POWER-BASED UNDERSPEED CONTROL

• US 20090199814A1
• Filed: 02/08/2008
• Published: 08/13/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/08/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Caterpillar Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Caterpillar Incorporated
• Inventors: Sopko, Thomas M., DeMarco, Frank A., Kuras, Brian D., Hoff, Brian D., Barngrover, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 7,822,532 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 123/350
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/188 Controlling power parameters of the driveline, e.g. determining the required power
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/087 where the control system corrects or modifies a request from the driver
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 31/001 Electric control of rotation speed

Abstract

A method of adjusting the operation of an engine-driven machine to avoid engine under-speeding entails converting a received speed or torque command into a power command. When an engine under-speed condition is sensed, the system performs underspeed correction in the power domain before converting the underspeed processed power command back into the units of the original domain. The converted underspeed processed power command is issued to the transmission or other component to alleviate the engine under-speeding condition.

Claims

1. A method of adjusting the operation of an engine-driven machine to avoid engine under-speeding, the method comprising:

receiving an initial command specifying a value related to a desired torque;

converting the received command into a power command;

sensing an engine under-speed condition;

reducing the power command to an underspeed processed power command;

converting the underspeed processed power command to units that are the same as the units of the initial command; and

issuing the converted underspeed processed power command to a portion of the machine to alleviate the engine under-speeding condition.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the value related to the desired torque is a torque value.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the value related to the desired torque is a speed value.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein sensing an engine under-speed condition comprises detecting that a speed of the engine has dropped below a predetermined threshold value.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising reducing the underspeed processed power command to alleviate severe engine lugging.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein issuing the converted underspeed processed power command to a portion of the machine comprises issuing the converted underspeed processed power command to a transmission of the machine.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein reducing the power command to an underspeed processed power command comprises clipping the power command at the level at which it resided when the under-speed condition was detected, such that power command is clipped if rises above the level at which it resided when the under-speed condition was detected and is otherwise not clipped.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein reducing the power command to an underspeed processed power command further comprises, when the under-speed condition is detected, applying an I_Gain error schedule, a P_Gain error schedule, and a PI_Gain output speed schedule.

9. A controller for adjusting the operation of an engine-driven machine to avoid engine under-speeding, the controller comprising computer-readable instructions on a computer readable medium including:

instructions for receiving an initial command specifying a value related to a desired torque;

instructions for converting the received command into a power command;

instructions for sensing an engine under-speed condition;

instructions for reducing the power command to an underspeed processed power command;

instructions for converting the underspeed processed power command to units that are the same as the units of the initial command; and

instructions for issuing the converted underspeed processed power command to a portion of the machine to alleviate the engine under-speeding condition.

10. The controller according to claim 9, wherein the value related to the desired torque is a torque value.

11. The controller according to claim 9, wherein the value related to the desired torque is a speed value.

12. The controller according to claim 9, wherein the instructions for sensing an engine under-speed condition comprise instructions for detecting that a speed of the engine has dropped below a predetermined threshold value.

13. The controller according to claim 9, further comprising instructions for reducing the underspeed processed power command to alleviate severe engine lugging.

14. The controller according to claim 9, wherein the instructions for issuing the converted underspeed processed power command to a portion of the machine comprise instructions for issuing the converted underspeed processed power command to a transmission of the machine.

15. The controller according to claim 9, wherein the instructions for reducing the power command to an underspeed processed power command comprise instructions for clipping the power command at the level at which it resided when the under-speed condition was detected, such that power command is clipped if rises above the level at which it resided when the under-speed condition was detected and is otherwise not clipped.

16. The controller according to claim 15, wherein the instructions for reducing the power command to an underspeed processed power command further comprise instructions for applying an I_Gain error schedule, a P_Gain error schedule, and a PI_Gain output speed schedule when the under-speed condition is detected.

17. An engine-driven machine having a power-domain underspeed function, the machine comprising:

an engine;

a transmission linked to the engine; and

a controller for receiving data from the engine and for sending commands to the transmission, the controller being adapted to detect an engine underspeed condition and to convert a received command in a first domain into a power command and to perform underspeed processing on the power command to produce a reduced power command, convert the reduced power command into a final command in the first domain.

18. The engine-driven machine according to claim 17, wherein the first domain is one of a speed domain and a torque domain.

19. The engine-driven machine according to claim 17, wherein controller is further adapted to provide the final command to the transmission.

20. The engine-driven machine according to claim 17, wherein performing underspeed processing on the power command comprises applying an I_Gain error schedule, a P_Gain error schedule, and a PI_Gain output speed schedule.