Drive unit for motor vehicle

• US 7,047,124 B2
• Filed: 12/05/2002
• Issued: 05/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Volvo Lastvagnar AB (AB Volvo)
• Original Assignee: Volvo Lastvagnar AB (AB Volvo)
• Inventors: Steen, Marcus, Eriksson, Anders
• Primary Examiner(s): Vo, Hieu T.
• Application Number:
  US10/497,800
• Publication Number:
  US 20050181908A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,258 Days
• Field of Search: 701/110, 701/114, 701/102, 477/107, 477/111, 123/350, 123/352
• US Class Current: 701/110
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/06 including control of combustion engines
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/11 Stepped gearings
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2510/0638 Engine speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2510/0657 Engine torque
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2710/0644 Engine speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2710/0666 Engine torque
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2720/106 Longitudinal acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/1882 characterised by the working point of the engine, e.g. by using engine output chart
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 11/105 characterised by the function converting demand to actuation, e.g. a map indicating relations between an accelerator pedal position and throttle valve opening or target engine torque
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2250/18 Control of the engine output torque
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 31/001 Electric control of rotation speed
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/2422 Selective use of one or more tables
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 61/0213 characterised by the method for generating shift signals

Abstract

Drive unit for motor vehicles, comprising an internal combustion engine (2), an accelerator pedal and an electronic engine control unit (15) arranged for controlling engine torque and r.p.m. The accelerator pedal is electrically connected to the engine control unit. During acceleration, the engine control unit controls the torque as a function of engine speed for various accelerator pedal positions, as determined by a first computer matrix stored in the control unit, which provides a predetermined additional torque when there is a certain reduction in engine speed. After constant or practically constant vehicle velocity has been achieved at a constant accelerator pedal position, the engine control unit controls the torque as a function of engine speed along a second stored computer matrix, which provides a predetermined greater additional torque when there is said predetermined reduction of the engine speed.

Claims

1. Drive unit for a motor vehicle, comprising an internal combustion engine (2), a manually adjustable throttle control (16) and an electronic engine control unit (19) for controlling the engine torque and engine speed, and to which the throttle control is electrically connected, a first computer matrix plotting engine torque as a function of engine speed for various throttle control positions being stored in said engine control unit and having in a diagram a first slope for the curves (A) for the throttle control positions, characterized in that a second computer matrix plotting engine torque as a function of engine speed for various throttle control positions is stored in the engine control unit (15), that the curves (G) for the throttle control positions in the diagram of the second matrix have a steeper slope than the curves (A) in the diagram of the first matrix, and in that the engine control unit is disposed, at a setting of the throttle control (16) giving rise to an acceleration exceeding a predetermined minimum acceleration, to control the engine torque and engine speed along the curves (A) in the first matrix diagram and, upon a signal indicating a drop below said minimum acceleration, to control the engine torque and engine speed along the curves in the second matrix diagram (G), so that for a certain change in engine speed, a greater change in torque will be provided than when controlling along the curves in the first matrix diagram.

2. Drive unit according to claim 1, comprising a stepped gearbox (10) coupled to the engine, characterized in that the slope of the curves (A) in the first matrix diagram are selected so that the slope approximately corresponds to the gearshift increments in the gearbox, whereby, at constant throttle control position, the output torque from the gearbox prior to and after shifting between adjacent gear positions will be approximately constant.

3. Drive unit according to claim 2, characterized in that the stepped gearbox (10) is an autoshift gearbox, which is controlled by an electronic control unit (18), which, when a gear selector (19) is in an autoshift position, selects the gear speed in response to various parameters including engine speed and throttle control position, and that the gearbox control unit determines the selection of matrix in the engine control unit.