Electrical sensing system for a vehicle shifter

• US 6,209,408 B1
• Filed: 10/31/1997
• Issued: 04/03/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 07/16/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Grand Haven Stamped Products Company (JSJ Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Grand Haven Stamped Products Company (JSJ Corporation)
• Inventors: Fisher, Daniel J., DeJonge, Robert A., Bryant, Eric W.
• Primary Examiner(s): ESTREMSKY, SHERRY LYNN
• Application Number:
  US08/962,434
• Time in Patent Office: 1,250 Days
• Field of Search: 74/335, 74/336 R, 74/473.1, 74/473.12, 74/DIG. 7, 200/61.88, 340/456
• US Class Current: 74/335
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/165 Rate of change
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 2059/0226 for selecting particular shift speeds, e.g. a fast shift speed with aggressive gear change
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 2059/0239 Up- and down-shift or range or mode selection by repeated movement mechanical step by step selection devices F16H63/14
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 2061/223 Electrical gear shift lock, e.g. locking of lever in park or neutral position by electric means if brake is not applied; Key interlock, i.e. locking the key if lever is not in park position
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 59/044 consisting of electrical switches or sensors range selectors with electric switches or sensors F16H59/105
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 59/105 consisting of electrical switches or sensors
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 61/22 Locking of the control input devices constructional features of locking or disabling mechanisms F16H63/34
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 61/24 Providing feel, e.g. to enable selection
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 74/19251 Control mechanism
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 74/2003 Electrical actuator
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 74/20067 Control convertible between automatic and manual operation

Abstract

A shifter system for shifting a transmission on a vehicle includes a shifter having a manually-operated shift lever movable between various gear positions, an electrical sensing device on the shifter for sensing positions of the shift lever, and a controller electrically connected to the sensing device and constructed to control shifting of a transmission based on signals from the sensing device indicative of the position of the shift lever. The controller and the sensing device as a system are capable of sensing speed of movement of the shift lever and the controller is programmed to change control of the shifting of the transmission in accordance therewith. In one form, the sensing device includes one of a continuous output potentiometer, a discrete output potentiometer, a membrane potentiometer, and a deformable variable-resistance potentiometer.

Claims

1. A method for controlling shifting of an electronically controlled vehicle transmission in response to movement of a manually operated shifting actuator that is installed in a driver'"'"'s compartment of a vehicle and free of mechanical shift linkage interconnected with the transmission, said method comprising the steps of:

determining a velocity at which the shifting actuator is moved by a driver between gear positions; and

controlling shifting of the electronically controlled transmission by supplying shifting control parameters to the transmission that are selected from a plurality of such control parameters, based upon the velocity of movement of the shifting actuator.

2. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the velocity of the shifting actuator is determined by sensing the presence of the shifting actuator at a plurality of positions of known spacing, and measuring the time elapsed during movement of the shifting actuator between the plurality of positions.

3. The method as defined in claim 2, wherein the plurality of positions include two gear positions and a position intermediate the two gear positions, and wherein the velocity of the shifting actuator is determined by measuring the time elapsed during movement of the shifting actuator from one of the two gear positions to the intermediate position.

4. A shifting system for a vehicle comprising:

a shifter including a shift lever adapted for installation in a vehicle operator'"'"'s compartment to be moveable by an operator between gear positions for operating a vehicle transmission;

a programmable vehicle control component; and

a circuit including at least one sensing device operably associated with the shift lever, the at least one sensing device being configured to output signals related to movement of the shift lever and adapted to cooperate with the vehicle control component for the purpose of determining one of velocity and acceleration of the shift lever as the shift lever is moved toward a selected one of the gear positions and to transmit signals to solenoids of an associated transmission based at least in part upon said one of said velocity and acceleration.

5. The shifting system defined in claim 4, including a timer operably connected to the sensing device.

6. The shifting system defined in claim 5, wherein the sensing device defines at least two different positions on the shifter, the timer being operably connected to the circuit for determining an amount of time for the shift lever to pass between the two positions.

7. The shifting system defined in claim 6, including a controller incorporating the timer.

8. The shifting system defined in claim 4, wherein the programmable vehicle control component initiates a gear change operation while the shift lever is positioned between the gear positions.

9. A method for providing a selected shifting characteristic for a motor vehicle, said method comprising:

providing a shifter system adapted to be installed in vehicles having different constructions, said shifter system including a shift selector lever movable to define positions, velocity and accelerations of said shift selector lever, said shifter system including a programmable controller operatively connected with said shift selector lever moveable between gear positions, wherein the controller is capable of determining at least one of the positions, velocity and acceleration of the shift selector lever;

providing a plurality of shift control programs, at least a first one of which changes transmission gears according to a first shift profile, and at least a second shift control program that changes transmission gears according to a second shift profile to provide gear changes having desired ride conditions; and

selecting one of said first and said second shift control programs according to a desired shift characteristic and actuating said selected one of said shift control programs to control gear changes according to the shift profile of the selected shift control program.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein:

said first and said second shift control programs are both stored in memory operably connected with said programmable controller to enable selection of one of said first and second shift control programs by a vehicle operator.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein:

said shifter system is installed into a first vehicle model selected from a plurality of vehicle models, and

said selected one of said shift control programs is selected to correspond with said first vehicle model to provide a shift rate compatible with said first vehicle model.

12. A shifter system for shifting a transmission on a vehicle comprising:

a shifter having a manually-operated shift lever adapted for mounting within a vehicle'"'"'s operator compartment and movable between at least first and second gear positions and at least one control position between the first and second gear positions;

an electrical sensing device on the shifter for sensing a position of the shift lever including the at least one control position that is between the first and second gear positions, said sensing device generating an electrical output signal indicating a position of said shift lever between the first and second gear positions when said sensing device detects the presence of said shift lever at the at least one control position; and

a controller operably connected to the electrical sensing device and programmed to control shifting based, at least in part, upon the electrical output signal corresponding to the at least one control position, the controller configured to shift an associated transmission according to a selected shift based on a signal from the electrical sensing device indicating that the shift lever is between the first and second positions without use of mechanical linkage interconnecting the shift lever with the transmission such that said shifter system can be reprogrammed and installed into various of vehicles.