Method for indicating speed change operations to be performed by a driver of a car
First Claim
1. An apparatus for indicating a gear shifting operation for a vehicle transmission, comprising:
- means for determining an air flow;
means for determining an engine speed;
processing means for;
calculating current engine load from the intake air flow and the engine speed,comparing said calculated engine load with a predetermined engine load constant;
again calculating engine load if said comparision determines that said current engine load is less than or equal to said predetermined constant;
calculating a current shift position from current engine speed, current vehicle speed and the known transmission gear ratio;
determining a first engine load operation function and a second operation engine load function from predetermined equal fuel consumption rate curves;
comparing said first engine load operation function with said current engine load; and
determining if the vehicle is running on a slope which is steeper than a predetermined amount, by using the vehicle speed, and air flow;
shift determination means for indicating a shift-down operation to be performed if said first operation function has a value greater than said current engine load, performing additional steps for potential shift-up operation indication if said first operation function has a value less than or equal to said current engine load, calculating current engine horsepower from said current engine speed and current engine load Q/N and inhibiting shift up and shift down operations when said vehicle is determined to be running on said slope steeper than a predetermined amount;
and wherein said processing means is also for calculating expected engine speed necessary for maintaining said current vehicle speed if there is a one shift-up operation performed on said transmission.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for automatically indicating speed change operations for a car having a manual type transmission and an electronic control unit having a CPU, a ROM and a RAM in which the method comprises the steps of preliminarily storing at least a data map corresponding to equal fuel consumption rate curves into the ROM of the microprocessor, calculating engine load Q/N in accordance with the current engine speed N and intake air flow Q, calculating VD.K-QD from absolute values of the car speed variables VD and the intake air flow variables QD (K indicates correlation factor) at predetermined time points respectively, comparing and determining if the VD.K-QD is below 0 (zero), and indicating either a shift-up or a shift-down operation on a display or refraining from carrying out the speed change determination during the running on a slope in accordance with the result of the determination. The driver of the car having the electronic control unit including the CPU, the ROM and the RAM can run the car under optimum fuel consumption rate for the engine in accordance with the indication of either the shift-up operation or the shift-down operation to be taken by the driver.
22 Citations
17 Claims
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1. An apparatus for indicating a gear shifting operation for a vehicle transmission, comprising:
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means for determining an air flow; means for determining an engine speed; processing means for; calculating current engine load from the intake air flow and the engine speed, comparing said calculated engine load with a predetermined engine load constant; again calculating engine load if said comparision determines that said current engine load is less than or equal to said predetermined constant; calculating a current shift position from current engine speed, current vehicle speed and the known transmission gear ratio; determining a first engine load operation function and a second operation engine load function from predetermined equal fuel consumption rate curves; comparing said first engine load operation function with said current engine load; and determining if the vehicle is running on a slope which is steeper than a predetermined amount, by using the vehicle speed, and air flow; shift determination means for indicating a shift-down operation to be performed if said first operation function has a value greater than said current engine load, performing additional steps for potential shift-up operation indication if said first operation function has a value less than or equal to said current engine load, calculating current engine horsepower from said current engine speed and current engine load Q/N and inhibiting shift up and shift down operations when said vehicle is determined to be running on said slope steeper than a predetermined amount; and wherein said processing means is also for calculating expected engine speed necessary for maintaining said current vehicle speed if there is a one shift-up operation performed on said transmission. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A gear shifting operation indication apparatus comprising:
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an engine rotation sensor for detecting current engine speed; a speed meter for detecting actual speed of a car; an air flow meter for detecting an intake air flow; control unit means, responsive to said sensor and said meters, for determining shifting operation indications; an indicator, responsive to said control unit means, for indicating either shift-up or shift-down operation based on said control means determination; said control unit means comprising means for; calculating current engine load from the intake air flow and the engine speed, comparing said current engine load thus calculated with a predetermined engine load constant, recalculating said current engine load if said comparison finds said current engine load less than or equal to said predetermined constant, calculating current shift position from current engine speed, current vehicle speed V and the known transmission gear ratio, determining a first engine load operation function and a second operating engine load function from known equal fuel consumption rate curves, comparing said first operating load operation function with said current engine load, indicating a shift-down operation to be performed if said first function has a value greater than said current engine load, performing additional functions for indicating a subsequent shift-up operation if said first function has a value less than or equal to said current engine load, calculating current engine horsepower PS from said current engine speed and current engine load, calculating expected engine speed necessary for maintaining said current car speed if there is a one shift-up operation performed on said transmission, determining if said car is running on a slope greater than a predetermined amount, and indicating no shift operations when said car is running on said slope.
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11. Apparatus for indicating gear shifting operations for a vehicle transmission, comprising:
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means for determining air flow; means for determining vehicle speed; processing means for; calculating current engine load from the intake air flow and the engine speed; comparing said current engine load thus calculated with a predetermined engine load constant; again calculating engine load if said comparison determines said current engine load to be less than or equal to said predetermined constant; calculating a current shift position from current engine speed, current vehicle speed and a known transmission gear ratio; determining a first engine load operation function and a second operating engine load function from known equal fuel consumption rate curves; comparing said first operating load operation function with said current engine load; and deterimining a degree of slope upon which the vehicle is running; and shifting means for; indicating a shift-down operation to be performed if said first operation function has a value greater than said current engine load; performing additional steps for potential shift-up operation indication if said first operation function has a value less than or equal to said current engine load; establishing a data map based on said current engine speed and current engine load; dividing said map into roughly four quadrants by said first and second engine load operation function; indicating a shift-up operation when said calculated engine load is in a lower right-hand quadrant; indicating a shift-down operation when said calculated engine load is in one of the left-hand quadrants; indicating no shift operations when said engine load is in the upper right-hand quadrant of said data map; and indicating no shift operations when said vehicle is running on a slope.
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12. A gear shifting operation indication apparatus comprising:
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an engine rotation sensor for detecting current engine speed; a speed meter for detecting actual speed of a car; an air flow meter for detecting an intake air flow; control unit means, responsive to said sensor and said meters, for determining shifting operation indications; an indicator, responsive to said control unit means, for indicating either shift-up or shift-down operation based on said control means determination; said control unit means including means for; calculating current engine load from the intake air flow and the engine speed, comparing said current engine load thus calculated with a predetermined engine load constant, recalculating said current engine load if said comparison finds said current engine load less than or equal to said predetermined constant, calculating current shift position from current engine speed, current vehicle speed and the known transmission gear ratio, determining a first engine load operation function and a second operating engine load function from known equal fuel consumption rate curves, comparing said first operating load operation function with said current engine load, indicating a shift-down operation to be performed if said first function has a value grater than said current engine load, performing additional functions for indicating subsequent shift-up operation if said first function has a value less than or equal to said current engine load, establishing a data map based on said current engine speed and current engine load, dividing said map into roughly four quadrants by said first engine load operation function and said second engine load operation function, determining when said car is running on a slope steeper than a predetermined amount, indicating a shift-up operation when said calculated engine load is in a lower right-hand quadrant, indicating a shift-down operation when said calculated engine load is in either of the left-hand quadrants, indicating no shifting operations when said engine load is in the upper right-hand quadrant of said data map, and indicating no shift operation when said car is running on said slope sleeper than said predetermined amount.
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13. Apparatus for indicating an optimum gear shifting operation for minimizing fuel consumption in a vehicle having a manual transmission, comprising:
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detecting means for detecting various engine parameters;
microprocessor means including a read-only-memory, a random access memory, and a central processing unit for maintaining constant vehicle speed and constant engine power responsive to signals from said detecting means and for outputting an indicating signal indicative of the optimum gear shift operation; andindicating means responsive to said indicating signal for indicating said gear shift operation; wherein said microprocessor means is for; (a) storing a map of isometric curved lines that represent curves of equal fuel-consumption as defined on a load/speed diagram in said random-access memory, and using two curves to separate said map into three areas, one curve represented by a first engine load operation function Y and crossing the points representing the minimum fuel consumption rate of each of said isometric curved lines and the other curve represented by a second engine load operation function, said other curve determines whether an engine load is defined as high, wherein said three area defined on said map comprise; (1) a first area in which the value Y of said first engine load operation function corresponds to a currently detected engine speed which is less than the current engine load; (2) a second area in which the value of Y of said first engine load operation function corresponds to the detected engine speed being more than the value of the current engine load with the value corresponding to the detected engine speed being more than the current engine load; and (3) a third area in which the value of Y of said first engine load operation function corresponding to the detected engine speed is more than the value of engine load with the value Y of said first engine load operation function corresponding to currently detected engine load being less than the current engine load; (b) outputting a signal to said indicating means to cause said indicating means to output a signal indicative of one-step downshifting whenever a detected point determined by a combination of said detected engine speed and said engine load is in said first area; (c) indicating no gear changing operation if said detected point is in said second area; (d) outputting a signal to said indicating means to cause said indicating means to output a signal indicative of one-step upshifting whenever said detected point determined by said combination of said detected engine speed and engine load is in said third area; (e) determining if said vehicle is running on a slope steeper than a predetermined amount; and (f) indicating no gear changing operations when said vehicle is determined to be on said slope greater than said predetermined amount. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification