Interrelated power delivery controls – including engine control – Transmission control – With clutch control
Patent
1996-09-13
1998-10-06
Bonck, Rodney H.
Interrelated power delivery controls, including engine control
Transmission control
With clutch control
477 83, 477181, B60K 4102
Patent
active
058169750
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to a device for the automatic control of a clutch, in particular a clutch of a motor vehicle, comprising an actuation member for automatically controlling the clutch at least during operation, whether or not through the agency of a clutch pedal or handle.
Such a device is of major advantage especially when it is necessary to stop and drive on frequently at comparatively short intervals in between over short distances such as is the case, for example, with refuse lorries, mobile shops and the like. The drivers thereof often have knee complaints caused by the frequent operation of the clutch pedal. The actuation member relieves the load on the driver's leg.
Devices of the kind mentioned in the opening paragraph are known in particular from vehicles fitted with an automatic gearbox. The constructions used for this are usually so-called torque converters which comprise two mutually opposed discs which rotate in an oil-filled space and which face one another with their hollow sides, in which blades are provided. These, however, are comparatively complicated and expensive constructions which must be fitted during the manufacture of the vehicle
Simpler systems are also known, but in these simpler systems a certain measure of control over the clutch is always sacrificed in the sense that the degree or speed of clutch engagement is previously defined and the driver can hardly influence this during operation, if at all. This is inconvenient not only when a different style of driving, for example a more sportsmanlike one than preset, is desired, but it may also lead to unsafe situations in those cases where a quick acceleration is the only way out of a hazardous situation.
As such EP 224.454 describes an automatic clutch arrangement in which the position of the clutch pedal is controlled by a gear motor and micro switches associated with the driving belt of the clutch pedal provide for the necessary end point detections. During normal, automatic operation, after a specific gear has been set, the gear motor initially raises the clutch pedal slowly until the so-called engage or skidding point is reached. At that instance a further micro switch activates a rheostat causing the ascent rate to be decreased so that the friction plates may nicely and smoothly come from further to full engagement. However if the driver wants a more sport-like way of driving he presses the accelerator pedal in order to activate another micro switch which short-cuts the rheostat causing the clutch pedal to ascent all the way at the same relatively high rate.
A similar kind of operation is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,983,346 in which normal, automatic operation of the clutch is guided by first switching means associated with an actuating rod, which provide for clutch engagement in three consecutive stages: first rapid to the skidding point where the friction plates start to engage, then gentle towards full engagement and finally rapid again to full ascent. In order to skip the gentle stage the driver just has to press the accelerator pedal in order that terminal of switching means associated with it will land on the isolating portion, interrupting the connection to a conducting portion of the first switching means.
However, although these known automatic clutch arrangements facilitate in one way or the other some kind of interference with the standard clutching procedure through the action of the accelerator pedal, they both provide nothing more than merely a choice between either of two pre-programmed scenarios, which in practice appears to be absolutely insufficient to adequately tackle all kinds of different circumstances which may occur during daily traffic. Accordingly a lot over user control is sacrificed in these known system to the benefit of automatic operation.
The present invention has for its object inter alia to provide a device of the kind mentioned in the opening paragraph which permits at least a high degree of user control over the degree and rate of clutch engagement.
The invention is based on the recogn
REFERENCES:
patent: 1893644 (1933-01-01), Fleischel
patent: 2103700 (1937-12-01), Smart
patent: 2325486 (1943-07-01), Derungs
patent: 2414717 (1947-01-01), Chapman
patent: 2916937 (1959-12-01), Iavelli
patent: 2983346 (1961-05-01), Weymann
Scott, D., "Footloose", Popular Science, vol. 232, No. 3, Mar. 1988, pp. 64-65.
Stoelinga Dirk-Jan
Wijlhuizen Jan Paul
Bonck Rodney H.
Estremsky Sherry Lynn
T.C. Patent B.V.
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