Machine element or mechanism – Gearing – Interchangeably locked
Reexamination Certificate
2001-07-31
2002-11-12
Wright, Dirk (Department: 3681)
Machine element or mechanism
Gearing
Interchangeably locked
Reexamination Certificate
active
06477910
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an adjustment system in an automatic transmission for an automobile.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been known such automatic transmission as shown in
FIG. 9
, the transmission which described in a bullet of the Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 141523/1993, for example. The automatic transmission
101
shown in
FIG. 9
mentioned above comprises an actuator
103
, a shift operating unit
105
, a rotation position detecting unit
107
and a controlling unit
109
.
The actuator
103
comprises an electric motor and is connected to a driving circuit
111
connected to the controlling unit
109
. The actuator
103
rotates a manual shaft
113
so as to switch a shifting position. The shift operating unit
105
comprises a selecting switch and instructs a shifting position to output an instruction signal to the controlling unit
109
. The rotation position detecting unit
107
comprises, for example, a potentiometer and detects a rotation angle of the manual shaft
113
to input a detection signal to the controlling unit
109
. The controlling unit
109
receives the instruction signal from the operating unit
105
to output the signal to the driving circuit
111
until the rotation position detected by the rotation position detecting unit
107
accords with the instructed shifting position, and controls and drives the actuator
103
.
Therefore, when an operator operates the shift operating unit
105
to instruct the shifting position, the controlling unit
109
controls the manual shaft
113
to be rotated to the instructed shifting position so that gears of the automatic transmission
101
can be shifted.
When the rotation position detecting unit
107
comprises a potentiometer, the rotation position detecting unit
107
outputs a voltage value, which is schematically proportional to a rotation angle of the manual shaft
113
, to detect a rotation angle. The rotation position detecting unit
107
is mounted such that a point of a voltage value corresponding to a point N (neutral range) of the rotation position detecting unit
107
would accord with a position of the neutral range N of the manual shaft
113
. Thus, in the case that rotation of the manual shaft
113
changes the shifting position, such as P (parking range) and D (driving range) can be detected by means of a voltage value outputted by the rotation position detecting unit
107
.
In such mounting, however, the point N of the potentiometer is likely to be different from that of manual shaft due to wrong mounting. Further, dispersion of a resistance value of the potentiometer itself in manufacturing is likely to make a difference between a resistance value corresponding to each shifting position and a design value. Moreover, there is also likely to be a little difference in respective gear position from the design value due to individual difference of the automatic transmission
101
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention is aimed to provide an adjustment system in an automatic transmission capable of learning a relation between the shifting position and an output value of the rotation position detecting unit after mounting thereof in a simple construction.
An invention according to a first aspect is concerned with an adjustment system in an automatic transmission including: an electric actuator for switching a shifting position by rotating a manual shaft; a shift operating unit for instructing the shifting position to output an instruction signal; a rotation position detecting unit for detecting a rotation angle of the manual shaft on the basis of an output signal corresponding to the rotation angle; a locating unit, which is provided with a concave and convex portion corresponding to the each shifting position, for locating the manual shaft by a detent pin getting over a convex to be fitted in a predetermined concave in shifting; and a controlling unit for driving and controlling the actuator until a rotation position, which is detected by the rotation position detecting unit in response to the receipt of the instruction signal from the shift operating unit, accords with the instructed shifting position, wherein the adjustment system comprises an electric current detecting unit for detecting a driving current of the actuator; a shifting position calculating unit for calculating a shifting position of the manual shaft on the basis of detection by the electric current detecting unit of a change in the driving current of the actuator at the time when the detent pin gets over a convex to be fitted in a predetermined concave in shifting described above; and rotation position detection learning unit for learning a relation between the shifting position calculated by the shifting position calculating unit and an output value of the rotation position detecting unit.
An invention according to a second aspect is concerned with the adjustment system in an automatic transmission according to the first aspect, wherein the electric current detecting unit detects a change in a driving current at the time when the manual shaft is rotated back and forth so that the actuator can switch all the shifting positions back and forth, and the shifting position calculating unit calculates all the shifting positions on the basis of the change in the driving current.
An invention according to a third aspect is concerned with an adjustment system in an automatic transmission including: an electric actuator for switching a shifting position by rotating a manual shaft; a shift operating unit for instructing the above-mentioned shifting position to output an instruction signal; an inhibitor switch for detecting the shifting point; a rotation position detecting unit for detecting a rotation angle of the manual shaft; and a controlling unit for driving and controlling the actuator until a rotation position, which is detected by the rotation position detecting unit in response to the receipt of the instruction signal from the shift operating unit, accords with the instructed shifting position, wherein the adjustment system comprises a shifting position calculating unit for calculating a shifting position of the manual shaft on the basis of an output of the inhibitor switch in shifting; and a rotation position detection learning unit for learning a relation between the shifting position calculated by said shifting position calculating unit and an output value of the rotation position detecting unit.
An invention according to a fourth aspect is concerned with the adjustment system in an automatic transmission according to the third aspect, wherein the shifting position calculating unit calculates at least one shifting point of the manual shaft on the basis of rising and falling outputs of the inhibitor switch at the time when the actuator rotates the manual shaft so as to switch at least one shifting position.
An invention according to a fifth aspect is concerned with the adjustment system in an automatic transmission according to the third aspect, wherein the shifting position calculating unit calculates all the shifting positions of the manual shaft on the basis of rising and falling outputs of the inhibitor switch at the time when the actuator rotates the manual shaft so as to switch all the shifting positions.
In the invention according to the first aspect, when the shift operating unit instructs a shifting position, an instruction signal is inputted to the controlling unit, which drives and controls the actuator, so that the manual shaft would be rotated and driven to the instructed shifting position. When the rotation position of the manual shaft, which is detected by the rotation position detecting unit, accords with the shifting position instructed by the shift operating unit at that time, driving and controlling of the actuator are stopped and the manual shaft stays in the instructed shifting position. The detent pin, which is the locating unit, gets over a convex in shifting to be fitted in a predetermined concave corresponding to the shifting p
Ebashi Akio
Ohata Tomoyuki
Kananen, Esq. Ronald P.
Niles Parts Co., Ltd.
Rader & Fishman & Grauer, PLLC
Wright Dirk
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