JPH0743030B2 - Lockup clutch controller - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of use] The present invention relates to a lockup clutch for controlling the operation of a lockup clutch in a torque converter with a lockup clutch that constitutes an automatic transmission mounted on a vehicle. Regarding the control device.

[Prior Art] In recent years, in a torque converter for an automatic transmission mounted on a vehicle, a torque converter incorporating a lock-up clutch that enables mechanical direct drive to prevent power transmission loss has been developed. .

The torque converter with the lock-up clutch is
Under certain specific conditions, the lock-up clutch is automatically engaged, and the lock-up clutch connects the output shaft of the torque converter directly to the engine output shaft (lock-up) .In other cases, the lock-up clutch is disengaged. The input shaft of the torque converter is connected to the engine output shaft. The specific condition is that the position to be locked up is determined based on a lockup pattern (lockup diagram) that is generally set in advance in the correlation between vehicle speed and engine load, and the current vehicle speed data and engine load data are determined. There is known a method of making a determination by performing a comparison calculation on and based on the lockup pattern.

By the way, it is known that the lock-up pattern can be manually selected according to the driving conditions or the preference of the vehicle driver (for example, "Automatic transmission control method" described in JP-A-56-39354).

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the above-described conventional technique, the lockup pattern is uniformly determined by the vehicle driver's manual selection or the driving condition. Even if the vehicle driver manually selects it, he / she only selects one of the predetermined ones, and is not based on the driving operation of the vehicle driver. That is, in none of the above-described conventional techniques, a lock-up pattern that matches the driving operation of the vehicle driver cannot be obtained because the driving operation characteristics such as the accelerator work of the vehicle driver are not used as the determination condition.

As a result, for example, when the vehicle is in a high-speed or heavy-duty driving environment and the number of situations where acceleration is required is higher than the general average, lock-up occurs even if the vehicle driver desires further acceleration. The clutch is engaged early,
The torque increasing effect of the torque converter is lost and the feeling of acceleration is inferior. On the other hand, for example, when the vehicle is in a low-speed or low-load driving environment and the number of driving situations that do not require acceleration is higher than the general average, it may be possible to engage the lockup clutch sooner. , It was not possible to sufficiently improve fuel efficiency.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems, and to provide an excellent lock-up clutch control device capable of improving acceleration performance or fuel consumption corresponding to the driving operation state of a vehicle driver. Made for the purpose of providing.

Structure of the Invention [Means for Solving Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following structures as means for solving the problems. That is, the present invention is the first
As illustrated in the figure, the lockup clutch M12 in the torque converter M11 with a lockup clutch is based on a predetermined lockup control condition M10 having vehicle speed and engine load as parameters.
In a lock-up clutch control device for executing or releasing lock-up of the vehicle, operating state detecting means M1 for detecting engine load data and / or vehicle speed data during traveling with the lock-up clutch engaged, and the operating state detection On the basis of the comparison result of a predetermined number of times by the operating state comparing means M2, which compares the detection value detected by the means M1 with a preset reference value a predetermined number of times, the detected value is the reference value. If the number of times exceeds the predetermined reference number of times, the lock-up control condition
M10 is moved to the high vehicle speed side, on the other hand, if the number of times the detected value does not exceed the reference value is more than a predetermined reference number, the lockup control condition M10 is corrected to move to the low vehicle speed side. The gist is a lock-up clutch control device characterized by including a correction means M3 for performing.

Here, the lockup control condition M10 is a condition for switching execution or cancellation of lockup, and is represented as, for example, a lockup diagram in which execution / cancellation of lockup is set according to the vehicle speed and the engine load. This is stored in the ROM, RAM, etc. of the microcomputer.

The operating state detection means M1 detects engine load data and / or vehicle speed data during traveling in a state in which the lockup clutch is engaged (hereinafter referred to as a lockup state), and the vehicle speed data is, for example, that of a torque converter. It may be calculated by a pulse signal output from a vehicle speed sensor that detects the rotation speed of the output shaft, or may be calculated by a pulse signal that drives a speedometer. Further, the engine load data is, for example, throttle opening data, intake air amount data, intake pipe negative pressure data, etc., and various detection methods are known.

The reference value used for the comparison with the detected value in the driving state comparison means M2 is a threshold value set appropriately to distinguish whether the vehicle speed or the engine load in the lockup state is high or low. Then, the number of times the detection value that is the condition is detected is counted for each condition divided by the reference value,
It is stored as a comparison result for later processing. It should be noted that only one reference value may be set to simply divide the level of the detected value, or a plurality of reference values may be set to divide the level of the detected value more finely. The detected value may be either one of the engine load data and the vehicle speed data, or both.

The predetermined reference number used in the correction means M3 to determine whether or not to correct the lockup control condition M10 is a threshold value that is appropriately set to determine the distribution of detected values.

The operating state comparing means M2 and the correcting means M3 can be constituted by, for example, a microcomputer provided with a CPU, a ROM, a RAM and the like.

[Operation] The operation of the present invention will be described. The detected value detected by the operating state detecting means M1 is compared with the reference value by the operating state comparing means M2, and the result is counted. From this comparison result, it is possible to understand the distribution of the detected values in the lockup state, and it can be inferred from this that the difference in the vehicle usage environment and the driver's driving operation characteristics.

Here, if the number of times the detected value exceeds the reference value is larger than expected, it is assumed that the vehicle is likely to be required to have a higher load or a higher speed even after the lockup clutch is engaged. To be done. Therefore, in this case, the correction means M3 corrects the lockup control condition M10 to move to the high vehicle speed side so that the lockup state does not reach the higher vehicle speed side. As a result, the torque increasing action of the torque converter is obtained until the vehicle speed becomes higher, and the vehicle driver feels good acceleration performance.

On the other hand, if the number of times the detected value does not exceed the reference value is larger than expected, it is presumed that the vehicle tends to not desire acceleration after the lockup clutch is engaged. Therefore, in this case, the correction means M3 performs the correction to move the lockup control condition M10 to the low vehicle speed side,
Lock up at lower vehicle speeds. As a result, useless acceleration performance is not improved, the transmission efficiency in the torque converter is increased from the lower vehicle speed side, and fuel consumption is further improved.

[Embodiment] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the engine periphery and the automatic transmission of this embodiment. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an engine, which is driven in an intake passage 2 of the engine 1 in accordance with the depression amount of an accelerator pedal (not shown).
A throttle valve 3 for adjusting the amount of intake air to the throttle valve 3 and a throttle sensor 4 for detecting the throttle opening of the throttle valve 3 are provided. The throttle sensor 4 internally has an idle switch 5 for detecting an idle state.

On the other hand, the output side of the engine 1 is equipped with an automatic transmission 10 with a lockup mechanism, and the output torque of the engine 1 is converted through this automatic transmission 10 and transmitted to a drive wheel (not shown).

The automatic transmission 10 includes a torque converter and has a configuration shown in the schematic configuration diagram of the torque converter in FIG. In FIG. 3A, 11 is a torque converter, which is a pump impeller 12 and a turbine runner 1.
3 and the stator 14. Again engine 1
A lock-up clutch that includes a front cover 15 that receives output torque from the
Equipped with 16.

Returning to FIG. 2, the automatic transmission 10 further includes a lockup solenoid 17 for controlling the hydraulic circuit to execute and release the lockup clutch 16, shift solenoids 18 and 19 for irregular control, and an automatic transmission. A shift position switch 20 for detecting the operation of a manual lever (not shown) of 10 and a vehicle speed sensor 21 for detecting the rotational speed of an output shaft (not shown) of the automatic transmission 10 are provided respectively. The vehicle speed sensor 21 is configured to generate one pulse signal for one rotation of the output shaft by the magnet of the rotor sensor attached to the output shaft, and the speed proportional to the vehicle traveling speed is detected. 30 is an electronic control unit (hereinafter simply referred to as an EC
It is called U).

Next, the configuration of the ECU 30 will be described based on the schematic configuration diagram of FIG. The ECU 30 inputs and calculates respective signals detected in advance by the respective sensors according to a control program, and also controls the automatic transmission 10 described above.
A central processing unit (hereinafter simply referred to as CPU) 31 for performing processing for controlling the CPU, a read-only memory (hereinafter simply referred to as ROM) 32 in which initial data such as the control program and maps are stored in advance, and various signals input to the ECU 30 And a random access memory (hereinafter simply referred to as RAM) 33, which temporarily stores data required for arithmetic control, and the like, and is configured as a logical operation circuit.

In addition, the ECU 30 has the above-mentioned shift position switch 2
0, throttle sensor 4, buffers 34, 35, 36 of output signals from the idle switch 5 and the vehicle speed sensor described above.
The output signal from the 21 is shaped into a waveform, then F / V converted and A / D converted.
A conversion circuit 37 for converting is provided, and an input port 38 provided with a multiplexer or the like for selectively outputting the output signal from each sensor to the CPU 31 is provided.

Further, the ECU 30 has drive circuits 39, 40, 41 for driving the lockup solenoid 17 and the shift solenoids 18, 19, and the output port 42 has a drive circuit 39, 40 according to a control signal from the CPU 31.
Outputs control signals to 40 and 41. The above elements are connected by a common bus 43 which is a passage for various data.

A lockup diagram as shown in FIG. 5 is stored in the ROM 32 of the ECU 30 as a lockup pattern set by the correlation between the vehicle speed data and the throttle opening data, for example. In the figure, each lock-up line (solid line in the figure) 50, 51, 52, 53 indicates from the unlocked state of the lock-up to the executed state in the first speed, the second speed, the third speed, and the fourth speed, which are gear stages, respectively. Is a switching boundary line. The lock-up lines 50, 51, 52, 53 shown by the above solid lines are in a steady state at each shift stage, the broken line is a lock-up line showing the limit position on the low speed side at each shift stage, and the one-dot chain line is It is a lock-up line showing a limit position on the high speed side in each shift stage. And each lock-up line at each of these shift speeds
The correction values of 50, 51, 52, and 53 are adjusted, and the values are sequentially changed to the high-low speed side.

The CPU 31 detects the current shift speed from the detection signal from the shift position switch 20, and based on the throttle opening signal from the throttle sensor 4 and the speed signal from the vehicle speed sensor 21, based on the lockup diagram of FIG. Then, a comparison operation is performed to determine whether or not the area is the lockup area. When it is determined that the lockup is released, the CPU 31 deenergizes the lockup solenoid 17 and switches the lockup clutch control valve (not shown). Then, Fig. 3 (a)
As shown in, the oil flows in through the first oil introducing pipe 16a, and the lockup clutch 16 is separated from the front cover 15. As a result, the torque from the engine 1 is transmitted via the flow of the torque converter 11. On the other hand, when it is determined that lockup is to be performed, the CPU 31 energizes the lockup solenoid 17 to switch the lockup clutch control valve (not shown). Then, as shown in FIG. 3B, oil flows in from the second oil introducing pipe 16 and the lockup clutch 16 is pressed against the front cover 15. As a result, the torque from the engine 1 is transmitted without passing through the flow of the torque converter 11. EC
The U30 not only executes the lockup control as described above, but also executes the well-known gear shift control and the like.

Such an operation of the CPU 31 is achieved by executing the programs stored in the ROM 32 and shown in the flowcharts shown in FIGS.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a main routine of lockup control. In the figure, when the process is started, in step 110, initialization such as clearing of variables to be used thereafter is performed. In the following step 120, the throttle opening detected by the throttle sensor 4 is calculated, and in step 130, the vehicle speed calculated by the vehicle speed sensor 21 is calculated. In the following step 140, the signal from the shift position switch 20 is detected, and the routine proceeds to step 150. In step 150, it is determined whether or not lockup is to be performed, and the lockup diagram is corrected, based on the data indicating the current shift speed calculated in steps 120 and 130.140, the throttle opening data, and the vehicle speed data. To execute the control. Note that the processing of step 150 is actually executed in a lockup control subroutine described later, and a subroutine call is made. Continued Step 160
Then, when it is determined in the lockup control subroutine described later that lockup needs to be executed, a control signal is output to the lockup solenoid 17 to perform lockup processing. Thus, again returning to step 120,
The processing of this routine is repeated.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing a lock-up control subroutine, and when the process is started in the same figure, in step 210, it is judged whether or not the idle switch 5 is on. When the throttle valve is at the fully closed position and the engine 1 is in the idling operation state, the idle switch 5 is turned on, but otherwise, the idle switch 5 is turned off. If “YES” in the step 210, that is, if it is in the idle state, the process exits to “RETURN” and this routine is finished.

On the other hand, if “NO” in the step 210, that is, if it is not in the idle state, the process proceeds to the following step 220. In step 220, the throttle opening data calculated in step 120 of FIG. 6 and the vehicle speed data similarly calculated in step 130,
Similarly, the shift position data detected in step 140 is compared and calculated based on the lockup diagram of FIG. 5, and it is determined whether or not the lockup is to be executed. If “YES” in the step 220, that is, if it is determined that the lockup is executed, the process proceeds to the following step 240. Meanwhile, step 2
In the case of "NO" in 20, the value 0 is substituted for the flag K for determining whether or not the lockup is executed, the processing is exited to "RETURN" and the present routine is ended. The flag K is the sixth
Step 160 of the main routine of the lockup control in the figure
It is used to determine whether or not to execute the lockup during the lockup process.

In step 240, the value 1 is substituted for the flag K, and in the following step 250, the counter n that counts the number of lockups is incremented by one.

Subsequently, in step 260, it is determined whether or not the throttle opening θ when locked up is equal to or larger than a predetermined value θa. That is, if the throttle opening θ is a high opening equal to or larger than θa,
It is determined whether or not the opening is a low value equal to or less than a. Step 260
Is YES, that is, when it is θa or more, the counter nθ1 that counts the number is incremented by 1 (step 270). On the other hand, when it is “NO” in step 260, the counter that counts the number that is θa or less is counted. nθ2
Is incremented by 1 (step 280). Then, the process proceeds to the next step 290, where 600 is adopted as the number of comparisons required for learning control, and the number of lockups is 600.
Determine if it is more than once. Here, 600 times is adopted because there are 2 shifts from 1st to 4th gear per km.
This is because it is considered that the learning control is performed about 100 times and traveling 100 km. The number of times can be set variably.

Next, at step 300, after the lockup number n is cleared, at steps 310 and 320, it is determined whether or not the counted counters nθ1 and nθ2 are 390 times or more.
Here, when nθ1 exceeds 390 times, step 330
Go to. In step 330, the lockup diagram of FIG. 5 described above is moved and corrected by 20 (rpm) to the high speed side. That is, in FIG. 5, for example, when the gear is 4th, the rotation speed is 1900 (rpm), and the throttle opening is 40%, the lockup point LC is changed to the rotation speed of 1920 (rpm). It will be. On the other hand, in step 320, nθ2 is 390
When it exceeds the number of times, go to step 340. Step 3
In 40, the lockup diagrams of Fig. 5 described above are respectively
Correct the movement to the low speed side by 20 (rpm). That is, the lockup point LC in FIG. 5 is changed to the one having the rotation speed of 1880 (rpm). On the other hand, nθ1 is 390
When nθ2 is less than 390 times, the steps 310 and 320 are both determined to be NO, and the process proceeds to step 350, and the lockup diagram is not corrected. Step 330,
After executing step 340 or step 350, the process proceeds to the following step 360, and the counters nθ1 and n described above are
Clear θ2 to the value 0. Then, this routine is once ended.

Although the configuration of the embodiment of the present invention has been described above in detail, according to the configuration of the present embodiment, the lockup clutch 16
The throttle opening during traveling in the state of being engaged is detected, and the detected value is compared with the throttle opening θa which is a preset reference value 600 times, and the detected value exceeds the reference value nθ1 The number of times nθ2 at which the detected value does not exceed the reference value is counted as a comparison result for 600 times, and based on the comparison result for 600 times, when the number of times nθ1 is more than 390 times, it is a lockup control condition. Lockup line 50 ~
When 53 is moved to the high vehicle speed side, while the number nθ2 is more than 390 times, the lockup lines 50 to 53 are corrected to the low vehicle speed side.

Therefore, for example, even after the lockup clutch 16 is engaged, when the driver often operates by further depressing the accelerator, the lockup control condition shifts to the high vehicle speed side, and the acceleration performance is hindered by the lockup. Disappears. On the other hand, for example, after the lockup clutch 16 is engaged, when the driver often operates with almost no depression of the accelerator, the lockup control condition shifts to the low vehicle speed side, and fuel efficiency is further improved. As a result, the driving feeling is improved by obtaining the acceleration performance according to the vehicle driver, while the acceleration performance is not unnecessarily improved unless it is necessary, and the fuel consumption is improved accordingly.

In the above embodiment, the lockup diagram for switching from the lockup release state to the execution state has been described.
Not limited to this, the lock-up diagram for switching from the execution state to the release state can be similarly applied.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the deviation is judged by dividing the throttle opening into two, that is, high and low. However, the deviation may be judged by dividing it by a large number of throttle openings. The bias may be determined for the data.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, each gear stage (first speed, second speed, third speed
Lockup is executed every 4th speed,
The lock-up clutch control device according to the present invention can be applied to an automatic transmission that executes lock-up control at any one of the shift stages, although the present invention is applicable to a so-called all-stage lock-up control automatic transmission. It is possible to improve the driving feeling of the vehicle and the fuel consumption in the same manner as the one embodiment.

In addition to the movement correction of the lockup diagram to the high and low speed side as described above, the lockup diagram can be configured to be moved and corrected to the high and low side of the engine load to further improve the driving feeling of the vehicle. It is possible to improve fuel economy and fuel efficiency.

As described above in detail, according to the lock-up clutch control device of the present invention, the acceleration performance required for the vehicle is inferred based on the driving operation of the vehicle driver, and the lock-up that matches the acceleration performance is predicted. As it is corrected to the pattern, as a result, the driving feeling is improved by obtaining the acceleration performance according to the demand of the vehicle driver, while the acceleration performance is not unnecessarily improved unless it is necessary, and the fuel consumption is improved. Has an excellent effect of improving

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the present invention, FIGS. 2 to 7 show an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the engine periphery and an automatic transmission, and FIG. FIG. 4A is a schematic configuration diagram showing a state in which the lockup of the torque converter is released, and FIG. 3B is a schematic configuration diagram showing a state in which the lockup of the torque converter is executed. Is a schematic configuration diagram of the ECU, FIG. 5 is a graph showing the lockup pattern, FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a main routine of lockup control executed by the ECU, and FIG. It is a flowchart which shows a subroutine. 1 …… Engine 4 …… Throttle sensor 10 …… Automatic transmission 16 …… Lockup clutch 17 …… Lockup solenoid 30 …… Electronic control unit (ECU)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A lockup clutch control device for executing or releasing lockup of a lockup clutch in a torque converter with a lockup clutch based on predetermined lockup control conditions having vehicle speed and engine load as parameters. A driving state detection means for detecting engine load data and / or vehicle speed data during traveling with the clutch engaged, and a detection value detected by the driving state detection means and a preset reference value a predetermined number of times. If the number of times the detected value exceeds the reference value is greater than the predetermined reference number based on the comparison result of the operation state comparison means for comparison and the predetermined number of times by the operation state comparison means, the lock-up control condition , The number of times the detected value does not exceed the reference value, If more than the constant of the reference number of times,
A lockup clutch control device, comprising: a correction unit that corrects the lockup control condition to move to a lower vehicle speed side. 2. The lock-up clutch control device according to claim 1, wherein the engine load data is throttle opening data.