JPS63248939A - Throttle valve controller for engine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate maintenance of the operating extent of an accelerator pedal, by altering a gain of throttle opening to the accelerator operating extent so as to cause it to converge within the specified operating range at a time when a stready running state is judged. CONSTITUTION:A throttle valve controller has an accelerator operating extent detecting device B detecting the operating extent of an accelerator pedal A, and it controls opening of a throttle valve C with the specified characteristic by a throttle control device D according to the detected accelerator operating extent. In this case, there is provided with a steady running judging device E which judges whether a vehicle is in a steady running state or not, and when the steady running state is judged, a gain of the throttle opening to the accelerator operating extent by the throttle control device D is made so as to be altered by a throttle gain altering device F. This altering device F should be set to alter the gain so as to cause the accelerator operating extent to converge within the specified low operating range.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a throttle valve control device for an engine, and in particular to a throttle valve control device that electrically controls the opening degree of the throttle valve in accordance with the amount of depression of an accelerator pedal. Regarding equipment.

(Prior Art) Generally, the throttle valve of an engine mounted on a vehicle is controlled to open and close via a mechanical interlocking mechanism in response to depression of the accelerator pedal.
According to Publication No. 6336, there are provided a depression amount detection means for detecting the depression amount of the accelerator pedal, and a control means for electrically controlling the opening degree of the throttle valve according to the depression amount of the accelerator pedal detected by the detection means. , and the throttle opening is controlled according to a predetermined characteristic with respect to the amount of accelerator depression. According to this, for example, when accelerating, the rate of change in throttle opening relative to the amount of accelerator depression is increased to improve acceleration, and during steady driving, the rate of change is decreased to improve driving stability, etc. depending on the driving condition. It is possible to always obtain optimal throttle opening characteristics for the amount of accelerator depression.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) By the way, not only the conventional mechanical type but also the electrically controlled throttle valve control device as mentioned above can be used to adjust the amount of depression of the accelerator pedal to the throttle opening or vehicle speed during steady driving. In this case, when driving steadily at high speeds, the accelerator pedal is held relatively depressed and the amount of pedal depression is held constant, and when driving steadily at very low speeds, the amount of pedal depression is held constant. The amount of depression of the accelerator pedal is maintained at a constant, extremely small amount. However, in the former case, the reaction force caused by the return spring becomes large, and the amount of depression of the accelerator pedal must be kept constant against this reaction force, which makes it difficult for the foot to press the accelerator pedal, especially when driving at high speed for a long time. It becomes difficult to maintain a constant amount of depression due to fatigue. In addition, in the latter case, since the reaction force from the return spring is small, the amount of pedal depression will fluctuate even with subtle changes in the force applied to the foot. It becomes difficult. As a result, the throttle opening or vehicle speed becomes unstable both during high-speed steady driving, where the required accelerator depression is relatively large, and during very low-speed steady driving, where the required accelerator depression is small, and the vehicle speed during steady driving becomes unstable. Difficult to maintain.

The present invention deals with the above-mentioned conventional situation, and particularly in an electrically controlled throttle valve control device, it is suitable not only for steady running at low and medium speeds where maintaining the vehicle speed is relatively easy, but also for steady running at high speeds and extremely high speeds. The purpose of the present invention is to improve the maintainability of vehicle speed by making it easier to maintain the amount of depression of the accelerator pedal even during low-speed steady driving.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, an engine throttle valve control device according to the present invention is characterized in that it is configured as follows.

That is, as shown in FIG. 1, there is an accelerator depression amount detection means B that detects the depression amount of the accelerator pedal A, and a throttle valve C is opened according to a predetermined characteristic according to the accelerator depression amount detected by the detection means B. In a configuration including a throttle control means for controlling the speed, steady running determination means E for determining whether or not the vehicle is in a steady running state;
A throttle gain changing means F is provided for changing the gain of the throttle opening degree relative to the amount of accelerator depression by the throttle control means when the steady running state is determined by the determining means E. Specifically, the throttle gain changing means F changes the gain so that the amount of accelerator depression is converged to a predetermined low depression range, regardless of the throttle opening degree or vehicle speed that should be kept constant. The above-mentioned predetermined low depression range refers to a relatively low depression range in which it is considered easy to maintain a constant depression amount of the accelerator pedal against the reaction force of the return spring, based on experiments or experience. within a predetermined range (for example, 10 for the total amount of depression)
~15%).

(Function) According to the above configuration, when transitioning from acceleration or deceleration state by depressing or releasing the accelerator pedal to steady running, for example, if the steady running is steady running at high speed, the throttle gain is increased. By increasing the gain of the throttle opening with respect to the accelerator depression amount by the changing means F, a desired high vehicle speed can be obtained with a relatively small accelerator depression amount within a predetermined low depression range, and conversely, a desired high vehicle speed can be obtained with a relatively small accelerator depression amount within a predetermined low depression range. In the case of steady running, the throttle gain changing means F decreases the gain, so that a desired extremely low vehicle speed can be obtained with a relatively large accelerator depression amount within the same predetermined low depression range. In that case, since the above range is a range in which it is easy to keep the amount of depression of the accelerator pedal constant, it is not only possible to maintain steady driving at low to medium speeds corresponding to this range, but also to achieve high speeds during steady driving at very low speeds. Even when the vehicle is running, it is possible to maintain a good vehicle speed.

(Example) Examples of the present invention will be described below. This embodiment is for an engine used with an electronically controlled automatic transmission, and the throttle control of the engine and the speed change control (and lockup control) of the automatic transmission are performed in parallel. It is something.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the engine 1 according to this embodiment, the throttle valve 3 provided in the intake passage 2 is
It is designed to be opened and closed by an actuator 4 such as a motor. Further, the automatic transmission 5 coupled to the engine 1 includes a plurality of shift solenoids 6+, 62.6
3 and a lock-up solenoid 7, and a shift solenoid 61.6□, 6. The combination of ON and OFF switches the hydraulic circuit and selectively engages a plurality of hydraulic engagement elements, thereby switching the transmission mechanism to a plurality of gear stages. A lock-up clutch (not shown) in the torque converter is engaged or released by turning ON or OFF. A controller 10 is provided for outputting a throttle control signal a, a shift control signal S, and a lock-up control signal C to the actuator 4 for driving the throttle valve, and the shift and lock-up solenoids 61 to 65, 7, respectively. The controller 10 includes an accelerator sensor 11 that detects the amount of depression of the accelerator pedal, a vehicle speed sensor 12 that detects the vehicle speed, a gear position sensor 13 that detects the gear position (gear stage) of the transmission 5, and a driving mode. Output signals d, e, f, and g from the mode lever 14 are input. Here, the mode lever 14 allows the driving mode to be set or changed stepwise or steplessly between an economy mode that emphasizes fuel efficiency and a power mode that emphasizes output performance. It is designed to output a signal g having a value according to the set mode.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained according to a flowchart showing the operation of the controller 10.

As shown in FIG. 3, this controller 10 performs a predetermined system initialization at the start of operation, and then controls the opening degree of the throttle valve 3 via the actuator 4 based on the signal a. , c control the gear position of the automatic transmission 5 and the lock-up clutch via the solenoids 61 to 63.7.

Specifically, the above-mentioned shift control and lock-up control are
This is done according to the flowchart shown in the figure. That is, the controller 10 inputs the accelerator pedal depression amount α, vehicle speed ■, gear position G, and driving mode M based on the signals dg from each sensor 11 to 13 and the mode lever 14 shown in FIG. Steps 21-P4). Then, it compares the shift-up map, shift-down map, and lock-up map with the previously set accelerator depression amount and vehicle speed as parameters with the above-mentioned actually detected accelerator depression amount α and vehicle speed ■, and at that point For gear position G, it is determined whether to shift up or down, and whether to engage or release the lock-up clutch (steps P5 to
P)). In this case, the shift door amplifier map and downshift map are corrected depending on the driving mode, for example, in power mode, the shift point is shifted to a higher vehicle speed side.

Then, depending on the determined result, the shift solenoids 6, to 6, shown in FIG. Control signals S and C are output to the lock-up solenoid 7 to shift up or down, and to the lock-up solenoid 7 to engage or release the lock-up clutch, respectively (step P8).

On the other hand, throttle control, which is a characteristic part of the present invention, is performed according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

That is, the controller 10 reads the accelerator depression amount α, vehicle speed V, gear position G, and driving mode M as in the case of the above-described shift control, and also reads the accelerator depression amount α
Time rate of change α′ and time rate of change of vehicle speed (acceleration)
V' is calculated (steps Q+ to Q6), and a function value f(α), which is the basis for calculating the throttle opening degree, is determined based on the accelerator depression amount α (step Q7). This function value f(α) is set in advance as a predetermined characteristic map for the accelerator depression amount α as shown in FIG. The sides are set to be large. this is,
This is to increase the throttle opening as a whole since the transmission output is small on the high gear side.

Next, the controller 1o determines the value of the flag F regardless of whether the vehicle is in an acceleration/deceleration state or in a steady running state, and
When =O, that is, when the acceleration/deceleration state is in progress, the throttle opening gain (throttle gain) K for the accelerator depression amount α is determined based on the rate of change in the depression amount α′, the vehicle speed ■, and the driving mode M. Step Qa, Q9).

As shown in FIG.
XVXM), for example, is set to vary linearly within a range of 1.0 to 1.2. In other words, the output is required as the values of the above-mentioned depression amount change rate α', vehicle speed V, and driving mode M increase, and by increasing the throttle gain K according to the multiplicative product of these values, , the throttle opening degree is increased for the same accelerator depression amount α, and the correction is made so that the required output can be obtained. Then, when the absolute value of the vehicle speed change rate V' is a predetermined value A (at the time of acceleration/deceleration that opens greater than 1), the flag F is set to "O".
” and repeat the above operations (step Q+o,
Ql+).

However, the acceleration/deceleration state as described above shifts to steady running,
When the absolute value of the vehicle speed change rate v' becomes less than the predetermined value Ao, the controller 10 sets the flag F to "1'° and sets the ratio of the accelerator depression amount α to the total depression amount to 1".
Determine whether or not it exceeds 5%, and if it exceeds (α
>15%), the throttle gain K determined in step Q9 is multiplied by 1.1 (steps Q+2 to Q14). Also, if the depression amount α is less than 10% (α<10%), the throttle gain K is multiplied by 0.9, and if it is within the range of 10 to 15% (10≦α≦15%), the throttle gain K is multiplied by 0.9. Keep K at the previous value (steps Qls, Qt6)
, and the throttle gain K obtained in this way
The function value f(α) obtained from the map in FIG. 6 in step Q7 is corrected using A control signal a is output to the actuator 4 shown in FIG. 2 so that the valve 3 has its opening degree θ (steps Q17 and Q18).

In this way, when transitioning to steady running at high speed,
If the accelerator depression amount α exceeds 15%, the throttle gain K is gradually increased so that the accelerator depression amount α required for the throttle opening θ corresponding to the steady running vehicle (fast and high speed) is increased. The throttle gain K is gradually reduced to 15% or less, and when the accelerator depression amount α is less than 10% when transitioning to steady driving at an extremely low speed, the throttle gain K is gradually reduced. As a result, the accelerator depression amount α required for the throttle opening degree θ corresponding to the steady running vehicle speed (very low speed) gradually increases and eventually reaches 10% or more. As a result, during steady driving, the accelerator pedal depression amount α is always converged to a range of 10 to 15% regardless of the vehicle speed, but this range is a range in which it is easy to maintain the accelerator pedal depression amount constant. Therefore, the throttle opening degree and the vehicle speed are stabilized, which improves the ability to maintain the vehicle speed during steady driving.

Furthermore, when the accelerator depression amount α exceeds 15% and when it is less than 10%, the throttle gain is gradually increased or decreased (in the above example, by 10% of the previous value), so the driver may feel uncomfortable. The amount of accelerator depression is smoothly and naturally converged to a range of 10 to 15% without giving any effect.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, in a vehicle equipped with a throttle valve control device that electrically controls the opening degree of the throttle valve according to a predetermined characteristic in accordance with the amount of depression of the accelerator pedal, it is possible to At times, the amount of accelerator depression is converged to a predetermined low depression range that can be easily maintained at a constant value regardless of the vehicle speed. As a result, the throttle opening of the engine and the vehicle speed are maintained at a constant value, and the ability to maintain the vehicle speed during steady driving is improved over a wide vehicle speed range from very low speeds to high speeds.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of the present invention, Figs. 2 to 7 show embodiments of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a control system diagram, and Figs. 3 to 5 show examples of the present invention.
The figure is a flowchart diagram showing the overall control operation, gear change control operation, and throttle control operation, respectively. Figure 6 is a characteristic diagram showing the characteristics of the basic value of throttle opening with respect to accelerator depression amount. Figure 7 is the rate of change in accelerator depression amount. FIG. 2 is a characteristic diagram showing the characteristics of throttle gain with respect to vehicle speed and driving mode. 1...Engine, 3...Throttle valve, 10...
Throttle control means, steady running determination means, throttle gain changing means (controller), 11... accelerator depression amount detection means (accelerator sensor).

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) Accelerator depression amount detection means for detecting the amount of depression of the accelerator pedal; throttle control means for controlling the opening degree of the throttle valve according to predetermined characteristics according to the amount of accelerator depression detected by the detection means; Steady running determination means for determining whether or not the steady running state is present; and when the steady running state is determined by the determining means, the accelerator is controlled by the throttle control means so that the amount of accelerator depression converges to a predetermined low depression range. 1. A throttle valve control device for an engine, comprising a throttle gain changing means for changing a gain of a throttle opening degree with respect to a pedal depression amount.