Machine element or mechanism – Gearing – Interchangeably locked
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-01
2001-10-02
Marmor, Charles A (Department: 3681)
Machine element or mechanism
Gearing
Interchangeably locked
C477S121000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06295884
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an automatic speed-change control method and an automatic speed-change control apparatus of an actuator which automatically drives a mechanism such as a clutch etc. for changing the combination of meshing or engaging gears of a gear train for speed-change in a manual gear transmission of an automobile.
2. Description of the Related Art
A manual gear transmission of an automobile is basically provided with a gear train for speed-change, a change or switch mechanism for changing or switching a combination of the gear train, and an operating means for operating the change mechanism. For example, in the manual gear transmission in which the gear train for speed-change is mounted on a plurality of shafts in a meshed condition, the combination of gears is changed by shifting and selecting a synchromesh mechanism, which is one kind of clutch mechanism, by the operating means. Thus, rotating power from an engine is outputted after the speed-change.
A manual gear transmission has been developed involving an automatically operated type gear transmission in which a hydraulic actuator which can be controlled electrically or an electrical actuator for operating the clutch mechanism is provided in the operating means to be controlled by a command of ECU (Electronic Control Unit). In such automatically operated type manual gear transmission, the speed-change is performed in view of the durability of the synchromesh mechanism, and a reduction of the vehicle shock and noise.
That is, in the synchromesh-type gear transmission, there are for example four areas which include a shift-draw-out area to draw out a shift-select shaft from a shift fork, a select area to select the shift fork, a synchronize area where a synchronizer ring frictionally contacts with the gear, and a push-apart area where the sleeve meshes with the gear. As the time of the synchronize area is set shorter, the durability of the sleeve, the synchronizer ring and the cone etc. deteriorates, and as a shift shock speed at the push-apart area is set larger, vehicle shock and noise become remarkable.
In view of the above, in the manual gear transmission which has adopted the automatically operated method, an actuating amount or a driving amount of the hydraulic actuator or electrical actuator which operates the shift fork (a fluid speed or pressure in the hydraulic actuator, and a drive voltage or drive current in the electric actuator) is selected to be small so that the stroke speed of the shift fork is reduced, thereby setting the speed-change time to be relatively longer. In this way, the durability of the speed-change mechanism is increased, and the vehicle shock and the noise are reduced or attenuated. In other words, in the known manual gear transmission, the actuator is operated by seriously taking into account the durability increase of the speed-change mechanism and the reduction of the vehicle shock and noise.
However, in the synchromesh type gear transmission for example, the synchromesh mechanism which has been conventionally handled manually by a driver is automatically operated by an actuator for effecting the automatic speed-change, so the synchromesh transmission needs to be operated by an actuator in a manner equivalent to the manual operation. That is, the driver expects, when he or she kicks down or presses the accelerate pedal, that the actuator performs the quick speed-change to increase the vehicle speed in a short time. The above operation of the actuator which takes the mechanism durability and vehicle shock
oise reduction serious and ignores the speed-change timing is contrary to the driver's requirements for a speed-change time. Thus, the driver receives a strange feeling due to the delay in response of the speed-change mechanism.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is made in view of the above mentioned circumstances, and therefor has a purpose or object to provide the automatic speed-change control method and the automatic speed-change control apparatus of the manually operated type gear transmission in which the driver's requirements for speed-change timing, increased durability of the speed-change mechanism, and attenuation of the vehicle shock and noise are all considered.
The automatic speed-change control method of the present invention for the manual gear transmission includes a gear train for speed-change, a clutch mechanism for performing the speed-change by changing the meshing combination of the gear train, an actuator for driving the clutch mechanism, and an operating means for controlling the operation of the actuator. The control method involves steps of 1) judging a speed-change timing based on an operation of the operating means, 2) detecting an degree of accelerator depression when the speed-change timing is judged in said judge step, and 3) setting an operating factor of the actuator corresponding to the degree of accelerator depression detected in the detecting step.
According to the automatic speed-change control apparatus of the present invention for the manual gear transmission comprising a gear train for speed-change, a clutch mechanism for changing a meshing combination of the gear train, an actuator for driving the actuator, and an operating means for controlling an operation of the actuator. The operating means includes 1) a detect means for detecting a speed-change timing and detecting the degree of accelerator depression, 2) a calculate means for calculating an operating factor corresponding to the degree of accelerator depression detected by said detect means, to set a drive amount to the actuator so that the actuator operates by the calculated operating factor, and 3) a command means for supplying the drive amount to the actuator calculated by said calculate means and giving an operating command to the actuator.
In controlling the actuator of the manual gear transmission by the control method and the control apparatus according to the present invention, as the degree of accelerator depression in speed-changing becomes larger, the actuator shifts in higher speed, or the actuator completes the operation in shorter time. Thus, when the accelerator pedal is deeply kicked down by the driver, the actuator is controlled automatically by giving the preference to the speed-change time to meet the driver's requirement for the speed-change time. On the other hand, when the kick-down amount of the accelerator pedal is small and accordingly the opened degree of the throttle is small, the actuator is operated in low speed or the actuator completes the operation in a long time. Thus, the speed-change by giving the preference to a prevention of bad influence to the durability of the clutch mechanism and the attenuation of the vehicle shock and the noise is performed.
According to the automatic speed-change control method and the automatic speed-change control apparatus of the present invention, the operating speed of the actuator for the automatically operated actuator can be set in higher speed or lower speed, or the operating time of the actuator can be extended or shortened according to the driver's speed-change operation. As a result, one of the speed-change of the manual gear transmission which satisfies the driver's requirement for the speed-change operation, and the speed-change which prevents the influence to the durability of the clutch mechanism and attenuates the vehicle shock and the noise, can be selected.
In the manual gear transmission to which the automatic speed-change control method and the automatic speed-change control apparatus of the present invention are applied, the actuator can be comprised of a hydraulic actuator such as a linear actuator or an electrical actuator such as a motor, and is disposed in the shift-select shaft or the shift fork. One actuator is sufficient for the shift-select shaft when the actuator is disposed in the shift-select shaft. A single actuator is sufficiently provided when the actuator is disposed in the shift-select shaft.
Miyake Tatsuhiro
Miyazaki Takeshige
Aisin Ai Co., Ltd.
Burns Doane , Swecker, Mathis LLP
Marmor Charles A
Parekh Ankur
LandOfFree
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