JP4953230B2 - Clutch control device and test method thereof - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for testing whether a clutch control device mounted on a vehicle is operating well, and an apparatus therefor. In particular, the present invention relates to a test of a clutch device that generates hydraulic pressure using the power of an electric motor powered by an on-vehicle battery and controls opening and closing of the clutch by the hydraulic pressure. The present invention relates to an operation confirmation test of a clutch control device that is performed automatically or by an operation before a vehicle starts to travel.

  It is desirable to equip large vehicles with an automatic transmission, and various forms of devices have been developed and put into practical use. As a clutch opening / closing control device for this purpose, devices that can be overridden by automatic control and by the driver's operation are widely used. As such a device, a device that uses hydraulic pressure as power for clutch opening / closing control and generates the hydraulic pressure using the rotational force of an electric motor has come to be frequently used. The electric motor used in such a device has a complicated mechanism as compared with other mechanical devices used in the hydraulic system, and the possibility of failure due to the electric motor is considered. In the device they designed, we studied to duplicate the motor that generates hydraulic pressure.

  For this reason, it is set as the form which uses two electric motors as the generation | occurrence | production source of a hydraulic pressure, connecting the rotating shaft directly. Even if one of the motors breaks down and the motor stops generating output, the motor can follow and rotate in the idle state so that the minimum required hydraulic output can be obtained by the output of the other motor without malfunction. To be able to occur. In addition, when a failure occurs, an alarm is issued to prompt maintenance inspection, and it is designed so that it does not become a failure that makes it impossible to operate immediately.

JP 2002-192991 (Luke Ramellen) JP2003-139242 (Hino) JP 2003-254356 (Toyota)

  Thus, the design that directly connects the output shafts of the two motors is excellent as a design for duplicating the motors. However, it is difficult to easily test and detect that one of the two motors whose output shafts are steadily connected does not generate a normal power output. That is, if a current detection circuit is inserted into each of the power supply paths of the duplicated motors, the cost of this circuit is increased, and this current detection circuit may cause a new failure. Furthermore, since the rotational outputs of the two electric motors are used as hydraulic pressure generating power for controlling opening and closing of the clutch, in principle, the test cannot be performed while the vehicle is running or in operation. Even if the transmission is in a neutral state and the test is set to be executed while the engine is rotating, it takes several seconds to open and close the clutch for the test. It is necessary to consider that some driving operation may be performed during execution.

  It is also conceivable that such a test is performed by a driver's operation so as not to intersect with the driving operation. However, it is unreasonable for a driver to frequently perform a test on whether or not there is a failure that rarely occurs. That is, when one of the duplicated motors is not generating output, an alarm should be automatically displayed without waiting for the driver's operation.

  The present invention has been carried out against such a background, and in an apparatus having a structure in which a motor for generating a hydraulic pressure for opening and closing a clutch is duplicated, each of the two motors generates a predetermined output. An object is to provide an apparatus and method for testing whether or not. An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and a method capable of automatically starting and executing a test without depending on a driver's operation. It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method that can execute the above test without contradicting the traveling state of the vehicle or the situation of driving operation, and at an appropriate frequency.

  The first aspect of the present invention is an apparatus invention, in which an electric motor (1) that generates a rotational force in response to automatic control or depression of a clutch pedal (3), and a fluid pressure (hydraulic pressure or air pressure) by the rotational force of the electric motor. In the clutch control device in which the electric motor is doubled (1, 2), and a cylinder (4) for generating the clutch (10) by means of the fluid pressure and means (7, 8, 9) for controlling the opening and closing of the clutch (10). Means is provided for setting a test mode when the transmission (11) is in the neutral position and the clutch (10) is in the engaged state. In this test mode, power is supplied to each of the duplexed motors, Means (8, 9) are provided for executing an operation test of each electric motor in a range where the load of the electric motor is small. The low load range can be substantially an area of clutch play. The reference numerals in the parentheses are described for easy understanding, and are reference numerals for drawings described in the embodiments.

  There can be provided means for automatically starting the test mode when the transmission is in the neutral position after the engine is started and the engine is in an idling state, and means for starting the test mode by an operation from the driver's seat. When an abnormality is detected for one of the duplicated motors as a result of executing the test, a configuration may be provided that includes a means for generating an alarm (an alarm requesting maintenance rather than running prohibition).

  The second aspect of the present invention is a test method invention, which is a test method for a clutch control device in which the hydraulic pressure (or air pressure) for clutch opening / closing control is generated by the rotational force of the electric motor and the electric motor is duplicated. Then, the energization test of the motor and the generation test of the hydraulic pressure (or air pressure) are executed for each one of the motors within a small range (automatically) of the load of the motor, and the hydraulic pressure generation cylinder instructs within a predetermined time. An alarm is generated when the vehicle does not move to the specified position. The energization test can be automatically executed during the warm-up operation after the engine is started.

  According to the present invention, the test is properly executed at an appropriate frequency without being conscious of the driver, and the test is not substantially contradicted by the driving operation. In addition, if there is an abnormality in one of the duplicated devices, an alarm is automatically issued, so there is no need for the driver to be aware of the test. When necessary, the test can be started by operation from the driver's seat.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. This device generates hydraulic pressure from a cylinder 5 for generating hydraulic pressure by the rotational power generated by the electric motors 1 and 2, and controls the clutch / booster 6 by this hydraulic pressure. The clutch booster 6 mechanically displaces the clutch 10 using the air pressure supplied from the air tank 7 to control the opening and closing of power transmission from the engine (not shown) to the transmission 11. Further, when the driver depresses the clutch pedal 3 provided in the driver's seat, the cylinder 4 generates hydraulic pressure and can be controlled to interrupt the operation of the clutch booster 6.

  The motor drive circuit 9 can individually rotate the first electric motor 1 or the second electric motor 2 in the forward direction or the reverse direction by changing the feed polarity according to the control of the program control circuit 8. The control circuit 8 is a program control circuit, and performs shift control and clutch opening / closing control. The program control circuit receives various signals as input signals according to the running state of the vehicle, but their display is not directly related to the description of the present invention, and is not shown. Only the input of the test switch installed in the driver's seat is displayed.

  The first motor 1 and the second motor 2 are independent DC motors. In this embodiment apparatus, the two electric motors 1 and 2 are electric motors having the same characteristics. The output shafts of the two electric motors 1 and 2 are mechanically and fixedly connected, and a worm gear is mounted at the connecting position. One piston is driven by a gear meshing with the worm gear. The piston is configured to pressurize the oil supplied from the reservoir tank and supply it to the clutch booster 6. Since the structure is a well-known structure, further detailed description is omitted.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the relationship between the stroke of the clutch booster 6 and the stroke of the hydraulic pressure generating cylinder 5. That is, a so-called “play” is provided in the control stroke of the clutch / booster, and the displacement is not transmitted to the clutch in an area where the stroke of the clutch / booster 6 is small.

  Here, the feature of the present invention is that the first motor 1 and the second motor 2 are directly connected to each other as described above, but the motor drive circuit 9 is controlled by the control circuit 8 according to the control. There is a configuration in which current can be supplied to the two electric motors 1 or 2 individually. The two motors 1 and 2 have their supply currents interrupted at the same time during normal operation, but they can be supplied individually during the test. FIG. 3 shows the current supply procedure. In FIG. 3, the horizontal axis indicates the passage of time, and the vertical axis indicates the cylinder positions indicated to the first electric motor 1 and the second electric motor 2, respectively. That is, when the test mode is set by the program control circuit 8, first, the first motor 1 is instructed to control the piston to the limit position of play of the clutch booster 6, and it is confirmed that the piston has actually moved. If possible, then instruct the clutch / booster contact position to control the piston and confirm that it has actually moved. After confirming, this time, instructing the piston to control the play limit position of the clutch booster 6 of the second electric motor 2, and confirming that the piston has actually moved, then move the piston to the contact position of the clutch booster. Instruct them to control and confirm that they have actually moved.

  Thereby, the stroke of the hydraulic pressure generating piston provided in the cylinder 5 changes as shown in the lowermost stage of FIG. That is, the first electric motor 1 moves to a smaller stroke a and returns to the original position 0. Then, the second electric motor 2 moves to the same small stroke a and returns to the original position 0. Thereby, it can be confirmed that the first electric motor 1 and the second electric motor 2 are operating.

  The stroke a is preferably set to be substantially equal to (or smaller than the play area) described in FIG. Thus, this test can be executed without driving the clutch booster 6 effectively. When this stroke a does not occur due to the individual control of each electric motor, a failure has occurred in one of the two electric motors, and this can be recognized by the driver by generating an alarm.

  The test control of the present invention shown in FIG. 3 can set an engine control program so that it automatically starts during a warm-up operation after the internal combustion engine is started and before its temperature rises sufficiently. it can. As a result, this test can be executed frequently and automatically before the start of traveling. This test can also be started by operating the test switch 12 provided in the driver's seat. When an abnormality is displayed by the operation of the test stroke 12, the driver can confirm the abnormality again by the operation.

  The configuration of the present invention is very simple, and its main part can be implemented by modifying the control program of the clutch control system.

The block block diagram of this invention Example apparatus. Operation | movement explanatory drawing of this invention Example apparatus. The time chart explaining operation | movement of this invention Example apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

1 (First) electric motor 2 (Second) electric motor 3 Clutch pedal 4 Cylinder (hydraulic pressure generation)
5 Cylinder (Hydraulic pressure generation)
6 Clutch booster 7 Air tank 8 Control circuit 9 Motor drive circuit 10 Clutch 11 Transmission 12 Test switch

Claims (5)

In a clutch control device comprising an electric motor, a cylinder that generates fluid pressure by the rotational force of the electric motor, and a means for controlling opening and closing of the clutch by the fluid pressure, the electric motor being duplicated,
Means for setting the test mode when the transmission is in the neutral position and the clutch is in the engaged state;
In this test mode, there is provided a clutch control device comprising means for supplying power to each of the duplexed motors and means for executing an operation test of each motor in the area of clutch play .   2. A means for automatically starting the test mode when the transmission is in a neutral position after the engine is started and the engine is in an idling state, and means for starting the test mode by an operation from a driver's seat. Clutch control device.   The clutch control device according to claim 1, further comprising means for generating an alarm when an abnormality is detected in one of the duplicated motors from the result of executing the test. The clutch opening / closing control fluid pressure is generated by the rotational force of the electric motor, and the method for testing the clutch control device in a form in which the electric motor is duplicated,
The clutch is characterized in that the energization test of the electric motor and the generation test of the fluid pressure are executed for each one of the electric motors in the area of clutch play, and an alarm is generated when the motor does not move to the designated position within a predetermined time. Control device test method. The test method according to claim 4, wherein the energization test is automatically executed during a warm-up operation after starting the engine.

Images