SHIFT-BY-WIRE DEVICE AND TRANSMISSION DEVICE MOUNTING THEREON THE SAME

• US 20100161187A1
• Filed: 12/14/2009
• Published: 06/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.)
• Inventors: ITO, Yoshinobu
• Granted Patent: US 8,401,747 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/58
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 2061/1208 with diagnostic check cycles; Monitoring of failures
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 2061/122 Avoiding failures by using redundant parts
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 2061/1268 Electric parts of the controller, e.g. a defect solenoid, wiring or microprocessor
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 2061/1292 the failing part is the power supply, e.g. the electric power supply
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 2061/326 Actuators for range selection, i.e. actuators for controlling the range selector or the manual range valve in the transmission
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 61/12 Detecting malfunction or potential malfunction, e.g. fail safe in control of hydrostatic gearing F16H61/4192; Circumventing or fixing failures
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 61/32 Electric motors actuators or related electrical control means therefor

Abstract

A shift-by-wire device including a shaft position sensor that detects a shaft rotating angle, a drive unit that drives an actuator of the shaft, an operational function unit including an operational CPU that receives the shaft rotating angle from the shaft position sensor, receives a shift command from an administrative electronic control unit to transmit the shaft rotating angle of the shaft to the administrative electronic control unit, and controls the drive unit according to the shaft rotating angle and shift command. The device further includes a monitoring function unit including a monitoring CPU that receives the shaft rotating angle in order to monitor whether there is an abnormality in the operational function unit and transmits the shaft rotating angle to the administrative electronic control unit when a detected abnormality occurs in the operational function unit.

Claims

1. A shift-by-wire device connected communicatively to an administrative electronic control unit, which inputs thereinto a signal from a shift position sensor for detection of a demanded shift position demanded by a driver, to drivingly control a manual shaft on the basis of a shift command from the administrative electronic control unit to actuate an object being actuated, the shift-by-wire device comprising

a shaft position sensor that detects a rotating angle of the manual shaft,

a drive unit that drives an actuator of the manual shaft,

an operational function unit including an operational CPU that inputs thereinto a rotating angle of the shaft from the shaft position sensor, receives a shift command from the administrative electronic control unit to transmit the rotating angle of the shaft thus input to the administrative electronic control unit, and controls the drive unit on the basis of the rotating angle of the shaft thus input and the shift command thus received, and

a monitoring function unit including a monitoring CPU that inputs thereinto a rotating angle of the shaft from the shaft position sensor to monitor the presence of abnormality in the operational function unit and transmits the rotating angle of the shaft thus input to the administrative electronic control unit when it is determined that abnormality occurs in the operational function unit.

2. The shift-by-wire device according to claim 1, wherein the monitoring function unit is one that monitors communicative abnormality between the operational function unit and the administrative electronic control unit.

3. The shift-by-wire device according to claim 1, wherein the operational function unit and the monitoring function unit are ones that actuate using different electric sources, and

the monitoring function unit is one that monitors the presence of abnormality in that electric source, from which electricity is supplied to the operational function unit.

4. The shift-by-wire device according to claim 3, wherein the actuator of the manual shaft comprises an electric motor having a rotor,

a rotational position sensor is provided to detect a rotational position of the rotor in order to control the electric motor,

the shaft position sensor comprises a sensor that receives electricity from the electric source for the operational CPU to actuate,

the rotational position sensor comprises a sensor that receives electricity from the electric source for the monitoring CPU to actuate,

the operational function unit is one that inputs thereinto a rotational position of the rotor from the rotational position sensor and controls the drive unit on the basis of the rotational position thus input, and

when it is determined that abnormality occurs in the electric source for supplying electricity to the operational function unit, the monitoring function unit inputs thereinto a rotational position of the rotor from the rotational position sensor and deduces a rotating angle of the shaft on the basis of the rotational position thus input to transmit the same to the administrative electronic control unit.

5. The shift-by-wire device according to claim 1, wherein the monitoring function unit is one, by which when monitoring determines abnormality, results of the determination is transmitted to the administrative electronic control unit.

6. The shift-by-wire device according to claim 1, wherein the monitoring function unit is one capable of enabling and inhibiting transmission of a drive signal to the drive unit from the operational function unit.

7. The shift-by-wire device according to claim 6, wherein the monitoring function unit is one that enables transmission of a drive signal to the drive unit when it is determined that abnormality does not occur in the operational function unit, and inhibits transmission of a drive signal to the drive unit when it is determined that abnormality occurs in the operational function unit.

8. The shift-by-wire device according to claim 7, wherein the monitoring function unit inputs thereinto a shift command from the administrative electronic control unit to inhibit transmission of a drive signal to the drive unit when a direction of rotation of the manual shaft is different from a direction of rotation conformed to the shift command thus input when the actuator drives the manual shaft.

9. The shift-by-wire device according to claim 7, wherein the monitoring function unit inputs thereinto a shift command from the administrative electronic control unit to inhibit transmission of a drive signal to the drive unit when a rotating angle of the manual shaft exceeds a rotating angle conformed to the shift command thus input when the actuator drives the manual shaft.

10. The shift-by-wire device according to claim 6, further comprising a signal transmission cutoff circuit that transmits a drive signal to the drive unit when an enabling signal is input from the monitoring function unit, and shuts off transmission of a drive signal to the drive unit when the enabling signal is not input, and

wherein the monitoring function unit is one that outputs an OFF signal as the enabling signal through an inverting circuit, and

the operational function unit is one that determines whether a predetermined abnormality occurs in the monitoring function unit, and resets the monitoring function unit when it is determined that the predetermined abnormality occurs in the monitoring function unit.

11. The shift-by-wire device according to claim 10, wherein the operational function unit is one that resets the monitoring function unit when an enabling signal is not output from the monitoring function unit over a predetermined period of time in the case where it is not determined that the predetermined abnormality occurs in the monitoring function unit.

12. The shift-by-wire device according to claim 1, wherein the drive unit, the operational function unit, and the monitoring function unit comprise a single electronic control unit.

13. The shift-by-wire device according to claim 1, wherein the object being actuated comprises a parking lock mechanism that actuates as the manual shaft is driven.

14. A transmission device mounting thereon an automatic transmission capable of power transmission by a clutch that makes use of fluid pressure supplied through a manual valve interlocking with a manual shaft to actuate, and

the shift-by-wire device, according to claim 1, which drives the manual shaft as the object being actuated.