second throttle valve are arranged in series in an intake passage of an engine for slip control during vehicle acceleration. This is done by opening and closing the electric second throttle valve.
When the drive control means of the throttle valve of
It is described that the safety is maintained by driving the throttle valve of No. 1 by accelerator operation.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, two throttle valves are arranged in series in the intake passage, one throttle valve is interlocked with the accelerator pedal, and the other throttle valve is drive-controlled by the electronically controlled actuator. In such a case, even if the throttle valve by the electronically controlled actuator falls into the inoperable state, the throttle valve linked with the accelerator pedal can prevent the vehicle from running out of control.
Safety can be secured. However, if the two throttle valves are arranged in series, the intake system inevitably becomes large in size, which makes it difficult to arrange the throttle valve in a narrow engine room. Further, when the above-mentioned conventional technique is applied to a control device for automatic operation of an engine for automatically running a vehicle at a constant speed, for example, the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Publication No. 61-54933.
Both the device disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 61-60331 and the device disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 61-60331 also operate an accelerator pedal when opening and closing an electric throttle valve. There is also a problem in that the mere application of the technology makes it impossible to obtain a throttle valve control device capable of automatically operating the engine without operating the accelerator pedal.

The object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and is small and highly safe, and when applied to an automatic constant-speed traveling device, allows automatic operation of the engine without operating the accelerator pedal. An object of the present invention is to provide a throttle valve control device for an engine that can perform the operation.

(Means for Solving the Problems) A throttle valve control device for an engine according to the present invention is a throttle lever arranged on a valve shaft of a throttle valve, and a prime mover arranged coaxially with the valve shaft and driven by an electric motor. A gear, a reduction plate rotatably disposed on the valve shaft, a reduction gear disposed on the rotation plate and meshing with the driving gear, and a link mechanism connecting the reduction gear and the throttle lever. And a limiting member that limits a rotation range of the throttle lever with respect to the rotating plate, and a unit that rotates the rotating plate in response to a driver's operation.

(Operation) According to the throttle valve control device for an engine of the present invention, when the throttle valve becomes uncontrollable due to a failure of the electric motor or the like, the opening of the throttle valve is limited to the opening corresponding to the depression of the accelerator pedal or less. It

(Embodiment) Hereinafter, a throttle valve control device for an engine of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to an embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is provided with an inter-vehicle distance sensor for detecting an inter-vehicle distance with a preceding vehicle, and adjusting an opening of a throttle valve so as to keep a traveling speed of the vehicle at a set speed and reducing an inter-vehicle distance with the preceding vehicle. In this case, one embodiment of the present invention is shown which is applied to an automatic constant speed traveling device for a vehicle that controls the opening of a throttle valve so as to maintain an appropriate inter-vehicle distance.

In this embodiment, a throttle valve 2 for opening and closing the intake passage 1 is provided in the intake passage 1 of an engine (not shown). A valve shaft 3 of the throttle valve 2 projects out of the intake passage 1, and a throttle lever 4 is fixed to one end of the valve shaft 3. A driving gear 5 is arranged coaxially with the valve shaft 3, and an electric motor 6 fixed to the intake passage 1 side is drivingly connected to the driving gear 5. A rotating plate 7 is rotatably provided on the valve shaft 3. A gear shaft 8 is fixed at a position away from the axis of the rotary plate 7, and a reduction gear 9 that is driven by meshing with the driving gear 5 is rotatably disposed on the gear shaft 8. . Further, a connecting pin 10 is fixed to the outer edge of the reduction gear 9, and a connecting pin 11 is fixed to the end portion of the throttle lever 4, so that the reduction gear 9 and the throttle lever 4 are separated from each other. They are connected to each other by a link plate 12 which is rotatably connected to the connecting pins 10 and 11. As shown in FIG.
The throttle lever 4 is provided with a rotation range limiting window 4a extending in the circumferential direction by a predetermined distance, and the rotating plate 7 is fixedly provided with a stopper pin 13 corresponding to the rotation range limiting window 4a. By contacting one end of the rotation range limiting window 4a with the stopper pin 13, the rotation range of the throttle lever 4 with respect to the rotating plate 7 is limited.

One end of a return spring 14 is held on the side surface of the rotating plate 7. The other end of the return spring 14 is held on the intake passage 1 side, whereby torque in the direction of returning the throttle valve 2 to the closed position is applied to the valve shaft 3 via the rotating plate 7, the stopper pin 13 and the throttle lever 4. Has been. In addition, the return spring of the rotating plate 7
14 One end of a back spring 15 is held on the side surface opposite to the holding side. The other end of the back spring 15 is held by the throttle lever 4, thereby applying a torque in the direction in which the throttle lever 4 is brought into contact with the stopper pin 13 (the direction opposite to the arrow A in FIG. 2). Rotating plate 7
An accelerator wire 16 is hooked on the groove 7a on the outer peripheral part of the accelerator wire 16, and the other end of the accelerator wire 16 is connected to an accelerator pedal 17. When the accelerator pedal 17 is depressed, the rotating plate 7 is rotated against the spring force of the return spring 14,
Throttle valve 2 via reduction gear 9 and throttle lever 4
The valve shaft 3 rotates in the direction of opening.

The accelerator pedal 17 is provided with an accelerator sensor 18 for detecting the depression amount of the accelerator pedal 17. Further, a negative pressure responsive actuator 19 is connected to the accelerator pedal 17. The actuator 19 includes an electromagnetic valve 191, a diaphragm 192, and a negative pressure chamber 193 defined by the diaphragm 192. The negative pressure chamber 193 is connected to the intake passage 1 downstream of the throttle valve 2 by a pipe 20. Further, the diaphragm 192 and the accelerator pedal 17 are connected by a diaphragm wire 21. The solenoid valve 191 is provided in the middle of the pipe 20 that guides the negative pressure, and when energized, the negative pressure chamber 19
Close the atmospheric hole 194 that opens to 3 and the intake negative pressure diaphragm
When the electric current is cut off by acting on 192, the atmospheric hole 194 is opened to make the inside of the negative pressure chamber 193 substantially atmospheric pressure. When the solenoid valve 191 is energized and a negative pressure acts on the diaphragm 192, the throttle valve 2 passes through the diaphragm wire 21.
The accelerator pedal 17 is driven in the opening direction.

An opening sensor 22 is attached to the throttle valve 2. The opening sensor 22 can be composed of, for example, a potentiometer.

A vehicle (not shown) is provided with an inter-vehicle distance sensor 23 for detecting an inter-vehicle distance with a vehicle in front, and a vehicle speed sensor 24,
Further, an automatic operation switch 25 for instructing automatic operation of the engine is provided. The inter-vehicle distance sensor 23 can be composed of, for example, a radar device. Further, the vehicle is provided with an electronic control unit 26 for controlling the drive of the electric motor 6 and for controlling the solenoid valve 191 on / off. The electronic control unit 26 includes output signals of the inter-vehicle distance sensor 2 and the vehicle speed sensor 24, a switch signal of the automatic driving switch 25, and an opening sensor.
22 output signals are input. The electronic control unit 26 performs predetermined arithmetic processing based on these input information and outputs a control signal to the electric motor 6 and the solenoid valve 191.

Next, the operation of the throttle valve control device according to the above embodiment will be described.

During normal operation when the automatic operation switch is not operated, the solenoid valve 191 is de-energized. At this time, the pressures inside the actuator 19 and the negative pressure chamber 193 are close to the atmospheric pressure, so the diaphragm 192 does not operate, and the accelerator pedal 17 can be freely operated. Accordingly, the rotating plate 7 is rotated against the return spring 14 by the accelerator operation, and the valve shaft 3 is rotated through the reduction gear 9 and the throttle lever 4 which rotate integrally with the rotating plate 7 and the throttle valve 2
Open and close. Thereby, the intake amount of the engine is adjusted and the output is controlled.

Further, when the vehicle is traveling at a constant speed at a desired vehicle speed (for example, 100 km / h), the accelerator pedal 17 is operated to adjust the vehicle speed to the desired vehicle speed, and the automatic operation switch 25 is operated to the automatic operation side. As a result, the solenoid valve 191 is energized, the atmosphere hole 194 is closed, and the intake negative pressure from the intake passage 1 is introduced into the negative pressure chamber 193 of the actuator 19 via the pipe 20 and the diaphragm 192.
Act on. As a result, the diaphragm 192 drives the accelerator pedal 17 against the spring force of the return spring 14, and rotates the rotating plate 7 to the fully open position of the throttle valve 2 regardless of the operation of the accelerator pedal 17 by the driver. Further, at this time, the electronic control unit 26 inputs the vehicle speed signal from the vehicle speed sensor 24 and controls the rotation of the electric motor 6 so that the vehicle speed becomes a desired vehicle speed. The rotation of the electric motor 6 is transmitted to the throttle lever 4 via the driving gear 5 and the reduction gear 9 to rotate the valve shaft 3 of the throttle valve 2. When the reduction gear 9 rotates in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 2, the throttle lever 4 connected by the link plate 12 rotates in the direction of arrow A against the back spring 15, and the throttle valve 2 is driven to the closing side. It When the reduction gear 9 rotates in the direction opposite to the arrow B, the throttle lever 4 rotates to the side opposite to the arrow A, that is, to the side where the throttle valve 2 is opened. In this way, the opening degree of the throttle valve 2 is controlled so that the desired vehicle speed is obtained. During this automatic driving, when the inter-vehicle distance sensor 23 detects that the inter-vehicle distance with the preceding vehicle has become short, the electronic control unit 26 drives the throttle valve 2 to the closing side regardless of the desired vehicle speed. Deceleration control is performed to maintain an appropriate inter-vehicle distance. Then, when the inter-vehicle distance from the preceding vehicle becomes sufficiently long, the constant-speed traveling at the desired vehicle speed is performed again.

In such a constant-speed traveling device, when the electric motor 6 or the electronic control device 26 fails, or when foreign matter is caught between the reduction gear 9 and the throttle lever 4 to make it inoperable, such an abnormal state is generated. This is detected by the output signal of the opening degree sensor 22, and the solenoid valve 191 is immediately de-energized and the atmosphere hole 194 is opened. This allows the accelerator pedal 17 to be freely operated, so that the driver can operate the accelerator pedal 17 to control the opening / closing of the throttle valve 2. At that time, since one end of the rotation range limiting window 4a of the throttle lever 4 which rotates the throttle valve 2 in the opening direction is brought into contact with the stopper pin 13, the throttle valve 2 is depressed by the electric motor 6 by depressing the accelerator pedal 17. It does not open beyond the opening corresponding to. Therefore,
It is possible to prevent the vehicle from running out of control.

Thirdly, another embodiment of the throttle valve control device for an engine according to the present invention is shown. In the throttle valve control system according to this embodiment, the reduction gear 9 includes an internal gear 9a, and the internal gear 9a meshes with the driving gear 5. Since the other points are the same as those of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, further description will be omitted. According to such an embodiment, since the reduction gear 9 that meshes with the driving gear 5 is composed of the internal gear 9a, the distance between the rotation centers of the driving gear 5 and the reduction gear 9 can be shortened, and Can be made small.

Furthermore, the throttle valve control device of each of the above-described embodiments has been described as applied to an automatic constant speed traveling device equipped with an inter-vehicle distance sensor, but the throttle valve control device according to the present invention is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-60331. It is also applicable to a device for controlling the slip ratio of a wheel disclosed in, for example. The configuration in this case is shown in FIG. As is apparent from FIG. 4, when the throttle valve control device of the present invention is applied to the wheel slip ratio control device, the actuator 19 provided in the embodiment of FIG. 1 is unnecessary.

That is, during normal operation when the driver depresses the accelerator pedal 17, the drive wheel speed sensor 27 and the driven wheel speed sensor 28
The slip control unit 29, which has detected the slip of the driving wheels by the output signal of the above, drives the electric motor 6 to close the throttle valve 2. As a result, the engine output is reduced, the drive torque of the drive wheels is reduced, and the occurrence of slip is suppressed.

Even in such a configuration, since the opening control range of the throttle valve 2 by the electric motor 6 is limited to a range equal to or smaller than the opening degree opened by the accelerator pedal 17, the throttle valve 2 opens due to a failure of the electric motor 6 or the like, and the runaway occurs. Therefore, the device can be made highly safe.

In each of the above-described embodiments, the reduction gear 9 and the throttle lever 4 are connected by the link plate 12, but a rod, a wire, or the like may be used, and the same effect as that of each of the above-described embodiments is obtained.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the throttle valve control device for an engine of the present invention, the throttle valve opening control range by the electric motor is configured to be limited to the opening degree by depressing the accelerator pedal or less. , High safety that the vehicle does not run away even if the electric motor etc. falls into the inoperable state,
Moreover, a throttle valve control device capable of automatic operation can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a structural explanatory view showing a throttle valve control device for an engine in one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the throttle valve control device taken along line II-II in FIG. 1, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a throttle valve control device for an engine according to another embodiment of the present invention, similarly to FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the engine throttle valve control device of the present invention applied to a wheel slip ratio control device. It is a structure explanatory view in a case. 1 ... Intake passage, 2 ... Throttle valve, 3 ... Valve shaft, 4
...... Throttle lever, 4a ...... Rotation range limiting window, 5 ......
Driving gear, 6 ... Electric motor, 7 ... Rotating plate, 9 ...
Reduction gear, 13 …… Stopper pin.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A valve shaft for opening and closing a throttle valve for controlling the output of an engine, a throttle lever arranged on the valve shaft, a coaxial shaft of the valve shaft and driven by an electric motor. A driving gear, a rotating plate rotatably arranged on the valve shaft, a reduction gear arranged on the rotating plate and meshed with the driving gear, and a link connecting the reduction gear and the throttle lever. A throttle for an engine, comprising a mechanism, a limiting member that limits a rotation range of the throttle lever with respect to the rotating plate, and a unit that rotates the rotating plate in response to an operation of a driver. Valve control device.