JPH0960548A - Engine automatic stop/start device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To contrive effective protection for loads of starter or the like by storing the number of operating times of automatic stop/start in a non-volatile memory, lighting a maintenance lamp in the point of time this number of operating times leads to a number of specified times, thereafter inhibiting the automatic stop/start when the number of operating times is increased larger than the number of specified times. SOLUTION: An operating counter is built in a CPU72 of a controller 7, and at the time of controlling automatic stop/start, increment of the operating counter is performed. When a count value of the operating counter is specified to lead to the number of specified times, a maintenance lamp 21 is lighted (orange color). Thereafter, the number of operating times of automatic stop/start control is decided for whether leading or not to a value, for instance, adding ten thousand as a prescribed value. As a result, in the case of deciding YES, an operating lamp 20 is put out, and a device is controlled so that it can not be tranferred to the automatic stop/start control till turning on a clear switch 9.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention
More particularly, the present invention relates to a device for automatically stopping and automatically starting an engine when a predetermined condition is satisfied in a vehicle such as an automobile.

[0001]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, when a vehicle is driving in an urban area, it may stop at an intersection or a railroad crossing. If the engine is idled at this time, fuel is consumed and the fuel consumption rate decreases. .

Therefore, the engine is stopped when a certain condition such as the vehicle is stopped to cut off the fuel consumption during a temporary stop, and the engine is automatically restarted when a predetermined condition is satisfied thereafter. An automatic engine stopping / starting device has already been proposed.

FIG. 6 shows an embodiment of such a conventionally known automatic engine stop / start device. In the figure, reference numeral 1 indicates the vehicle speed from the rotation of a disc gear 1a attached to a wheel, for example. For example, a vehicle speed sensor 2 is a means for detecting the engine speed from the rotation of a disc gear 2a attached to the crankshaft of the engine, and an engine speed sensor 3 is a means for detecting whether or not the clutch pedal CP is depressed. A clutch switch as a clutch detecting means for performing the operation, 4 is a neutral switch as a means for detecting the neutral position of the gear by the shift lever SL, 5 is a cooling water temperature sensor as a means for detecting the cooling water temperature of the engine ENG, and 6 Is an air pressure sensor as a means for detecting the air pressure of the air tank 10.

Reference numeral 7 is a controller, which is a sensor 1,
An input port 71 that receives the output signals of 2, 5, 6 and the output signals of the switches 3 and 4, and the ON / OFF signal of the key switch (SW) 8, and the output signal of the input port 71 is stored in a memory (ROM). A central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as CPU) 72 that is interconnected with a memory (RAM) 74 according to a stored control program and performs data processing.
And an output port 75 for sending the output signal of the CPU 72 to the outside.

Further, 11 is an electromagnetic valve (M / V),
Air from the air tank 10 is supplied to the air cylinder 12. Reference numeral 13 denotes an intake shutter for stopping the engine ENG by shutting off the intake air of the engine ENG by the air from the air cylinder 12. In addition, 1
Reference numeral 4 is a starter motor for starting by the output signal of the output port 75.

In such a state, the CPU of the controller 7
Reference numeral 72 executes processing according to the control program shown in FIGS.

First, in the automatic stop / start program shown in FIG. 7, the CPU 72 reads the output signals of the sensors 1, 2, 5, 6 and the switches 3, 4, 8 from the input port 71 (step S1).

Next, the CPU 72 calculates the vehicle speed and the engine speed N _E , respectively, based on the output signals from the sensors 1 and 2 among these input signals (step S2).
S3).

Then, an automatic stop determination process (step S4) and an automatic start determination process (step S5) described later are executed.

After that, other failure judgment (self-diagnosis) processing is performed (step S6), and the processing ends.

Next, the contents of the automatic stop determination process in step S4 will be described with reference to FIG. Here, first, it is determined whether the engine is automatically stopped (step S41). This determination indicates that the automatic stop is in progress when a flag described later is set (“1”), and that the automatic stop is not in progress (non-automatic stop) when the flag is clear (“0”). Shows. Then, this routine is exited when the automatic stop is being performed.

When the flag is cleared (when the engine is not automatically stopped), the key switch 8 is operated to the start position by a flag which will be described later, and it is determined whether the engine automatic stop state is forcibly released. Yes (step S42). In this case, if the flag is set, it indicates that the automatic stop is forcibly released, and if it is cleared, it indicates that the automatic stop is valid.

When it is determined that the automatic stop forced release is being performed, it is determined whether the vehicle speed detected by the vehicle speed sensor 1 is 10 km / h or more (step S4).
3) If this is less than 10km / h, exit this routine, but 1
If it is 0 km / h or more, it means that the vehicle is moving, so the flag is cleared in order to invalidate the automatic stop forced release (step S44).

This is because after the automatic stop and forced release is made, the vehicle starts moving once and reaches a certain constant vehicle speed (10 km /
h) If the above is the case, the automatic stop forced release is invalidated and the state is returned to the state in which the automatic stop is possible, and the normal processing after step S45 is performed.

Therefore, after the automatic stop forced release is invalidated, after passing through steps S41 and S42 again, the process proceeds to step S45, and it is determined whether or not the vehicle speed detected by the sensor 1 is approximately 0 km / h. Then, it is determined whether the engine speed N _E detected by the sensor 2 is 800 rpm or less corresponding to the substantial idle speed, that is, whether the engine is in the idling state (step S46), and the switch 4 determines whether the gear detected is neutral (step S47), the clutch pedal detected by the switch 3 is depressed (step S48), and the cooling water temperature detected by the sensor 5 is determined. Is 40 ° C or higher (step S
49), the air pressure detected by the sensor 6 is 64 kPa
It is determined whether or not the above is the case (step S50), and it is further confirmed whether or not the vehicle is traveling once (step S51).

Then, only when it is judged that all of these steps S45 to S51 are "YES", C
The PU 72 controls the electromagnetic valve 11 to be turned on from the output port 75.

As a result, the air in the air tank 10 is supplied to the air cylinder 12 through the electromagnetic valve 11,
The air cylinder 12 moves the intake shutter 13 to the state shown in the figure, which cuts off the intake air of the engine ENG and automatically stops the engine ENG (step S52). At this time, the above flags are set.

On the other hand, after the engine is automatically stopped as described above, the process for automatically restarting the engine (step S5) is executed according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

That is, similar to the automatic stop determination process of FIG. 8, first, it is determined whether the engine is automatically stopped based on the flag (step S53). If the engine is not automatically stopped (flag: clear). , Get out of this routine.

If the engine is automatically stopped (flag:
Next, it is determined whether or not the key switch 8 is in the start position (step S54), and a flag is set (step S55) to indicate that the automatic stop state is forcibly released when the key switch 8 is in the start position. The flag is cleared (step S56) to remember that the automatic stop is in progress, and the routine exits.

When the key switch 8 is not in the start position, the output signal of the neutral switch 4 causes CP
U72 determines whether or not the gear position by the shift lever SL is in neutral (step S57), and if it is not in neutral, the routine exits from this routine.

If the gear position is neutral, the CPU 72 determines from the output signal of the clutch switch 3 whether the clutch pedal CP is depressed (step S).
58), if the clutch pedal CP is not depressed, the routine exits, but if the clutch pedal CP is depressed, the starter 14 is operated to automatically start the engine ENG (step S59) and the flag is cleared to automatically. Remember that it is not stopped (step S
60) exit this routine.

[0023]

In the above-mentioned conventional engine automatic stop / start device, the more frequently the vehicle is stopped, the more frequently the loads such as the starter are operated. It greatly depends on the driver's consciousness and the like, and the variation varies greatly from vehicle to vehicle.

At present, the load such as the starter is maintained every predetermined period, but the management during the period has a large variation between the case where the load exceeds the specified number and the case where the load does not reach the specified number.

Further, when the maintenance is forgotten in the management in the period, the next maintenance cannot be received even after the stipulated number of times, so that there is a problem that the load such as the starter fails.

Therefore, according to the present invention, when a predetermined stop condition is satisfied, the controller automatically stops the engine, and when another predetermined start condition is satisfied, the controller automatically starts the engine.
The purpose of the starting device is to promote maintenance in accordance with the operating frequency and to protect loads during excessive use.

[0027]

In order to achieve the above object, an automatic engine stop / start device according to the present invention further comprises an operation lamp, a maintenance lamp, and a clear switch, and the controller is nonvolatile. It has a memory and a counter, lights the operating lamp when the power is turned on, transfers the count value stored in the nonvolatile memory to a counter, increments the counter at the automatic start or automatic stop, and counts the counter. When the value reaches the specified number of times, the maintenance lamp is turned on, and when the count value reaches the number of times greater than the specified number of times by a predetermined number of times, the operation lamp is turned off and at the same time, the clear switch remains off. If so, the automatic stop / start is not executed, but if the clear switch is turned on, the counter is cleared. Is characterized by storing the value of the counter in nonvolatile memory to the working lamp to clear is turned further nonvolatile memory is turned off the maintenance lamp, further at power-off Te.

That is, each time the engine is automatically stopped or started, the controller saves it in the built-in counter as the operation frequency, and when the count value indicates that the specified number of times is reached, the maintenance lamp is turned on, It gives an alarm to show that it is time to perform maintenance.

Further, when the value of the counter reaches the number of times greater than the specified number of times by the predetermined number of times, the operation lamp is turned off and a maintenance instruction is given.

This maintenance instruction is an important instruction for protecting loads such as the starter, and the maintenance person performs maintenance according to this instruction, and as a result turns on the clear switch.

Therefore, this clear switch is turned off.
In this case, the controller prohibits the automatic stop or start operation of the engine because the maintenance has not been executed yet.

When maintenance is executed and the clear switch is turned on, the controller clears the counter to turn on the operation lamp, turn off the maintenance lamp, and further clear the nonvolatile memory.

As a result, the normal operation is restored, and the operation frequency of the next maintenance is counted.

Since the controller volatilizes the value of the counter when the power is turned off, the value of the counter is stored (saved) in the non-volatile memory to prevent this, and when the power is turned on, the value of the counter is stored. The count value stored in the non-volatile memory is returned to the counter, and the operation frequency of automatic stop / start from the last maintenance is accurately saved.

The above-mentioned stop conditions are cooling water temperature detecting means, air pressure detecting means for the air cylinder for the intake shutter of the engine, vehicle speed detecting means, engine speed detecting means, clutch detecting means, and neutral detecting means. From the output signal, the vehicle is in a stopped state, the engine is below the actual idling speed, the gear is in neutral, the clutch pedal is not depressed, the coolant temperature is above a predetermined value, and the air pressure is above a predetermined value. The controller can determine that the vehicle is satisfied when one run can be confirmed.

Further, the controller can determine from the output signals of the clutch detecting means and the neutral detecting means that the above-mentioned starting condition is satisfied when the gear is in neutral and the clutch pedal is depressed.

[0037]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an engine automatic stop / start device according to the present invention. In this embodiment, a controller 7 is provided in addition to the conventional device shown in FIG. The clear switch 9 is connected to the input port 71, and the EEPROM 76 as a non-volatile memory is C
It is different in that it is connected to the PU 72 and that the operation lamp 20 and the maintenance lamp 21 are connected to the output port 75, and other configurations are the same. The CPU 72 has a built-in operation counter (not shown; also simply referred to as a counter).

FIG. 2 shows an example of an instrument panel 30 in the driver's seat of a vehicle. As shown in FIG. 1A, a main switch 31 for operating the engine automatic stop / start system according to the present invention. Is provided beside the panel 30. Further, the lamp group on the upper part of the panel 30 is a maintenance lamp 2 which emits an orange color as shown in FIG.
1, the lower left lamp group includes an operating lamp that emits green light as shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 shows the arrangement of the clear switch 9 provided in the vehicle together with the instrument panel 30 and the main switch 31 shown in FIG. 2. In this embodiment, a large bus is used for driving. A distribution box 32 is installed right next to the seat, and a clear switch 9 is provided inside the distribution box 32. The clear switch 9 is normally in an open (OFF) state, but when the illustrated short pin connector 9a is pulled out, the switch is closed (ON) in the state shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a main program stored in the memory (ROM) 73 of the controller 7 shown in FIG. 1 and executed by the CPU 72. This main program executes maintenance processing and automatically executes the maintenance processing. This includes stop / start control.

The main program includes: input reading as shown in FIG. 7 (step S1), vehicle speed calculation (step S2), engine speed calculation (step S).
Although 3) and other failure determination processing (step S6) are omitted, it goes without saying that these steps need to be included.

The operation of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 will be described below with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG.

First, the power source for the automatic engine stop / start device is turned on by pressing the main switch 31 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, and at this time, the CPU 72 turns on the green operating lamp 20 through the output port 75. Along with (step S11), the data saved in the EEPROM 76 is transferred to the operation counter built in the CPU 72 (step S2). Initially, the data is not saved in the EEPROM 76 (data "0" is set at the time of shipment), so the data transferred to the operation counter is "0".

Thereafter, the CPU 72 determines the current state of the power source (step S13), and since the power source is on as described above, the process proceeds to step S14, where the automatic stop / stop, which is the count value of the operation counter, is performed. Judge the number of starts in relation to the specified number.

As a result, the count value has not reached the specified number at first, so the routine proceeds to step S15, where the automatic stop / start control subroutine is executed.

This automatic stop / start control is basically executed in the same manner as the processing described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9 for the conventional apparatus. For example, for automatic start control, step S61 is added as shown in FIG. It has a shape.

That is, steps S54, S57, S5
When it is determined from step 8 that the automatic start condition is satisfied, the CPU 72 increments the operation counter by "1" and stores that the automatic start operation is performed once, and then turns on the starter 14 in step S59. The engine ENG is automatically started. The other steps are the same as those in FIG.

Although not shown in this embodiment,
Regarding the automatic stop processing as well, for example, between step S51 and step S52 in which the automatic stop condition is satisfied in FIG. 8, the operation counter is set to "1" as in step S61 described above.
May be incremented only.

However, it is not necessary to increment the operation counter in this way during both automatic start control and automatic stop control, and it is sufficient to perform either one.

After performing the automatic stop / start control and incrementing the operation counter in this way, the CPU 72 returns to step S13 in FIG.

When it is determined that the value of the operation counter has reached the specified number of times while repeatedly executing steps S13 to S15, steps S14 to S16.
And turn on the maintenance lamp 21 (orange)
Then, the process proceeds to step S17, and it is determined whether or not the value of the operation counter, that is, the number of times of operation of the automatic stop / start control has reached a value obtained by adding 10,000 times as a predetermined value to the above-mentioned number of times .

In step S17, if the number of operations does not exceed the specified number of 10,000 times, the process proceeds to step S15 to perform automatic stop / start control to increment the operation counter, but the number of operations exceeds the specified number of 10,000 times. If so, the operation lamp 20 is turned off (step S1
8) Then, the state of the clear switch S19 is determined.

That is, the fact that the operation lamp 20 is turned off in step S18 means that the engine is automatically stopped.
As a starter, it has an important meaning to indicate to a maintenance person that maintenance has come to a necessary time, and the maintenance person who notices this has to remove the short pin connector in the clear switch 9 in the distribution box 32 shown in FIG. This turns on the clear switch 9.

Therefore, a maintenance person who does not notice the turning off of the operation lamp 20 keeps the clear switch 9 turned off, and in FIG. 4, steps S13 → S14 → S16 →
Since the routine of S17 → S18 → S19 → S13 is repeated, it is impossible to shift to the automatic stop / start control of step S15 until it is noticed.

When the maintenance person turns on the clear switch 9, the CPU 72 clears the contents of the operation counter to "0" (step S20), turns on the operation lamp 20 again (step S21), and the maintenance lamp 21.
Is turned off (step S22), and the EEPROM 7
6 is cleared (step S23), and the process returns to step S13.

Then, the routine of steps S13 to S23 is restarted again. Normally, the main switch 31 is often turned off and the power is turned off during the execution of this routine. In step S24, the current value of the operation counter is set to EEP.
It is saved (stored) in the ROM 76.

Therefore, when the power is turned on again, the process is started again from step S11, and if the data is transferred from the EEPROM 76 to the operation counter in step S12, the number of times of automatic stop / start up to now is saved. Thus, the operation counter can continue counting the number of operations.

In the above embodiment, the example of FIG. 5 is given as the automatic stop / start control program in step S15, but it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to this and can be applied to various automatic stop / start controls.

[0059]

As described above, according to the engine automatic stop / start device of the present invention, the number of automatic stop / start operations is stored using the non-volatile memory, and the number of operations reaches the specified number. Turn on the maintenance lamp,
Further, when the number of times exceeds the specified number of times by a predetermined number of times, the automatic stop / start is not performed, and only when the clear switch is operated at this time, the number of times of operation is cleared to return to the initial state. It is possible to promote maintenance to the eyes and protect loads such as the starter.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an automatic engine stop / start device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a lamp group in an instrument panel used in the engine automatic stop / start device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an arrangement example of a clear switch used in the automatic engine stop / start device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 C of an automatic engine stop / start device according to the present invention
It is a flowchart figure which showed the main program stored in PU and performed.

5 is a flowchart showing an automatic start control program in the automatic stop / start control subroutine shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a system configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an engine automatic stop / start device according to a conventional technique.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a main program stored in and executed by a CPU of an engine automatic stop / start device according to a conventional technique.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an engine automatic stop determination process which is stored in and executed by a CPU of an engine automatic stop / start device according to a conventional technique.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an engine automatic start determination process which is stored and executed in a CPU in an engine automatic stop / start device according to a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Vehicle speed sensor 2 Engine speed sensor 3 Clutch switch 4 Neutral switch 5 Cooling water temperature sensor 6 Air pressure sensor 7 Controller 8 Key switch (SW) 9 Clear switch 10 Air tank 11 Electromagnetic valve (M / V) 12 Air cylinder 13 Intake shutter ENG engine 14 Starter Motor 20 Operation Lamp 21 Maintenance Lamp 76 EEPROM (Nonvolatile Memory) In the drawings, the same reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location F02N 15/00 F02N 15/00 E

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An automatic engine stop / start device for causing a controller to automatically stop an engine when a predetermined stop condition is satisfied and for causing the controller to automatically start the engine when another predetermined start condition is satisfied, An operating lamp, a maintenance lamp, and a clear switch are further provided, and the controller has a nonvolatile memory and a counter, lights the operating lamp when the power is turned on, and stores the count value stored in the nonvolatile memory. The counter is incremented at the time of the automatic start or automatic stop, the maintenance lamp is turned on when the count value of the counter reaches a specified number of times, and the count value is a predetermined number of times greater than the specified number of times. The operating lamp is turned off when the temperature reaches If the switch remains OFF, the automatic stop / start is not executed, but if the clear switch is turned ON, the counter is cleared to turn on the operation lamp and turn off the maintenance lamp. An automatic engine stop / start device characterized by clearing and storing the value of the counter in the non-volatile memory when the power is turned off. 2. The automatic engine stop / start device according to claim 1, wherein the stop conditions are cooling water temperature detection means, air pressure detection means for an air cylinder for an engine intake shutter, vehicle speed detection means, and engine rotation. From the output signals of the number detection means, the clutch detection means, and the neutral detection means, the vehicle is in a stopped state, the engine is substantially below the idling speed, the gear is in neutral, the clutch pedal is not depressed, and the cooling water temperature is above a predetermined value. The automatic engine stop / start device, wherein the controller determines that the air pressure is satisfied when the air pressure is equal to or higher than a predetermined value and one run can be confirmed from the vehicle speed. 3. The engine automatic stop / start system according to claim 1, wherein the starting condition is that the gear is in neutral from the output signals of the clutch detecting means and the neutral detecting means and the clutch pedal is depressed. An automatic engine stop / start device characterized in that it is determined by the controller that the above condition is satisfied.