VEHICLE CONTROL SYSTEM

• US 20150274172A1
• Filed: 10/30/2012
• Published: 10/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Takahiro Yokokawa
• Inventors: Ito, Yoshio, Yamanaka, Satoshi, Yokokawa, Takahiro
• Granted Patent: US 9,707,969 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/02 including control of driveline clutches
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/023 Fluid clutches
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/06 including control of combustion engines
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2030/206 related or induced by the engine
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/192 Mitigating problems related to power-up or power-down of the driveline, e.g. start-up of a cold engine
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/20 Reducing vibrations in the driveline
• CPC Class Codes: F16D 2500/50236 Adaptations of the clutch characteristics, e.g. curve clutch capacity torque - clutch actuator displacement
• CPC Class Codes: F16D 2500/50287 Torque control
• CPC Class Codes: F16D 2500/50676 Optimising drive-train operating point, e.g. selecting gear ratio giving maximum fuel economy, best performance
• CPC Class Codes: F16D 2500/5085 Coasting
• CPC Class Codes: F16D 2500/50883 Stop-and-go, i.e. repeated stopping and starting, e.g. in traffic jams
• CPC Class Codes: F16D 2500/70422 Clutch parameters
• CPC Class Codes: F16D 2500/70452 Engine parameters
• CPC Class Codes: F16D 2500/70472 Input shaft speed
• CPC Class Codes: F16D 48/06 Control by electric or electronic means, e.g. of fluid pressure
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 2045/005 comprising a clutch between fluid gearing and the mechanical gearing unit
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 2312/14 Going to, or coming from standby operation, e.g. for engine start-stop operation at traffic lights
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 45/00 Combinations of fluid gearings for conveying rotary motion with couplings or clutches gearing systems consisting of a plurality of hydrokinetic units operating alternatively F16H41/22 , F16H47/085
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 61/04 Smoothing ratio shift
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/60 Other road transportation technologies with climate change mitigation effect

Abstract

A vehicle control system configured to carry out an energy saving control is provided. The vehicle control system is applied to a vehicle having an engine, a torque converter, a transmission and a clutch device selectively connecting a turbine runner to the transmission. The vehicle control system executes the energy saving control by controlling both an operating condition of the engine and an engagement condition of the clutch device or only the engagement condition of the clutch device. The vehicle control system comprises a clutch control means configured to increase the torque transmitting capacity of the clutch device using an increasing amount of a speed of the turbine runner as a target value, when bringing the clutch device into engagement being in disengagement during execution of the energy saving control.

Claims

1. A vehicle control system that is applied to a vehicle having

an engine,

a torque converter having a pump impeller to which torque of the engine is delivered, and a turbine runner from which the torque is outputted,

a transmission that transmits the torque delivered from the turbine runner to drive wheels, and

a clutch device that is disposed between the turbine runner and the transmission to selectively connect the torque converter to the transmission while changing a torque transmitting capacity thereof, and

that is configured to execute an energy saving control for reducing energy consumption of the vehicle by automatically controlling an operating condition of the engine and an engagement condition of the clutch device to stop the engine during running while bringing the clutch device into disengagement,

comprising:

a control unit that is configured to increase a speed of the turbine runner using an increasing amount thereof as a target value when restarting the engine while bringing the clutch device into engagement, being in disengagement during execution of the energy saving control, and to complete the engagement of the clutch device after a completion of an increment of the speed of the turbine runner.

5. The vehicle control system according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is further configured to calculate the target value of the speed of the turbine runner using an expression:

Nttgt=(Ne−

Nstart)·

r+Nstart;

where Nttgt is the target value of the speed of the turbine runner, Ne is a speed of the engine, Ntstart is the speed of the turbine runner, and r is a constant.

6. The vehicle control system according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is further configured to determine the completion of the increment of the speed of the turbine runner when a maximum value calculated by subtracting the input speed to the transmission from the speed of the turbine runner is reduced in an amount larger than a threshold value.

2-4. -4. (canceled)