JPH08296493A - Throttle valve controlling device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To properly control an auxiliary throttle valve according to the changes in the load torque of the auxiliary throttle valve when completely closing the auxiliary throttle valve, which is completely opened, through a step motor. CONSTITUTION: A throttle valve controlling device 101 for controlling an auxiliary throttle valve, which is turnably installed in the intake passage of an engine for vehicle, from a completely opened state to completely closed state using a step motor, is provided with a means to determine load torque required for turning the auxiliary throttle valve based on the opening degree of the auxiliary throttle valve and a means to calculate the drive frequency of the step motor 105 based on the determined load torque.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a throttle valve control device for adjusting a supply amount of air required for operating a vehicle engine, and more particularly, a sub throttle installed in an intake passage of an engine of a vehicle together with a main throttle valve. Step valve
Related to the technology of controlling by a motor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a technique related to a throttle valve control device, a main throttle valve and a sub throttle valve are installed in an intake passage of an engine for a vehicle, and the main throttle valve is controlled in opening by operating an accelerator pedal, for example. It is generally known that the auxiliary throttle valve is opened and the opening degree is controlled by using a step motor. In particular, this technique makes the auxiliary throttle valve in the fully open state fully closed via the step motor in order to prevent the wheels from slipping at the time of starting or accelerating the vehicle, and the air to the vehicle engine is closed. It is often used as so-called traction control for reducing the supply amount of

[0003]

By the way, since the sub-throttle valve is normally urged by a spring or the like to be in a fully open state, the fully opened sub-throttle valve is fully closed via a step motor. In order to bring it into the state, it is necessary to drive the step motor while resisting the load torque such as the biasing force. Further, since the biasing force increases as the sub throttle valve approaches the fully closed state, as a result, the sub throttle valve approaches the fully closed state,
The load torque acting on the step motor also increases. Therefore, when the sub-throttle valve is changed from the fully opened state to the fully closed state by the step motor, the load torque becomes maximum in the fully opened state, and the step motor torque that can handle the maximum load torque is changed from the fully opened state to the fully closed state. Since it is driven at a low drive frequency to the state,
There was a problem such as poor responsiveness. Particularly in the traction control of the vehicle, the sub-throttle valve is required to quickly shift to the fully closed state at the time of starting or accelerating the vehicle, and such deterioration of responsiveness becomes a particular problem. Further, since the pull-in torque of the step motor generally decreases as the drive frequency increases, the drive frequency of the step motor should be adjusted appropriately in response to the increase in the load torque of the sub-throttle valve. If this is possible, it is possible to perform the open / close control of the sub throttle valve with higher responsiveness and high efficiency.

Therefore, the present invention is a vehicle engine capable of performing appropriate control in response to changes in the load torque of the sub-throttle valve when the sub-throttle valve is changed from the fully open state to the fully closed state via the step motor. It is an object of the present invention to provide a throttle valve control device of the above.

[0005]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention takes the following measures. Claim 1
According to the invention, of the main throttle valve and the sub throttle valve rotatably installed in the intake passage of the vehicle engine, the sub throttle valve is changed from a fully open state to a fully closed state by using a step motor. In a throttle valve control device for controlling, a means for determining a load torque required to rotate the sub-throttle valve based on the opening degree of the sub-throttle valve, and based on the determined load torque ,
And a means for calculating the driving frequency of the step motor.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the throttle valve control device according to the first aspect, the determination of the load torque and the calculation of the drive frequency are performed every time the sub-throttle valve reaches a predetermined opening degree. This is a throttle valve control device that operates. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the throttle valve control device according to the second aspect, the drive frequency of the step motor calculated at a predetermined opening degree of the sub-throttle valve is set to the next predetermined value by the sub-throttle valve. The throttle valve control device is characterized in that means for increasing the pull-out torque of the step motor is added before the opening degree of the step valve is reached.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the load torque required to rotate the sub throttle valve is determined based on the opening of the sub throttle valve, and the step motor is based on the load torque. The drive frequency of-is calculated. Therefore, even when the load torque required to rotate the sub-throttle valve that transitions from the fully open state to the fully closed state in the intake passage changes depending on the opening degree of the sub-throttle valve, it is appropriate at each time. The driving frequency of the step motor is calculated. According to the invention of claim 2, the load torque is determined every time the sub-throttle valve reaches a predetermined opening degree, and the drive frequency of the step motor is calculated based on the load torque. It is possible to control the rotation of the sub-throttle valve, which is relatively simple in processing and has good responsiveness. According to the third aspect of the present invention, the drive frequency of the step motor when the sub throttle valve reaches a predetermined opening is such that the step motor is driven until the sub throttle valve reaches the next predetermined opening. The pull-out torque will be increased within the range. That is, the driving frequency of the step motor is increased within a range in which the sub-throttle valve can be reliably rotated within a predetermined opening range, so that the time required to rotate the sub-throttle valve is further shortened. It becomes possible.

[0007]

【Example】

(First Embodiment) A throttle valve control device 101, which is a first embodiment of the present invention, will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an overall structure of an intake passage of an engine for a vehicle in which a throttle valve control device of the first embodiment is installed. As shown in FIG. 1, in the intake passage 103 in the throttle body 102, the auxiliary throttle valve 111 and the main throttle valve 181 are connected to the intake passage 103 via the auxiliary throttle shaft 113 and the main throttle shaft 183, respectively. It is rotatably installed. In FIG. 1, the sub-throttle valve 111 is in a fully open state in which the maximum amount of air can pass through the intake passage 103. Further, the main throttle valve 181 is in a fully closed state in which a minimum amount of air can pass.

The right end of the auxiliary throttle shaft 113 in the drawing is
A step motor is connected via a motor throttle connecting portion 110 composed of a pinion 110a and a rack 110b.
A throttle valve control device 101 having 105 is connected. On the other hand, the left end portion of the auxiliary throttle shaft 113 in the drawing is connected to a throttle sensor 109 via a bearing (not particularly labeled) on which a return spring 107 is installed. Here, the return spring 107
Is a member for urging the sub-throttle shaft 113 in a direction in which the sub-throttle valve 111 is fully opened (the state shown in FIG. 1), and the throttle sensor 109 detects the opening degree of the sub-throttle valve 111. It is a member for.

Next, the structure of the throttle valve control device 101 itself will be described. The detailed structure of the throttle valve control device 101 is shown in the system block diagram of FIG. The throttle valve control device 101 is mainly composed of a step motor, a drive circuit, and a control circuit, and a power supply voltage for the step motor and the control circuit is further added. Further, the control circuit is mainly composed of the microcomputer 193 and has a structure in which an A / D converter for converting the signals of the ROM, the power supply voltage and the throttle sensor 109 into a digital signal is added. A control program used for the sub-throttle valve control by the throttle valve control device 101 is stored in the ROM, and the microcomputer-193 performs control processing based on the instruction of the control program. Specifically, the opening information of the sub-throttle valve detected by the throttle sensor 109 is transferred to the microcomputer 193 via the A / D converter.
Is sent to the drive circuit 1, the microcomputer 193 provides information on the number of drive pulses, drive pulse speed, and rotation direction.
91, and the drive circuit 191 outputs the step motor-1.
05 is driven.

Next, the auxiliary throttle valve 111 (see FIG. 1)
A method of determining the drive frequency of the step motor 105 for rotating the motor will be described. In this embodiment, first, as shown in FIG. 4, the sub throttle valve opening degree θ, which is information indicating how much the sub throttle valve is open in the intake passage.
The relationship of the load torque corresponding to is measured in advance. The "load torque" means that the minimum step motor is required when the sub throttle valve is rotated toward the fully closed state, such as the urging force of the return spring 107 shown in FIG. It is the torque to do. The sub-throttle valve opening degree is 80 ° when the sub-throttle valve 111 is in the fully open state, and 0 ° when the sub-throttle valve 111 is in the fully closed state.
Is expressed by the angle of the sub-throttle valve 111 and corresponds to the "opening degree" in the present invention. It should be noted that if the sub-throttle valve 111 is fully open,
The reason why the angle is set to 80 ° instead of 0 ° is that the sub-throttle valve 111 (see FIG. 1) has a fully closed angle of 10 ° in order to supply a minimum amount of air to the engine.

Then, the load torque L when the sub-throttle valve is fully closed (sub-throttle valve opening θ = 0 °) in advance
a and a predetermined sub-throttle valve opening (for example, θ1 = 2
The load torques Lb and Lc at 0 ° and θ2 = 40 °) are determined in advance. Then, as shown in FIG. 5, the load torques La, Lb, Lc are multiplied by 1.2 as a safety factor to obtain the motor-pull-in torques Ta, Tb,
Calculate Tc.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5, the motor pull-in torques Ta, Tb, Tc calculated on the basis of the correspondence between the measured motor pull-in torque of the step motor and the drive frequency. Drive frequencies fa, fb, corresponding to
Determine fc. As a result, as shown in FIG. 6, when the auxiliary throttle valve shifts from the fully open state to the fully closed state,
Step motor between predetermined sub-throttle valve opening
Drive frequency is determined. As shown in FIG. 6, as the sub-throttle valve opening becomes smaller (as the sub-throttle valve approaches the fully closed state), the drive frequency of the step motor becomes smaller stepwise. As the sub throttle valve approaches the fully closed state, for example,
This is because the biasing force of the spring 107 (see FIG. 1) becomes strong and the load torque for rotating the sub-throttle valve increases. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, by reducing the drive frequency, the motor pull-in torque of the step motor is increased to cope with the increase of the load torque.

That is, in this embodiment, while the sub-throttle valve is close to the fully open state (while the load torque is small),
The step motor is driven at low torque and high speed at a high driving frequency, and as the sub-throttle valve approaches the fully closed state (as the load torque increases), the step motor is driven at high torque and low speed at a low driving frequency. It is driven. It is to be noted that the load torque is determined for each predetermined opening degree of the sub-throttle valve and the drive frequency of the step motor is calculated based on the determined load torque as described above. ing.

Now, referring to the flowchart of the processing procedure shown in FIG. 3, for the processing procedure until the sub-throttle valve 111 is fully closed by the throttle valve control device 101 of the present embodiment. While explaining. When the control program starts (S1), the microcomputer
193 (see FIG. 2) determines whether the ignition switch of the vehicle is ON (S2). That is, in step S2, it is checked whether the vehicle engine has been started. The vehicle ignition switch is ON
If it is determined that the sub throttle valve 111
It is determined whether (see FIG. 1) is fully open (S).
3). If it is determined to be Yes, the step motor is driven by the drive frequency fc (600 pp as shown in FIG. 5).
is driven) (S4). The information on whether or not it is in the fully open state is obtained from the throttle sensor 109. Next, the microcomputer-193 (see FIG. 2) determines whether the sub-throttle valve opening is less than .theta.2 (.theta.2 = 40.degree.) (S4). If Yes is determined, the step motor is driven at the drive frequency fb (450 pps as shown in FIG. 5) (S6). Further, the Microcomputer-193 (see FIG. 2)
It is determined whether or not the sub-throttle valve opening is less than or equal to θ1 (θ1 = 20 °) (S7). If it is determined to be Yes, the step motor is the drive frequency fa (see FIG. 6).
Is driven by (S8). And the drive frequency fa (Fig. 5
Driving at 300 pps is performed until the sub-throttle valve 111 reaches the fully closed state, and the control program ends (S9).

As a result of such processing, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG.
As shown in, it becomes possible to shorten the operation time required to shift the auxiliary throttle valve from the fully open state to the fully closed state as compared with the case of the conventional technique,
It has become possible to perform efficient control (greater flexibility in design). Specifically, the conventional operation time is 0.
While it was 3 seconds, it is 0.2 seconds in this embodiment.
Became. The theoretical calculation method of the operating time will be described. As shown in the right column of FIG.
Is multiplied by the motor single step angle Pn and is divided by the gear ratio (1.0 in this embodiment) to calculate the throttle valve closing speed Kn, which is the rotation speed of the auxiliary throttle valve. Then, each preset predetermined sub-stottle valve opening section (θ
max → θ2, θ2 → θ1, θ1 → 0 °) is divided by the throttle valve closing speeds K1 to K3 in each section to calculate the operation times T1 to T3 in each section, and these are summed up. By doing so, the total operating time is obtained.

(Second Embodiment) Next, a second embodiment will be described. The second embodiment relates to a technique for further shortening the operation time of the throttle valve control device of the first embodiment by utilizing the so-called through region of the step motor.
It corresponds to the invention of. Note that, for convenience of description, description of the same configuration as the throttle valve control device of the first embodiment will be omitted. Now, FIG. 8 shows the relationship between the pull-in torque and the pull-out torque for each drive frequency of the step motor. The pullout torque is the torque at the step-out limit of the step motor.

In the first embodiment, first, the load torque at a predetermined sub-throttle valve opening is obtained, the motor-in torque is calculated based on the load torque, and the drive frequency corresponding to the motor-in torque is calculated. Was determined for each predetermined sub-throttle valve opening section, but the same processing is performed in the second embodiment. Further, in the second embodiment, as to the drive frequency for each of the predetermined sub-throttle valve opening sections determined above, as shown in FIG. 8, it is possible to output the same motor torque as the pull-in torque by utilizing the through region. The pullout torque is increased. That is, FIG.
The drive frequency fc shown in FIG.
The drive frequency (900) corresponding to the pullout torque is utilized by utilizing the through region capable of outputting the same motor torque as in (s).
pps).

As a result, as shown in FIG. 9, for example, in the sub-throttle valve opening section from the sub-throttle valve opening degree of θmax (θmax = 80 °) to θ2 (θ2 = 40 °), The driving frequency increases from fc (600 pps) to f'c (900 pps), and it is possible to further shorten the operation time while securing a motor torque sufficient to rotate the sub throttle valve. Of. Now, as a result of performing the same processing in each of the other sub-throttle valve opening intervals, the total operation time for the sub-throttle valve control is as shown in FIG. It will be even shorter than before. In the second embodiment, the drive frequency is increased to the pullout torque to shorten the operation time, but it is also possible to increase the drive frequency to an arbitrary drive frequency within the through region for control.

[0019]

According to the present invention, a vehicle capable of appropriately controlling the change in the load torque of the auxiliary throttle valve when the auxiliary throttle valve is changed from the fully open state to the fully closed state via the step motor. A throttle valve control device for an engine will be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing the overall structure of an intake passage in which a throttle valve control device of an embodiment is installed.

FIG. 2 is a system block diagram showing an overall structure of a throttle valve control device of an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of throttle valve control in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a chart showing the relationship between load torque and sub-throttle valve opening.

FIG. 5 is a table showing the relationship between motor pull-in torque and drive frequency.

FIG. 6 is a chart showing a relationship between a drive frequency and an opening degree of a sub-throttle valve.

FIG. 7 is a chart showing a relationship between a sub-throttle valve opening and an operating time.

FIG. 8 is a table showing the relationship between motor torque and drive frequency in the second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a chart showing a relationship between a drive frequency and a sub-throttle valve opening degree in the second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a chart showing a relationship between a sub-throttle valve opening and an operating time in the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 Throttle valve control device 102 Throttle body 103 Intake passage 105 Step motor 107 Return spring 111 Sub throttle valve 113 Sub throttle shaft 181 Main throttle valve 183 Main throttle shaft

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A main throttle valve and a sub throttle valve rotatably installed in an intake passage of an engine for a vehicle, wherein the sub throttle valve is changed from a fully open state to a fully closed state by using a step motor. A throttle valve control device for controlling the load torque required to rotate the sub-throttle valve based on the opening degree of the sub-throttle valve, and the load torque determined based on the determined load torque. And a means for calculating the driving frequency of the step motor. 2. The throttle valve control device according to claim 1, wherein the determination of the load torque and the calculation of the drive frequency are performed each time the sub-throttle valve reaches a predetermined opening degree. Valve control device. 3. The throttle valve control device according to claim 2, wherein the drive frequency of the step motor calculated at a predetermined opening degree of the sub-throttle valve is set to the next predetermined opening degree of the sub-throttle valve. A throttle valve control device further comprising means for increasing the pull-out torque of the step motor within a range of reaching the pull-out torque of the step motor.