JPH08298703A - Retarder operation controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To automatically operate a retarder device according to a running stage by operating a retarder means when a controller judges that a downhill road surface and detects that a throttle opening is nearly fully closed. CONSTITUTION: The inclination angle in forward and backward directions of a body is detected by a body inclination sensor 14, an edge throttle opening is detected by a throttle sensor 11, and the detection signals are inputted to a controller 20. Then, when the controller 20 judges that a vehicle is driving on a downhill road surface according to the detection signal of the body inclination sensor 14 and detects that the throttle opening is nearly fully closed according to the detection signal of the throttle sensor 11, it runs an exhaust retarder 30 and a smooth current retarder 40, thus automatically operating the retarder device according to, for example, the run state and reducing a driver's responsibility.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle having a retarder device such as an exhaust retarder (also referred to as an exhaust brake), an eddy current retarder, or the like. More specifically, this retarder device is automatically operated. The present invention relates to a retarder operation control device that operates.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Retarder devices such as exhaust retarders and eddy current retarders are well known in the art, and these are widely used especially for large vehicles such as trucks. Such a retarder device is used, for example, when traveling down a long downhill, and is a service brake (a brake operated by a driver depressing a brake pedal).
It is possible to reduce the frequency of use of the vehicle, reduce the brake operation load on the driver, suppress the wear of the service brake, and improve the service life.

[0003]

However, the retarder device is designed so that the driver controls the operation of the retarder device based on the road gradient, the vehicle speed and the like. For this reason, the driver is required to make an accurate judgment as to whether or not to operate the retarder device, and an operation lever (switch) for controlling the on / off of the retarder device is separately required. There is a problem that the burden on the

The present invention has been made in view of these problems.
An object of the present invention is to provide a retarder operation control device capable of automatically operating a retarder device according to a running state or the like.

[0005]

In order to achieve such an object, the retarder actuation control device according to the present invention comprises:
The road surface gradient determining means for determining the gradient of the traveling road surface, the throttle opening detecting means for detecting the engine throttle opening, the retarder means, and the controller for controlling the operation of the retarder means are configured. ,
The retarder means is actuated when it is determined by the road surface slope determination means that the vehicle is traveling on a downward slope road surface, and when the throttle opening degree detection means detects that the throttle opening degree is almost fully closed. Has become.

When the retarder actuation control device having such a structure is used, the retarder is automatically actuated and the driving force is braked when the vehicle is traveling on a downhill with the foot off the accelerator pedal. The driver does not have to worry about whether to operate the retarder each time, and the burden on the driver is reduced. As a matter of course, since the braking by the retarder means is added, the frequency of use of the service brake during traveling is reduced accordingly, the burden on the driver is further reduced, and the life of the service brake is improved.

In place of the road surface slope determining means for determining the slope of the traveling road surface, acceleration detecting means for detecting the acceleration of the vehicle speed during traveling of the vehicle may be used. In this case,
When the acceleration detecting means detects that the vehicle is in an accelerating state and the throttle opening degree is almost fully closed, the retarding means brakes the traveling driving force.

Further, the magnitude of the braking force of the retarder means is not adjustable, and control is performed so that the braking force of the retarder means is increased as the descending gradient is increased or the vehicle acceleration is increased. preferable. With this configuration, it is possible to set an appropriate retarder braking force according to the magnitude of the downhill slope and the like.

An exhaust retarder and an eddy current retarder may be used as the retarder means. At this time, either the exhaust retarder or the eddy current retarder is activated when the descending gradient or the vehicle acceleration is less than a predetermined value. Then, it is desirable to control so that both the exhaust retarder and the eddy current retarder are operated when the descending gradient or the vehicle acceleration is equal to or higher than a predetermined value.

However, braking by the retarder is not required so much when the vehicle is at a low speed. Therefore, the braking of the traveling driving force by the retarder means is allowed only when the vehicle speed detected by the vehicle speed detecting means is equal to or higher than a predetermined vehicle speed. It is preferable to configure.

Brake operation detecting means for detecting the operation of the service brake of the vehicle and mode setting means for setting the retarder simultaneous operation mode may be provided. In this case, the retarder simultaneous operation mode is set by the mode setting means. When the operation of the service brake is detected during the operation, it is preferable to add a configuration for operating the retarder means regardless of the road gradient and the acceleration of the vehicle.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The retarder operation control device according to the present invention is configured as shown in FIG. In vehicles equipped with this device, in addition to a foot brake (service brake) that is operated by depressing with a foot of a driver, an engine exhaust retarder 30 and a power transmission path (for example, from a transmission to an axle shaft). And an eddy current retarder 40 disposed in the power transmission path).

The controller 20 controls the operation of both retarders 30 and 40. In order to perform this operation control, the controller 20 includes (1) a detection signal from the throttle sensor 11 that detects the engine throttle opening degree θth, and (2) a vehicle speed sensor 12 that detects the actual vehicle speed V of the vehicle.
From the acceleration sensor 13 that detects the acceleration G of the vehicle, and (4) the inclination angle θVE of the vehicle body in the longitudinal direction (that is, the gradient θR of the road surface on which the vehicle travels).
The detection signal from the vehicle body inclination sensor 14 that detects D) is input.

Further, a setting signal from the simultaneous operation mode setting switch 15 for setting a mode in which the retarder is operated simultaneously with the foot brake, a signal from the foot brake switch 16 which is turned on when the foot brake is operated, and a retarder braking force. The setting signal from the strength switching lever switch 17 for performing the strength switching setting is input to the controller 20. The controller 20 controls the operation of the exhaust retarder 30 and the eddy current retarder 40 based on the input signals.

The exhaust retarder 30 is provided with an opening / closing valve in an exhaust passage (for example, an exhaust pipe) of the engine, and by closing the opening / closing valve, the engine acts as a compressor to perform a braking operation. Is a kind of. The exhaust retarder 30 is already widely used in a vehicle equipped with a diesel engine and is well known, so the description of its configuration and the like will be omitted.

The eddy current retarder 40 is constructed as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, for example. The eddy current retarder 40 is arranged on the output shaft of the transmission or on the propeller shaft connected to the output shaft, and brakes the drive transmitted through the output shaft. The eddy current retarder 40 includes a fixed housing 41 fixedly held by the vehicle body 70, a bracket 42 coupled to the fixed housing 41, a fixed portion including a plurality of electromagnets 51 to 58 attached to the bracket 42, and the fixed housing 41.
A rotary unit including a shaft 45 rotatably held by bearings 44a and 44b, flange couplings 46a and 46b connected to both ends of the shaft 45, a rotary drum 47 coupled to the flange coupling 46a, and the like. Composed of.

The bracket 42, which constitutes the fixed portion, has a cylindrical portion, and eight electromagnets 51 to 58 are radially attached to the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion at substantially equal intervals by bolts 51c to 58c. The electromagnets 51 to 58 are core members 51b to 58b made of a ferromagnetic material such as iron.
And eddy current generating coils 51a to 58a wound around the core members 51b to 58b.

On the other hand, flange couplings 46a and 46b are concentrically connected to both ends of the shaft 45 constituting the rotating portion by splines, and the rotating drum 4
The inner peripheral end of 7 is bolted to the flange coupling 46a. The cylindrical portion of the rotating drum 47 is the electromagnet 10.
In this state, the outer peripheral side end surfaces of the core members 51b to 58b are positioned close to and facing the inner peripheral surface of the rotary drum 47. A plurality of heat radiation fins 47a are formed on the outer periphery of the cylindrical portion of the rotating drum 47, and further, a plurality of heat radiation fins for radially exhausting the inner portion of the cylindrical portion for discharging high temperature air therein. The hole 47b is formed.

In the eddy current retarder having the above structure, the flange couplings 46a and 46b are connected to the transmission output shaft or the propeller shaft connected to the transmission output shaft, and the rotating portion rotates together with the output shaft and the propeller shaft. In this state, when the eddy current generating coils 51a to 58a of the electromagnets 51 to 58 are energized, magnetic flux is generated in the core members 51b to 58b in the axial direction (radial direction of the eddy current retarder), and this magnetic flux extends. Rotating drum 47 flowing in the direction
Across the cylindrical part of. Therefore, an eddy current is generated in the cylindrical portion of the rotating drum 47, and the action of this eddy current generates a braking torque opposite to the rotating direction of the rotating drum 47, so that the rotation is braked.

Next, the operation of the retarder operation control device having the above structure will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 4 to 7. In this control, first, it is determined whether or not the retarder simultaneous operation mode setting switch 15 is on.
The mode setting switch 15 is a switch for simultaneously operating the retarders when the foot brake is operated, and when the mode setting switch 15 is on, the step S
Proceeding to 20, simultaneous operation control under this mode is performed. This simultaneous operation control will be described later.

When the mode setting switch 15 is off, the routine proceeds to step S4, where it is judged if the accelerator is off, that is, if the accelerator pedal is depressed. This is judged based on the engine throttle opening θth detected by the throttle sensor 11, and the engine throttle opening θth is almost zero (throttle is almost fully closed).
When, the accelerator is judged to be off. When the accelerator is on, that is, when the accelerator pedal is depressed, the driver can determine that he is trying to accelerate the vehicle, and braking by the retarder is not necessary, so this control is terminated as it is.

When the accelerator is off, step S6
Then, it is determined whether the vehicle is in the acceleration state. This determination is made based on the change over time of the actual vehicle speed detected by the vehicle speed sensor 12, or based on the detection value of the acceleration sensor 13. When the vehicle is decelerating, it is determined that braking by the retarder is unnecessary, and this control is ended as it is.

On the other hand, when the vehicle is in the accelerating state, the routine proceeds to step S8, where it is judged if the current vehicle speed is higher than the predetermined vehicle speed V1. The predetermined vehicle speed V1 varies depending on the type of the target vehicle, but in the case of an ordinary truck, for example, a predetermined vehicle speed of about 10 km / H is set. The current vehicle speed is the predetermined vehicle speed V1 (= 10 km /
If the speed is slower than H), it is considered that further braking is unnecessary, and this control is terminated as it is.

When the current vehicle speed is equal to or higher than the predetermined vehicle speed V1, the routine proceeds to step S10, where it is judged whether or not the road surface gradient θRD which causes the current vehicle acceleration state is larger than the predetermined gradient θ1. The predetermined gradient θ1 is set to a gradient of 3%, for example. However, this value is a value that is appropriately set according to the type of vehicle. The road surface gradient θRD is obtained, for example, from the detection value of the vehicle body inclination sensor 14, but may be calculated from the acceleration of the vehicle to estimate the road surface gradient θRD. Since this step 10 is a step for determining the degree of acceleration of the vehicle from the road surface gradient, it may be configured to determine whether or not the acceleration of the vehicle is equal to or higher than a predetermined acceleration. In this case, the acceleration that would occur when traveling on the predetermined gradient θ1 is set as the predetermined acceleration.

When it is determined in step S10 that θRD> θ1, that is, when it is determined that the vehicle is traveling on a large downward slope, the operation of the exhaust retarder 30 (step S12) and the operation of the eddy current retarder 40 (step S12) are performed. And S14) are performed simultaneously. On the other hand, in step S10, when it is determined that θRD ≦ θ1, that is, when it is determined that the vehicle is traveling on a relatively small downhill slope, the exhaust retarder 30 is not operated and the eddy current retarder 4 is not operated.
Only 0 is operated (step S14). In this case, only the exhaust retarder 30 may be operated instead of the eddy current retarder 40.

By performing the above control, the retarder is automatically operated when the vehicle speed is further accelerated at a predetermined vehicle speed V1 or higher when the vehicle is traveling downhill and the accelerator pedal is released. Is activated. At this time, when the downward gradient is equal to or higher than the predetermined gradient, the exhaust gas and the eddy current retarders 30 and 40 are simultaneously operated to apply a large braking force, and when the downward gradient is small, the eddy current retarder 4 is used.
Only 0 is operated to reduce the braking force, and an appropriate braking force corresponding to the road surface gradient is added.

In the above control, the braking force is adjusted by switching the operation of both retarders or the operation of only one retarder based on whether or not the road surface slope θRD is larger than the predetermined slope θ1. Control may be performed such that the braking force of the retarder is adjusted according to the road surface gradient θRD. For example, the eddy current retarder 4 shown in FIGS.
In the case of 0, 8 electromagnets are arranged.
Since the braking force can be controlled in eight steps by controlling the energization of the individual electromagnets, the braking force switching control in eight steps may be performed corresponding to the road surface gradient θRD.

Next, the simultaneous operation control (step S20) performed when the retarder simultaneous operation mode setting switch 15 is determined to be ON in step S2 will be described. The content of this simultaneous operation control is shown in FIG. 5, and in this control, first, it is judged whether or not it is the first mode. The present apparatus can set the first mode or the second mode. When in the first mode, the process proceeds to step S30 to perform the first mode control, and when in the second mode, the process proceeds to step S40 to perform the second mode. Perform mode control.

In the first mode control, as shown in FIG. 6, whether or not the foot brake is turned on (whether or not the foot brake is activated) is detected based on a signal from the foot brake switch 16 (step S32). When it is off, the control shifts to step S4. When the foot brake is on, the routine proceeds to step S34, where the strength change setting switch 1
Based on the setting signal from 7, it is detected whether the retarder is in the strong position or the weak position.

When the setting switch 17 is set to the strong position, the exhaust retarder 30 operates (step S36) and the eddy current retarder 40 operates (step S3).
8) and at the same time. On the other hand, when the setting switch 17 is set to the weak position, the exhaust retarder 30 is not operated and only the eddy current retarder 40 is operated (step S
38) Allow. In this case, only the exhaust retarder 30 may be operated instead of the eddy current retarder 40.

In the second mode control, as shown in FIG. 7, it is determined whether or not the foot brake is on (step S42), and when it is off, the control is shifted to step S4, and when it is on, it is simultaneously executed. The eddy current retarder is operated (step S44) to assist the operation of the foot brake. As described above, when the first or second mode control is set, the retarder is simultaneously actuated when the foot brake is actuated, and the actuation of the foot brake is assisted.

[0032]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When traveling on a downhill with the foot off the accelerator pedal, the retarder is automatically activated and the driving force is braked, so the driver may be bothered to decide whether to activate the retarder each time. In addition, the burden on the driver can be reduced. Since the braking by the retarder means is added in this way, the frequency of use of the service brake during traveling is reduced correspondingly, the burden on the driver can be further reduced, and the life of the service brake can be improved. .

It is to be noted that the magnitude of the braking force of the retarder means is not adjustable, and control is performed so that the braking force of the retarder means is increased as the descending gradient becomes larger or the vehicle acceleration becomes larger. preferable. With this configuration, it is possible to set an appropriate retarder braking force according to the magnitude of the downhill slope and the like. For example, using an exhaust retarder and an eddy current retarder as the retarder means, when the downslope or the acceleration of the vehicle is less than a predetermined value, either one of the exhaust retarder and the eddy current retarder is activated,
It is desirable to control so that both the exhaust retarder and the eddy current retarder are operated when the descending gradient or the vehicle acceleration is equal to or higher than a predetermined value.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a retarder operation control device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing a retarder controlled by this control device.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a retarder controlled by this control device.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the content of retarder operation control by this control device.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the content of retarder operation control by this control device.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the content of retarder operation control by this control device.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the contents of retarder operation control by this control device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Throttle sensor 15 Simultaneous operation mode detection switch 20 Controller 30 Exhaust retarder 40 Eddy current retarder

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A road surface slope determining means for determining a slope of a traveling road surface while the vehicle is traveling, a throttle opening degree detecting means for detecting a throttle opening degree of an engine of the vehicle, and a retarder means for braking a traveling driving force of the vehicle. A controller for controlling the operation of the retarder means, the controller determining that the vehicle is traveling on a downward slope road surface by the road surface slope determining means, and the throttle opening detecting means by the throttle opening degree detecting means. The retarder operation control device is characterized in that when the vehicle is detected to be in a fully closed state, braking of the traveling drive force is performed by the retarder means. 2. An acceleration detecting means for detecting an acceleration of a vehicle speed while the vehicle is traveling, a throttle opening detecting means for detecting a throttle opening of an engine of the vehicle, and a retarder means for braking a traveling driving force of the vehicle. A controller for controlling the operation of the retarder means, wherein the controller detects that the vehicle is in an accelerating state by the acceleration detecting means, and the throttle opening degree detecting means makes the throttle opening degree substantially fully closed. When it is detected that, the retarding means brakes the traveling driving force by the retarder means. 3. The magnitude of the braking force of the retarder means can be adjusted, and control is performed such that the braking force of the retarder means is increased as the descending slope or the acceleration of the vehicle is increased. The retarder operation control device according to claim 1 or 2. 4. The retarder means includes an exhaust retarder that opens and closes an exhaust passage of the engine to generate a braking force, and an eddy current retarder arranged in a drive rotation transmission system of a vehicle. When the downslope or the acceleration of the vehicle is less than a predetermined value, one of the exhaust retarder and the eddy current retarder is operated, and when the downslope or the acceleration of the vehicle is equal to or more than the predetermined value, the exhaust retarder and the The retarder actuation control device according to claim 3, wherein the eddy current retarder is actuated together. 5. A vehicle speed detecting means for detecting the vehicle speed of the vehicle is provided, and braking of the traveling drive force by the retarder means is allowed only when the vehicle speed detected by the vehicle speed detecting means is equal to or higher than a predetermined vehicle speed. The retarder actuation control device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: 6. A brake operation detecting means for detecting an operation of a service brake of a vehicle, and a mode setting means for setting a retarder simultaneous operation mode, wherein the retarder simultaneous operation mode is set by the mode setting means. In addition, when the operation of the service brake is detected by the brake operation detecting means, the retarder means is operated regardless of the road surface gradient and the acceleration of the vehicle. Control device.