JPH10329582A - Automatic clutch control device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic clutch control device capable of preventing the engine speed from rising unnecessarily during the disengagement of a clutch without impairing the freedom degree of driving operation. SOLUTION: In an automatic clutch control device which disengages and engages a clutch located between an engine and a transmission automatically according to the operation of a gear shift lever and, during the disengagement of the clutch, outputs a torque down command to an engine control device so as to reduce an engine output forcibly, thus preventing the engine speed from rising unnecessarily, if the amount of accelerator operation is judged to be lowered (S230: YES) during the disengagement of the clutch and, after that, it is judged to be increased (S220 and S260: YES), the output of the torque down command is stopped (S270) even during the disengagement of the clutch. As a result, an operator can raise the engine speed to any level by re-depressing the accelerator pedal after returning it.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic clutch control device for automatically releasing and engaging a clutch provided between an engine of a vehicle and a transmission in response to an operation of a shift lever. The present invention relates to an automatic clutch control device configured to reduce the output of the engine during release of the clutch.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a clutch interposed between an output shaft of an engine and an input shaft of a manual transmission (manual transmission) having no torque converter has been used.
Depending on the operation status of the shift lever that shifts the transmission,
There has been proposed an automatic clutch control device that is automatically intermittently released (engaged and engaged) by an actuator. Specifically, the clutch is released when the start of operation of the shift lever is detected, and the clutch is engaged when the operation of the shift lever (that is, the end of shifting on the transmission side) is detected.

[0003] In a vehicle equipped with this type of automatic clutch control device, the driver may continue to depress the accelerator pedal while the clutch is automatically disengaged at the time of gear shifting, or may further depress the accelerator pedal. If it is depressed, there is a problem that the engine is in an idling state and the engine speed is unnecessarily increased.

An automatic clutch control device which can solve this problem is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-94.
No. 830 proposes a configuration in which the fuel output to the engine is reduced while the clutch is disengaged to reduce the engine output. According to this device, it is possible to prevent the engine from overrunning while the clutch is released.

[0005]

In a conventional manual transmission vehicle having a clutch pedal, when the clutch pedal is depressed (during disengagement of the clutch), the engine speed is increased by operating the accelerator pedal. Thereby, the feeling of acceleration when the clutch pedal is released (when the clutch is engaged) is improved, or
There is a case where an operation peculiar to a manual transmission (hereinafter, referred to as M / T) is performed in which the engine speed is matched with the speed of the input shaft of the transmission to smoothly and instantaneously engage the clutch.

[0006] There is a demand that such an operation specific to the M / T is also performed by a vehicle equipped with an automatic clutch control device. However, in the conventional device disclosed in the above-mentioned publication, although engine idling (and overrun) can be prevented, the output of the engine is forcibly reduced during disengagement of the clutch. As a result, it becomes impossible to perform an operation specific to the M / T, such as increasing the engine speed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and prevents the engine speed from unnecessarily increasing during disengagement of the clutch without sacrificing the degree of freedom in driving the vehicle. It is an object to provide a possible automatic clutch control device.

[0008]

Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention In the automatic clutch control device of the present invention, the shift operation detecting means includes:
Detects the operation status of the shift lever that shifts the transmission,
When the shift operation detecting means detects the start of operation of the shift lever, the clutch control means controls the clutch driving means to release the clutch interposed between the output shaft of the engine and the input shaft of the transmission. After that, when the shift operation detecting means detects the end of the operation of the shift lever (and thus the end of the shift on the transmission side), the clutch driving means is controlled to engage the clutch. Then, the output reducing means forcibly reduces the output of the engine while the clutch is disengaged, thereby preventing the engine speed from unnecessarily increasing.

Here, in the automatic clutch control device of the present invention, in particular, the accelerator operation amount detecting means detects the operation amount of the accelerator pedal, and the accelerator operation determining means detects the clutch operation based on the detection result of the accelerator operation amount detecting means. It is determined whether or not the operation amount of the accelerator pedal once decreased and then increased during the release of.

When the accelerator operation determining means makes an affirmative determination (that is, when it is determined that the operation amount of the accelerator pedal once decreased and then increased during the disengagement of the clutch), the output reduction canceling means is activated. Then, the operation of the output reduction means is stopped, and the reduction of the engine output is stopped.

According to such an automatic clutch control device of the present invention, the driver intentionally starts the operation of the shift lever to automatically release the clutch, and then returns and depresses the accelerator pedal once in this state. By performing a proper accelerator operation, it is possible to cancel the operation mode in which the output of the engine is forcibly reduced. The engine speed can be arbitrarily increased by depressing the accelerator pedal once and then depressing it. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the engine speed from unnecessarily increasing during disengagement of the clutch without sacrificing the degree of freedom of the driving operation of the vehicle.

The output reducing means may be configured to reduce the output of the engine from the time when the clutch is completely released by the clutch driving means to the time when the clutch is started to be engaged by the clutch driving means. As described in claim 2, the output of the engine is reduced from the time when the operation start of the shift lever is detected by the shift operation detecting means to the time when the engagement of the clutch is started by the clutch driving means. Then, a greater effect can be obtained.

That is, if the output reducing means is configured as described in claim 2, when the operation of the shift lever is started,
Since the output of the engine is reduced at the same time as the clutch release operation, torque from the engine is not applied to the shift gear inside the transmission, and the force required to operate the shift lever is reduced, improving the operational feeling This is because it can be done.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. It is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described below, and can take various forms as long as it belongs to the technical scope of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of an automatic clutch control device according to this embodiment. The automatic clutch control device according to the present embodiment includes an engine 2, a five-speed manual transmission 4 capable of mechanically switching gears according to an operation of a shift lever SL, and an output shaft 2 of the engine 2.
a flywheel 6a on the output shaft 2a side of the engine 2 and a well-known clutch 6 composed of a friction plate 6b on the input shaft 4a side of the transmission 4. It is applied to vehicles. Although not shown, in the vehicle, the transmission 4
The power of the output shaft 2a of the engine 2 is transmitted to the drive wheels via a propeller shaft connected to the output shaft of the transmission 4, a differential gear (differential device), and a drive axle.

As shown in FIG. 1, the automatic clutch control device according to the present embodiment includes a clutch actuator 8 for operating the clutch 6 in accordance with an operation command Sc and a clutch stroke of the clutch 6 (that is, the clutch stroke of the friction plate 6b with respect to the flywheel 6a). A distance) C, and the number of rotations of the output shaft 2a of the engine 2 (ie,
A rotation sensor 12 for detecting engine speed (Ne), a rotation sensor 14 for detecting a rotation speed (hereinafter referred to as an intermediate shaft rotation speed) Nc of the input shaft 4a of the transmission 4, and a vehicle speed V based on the rotation speed of the driven wheels. A vehicle speed sensor 16 for detecting, an accelerator sensor 18 for detecting an operation amount (hereinafter referred to as an accelerator operation amount) T of an accelerator pedal AP operated to adjust the output of the engine 2, and a position of the shift lever SL for the first speed. ~
A shift operation detection signal Ps indicating which position (hereinafter, referred to as a shift position) among fifth speed, reverse (R: reverse), and neutral (N: neutral) which is neither of them.
And a lever sensor 20 that outputs the same.

Further, the automatic clutch control device of the present embodiment is mainly composed of a well-known microcomputer comprising a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, etc., and the accelerator operation amount T and the engine speed Ne detected by the above-mentioned sensors. , And generates various control signals Se based on the vehicle speed V and the like.
An electronic device that controls the fuel injection amount and ignition timing of the
Similarly, a well-known microcomputer is mainly configured, and the shift operation detection signal Ps from the lever sensor 20, the accelerator operation amount T detected by each of the above sensors, the clutch stroke C, the engine speed An electronic device (hereinafter, referred to as an automatic clutch ECU) 24 that outputs an operation command Sc to the clutch actuator 8 based on Ne, the intermediate shaft rotation speed Nc, the vehicle speed V, and the like, and controls the disengagement and engagement of the clutch 6. ing.

The engine ECU 22 normally operates at the time of
The basic fuel injection amount of the engine 2 is determined based on the accelerator operation amount T and the engine speed Ne, and the basic fuel injection amount is corrected according to the vehicle speed V, the cooling water temperature of the engine 2, and the like. However, when a torque down command D output from the automatic clutch ECU 24 as described later is received, regardless of the actual accelerator operation amount T, the accelerator operation amount T becomes " It is configured to calculate the fuel injection amount as being “0”. Therefore, the automatic clutch ECU 24
While the torque down command D is being output from the engine ECU 22 to the engine ECU 22, the output of the engine 2 is reduced to the output during idling operation regardless of the operation of the accelerator pedal AP by the driver.

Here, as shown in FIG. 2, in the shift sensor SG, which forms the movable region of the shift lever SL, the shift lever SL is moved from the first gear to the fifth gear, as shown in FIG.
And six detection switches 20-1 to 20-5, 20 which are turned on when the vehicle is in each of the reverse (R) shift positions.
-R, and each of the detection switches 20-1 to 20-
5, 20-R is turned on when the shift lever SL is located within a region (hatched region in FIG. 2) from the end of each shift position in the shift gate SG to a predetermined detection threshold, and the shift lever is shifted from that region. It turns off when SL comes out. Each of the detection switches 20-1 to 20-20
An on / off signal of −5, 20-R is output to the automatic clutch ECU 24 as a shift operation detection signal Ps.
The detection threshold value is set immediately before the position where the shift gear in the transmission 4 is disengaged with the operation of the shift lever SL.

Therefore, for example, as shown by the arrow in FIG.
When the shift lever SL is operated from the fourth-gear shift position to the third-gear shift position, that is, when the driver shifts the transmission 4 from the fourth-gear shift to the third-gear shift, the shift lever SL is first shifted to the fourth-gear shift position. The provided detection switch 20-4 changes from the on state to the off state, and thereafter, the detection switch 20-3 provided at the third gear shift position changes from the off state to the on state.

Therefore, when any one of the detection switches 20-1 to 20-5 and 20-R changes from the on state to the off state, the automatic clutch ECU 24 starts operating the shift lever SL. It is determined that the driver intends to change gears, and thereafter, each of the detection switches 20-1 to 20-2 is determined.
When any one of 0-5 and 20-R changes from the OFF state to the ON state, it is determined that the operation of the shift lever SL has been completed and the shift of the transmission 4 has been completed, and the ON detection switch is set. By judging, it is detected how many speeds the transmission 4 has been shifted to (1st to 5th speed, reverse).

FIG. 3 is a hydraulic circuit diagram showing the structure of the clutch actuator 8. As shown in FIG. 3, the clutch actuator 8 includes a drain tank 30 for storing clutch oil, a pair of pumps 32 for pumping the clutch oil in the drain tank 30, a motor 34 for driving the pair of pumps 32, and a pump. A clutch release cylinder (hereinafter simply referred to as a cylinder) 36 operated by pressure oil supplied from the pump 32;
And a pressure-reducing control valve 40 provided on a hydraulic path from the cylinder 36 to the drain tank 30.

A check valve 42 for preventing a reverse flow of clutch oil is provided in the hydraulic path on the input side and the output side of each pump 32.
Are further provided between the input side of the pressure increasing control valve 38 (hereinafter, referred to as a pressure increasing path) and the output side of the pressure reducing control valve 40 (hereinafter, referred to as a pressure decreasing path). When the oil pressure in the pressure passage rises above the set value, the clutch oil in the pressure increase passage is released to the drain tank 30 via the pressure reduction passage, thereby preventing the oil pressure in the pressure increase passage from rising above the set value. Is provided.

In the clutch actuator 8, the push rod 36a of the cylinder 36 operates a clutch release fork (not shown) for separating the friction plate 6b of the clutch 6 from the flywheel 6a. . Each of the control valves 38 and 40 is a two-position valve including a communication position through which the clutch oil passes and a holding position through which the passage of the clutch oil is shut off, and is controlled in response to an operation command Sc from the automatic clutch ECU 24. The position of the valve switches.

In the clutch actuator 8 configured as described above, the automatic clutch ECU 24 drives the motor 34 to operate the pump 32, and further sets the pressure-increasing control valve 38 to the communication position, and also reduces the pressure-decreasing pressure. Control valve 40
Is set to the holding position, the clutch oil is supplied to the cylinder 36, and the push rod 36a operates the clutch release fork.
b operates in the direction away from the flywheel 6a (release direction), and the amount of engagement of the clutch 6 decreases. Conversely,
When the automatic clutch ECU 24 sets the pressure-increasing control valve 38 to the holding position and sets the pressure-decreasing control valve 40 to the communicating position, the clutch oil is returned from the cylinder 36 to the drain tank 30, whereby the clutch 6 Operates in the direction (engagement direction) in which the friction plate 6b approaches the flywheel 6a, and the engagement amount of the clutch 6 increases.

Next, the automatic clutch control performed by the automatic clutch ECU 24 will be described. First, FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a main process executed by the automatic clutch ECU 24 to control the clutch 6. This main process is performed when an ignition key (not shown) is operated and the power is supplied to the automatic clutch ECU 24. Be executed.

As shown in FIG. 4, in the main processing, first, in step (hereinafter simply referred to as “S”) 110, based on the shift operation detection signal Ps from the lever sensor 20,
It is determined whether or not the operation of the shift lever SL has been started,
The operation waits until the operation of the shift lever SL is started.
The operation of the shift lever SL is started as described above,
Detection switches 20-1 and 20-2 constituting lever sensor 20
The determination is made based on whether any of 0-5 and 20-R has changed from the on state to the off state.

Then, at S110, the shift lever SL
Is determined to have been started, it is determined that the driver has a will to shift, and the process proceeds to S120. In S120, the accelerator operation amount T is decreased as an initial value in a flag F indicating whether or not the accelerator operation amount T is reduced while the clutch 6 is released (that is, whether or not the accelerator pedal AP is returned). Set to "0" to indicate no Then, in S130, the accelerator operation amount T is read from the accelerator sensor 18, and the read current accelerator operation amount T is read.
p is stored as the initial value of the previous accelerator operation amount To.

After the processing for initialization is performed in steps S120 and S130, the process proceeds to step S140, where the engine E
The aforementioned torque down command D is output to the CU 22 to forcibly reduce the output of the engine 2 to the output during idling operation. The torque-down command D is continuously output until the processing of S180 or S270 (FIG. 5) described later is executed. Then, in the following S150,
An operation command Sc for releasing the clutch 6 is output to the clutch actuator 8 to completely release the clutch 6 (that is, the friction plate 6b is completely separated from the flywheel 6a).

Then, the program proceeds to S160, in which a torque-down stop control process (FIG. 5), which will be described later, for determining whether or not the output of the torque-down command D is stopped, is executed. Therefore, based on the shift operation detection signal Ps from the lever sensor 20, the shift lever SL
It is determined whether the shift position has been entered into any of the fifth speed and the reverse, that is, whether the operation of the shift lever SL has been completed. If the operation of the shift lever SL has not been completed, the process returns to S160, and the torque down suspension control processing is executed again. As described above, when the operation of the shift lever SL is completed, any one of the detection switches 20-1 to 20-5 and 20-R configuring the lever sensor 20 is operated.
The determination is made based on whether the state has changed from the off state to the on state.

On the other hand, if it is determined in S170 that the operation of the shift lever SL has been completed, the process proceeds to S180, in which the output of the torque down command D to the engine ECU 22 is stopped, and the clutch 6 is engaged with the clutch actuator 8. An operation command Sc to be output is output, and the clutch 6 is engaged. Then, the process returns to S110 described above.

In S180, the engagement speed at which the clutch 6 is engaged (the speed at which the friction plate 6b approaches the flywheel 6a) depends on the ratio Nc / Ne between the intermediate shaft speed Nc and the engine speed Ne, and the shift lever. Based on the shift position of the SL (that is, the gear position of the transmission 4), it is set so as to suppress the shock due to the engagement of the clutch 6. Specifically, if the intermediate shaft rotation speed Nc and the engine rotation speed Ne are substantially equal, the clutch 6 is engaged at a stretch, and both rotation speeds N
If c and Ne are largely different, the clutch 6 is slowly engaged.

Next, the torque-down stop control process executed in S160 of the main process will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, when the execution of the torque-down suspension control process is started, first, in S21,
At 0, an accelerator operation amount T is read from the accelerator sensor 18, and the read current accelerator operation amount Tp is
It is determined whether or not the previously stored accelerator operation amount To is already stored. Then, if the current accelerator operation amount Tp and the previous accelerator operation amount To match, it is determined that the accelerator operation amount T has not changed and is constant, and the torque-down suspension control process is performed as it is. finish.

On the other hand, if it is determined in S210 that the current accelerator operation amount Tp does not match the previous accelerator operation amount To, it is determined that the accelerator operation amount T has changed, and the process proceeds to S220. . And in this S220,
It is determined whether or not the current accelerator operation amount Tp read in S210 is larger than the previous accelerator operation amount To. If the current accelerator operation amount Tp is not larger than the previous accelerator operation amount To, the accelerator operation is performed. The amount T has decreased (i.e., the accelerator pedal AP has been returned by the driver).
It proceeds to S230.

In S230, it is determined whether or not the flag F initialized in S120 in FIG. 4 remains "0". If the flag F is "0", the clutch 6 is released in S150 in FIG. In this state, it is determined that the accelerator operation amount T has decreased for the first time, and the process proceeds to S240.
Then, "1" indicating that the accelerator operation amount T has decreased is set in the flag F.

Then, the flag F is set to "1" in S240, or the flag F is set to "0" in S230.
If it is determined that it is not the case, the process proceeds to S250, where the current accelerator operation amount Tp read in S210 is stored again as the previous accelerator operation amount To, and thereafter, the torque-down suspension control process ends.

If it is determined in S220 that the current accelerator operation amount Tp is larger than the previous accelerator operation amount To, the accelerator operation amount T increases (that is, the accelerator pedal AP is released by the driver). Stepped on)
It moves to S260.

At S260, it is determined whether or not the flag F is "1". If the flag F is not "1", the accelerator operation amount T decreases while the clutch 6 is released. Judge that it increased further without doing
The process proceeds to S250 described above. On the other hand, when it is determined in S260 that the flag F is “1”, the accelerator operation amount T once decreases and then increases while the clutch 6 is released (that is, while the clutch 6 is being released). Then, the driver returns the accelerator pedal AP once and then steps on it.)
The process proceeds to S270. And this S27
At 0, the output of the torque-down command D to the engine ECU 22 is stopped, and thereafter, the torque-down stop control processing ends.

That is, the automatic clutch ECU of this embodiment
In 24, when it is detected that the operation of the shift lever SL has been started (S110: YES), the engine ECU 22
And outputs the torque down command D (S140).
The clutch 6 is disengaged (S150), and thereafter, when it is detected that the shift lever SL has entered any of the first to fifth speed and reverse shift positions (S170: YES), the output of the torque down command D is stopped. At the same time, the clutch 6 is engaged (S180).

In particular, the torque-down suspension control process shown in FIG. 5 is executed between the time when the clutch 6 is released and the time when the clutch 6 is disengaged, and the accelerator operation amount T decreases once while the clutch 6 is released. Then, if it is determined that the accelerator operation amount T has once decreased and then increased (S260: YES), the output of the torque down command D is stopped even while the clutch 6 is being released. (S270).

For this reason, the automatic clutch EC of this embodiment
According to U24, the clutch 6 can be automatically released and engaged in accordance with the shift operation of the shift lever SL, and the engine ECU is released while the clutch 6 is released.
Since the output of the engine 2 is reduced to the output during the idling operation by the torque down command D to the engine 22, the driver keeps depressing the accelerator pedal AP with the clutch 6 released, or Pedal A
Even if P is further depressed, the engine speed Ne is suppressed to the idle speed, and the engine speed Ne is prevented from unnecessarily increasing.

Further, the driver starts the operation of the shift lever SL to automatically release the clutch 6, and in that state,
By performing an intentional accelerator operation such as returning the accelerator pedal AP once and depressing it, the engine ECU
The output of the torque down command D to the motor 22 can be canceled. Then, by depressing after returning the accelerator pedal AP, the engine speed Ne can be arbitrarily increased.

For this reason, the engine speed Ne is increased by operating the accelerator pedal AP while the clutch 6 is being disengaged, whereby the feeling of acceleration at the time of clutch engagement is improved, or the engine speed Ne and the intermediate shaft are increased. Rotation speed Nc
, And the clutch 6 is instantaneously engaged.

Therefore, the automatic clutch ECU of the present embodiment
According to 24, it is possible to prevent the engine speed Ne from unnecessarily increasing while the clutch 6 is released, without sacrificing the degree of freedom of the driving operation of the vehicle. Incidentally, the torque down command D may be output after the clutch 6 is completely released (that is, after S150 in FIG. 3). However, as in the present embodiment, the operation start of the shift lever SL is started. Immediately after detecting the torque
, And the output of the engine 2 is reduced from the start of the operation of the shift lever SL to the start of the engagement of the clutch 6, whereby a greater effect can be obtained.

That is, when the operation of the shift lever SL is started, the output of the engine 2 is reduced simultaneously with the disengagement operation of the clutch 6, so that the torque from the engine 2 is applied to the shift gear inside the transmission 4. This is because the force required for operating the shift lever SL is reduced, and the operational feeling can be improved.

In this embodiment, the clutch actuator 8 corresponds to the clutch driving means, and the lever sensor 20
(Detection switches 20-1 to 20-5, 20-R) and FIG.
S110 and S170 correspond to shift operation detection means, S150 and S180 in FIG. 4 correspond to clutch control means, and S140 and S180 in FIG. 4 correspond to output reduction means. Then, the accelerator sensor 18 corresponds to an accelerator operation amount detecting means, and S120 and S130 in FIG.
5 and S210 to S260 in FIG. 5 correspond to the accelerator operation determining means, and S270 in FIG. 4 corresponds to the output reduction canceling means.

On the other hand, in the above-described embodiment, the accelerator pedal AP is a foot-operated type. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be a type operated by hand.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an overall configuration of an automatic clutch control device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a lever sensor.

FIG. 3 is a hydraulic circuit diagram illustrating a configuration of a clutch actuator.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating main processing of automatic clutch control.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a torque-down stop control process executed during the main process of FIG. 4;

[Explanation of symbols]

2 ... Engine 4 ... Transmission 6 ... Clutch SL
... Shift lever 8 ... Clutch actuator 10 ... Clutch stroke sensor 12,14 ... Rotation sensor 16 ... Vehicle speed sensor AP
... accelerator pedal 18 ... accelerator sensor 20 ... lever sensor 20-1 to 20-5, 20-R ... detection switch 22
... Engine ECU 24 ... Automatic clutch ECU

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A clutch driving means for operating a clutch interposed between an output shaft of an engine and an input shaft of a transmission, and a shift operation detecting means for detecting an operation state of a shift lever for shifting the transmission. When the shift operation detection means detects the start of operation of the shift lever, the clutch drive means is controlled to release the clutch, and when the shift operation detection means detects the end of operation of the shift lever, An automatic clutch control device comprising: a clutch control unit that controls the clutch drive unit to engage the clutch; and an output reduction unit that reduces the output of the engine while the clutch is released. Accelerator operation amount detecting means for detecting the operation amount of the accelerator; and detecting the clutch operation amount based on the detection result of the accelerator operation amount detecting means. Accelerator release determining means for determining whether or not the operation amount of the accelerator pedal has once decreased and then increased, when the accelerator operation determining means makes a positive determination, the operation of the output reducing means And an output reduction canceling means for stopping the automatic clutch control. 2. The automatic clutch control device according to claim 1, wherein the output reduction unit is configured to engage the clutch by the clutch driving unit after the shift operation detection unit detects an operation start of the shift lever. The automatic clutch control device is configured to reduce the output of the engine until the start of the automatic clutch control.