JPH02130234A - Throttle valve controller for engine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve safety by restricting the revolution range of a planetary gear so that the opening degree control range of a throttle valve, less than the opening degree prescribed by the turn due to the stepping-on of an accelerator pedal, when anomaly is generated in the throttle valve opening degree control by an electric motor. CONSTITUTION:When an electric motor 6 or electronic controller 23 is broken, said breakage is detected from the output signal of an opening degree sensor 19, and the electric conduction for a solenoid valve 161 is immediately cut off, and an atmosphere hole 164 is opened. Then, an accelerator pedal 14 can be freely operated, and a throttle valve 2 is opening/closing-controlled by the operation of the pedal 14 by a driver. In this case, the revolution of a planetary gear 9 in the direction for opening the valve 2 is restricted by the contact of the second planetary gear 9b with a stopper pin 10. Therefore, the valve 2 is prevented from being opened over the corresponding opening degree to the stepping-on of the pedal 14 by the electric motor 6, and the vehicle is prevented from runaway.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a throttle valve control device for an engine, and more particularly, to a throttle valve control device for controlling the output of an engine for an automobile using an electronically controlled actuator.

[Prior Art] The intake air amount of an automobile engine is generally controlled by opening and closing a throttle valve provided in an intake passage. and,
Normally, this throttle valve is mechanically controlled to open and close in conjunction with the accelerator pedal.

By the way, recently, with the aim of improving the driving feeling and running performance of a car, instead of simply mechanically connecting the throttle valve and accelerator pedal with a wire cable etc. as in the past, electronic control has been introduced between the throttle valve and the accelerator pedal. A signal obtained by converting the amount of accelerator depression into one electrical quantity (accelerator depression amount signal) by means of a means, and a signal representing the engine operating state or vehicle running state such as an engine rotation speed signal, a gear position signal, a wheel slip signal, etc. Development of a throttle valve control device that sequentially calculates the optimal throttle opening degree corresponding to is in progress.

However, in such electric throttle valve control devices, if the electronic control actuator or electronic control device for driving the throttle valve fails while the vehicle is running, the throttle valve remains open regardless of the driver's will. This may cause a situation where the vehicle runs out of control. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a safety device that can avoid such a dangerous situation.

Conventionally, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 61-54933, in an engine equipped with an electric throttle valve control device, a throttle valve is connected in series with a first throttle valve that is driven and controlled by an electronically controlled actuator. It has been proposed that a second throttle valve is disposed in conjunction with the accelerator pedal, and the second throttle valve functions as a safety throttle valve in case the first throttle valve remains open. . Also, JP-A No. 616033
In Publication No. 1, a first throttle valve linked to an accelerator pedal and an electric second throttle valve are arranged in series in the intake passage of the engine, and slip control during vehicle acceleration is performed by the electric second throttle valve. This is performed by opening and closing the throttle valve, and in the event that the second throttle valve drive control means fails, the first throttle valve is driven by accelerator operation to maintain safety. There is. .

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As described above, two throttle valves are arranged in series in the intake passage, one throttle valve is linked to the accelerator pedal, and the other throttle valve is driven and controlled by an electronically controlled actuator. With this system, even if the throttle valve controlled by the electronically controlled actuator becomes inoperable, the throttle valve linked to the accelerator pedal can prevent the vehicle from running out of control.
Safety can be ensured. However, arranging two throttle valves in series inevitably requires a large intake system, which poses a problem in that it is difficult to arrange the intake system in a narrow engine room. Furthermore, when the above-mentioned conventional technology is applied to a control device for automatic operation of an engine that automatically makes a vehicle run at a constant speed, the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Publication No. 61-5493
Both the method disclosed in Publication No. 3 and the method disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 61-60331 operate the accelerator pedal when opening and closing the electric throttle valve, so it is not possible to simply apply these conventional techniques. Another problem is that it is not possible to create a throttle valve control system that allows the engine to operate automatically without operating the accelerator pedal.

This invention was made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and is small and highly safe.Moreover, when applied to an automatic constant speed traveling device, it can automatically operate the engine without operating the accelerator pedal. The object of the present invention is to obtain a throttle valve control device for an engine that can perform the following steps.

[Means for Solving the Problems] This invention provides a throttle valve control device for an engine including a first gear disposed on a valve shaft of a throttle valve, and a first gear disposed on a valve shaft of a throttle valve.
a second gear disposed opposite to the gear and driven by an electric motor; a rotary plate rotatably disposed on the valve shaft; and a second gear rotatable on the gear shaft fixed to the rotary plate. a planetary gear which is freely disposed and meshes with the first gear and the second gear, a mechanical coupling means for rotating the rotating plate in response to depression of an accelerator pedal, and a throttle using an electric motor. A restriction that limits the rotation range of the planetary gear so that when an abnormality occurs in valve opening control, the throttle valve opening control range by the electric motor is limited to a range that is equal to or less than the opening specified by the rotation caused by the rotation of the accelerator pedal. It is equipped with means.

[Function] In this invention, when the throttle valve becomes uncontrollable due to a failure of the electric motor, etc., the opening degree of the throttle valve is limited to the opening degree corresponding to the depression of the accelerator pedal or less, and as a result, the vehicle runaway is prevented.

[Example code] Examples will be described below based on the drawings.

Figure 1 shows a vehicle equipped with a distance sensor that detects the distance between the vehicle and the vehicle in front, and adjusts the opening of the throttle valve to maintain the vehicle's running speed at the set speed, thereby shortening the distance between the vehicle and the vehicle in front. This is an embodiment of the present invention applied to an automatic constant speed traveling system for a vehicle that controls the opening degree of a throttle valve so as to sometimes maintain an appropriate inter-vehicle distance.

In this embodiment, an intake passage (1
) has a throttle valve (2) that opens and closes the intake passage (1).
is provided. The valve stem (3) of this throttle valve (2)
) protrudes outside the intake passage (1), and a first gear (4) is fixed to one end thereof. And this first gear (
A second gear (5) is coaxially disposed opposite to the second gear (5), and an electric motor (6) fixed to the intake passage (1) is drivingly connected to the second gear. Further, a rotary plate (7) is rotatably provided on the valve shaft (3). A gear shaft (8) is fixed at a position away from the axis of the rotating plate (7), and a planetary gear (9) is rotatably disposed on the gear shaft (8). This planetary gear (
9) is a gear in which a first planetary gear (9a) that meshes with the first gear (4) and a second planetary gear (9b) that meshes with the second gear (5) are integrated. be. Also,
A stopper pin (10) for restricting the rotation of the second planetary gear is fixed to the rotation plate (7). As shown in FIG. 2 (cross-sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in FIG. 1), the second planetary gear (9b) has a semicircular shape, and the stopper pin (!0) comes into contact with the notch side of the second planetary gear (9b). This restricts rotation in the direction opposite to arrow A in the figure (the direction in which the throttle valve (2) is opened).

A return spring (1) is attached to the side of the rotation plate (7).
1) One end is held. The other end of this return spring (11) is held on the intake passage (1) side, and as a result, a torque in the direction of returning the throttle valve (2) to the closed position is applied to the rotating plate (7).

It is applied to the valve M (3) via the first planetary gear (9a) and the first gear (4). In addition, the rotating plate (
One end of a back spring (12) is held on the side opposite to the return spring (ll) holding side of 7). The back spring (12) has the other end connected to the first gear (
4), whereby the second planetary gear (9b
) is applied to the planetary gear (9a) through the first gear (4) and the first planetary gear (9a) (in the direction opposite to the arrow A in FIG. 2). ), and at the same time, the first gear (4) and the first planetary gear (9a)
It acts to absorb the play caused by the backlash between the two. An accelerator wire (I3) is hung in a groove (7a) on the outer periphery of the rotation plate (7), and the other end of this accelerator wire (!3) is connected to an accelerator pedal (!4). When the accelerator pedal (14) is depressed, the rotating plate (7) rotates the valve shaft (3) in the direction of opening the throttle valve (2) via the spring force of the return spring (11).

The accelerator pedal (14) has the accelerator pedal (14)
An accelerator sensor (15) is attached to detect the amount of depression. Further, a negative pressure responsive actuator (16) is connected to the accelerator pedal (14). This actuator (16) includes a solenoid valve (161), a diaphragm (+62), and a negative pressure chamber (163) partitioned by the diaphragm (162), and the negative pressure chamber (163) is throttled by a pipe (17). The valve (2) is communicated with the downstream intake passage (1). In addition, the diaphragm (16
2) and the accelerator pedal (14) are connected by a diaphragm wire (18). The solenoid valve (161) is provided in the middle of the pipe (17) that guides negative pressure, and has an air hole (164) that opens into the negative pressure chamber (163) when energized.
) is closed to apply negative intake pressure to the diaphragm (162), and when the current is cut off, the air hole (164) is opened and the negative pressure chamber (l solenoid valve (161) is energized and the diaphragm (162) is closed.
When negative pressure is applied to the diaphragm wire (162), the diaphragm wire (1
8), the accelerator pedal (14) is driven in the direction of opening the throttle valve (2).

An opening sensor (19) is attached to the throttle valve (2). This opening sensor (19) can be composed of, for example, a potentiometer.

The vehicle (not shown) includes an inter-vehicle distance sensor (20) for detecting the inter-vehicle distance to the vehicle in front, and a vehicle speed sensor (21).
An automatic operation switch (22) for instructing automatic operation of the engine is also provided. The inter-vehicle distance sensor (20) can be configured with, for example, a radar device. The vehicle is also equipped with an electronic control device (23) that drives and controls the electric motor (6) and controls the solenoid valve (161) on and off. The electronic control device (23)
are the above-mentioned inter-vehicle distance sensor (20) and vehicle speed sensor (21).
, the switch signal of the automatic operation switch (22), and the output signal of the opening sensor (19) are input. The electronic control device (23) performs predetermined arithmetic processing based on this input information and outputs control signals to the electric motor (6) and the solenoid valve (161).

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be explained.

During normal operation when the automatic operation switch is not operated, power to the solenoid valve (161) is cut off.

At this time, the pressure inside the negative pressure chamber (163) of the actuator (16) is close to atmospheric pressure, so the diaphragm (162)
) is not activated, and the accelerator pedal (14) can be operated freely. Therefore, the rotation plate (7) is rotated against the return spring (11) by accelerator operation, and the planetary gear (9) rotates integrally with the rotation plate (7).

The valve shaft (3) is rotated via the first gear (4) to open and close the throttle valve (2). This adjusts the intake air amount of the engine and controls the output.

In addition, when driving at a constant speed at a desired vehicle speed (for example, 100 km/h), the driver operates the accelerator pedal to adjust the vehicle speed to the desired vehicle speed and operates the automatic operation switch (22) to the automatic operation side. As a result, the solenoid valve (161) is energized, the air hole (164) is closed, and negative intake pressure is applied from the intake passage (1) to the actuator (16) via the pipe (17).
1) into the negative pressure chamber (163) of the diaphragm (1).
62). As a result, the diaphragm (162)
drives the accelerator pedal (15) against the spring force of the return spring (11), rotates the rotary plate (7) regardless of the operation of the accelerator pedal (15) by the driver, and operates the throttle valve (2). Open to the fully open position. Also,
At this time, the electronic control device (23) inputs the vehicle speed signal from the vehicle speed sensor (23) and controls the rotation of the electric motor (6) so that the vehicle speed becomes the desired vehicle speed. through the second gear (5) and the planetary gear (9).
The signal is transmitted to the gear (4) of the throttle valve (2), and the valve shaft (
3) Rotate. As a result, the opening degree of the throttle valve (2) is controlled so that the desired vehicle speed is achieved. Also, during this automatic driving, when the inter-vehicle distance sensor (20) detects that the inter-vehicle distance to the preceding vehicle has become short, the electronic control device (23) activates the throttle valve (
2) to perform deceleration control to maintain an appropriate inter-vehicle distance by driving the vehicle toward the closed position. Then, when the inter-vehicle distance to the preceding vehicle becomes sufficiently long, the vehicle resumes constant-speed driving at the desired vehicle speed.

In such a constant speed traveling device, the electric motor (6) or the electronic control device (23) may fail, or the planetary gear (9) and the first gear (4) or the second gear (4, 5) may malfunction. If a foreign object gets caught between the
Such an abnormal state is detected by the output signal of the opening sensor (19), and the power to the solenoid valve (161) is immediately cut off to open the air hole (164). This allows the driver to freely operate the accelerator pedal (14), so the driver operates the accelerator pedal (I4) and the throttle valve (
2) Opening and closing can be controlled. At this time, since the rotation of the planetary gear (9) in the direction of opening the throttle valve (2) is restricted by the second planetary gear (9b) coming into contact with the stopper bin (10), the electric motor (6) The valve (2) never opens beyond the opening degree corresponding to the depression of the accelerator pedal (14). Therefore, it is possible to prevent the vehicle from running out of control.

In this embodiment, an automatic constant speed traveling system equipped with an inter-vehicle distance sensor has been described, but the present invention can of course be applied to an apparatus without an inter-vehicle distance sensor.

Further, the present invention can be applied to other than automatic constant speed traveling devices.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the control range of the opening of the throttle valve by the electric motor is limited to the opening of the accelerator pedal or less, so that the electric motor, etc. is in an inoperable state. To obtain a highly safe throttle valve control device that prevents a vehicle from running out of control even if the vehicle falls into a situation where automatic operation is possible.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a throttle valve control device showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 1--2 in FIG. In the figure, (1) is the intake passage, (2) is the throttle valve, (4) is the first gear, (5) is the second gear, (6) is the electric motor, (7) is the rotating plate, (9) is the ) is a planetary gear, (
10) is a stopper pin, (11) is a return spring, (13) is an accelerator wire, (14) is an accelerator pedal, (16) is an actuator, (19) is an opening sensor, and (22) is an automatic operation switch. .

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A valve shaft for opening and closing a throttle valve that controls the output of the engine, a first gear disposed on the valve shaft, and a first gear disposed coaxially and facing the first gear; and a second gear driven by an electric motor, a rotary plate rotatably disposed on the valve shaft, and the first gear rotatably disposed on a gear shaft fixed to the rotary plate. and the second above
planetary gears meshing with the respective gears; mechanical coupling means for rotating the rotary plate in response to depression of the accelerator pedal; and when an abnormality occurs in throttle valve opening control by the electric motor. and limiting means for limiting the rotation range of the planetary gear so as to limit the opening control range of the throttle valve to a range equal to or less than the opening defined by the rotation of the accelerator pedal. Engine throttle valve control device.