Data processing: vehicles – navigation – and relative location – Vehicle control – guidance – operation – or indication – Transmission control
Reexamination Certificate
2001-05-18
2004-12-14
Cuchlinski, Jr., William A. (Department: 3661)
Data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location
Vehicle control, guidance, operation, or indication
Transmission control
C701S051000, C701S066000, C701S058000, C701S093000, C701S053000, C701S095000, C477S108000, C477S148000, C477S149000, C477S110000, C477S120000, C477S121000, C123S349000, C180S170000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06832147
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to a method of controlling a vehicle that is equipped with an engine, a clutch, and a gear-shift transmission, and it also relates to a vehicle equipped with a controlling apparatus or control device that works according to the method.
Many contemporary motor vehicles have transmissions with to several gear levels shifted manually by the driver of the vehicle. Likewise known is an automatic transmission that shifts in steps, but the latter type of transmission has the disadvantage of a higher cost in comparison to the manually shifted transmission.
The automatic transmission has the advantage of offering a higher level of comfort, but it also involves a higher level of technical complexity that puts the automatic transmission at a cost disadvantage. The cost factor is considered to be the main reason why only a small minority of cars of relatively low engine power are equipped with automatically shifting transmissions, or why some of the small cars are not even available with automatic transmissions. However, with the ever increasing volume of traffic, large and small cars alike are exposed to constantly changing traffic situations where the changes in speed require frequent gear shifts.
Some efforts are being undertaken to automate the operation of gear-shift transmissions in order to provide a higher level of driving comfort to users of motor vehicles that are not equipped with an automatic transmission. The approach in this development is based on the manual transmission, which will also be referred to as gear-shift transmission. A principal difference between an automated gear-shift transmission and an automatic transmission (with discrete speed levels) is that the latter can be shifted from one speed level to another without an interruption in the tractive force, while an automated gear-shift transmission requires the flow of torque from the engine through the clutch to the transmission to be interrupted during the gear-shifting process.
An automated gear-shift transmission allows gear levels to be changed automatically, but there is a time gap in traction during the shift process, in contrast to a multi-speed automatic transmission which can sustain a torque load during a shift. The gap in the tractive force becomes more noticeable to the driver, the higher the amount of traction that is being interrupted. After shifting gears, the engine has to build up traction again in order to accelerate the vehicle, so that the user of the motor vehicle will experience the gap in the tractive force as a change in the acceleration of the vehicle.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
The present invention therefore aims in a broad and general sense to provide a method of controlling a vehicle that is equipped with a gear-shift transmission, so that the vehicle will shift gears with a high level of comfort. The invention also has the objective of providing a control device to perform the control function according to the inventive method.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The method proposed by the present invention as a solution to the problem stated above involves the following steps:
a) detecting when a gear-shift is about to be carried out in the transmission:
b) detecting the acceleration of the vehicle by means of a control device, and
c) reducing the acceleration of the vehicle to a first lower level of acceleration prior to the gear-shifting process.
The driver of a vehicle that is equipped with an automated gear-shift transmission can select an operating mode in which gears are shifted automatically. A control device can perform the shifting process by interrupting the flow of torque from the engine and by actuating the clutch and transmission according to the gear-shifting process that is to be performed. The driver of the motor vehicle will experience the gear-shifting process and the associated gap in vehicle traction as a fluctuation in the acceleration of the vehicle.
The invention therefore provides a method of controlling a vehicle equipped with a gear-shift transmission that is coupled to an engine by way of a clutch. According to the inventive concept, the acceleration of the vehicle is detected by a control device; and prior to initiating a gear-shifting process, the acceleration is lowered to a first acceleration level. The method according to the invention provides that prior to a gear change, the current acceleration of the vehicle is determined, e.g., based on a sensor signal by which the control device is informed of the engine torque or the acceleration, and that prior to a gear change, appropriate measures are taken to reduce the vehicle acceleration from the detected actual acceleration to a lower level of acceleration also referred to herein as the first acceleration level. According to the invention, the intent is to maintain the first acceleration level substantially unchanged for a prescribed time interval. Thus, the acceleration is lowered from the amount that was measured prior to initiating the gear shift and is then kept substantially constant at the lower level for a certain time interval.
Based on an analysis of the relevant human factors, the driver of a motor vehicle will take a relaxed body posture to the extent possible while driving the vehicle, in particular by attempting to carry his head in a balanced equilibrium position on the neck. If an unbalancing force is acting on the driver's head, he will react by attempting to return his head to a position of equilibrium. In general, the processes that take place in this situation are not consciously experienced by the driver of a vehicle. When the head is in a balanced equilibrium position on the neck, the horizontal force components acting at the center of mass of the head will cancel each other, so that there is no resultant force that would tend to push the head out of its equilibrium. When a destabilizing resultant force occurs, e.g., due to a change in the dynamic situation of the vehicle, a person will react by attempting to return his head to the equilibrium position that existed before the onset of the destabilizing force.
The method according to the invention makes use of the foregoing observation. As a result of lowering the vehicle acceleration to the first acceleration level prior to performing a gear shift, the head of a driver or occupant of the vehicle is subjected to an inertial force and will as an immediate result be displaced in a forward direction out of its equilibrium position.
After the vehicle acceleration has been lowered to the first acceleration level, the latter level is kept substantially unchanged for a predetermined time interval. During this time interval, the driver will spontaneously (i.e., without being aware of the effort) attempt to restore his head to its equilibrium position. During this equilibrium-restoring phase, the acceleration of the vehicle remains substantially constant. Further according to the inventive method, before the driver has completed the process of restoring the equilibrium position of his head, the vehicle acceleration is lowered to a second acceleration level that is lower than the first level. The driver has no negative sensation of this further reduction in vehicle acceleration, because his sense of balance has already been primed to re-equilibrate his head in response to the first reduction of the acceleration.
According to the invention, the time interval during which the first acceleration level is kept substantially constant is longer than 100 to 200 milliseconds, the preferred interval being 200 to 600 milliseconds, which may be narrowed down to 300 to 500 milliseconds.
During this time interval, the driver will have returned his head about halfway towards the previous equilibrium position, i.e., by half the amount of the initial displacement. Thus, being in the middle of the re-equilibrating phase, the driver will experience no negative sensation from the additional reduction in vehicle acceleration.
According to the invention, a proposed magnitude for the first acceleration level is 40% to 70% of the vehicle acceler
Fischer Robert
Henneberger Klaus
Jäger Thomas
Reik Wolfgang
Vornehm Martin
Cuchlinski Jr. William A.
Darby & Darby
LuK Lamellen und Kupplungsbau Beteiligungs KG
Marc McDieunel
LandOfFree
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