JPS61207811A - Lubricating-oil replacing time alarming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To alarm the replacement of engine oil at correct time when lubricating oil is deteriorated and the limit time of use elapses, by reduction-calculating the no-use period of lubricating oil to the lubricating-oil using period on the basis of the lubricating-oil temperature and integration-calculating said reduction- calculation period to the actual lubricating-oil using period. CONSTITUTION:The traveling distance of a car which is corrected according to the engine revolution speed and the engine-oil temperature detected by an oil temperature sensor 20 is integration-calculated until the engine is brought into stop by the operation to the accessory position ACC or the off position OFF of an ignition switch 14 from the engine start time. When the traveling distance integration value reaches a prescribed value, an alarm lamp 10 comes ON to alarm the replacement of engine oil. Even during the engine stop, the engine stop time is reduction-calculated to the operation time on the basis of the engine-oil temperature, and calculated to the integration value. Therefore, the replacement of engine oil at correct time can be alarmed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a device that automatically detects and warns based on its usage history that it is time to replace lubricating oil.

(Background of the Invention) In the conventional device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-151447, only the time during which the engine is operated and engine oil is used is accumulated, and the accumulated time is within the engine oil usage limit period. There was a warning to change the engine oil when it reached.

However, even if the engine is not operated and the vehicle is left unattended, the moisture in the engine oil will increase and the engine oil will deteriorate, so the engine There is a possibility that the oil has already deteriorated, and in this case, there is a problem that the engine is lubricated with the deteriorated engine oil.

(Object of the invention) The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems,
The aim is to provide a device of this kind that can alert you to change the lubricating oil at a precise time.

(Configuration of the Invention) In order to achieve the above object, an apparatus according to the present invention is configured as shown in FIG.

That is, in FIG. 1, the state in which the lubricating oil is used and the state in which it is not used are determined by the determining means a, and the period of non-use of the lubricating oil is measured by the non-use period measuring means.

The lubricant non-use period measured by the measuring means C is converted into the lubricant use period by the period conversion means C, and the sum of the converted lubricant use period and the actual lubricant use period is the lubricant oil use period. This is performed by the use period integration means d.

Roughly, the warning means e warns that the lubricating oil should be replaced when the lubricating oil usage period accumulated by the integrating means d reaches the lubricating oil usage limit period.

(Description of Embodiments) Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the apparatus according to the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

The configuration is shown in FIG. 2, and a warning light 1O is lit to warn that the engine oil (corresponding to lubricating oil in the present invention) needs to be replaced.

The warning light 10 is controlled by a warning control circuit 2 mainly composed of a microcomputer, and the warning control circuit 12 determines the usage history of the engine oil from various detected state quantities. A lighting control signal for the warning light 10 is obtained when it is determined from the history that it is time to replace the engine oil.

The engine speed, vehicle speed, and engine oil temperature are used as the detected state quantities, and the engine speed detection signal is transmitted by the crank angle sensor 1 built into the distributor.
6, the vehicle speed detection signal is obtained by the vehicle speed sensor 18, and the engine oil temperature detection signal is obtained by the temperature sensor 20.

Further, the operating position of the ignition switch 14 is monitored by a warning control circuit 12, and the warning control circuit 12 uses the detected operating position to determine the operating state of the engine (corresponding to the lubricating oil usage state in the present invention). A determination is made as to whether the engine is in a stopped state (corresponding to a state in which no lubricating oil is used in the present invention).

Note that the vehicle speed is detected by the vehicle speed sensor 18 based on the output shaft rotation speed of the transmission 22.

Also, if the engine that powers the transmission 22 is equipped with a turbocharger 21,
It is preferable to detect the temperature of the engine oil at the rotating shaft portion of the turbocharger 21 using the temperature sensor 20. However, if the turbocharger 21 is not provided, the temperature of the engine oil in the oil pan (not shown) may be detected. All you have to do is detect the temperature.

Roughly speaking, detection signals from the crank angle sensor 16 and vehicle speed sensor 18 are supplied to an engine control circuit 26, and in this engine control circuit 26, an ignition timing control signal for the ignition coil 24 and a fuel injection control signal for the injector are processed based on these detection signals. It is obtained from the detected state quantity including.

A reset switch 28 is connected to the warning control circuit 12, which is operated when the vehicle is taken out of the garage or when the engine oil is changed. It has been cleared.

This embodiment has the above configuration, and its operation will be explained below.

First, the third thing is that the ignition switch 14 has been operated from the OFF position (OFF>) to the accessory position (AcC>).
When confirmed by the processing in steps 100 and 102 in the figure, the warning light 10 is turned on (step 104), and its operation is visually recognized by the driver.

After that, the ignition switch 14 is moved to the ignition position (
IG> or the start position (ST), a warning control start flag is set (step 10).
6).

The processes shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 are started by the flag set, and these will be explained in turn next.

In the process t in FIG. 4, the cumulative travel distance of the vehicle (Y)
When the distance reaches the set distance (YC), it is determined that the engine oil has deteriorated, and the warning light 10 is turned on.

First, in step 108, when it is confirmed that the ignition switch 14 has been returned to the ignition position (IG>) after the engine has started, the engine speed and vehicle speed are detected by the crank angle sensor 16, vehicle speed sensor 18, and oil temperature sensor 20, respectively. , the oil temperature is sequentially captured (step 110).
.

Then, a weighting coefficient K is calculated using the engine speed and oil temperature taken in step 110 (step 1
12).

A minute time △ is added to the vehicle speed V taken in step 110.
By multiplying by 1, the vehicle travel distance ΔR during that time is determined, and by multiplying the distance ΔR by the coefficient K determined in step 112, the correction is performed and the cumulative travel distance y is determined. (Step 114).

In the next step 116, the corrected travel distance y is integrated, and the cumulative travel distance value Y is compared with the limit value YC (step 118).

At this time, if the cumulative mileage value Y has not reached the limit value Yc, the record is carried out (step 119).

In addition, the ignition switch 14 is in the 7th accessory position (A
CC) or the off position (OFF) (step 120), the vehicle is still running, so steps 110 and 112 are performed.
．． The processes of 114 and 116 are repeated.

In this way, when starting the engine, turn on the ignition switch 1.
4 is accessory position @ (ACC) or off position (OFF
) until the engine is stopped, the vehicle travel distance y corrected based on the engine speed and engine oil temperature is accumulated.

Thereafter, when the cumulative mileage value Y reaches the limit value YC, a warning flag is set and the warning light 10 is turned on (step 122) to warn that the engine oil needs to be replaced.

When this lighting is confirmed by the driver and the engine is stopped (step 120), the warning control start flag is reset (step 124).

Thereafter, when the engine oil is replaced, the reset switch 28 is operated, and confirmation thereof is performed in step 126.

When the operation of the switch 28 is confirmed in step 126, the cumulative mileage value Y and the cumulative usage period (1) of engine oil, which will be described later, are initialized (step 128).

The process shown in Figure 5 is performed in parallel with the process shown in Figure 4 above, and in this process, when the cumulative usage period (1) of the engine oil reaches the set period (tC), the engine oil is It is determined that the product has deteriorated and the warning light 10 is turned on.

When the warning control start flag is set in step 106 of FIG. 3, it is determined whether the engine is running (step 130).

In this embodiment, when the ignition switch 14 is returned from the start position (ST) to the ignition position (IG) and the crank angle sensor 16 confirms that the engine is rotating, the engine is running. A judgment is being made.

When it is determined that the engine is in operation, the operating period (that is, the period of use of engine oil) is integrated (step 132), and in this embodiment, the accumulated value t of the operating period up to that point is added to the minute time Δt. This integration process is performed by adding up one by one.

The operating time integrated value t is roughly compared with the limit value tC (step 134), and when the product 1f (at has not reached the limit value tc), the integration process (step 132) is repeated.

After that, when the cumulative value t during driving w4 reaches the limit value tcIP-, a warning flag is set and the warning light 10 is turned on (
Step 136).

When the lighting is visually recognized, the engine oil is replaced, and at the time of the replacement, the switch 28 shown in FIG. Step 128).

Next, a case where the engine is stopped and the vehicle is left alone will be explained.

At that time, the ignition switch 14 is in the off position (OF
F>, and when this is confirmed at step 100 in FIG. 3, the integrated value correction start flag is set (
Step 138).

The process shown in FIG. 6 is started by setting the flag, and first, it is determined whether or not the engine is stopped by monitoring the engine rotation speed detection signal obtained by the crank angle sensor 6.

At this time, when it is determined that the engine is stopped, the stop period τ is measured (step 142), and in this embodiment, the stop period τ is obtained by integrating the minute times Δt.

Next, the oil temperature T detected by the oil temperature sensor 20 is taken in (step 144L), and a weighting coefficient @k is calculated from the oil temperature T and the stop period τ (step 146).

Furthermore, by integrating the value obtained by multiplying the minute time Δt by the coefficient k, the engine operating period t can be calculated even during the engine stop period.
(step 148), and these processes are repeatedly performed while the engine is stopped.

After that, when the engine starts operating, this step 1
The converted value obtained in step 48 is added to the accumulated value t up to that point in step 132 of FIG. Note that, at this time, the converted value is initialized.

In this way, the amount of engine oil deterioration while the engine is stopped is added to the amount of engine oil deterioration while the engine is running, and therefore, according to this embodiment, the driver is warned to change the engine oil at the correct time. becomes possible.

As a result, the engine is prevented from being lubricated with degraded engine oil, thereby avoiding engine wear and damage and improving engine durability.

In this embodiment, the minute time Δt was simply added to obtain the engine operating period integrated value t, but the minute time Δt is multiplied by a coefficient determined based on the detected oil temperature.
It is also suitable to configure the device to integrate the multiplied values.

Further, it is preferable to set the weighting so that the value of the coefficient increases as the period τ becomes longer, and increases when the engine oil temperature is particularly low or high.

Generally, in this embodiment, the case where engine oil is used as the lubricating oil is shown, but it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to all lubricating oils such as transmission oil, torque converter oil, differential gear oil, etc.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the present invention, the lubricant non-use period is converted into the lubricant use period and the converted period is integrated into the actual lubricant use period, so that the lubricant deteriorates. It can warn you to replace it exactly when it reaches its usage limit.

This prevents the use of deteriorated lubricating oil,
As a result, wear and damage to various parts is avoided and its lifespan is extended.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a diagram corresponding to claims, Fig. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a preferred embodiment of the device according to the present invention, Figs. 3, 4, 5,
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the procedure of processing executed by the warning control circuit 12 in FIG. 10... Warning light 12... Warning control circuit 14... Ignition switch 16... Crank angle sensor 18... Vehicle speed sensor 20... Oil temperature sensor 28... Reset switch

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) Discrimination means for determining whether a lubricating oil is used or not; a non-use period measuring means for measuring a period of non-use of the lubricating oil; A period conversion means for converting, a lubricating oil usage period accumulation means for accumulating the converted lubricating oil usage period and the actual lubricating oil usage period, and a lubricating oil usage period integration means for adding up the lubricating oil usage period when the accumulated lubricating oil usage period reaches the lubricating oil usage limit period. A lubricating oil change time warning device comprising: a warning means for warning about lubricating oil change.