KR100771202B1 - Device for detecting shift range of vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus for detecting a shift range of a vehicle is provided to increase lifetime of components by detecting a change of capacitance by using a non-contact method. A shift lever(1) is operated by a driver. A capacitance detection unit detects a change of capacitance according to a movement of the shift lever. A shift control unit determines a present shift range through a signal detected from the capacitance detection unit. The capacitance detection unit includes a housing(5), a plurality of dielectrics(7), and a voltmeter(9). The housing has an open passage on a moving path of the shift lever. The dielectrics are installed to face each other in each shift range in the passage. The voltmeter and the dielectrics are used for forming an electric circuit in order to detect a change of capacitance from the dielectrics.

Description

Device for detecting shift range of vehicle

1 is a view showing an inhibitor switch corresponding to a shift range detection apparatus of a conventional vehicle.

Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a shift range detection apparatus for a vehicle according to the present invention.

3 is a plan view and a side view showing a detailed configuration of the capacitance detection unit shown in FIG. 2, respectively.

    <Description of Symbols for Main Parts of Drawings>

Acceleration Capacitance Detection Unit B-Speed Control Unit

Multi-cluster circuit la-solenoid drive

E-display

1-shift lever 3-pass section

5-housing 7-dielectric

9-voltmeter

The present invention relates to a shift range detection apparatus for a vehicle, and more particularly, to a shift range detection apparatus for a vehicle that can detect a current shift range from a change in capacitance caused by a shift of a shift lever.

In general, in a vehicle equipped with an automatic transmission, a shift made by a driver's operation of a shift lever is detected by an inhibitor switch, and in this case, the shift control unit is appropriately adjusted according to the information of the shift range detected from the inhibitor switch. A series of control processes are performed to allow the driving of the vehicle.

To this end, the inside of the inhibitor switch is provided with a plurality of connection terminals for each shift range, and the inhibitor switch of the conventional automatic transmission has a structure as shown in FIG. 1.

That is, the conventional inhibitor switch has a structure having an arc-shaped flat plate 10 and a plurality of arc-shaped connecting terminals provided with different radii on the flat plate 10. The connecting terminal includes the flat plate 10 The middle end contact 12 of circular arc shape formed at the nearest distance from the center of the arc, and the power supply contact 14 which is spaced outward from the middle end contact 12 and is also arc-shaped; And a plurality of shift range connection terminals P and R each having a predetermined distance from inside / outside of the power supply contact 14 and varying an arrangement angle from an arc center of the flat plate 10. , N, D, 3, 2, L).

In addition, the inhibitor switch is provided with a moving block (not shown) having a rod-shaped connecting terminal for contacting the arc-shaped connecting terminals to detect the currently selected shift range. It is structured to interlock with manual control lever (not shown) which is connected via cable.

Accordingly, when the driver moves the shift lever during shifting, rotation of the manual control lever is accompanied, and the moving block is rotated in accordance with the rotation of the manual control lever to selectively contact the connection terminals for each shift range, The shift control unit detects this to determine the current shift range.

However, in the conventional inhibitor switch as described above, since the detection of the shift range during shifting is made by contact between the moving block and the connection terminal for each shift range, the durability of the connection terminal for each shift range is accompanied by a problem. There is a risk of malfunction such as detection of an abnormal signal caused by the occurrence of the instantaneous peak voltage during shifting.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object thereof is to enable detection of a current shift range from a value of capacitance changed according to a shift of a shift lever during shifting.

In addition, the present invention is to allow the detection of the capacitance can be made in a non-contact manner to prevent degradation of the durability of the parts, and to simplify the structure of the detection equipment of the shift range to reduce the manufacturing cost There is this.

The present invention for achieving the above object, the shift lever which is operated in accordance with the driver's operation, the capacitance detection unit for detecting the capacitance changed in accordance with the movement of the shift lever, and the signal detected from the capacitance detection unit It characterized in that it comprises a shift control unit for determining the current shift range through.

The capacitive detector may include a housing in which a passage portion is formed on the movement path of the shift lever, a plurality of dielectrics installed in the passage portion to face each other in a shift range, and the plurality of dielectrics and the electrical And a voltmeter for detecting a change in capacitance from the dielectric.

In addition, the plurality of dielectrics may be arranged to set different separation distances for each shift range in the passage part.

In addition, the electrical circuit between the plurality of dielectrics and the voltmeter is configured in a parallel connection, or the plurality of dielectrics are arranged at equal distances from each other in each passage range in the passage portion, the dielectric is the voltmeter and It is characterized by being connected to individual series circuit of independent type.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 2, the present invention provides a capacitance detection unit (A) for detecting capacitance changed according to movement of the shift lever 1 according to a driver's operation, and a signal detected from the capacitance detection unit. And a shift control unit (b) for determining a current shift range.

At this time, the shift control unit (b) is an operation signal to the solenoid drive unit (d) for driving the shift and pressure control solenoids requiring operation in the shift range according to the shift range detected by the capacitance detection unit (a). Will print

In addition, the cluster circuit (c) visually outputs the current shift range to a display unit (e) provided on an instrument panel (not shown) in a vehicle based on a signal detected by the capacitance detecting unit (a). This allows the driver to more easily recognize the current shift range.

Here, as shown in FIG. 3, the capacitive detection unit A includes a housing 5 fixedly formed to form a passage portion 3 that is open on the movement path of the shift lever 1, and A plurality of dielectrics 7 independently installed in the passage portion 3 of the housing 5 in the form of mutually opposed transmission ranges (P, R, N, D, 3, 2, L) and the plurality of dielectrics A voltmeter 9 is constituted by the electrical circuit 7 and detects a change in capacitance from the dielectric 7.

In this case, it is preferable that the plurality of dielectrics 7 are arranged to set different separation distances for each shift range, which is to change the capacitance during shifting through the difference in the capacitances of the dielectrics 7. This is to detect and determine the current shift range by the shift control unit (b).

That is, the capacitance of each dielectric 7 can be calculated from the following relational expression.

[Relationship]

C = ε x S / d, where C is the capacitance for each dielectric 7, ε is the intrinsic dielectric constant of each dielectric 7, and S is the area of each dielectric 7 , d is a separation distance between the dielectrics 7, and in the present invention, the dielectric constant and the area of each dielectric 7 are assumed to be the same.

In addition, the capacitance of each dielectric material 7 determined from the physical properties can detect the degree of change from the following relational expression.

[Relationship]

Q = C x V, where Q is the charge and V is the voltage.

Further, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the electrical circuit between the plurality of dielectrics 7 and the voltmeter 9 is preferably configured in parallel connection, which is a shift according to the position of the shift lever 1 This is to reduce the quantity of the voltmeter 9 provided on the electrical circuit to a single object in order to detect a change in capacitance with respect to a plurality of dielectrics 7 installed for the detection of a range.

In addition, as in the first embodiment of the present invention, when the separation distances between the dielectrics 7 for each shift range are set differently, each dielectric 7 and a single voltmeter 9 are each connected in parallel to an electric circuit. The map of the position of the shift lever 1 according to the shift as well as the configuration is calculated by calculating the characteristics of the change in voltage detected by a single voltmeter 9 and the change in voltage for each shift range during shift. By comparing the data, you should adopt a method that can be detected indirectly.

On the other hand, unlike the first embodiment of the present invention, in the second embodiment, the separation distance between the dielectrics 7 for each shift range may be equally set on the passage portion 3 of the housing 5. In this case, each of the dielectrics 7 and the plurality of voltmeters 9 is constituted by a separate series of electrical circuits, and the position of the shift lever 1 according to the shift is determined from the change of the voltage sensed by the voltmeter 9. It can be detected directly.

This constitutes a plurality of series electric circuits between each dielectric 7 and the voltmeter 9 for each shift range, in which case the electric circuits must form independent circuits for each shift range.

Since the configuration according to the second embodiment of the present invention is only a conventional series electric circuit, it is apparent that the detailed configuration is omitted in the drawings. In addition, detection of the shift range is also made of the same principle as in the first embodiment.

Further, in the first and second embodiments of the present invention, the shift lever 1 has a lower end pivoted on the mounting bracket 2 so that the upper end part is between the plurality of dielectrics 7 between the passage parts 3. It is installed to move in a non-contact manner, and as a result, the shift lever 1 pivots the mounting bracket 2 according to the driver's operation during shifting and moves along a predetermined path.

The capacitance detecting unit (a) is provided with an amplifier (not shown) for amplifying the detected signal and outputting the amplified signal to the shift control unit (b) and the cluster circuit (c), respectively.

Accordingly, when the shift lever 1 shifts between the dielectrics 7 provided in the passage part 3 of the housing 5 constituting the capacitance detecting part when shifting, and stops at a specific shift range, The capacitance in the dielectric 7 changes, and the change in capacitance causes a difference in the voltage detected through the voltmeter 9.

Subsequently, the shift control unit (b) determines a corresponding shift range from the voltage value detected through the voltmeter 9, and thereby performs proper shift control.

In addition, the cluster circuit (C) may also determine the shift range from the voltage value detected through the voltmeter 9 and visually output the current shift range through the display unit (e).

That is, the present invention can detect the shift range from the change of the non-contact capacitance, thereby reducing the durability problem such as wear of the parts resulting from the detection configuration of the shift range according to the electrical contact of the existing inhibitor switch. It can be solved.

In addition, the present invention is much simpler than the configuration of the existing inhibitor switch, it is possible to reduce the manufacturing cost.

As described above, according to the shift range detecting apparatus for a vehicle according to the present invention, the detection of the current shift range is made from a change in capacitance according to the movement of the shift lever. Because it can be made in a non-contact method, it can be expected to extend the endurance life of the parts compared to the conventional method of contact shift range, and the configuration of the equipment for detecting the shift range compared to the existing can be made relatively simple. There is a side effect that can reduce the manufacturing cost.

Claims (7)

delete A shift lever operated according to a driver's operation; A capacitance detector for detecting a capacitance changed according to the movement of the shift lever; A shift control unit configured to determine a current shift range through a signal detected from the capacitance detector; The capacitance detection unit,  A housing having a passage portion formed in an open shape on a movement path of the shift lever; A plurality of dielectrics installed to face each other in each of the passage ranges; A voltmeter constituting an electrical circuit with the plurality of dielectrics and detecting a change in capacitance from the dielectric; Shift range detection device for a vehicle, characterized in that consisting of. The method according to claim 2, The plurality of dielectrics are shift range detection apparatus of the vehicle, characterized in that arranged in the passage portion to set the mutual separation distance different for each shift range. The method according to claim 3, And the electrical circuit between the plurality of dielectrics and the voltmeter is configured in parallel connection. The method according to claim 2, The plurality of dielectrics are arranged at equal intervals from each of the shift range in the passage portion, the dielectric range is a vehicle shift range detection device, characterized in that connected to the individual series circuit of the type independent of the voltmeter. The method according to claim 2, The shift lever has a lower end pivoted to the lower end via a mounting bracket so that the upper end is installed so that the non-contacting movement between the plurality of dielectric between the passage portion. The method according to claim 2, And a display unit configured to visually output the current shift range based on the signal detected by the capacitance detector.

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