JPH0113858Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] a. Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to an automatic clutch device that automatically engages and engages the clutch.

b. Prior Art Figure 2 shows a conventional automatic clutch device, which includes a clutch actuator 1 and a normally closed air supply solenoid valve 2.
, a normally open exhaust solenoid valve 3 , an air reservoir 4 , and a clutch actuation mechanism 5 operated by a clutch actuator 1 . The clutch actuator 1 described above has a power piston 7 and a relay piston 8 arranged in a cylinder 6 so as to be able to reciprocate, and an operating chamber 9 and a back pressure chamber 10 are provided on both sides of the power piston 7. It is formed. A piston rod 11 integrally formed with the power piston 7 is connected to one end of the relay piston 8, and a push rod 12 is connected to the other end. Furthermore, an adjustment compression spring 13 is housed in the above-mentioned working chamber 9, and the power piston 7 is always urged in the forward direction by this compression spring 13. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 14 is a retractable dust boot whose both ends are attached to the cylinder 6 and the push rod 12.

On the other hand, the clutch actuating mechanism 5 is comprised of the previously described push rod 12, a clutch lever (not shown) connected at one end to the push rod 12, a release bearing, a clutch plate, etc. Further, an outer lever 15 is connected to the other end of the push rod 12, and the outer lever 15 can rotate about a support shaft 16 as the push rod 12 moves back and forth. Further, a stroke sensor 17 is provided to detect the amount of rotation of the outer lever 15 and the amount of movement of the push rod 12 and clutch lever.
2 is now entered.

When an operation command device (not shown) is operated to disengage the clutch, a predetermined command signal is input to the controller 22, and in conjunction with this, power is supplied from the controller 22 to the air supply solenoid valve 2. As a result, the air supply solenoid valve 2 is switched to the open state, so compressed air from the air reservoir 4 passes through the supply system piping 18, the air supply solenoid valve 2, and the control system piping 19 in sequence to the clutch actuator. It is supplied into the working chamber 9 of the etaner 1. At this time, the exhaust electromagnetic valve 3 is kept in a closed state.

As a result, the power piston 7 is moved forward to the right, so that the relay piston 8 and the push rod 1
2 and the clutch lever (not shown) are simultaneously moved forward in the right direction to disengage the clutch. Note that when the power piston 7 moves forward, the air in the back pressure chamber 10 is discharged to the outside via the discharge port 20 according to the amount of forward movement, so the pressure in the back pressure chamber 10 is always maintained constant. Ru.

At this time, as the outer lever 15 rotates, a control signal indicating that the clutch is disengaged is supplied from the stroke sensor 17 to the controller 22, and based on this detection signal, the air supply solenoid valve 2 is switched to the closed state. , a predetermined gear shift operation is performed.

Thereafter, the exhaust electromagnetic valve 3 is intermittently or continuously switched to the open state by a control signal from the controller 22. As a result, the working chamber 9
The compressed air inside is discharged through the back pressure chamber 10 through the control system piping 19, the exhaust electromagnetic valve 3, and the exhaust system piping 21 in order, and the power piston 7
is reversed and the clutch is reconnected.

c Problems to be solved by the invention In the conventional automatic clutch device having the above-mentioned configuration, the air supply solenoid valve 2 is a normally closed type, and the exhaust solenoid valve 3 is a normally open type. Since the solenoid valves are of different models, it has not been possible to standardize parts and reduce the cost of the equipment.

In addition, in order to standardize parts, if the air supply solenoid valve 2 and the exhaust solenoid valve 3 are of a normally closed type, there may be slight leakage or an increase in ambient temperature when the air supply solenoid valve 2 is closed. When this occurs, the pressure within the working chamber 9 of the clutch actuator 1 increases, and the power piston 7 is urged in the forward direction. Therefore, the proper clutch connection state is released and the clutch shifts to a so-called half-clutch state, resulting in a disadvantage that the transmitted torque decreases.

The present invention was developed in order to eliminate the above-mentioned inconveniences.The purpose of this invention is to reduce the cost of equipment by making the solenoid valves for air supply and exhaust open normally closed, and by standardizing parts. In addition, even if the air supply solenoid valve leaks or the ambient temperature rises rapidly, the pressure in the clutch actuator's working chamber will not increase, and the transmission torque will not decrease. It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic clutch device configured to prevent accidents from occurring.

d Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the problems as described above, in the present invention, (a) a piston is disposed in a cylinder so as to be able to reciprocate, and a working chamber and a backrest are provided on both sides of the piston. a clutch actuator forming a pressure chamber and operating the clutch intermittently based on the movement of the piston; (b) a control system connected to compressed air supply system piping and the working chamber of the clutch actuator; (c) between the exhaust system piping connected to the back pressure chamber of the clutch actuator and the control system piping; (d) an orifice in a piston disposed between the control system piping and the exhaust system piping and reciprocally movable within the cylinder; and a switching valve formed of a clutch are respectively provided, and the control system piping and the exhaust system piping are configured to communicate with each other via the orifice when the clutch is in a connected state.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of an automatic clutch device to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIG. In addition,
In FIG. 1, parts common to those in FIG. 2 are designated by the same reference numerals, and their explanations will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 1, the automatic clutch device of this embodiment has a switching valve 23 disposed between a control system piping 19 and an exhaust system piping 21. Both valves 2 and 3 are of a normally closed type. The rest of the structure is the same as the conventional one.

The above-mentioned switching valve 23 has a piston 28 housed in a cylinder 26 having openings 24 and 25 so as to be able to reciprocate. One orifice 27 is provided depending on the case. The opening 24 of the cylinder 26 is connected to the control system piping 19 via the piping 29, and the other opening 24 is connected to the control system piping 19 via the piping 29.
5 is connected to exhaust system piping 21 via piping 30. Further, the piston 28 is always urged toward the opening 24 by a compression spring 31 disposed within the cylinder 26. In addition, in Figure 1, 32
is an elastic sheet member attached to the piston 28, and 33 is a seat receiving portion that receives the elastic sheet 32 when the piston 28 moves toward the opening 25.

Next, the operation of the automatic clutch device of this embodiment will be described.

First, when disengaging the clutch, the air supply solenoid valve 2 is opened based on a control signal from the controller 22, and the compressed air supply system piping 18 from the air reservoir 4 connects the solenoid valve 2 and the control system piping 19 in sequence. It is supplied to the working chamber 9 of the clutch actuator 1 via the clutch actuator 1, and the clutch is disengaged as the power piston 7 moves forward. At this time, since compressed air is guided from the control system piping 19 to the opening 24 of the switching valve 23,
The pressure of this compressed air causes the piston 28 of the switching valve 23 to move forward against the biasing force of the compression spring 31, and the elastic sheet member 32 is pressed against the seat receiving portion 33 as shown by the phantom line in FIG. . As a result, the opening 25 of the cylinder 26 is closed, and the control system piping 19 and the exhaust system piping 21 are out of communication with each other, so that all compressed air from the air reservoir 4 is supplied into the working chamber 9 without leaking. be done.
After the clutch is disengaged, a predetermined gear shift operation is performed.

On the other hand, if you connect the clutch after this,
The exhaust solenoid valve 3 is opened continuously or intermittently over a predetermined period of time in response to a control signal from the controller 22, and the compressed air in the working chamber 9 is supplied to the control system piping 19, the exhaust solenoid valve 3, and the exhaust gas. It is supplied into the back pressure chamber 10 via the system piping 21 in sequence. This results in
As the power piston 7 is moved back, the clutch is reconnected. At this time, initially, the switching valve 2
The pressure in the opening 25 of No. 3 is lower than the pressure in the other opening 24, but as time passes, the pressure in the opening 25 increases.
Since the pressure in the opening 25 becomes higher than the pressure in the opening 25, the piston 28 is moved back as shown by the solid line in FIG. Therefore, in this case, the elastic sheet member 3
2 is separated from the seat receiving part 33, and the exhaust system piping 21
Although the control system piping 19 and the control system piping 19 are communicated with each other via the orifice 27, no inconvenience occurs.

However, when the piston 28 of the switching valve 23 is moved back and the clutch is disengaged, a slight leak may occur even though the air supply solenoid valve 2 is controlled to be closed. The small amount of compressed air that has flowed into the control system piping 19 is transferred to the piping 29, the opening 24 of the switching valve 23, the orifice 27, and the opening 25.
Since the compressed air leaks from the solenoid valve 2 and is discharged to the exhaust system piping 21 via the piping 30 and the piping 30, there is no possibility that the compressed air leaks from the solenoid valve 2 and enters into the working chamber 9 of the clutch actuator 1. That is, the compressed air leaking from the solenoid valve 2 flows through the orifice 2 provided in the switching valve 23.
The exhaust gas is discharged into the back pressure chamber 10 from the bypass path including the exhaust gas 7, thereby preventing the pressure in the working chamber 9 from rising unexpectedly. Furthermore, even if the ambient temperature of the device rises rapidly and the pressure inside the working chamber 9 rises accordingly,
As in the previous case, air corresponding to the pressure increase is discharged through the bypass passage.

Therefore, if the air supply solenoid valve 2 leaks when the clutch is connected, or the ambient temperature rises, the pressure in the working chamber 9 will unexpectedly increase and the transmitted torque will decrease. There is no risk of this happening.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above, and various modifications and changes can be made based on the technical idea of the present invention.

For example, an orifice 27 may be formed in the piston 28 of the switching valve 23, with one end opening corresponding to the opening 24 and the other end opening around the elastic sheet member 32. Furthermore, the switching valve 23 may be provided integrally with the exhaust electromagnetic valve 3 or the cylinder 6, or may be arranged within the power piston 7.

e. Effects of the invention As described above, according to the invention, both the air supply and exhaust solenoid valves are of the normally closed type, and parts can be made common. In addition, a switching valve with an orifice is provided between the control system piping and the exhaust system piping, so that when the clutch is connected, these pipings are communicated with each other via the orifice. Even if the air supply solenoid valve sometimes leaks or the ambient temperature rises, it can effectively prevent the pressure increase in the working chamber and reduce the transmitted torque due to unexpected forward movement of the power piston. Such inconveniences can be prevented.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an automatic clutch device showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a conventional automatic clutch device. 1... Clutch actuator, 2... Solenoid valve for air supply, 3... Solenoid valve for exhaust, 4... Air reservoir, 5... Clutch actuation mechanism, 6... Cylinder, 7... Power piston, 9 ... Working chamber, 10
...Back pressure chamber, 17... Stroke sensor, 18...
... Supply system piping, 19 ... Control system piping, 21 ... Exhaust system piping, 22 ... Controller, 23 ... Switching valve, 24, 25 ... Hole, 26 ... Cylinder, 2
7... Orifice, 28... Piston, 31...
Compression spring, 32...elastic sheet member, 33... sheet receiving portion.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] (a) A piston is disposed in a cylinder so as to be able to reciprocate, and an operating chamber and a back pressure chamber are formed on both sides of the piston, and the clutch is actuated based on the movement of the piston. a clutch actuator that operates intermittently; (b) a normally closed air supply valve installed between a compressed air supply system piping and a control system piping connected to the working chamber of the clutch actuator; (c) a normally-closed exhaust solenoid valve disposed between the exhaust system piping connected to the back pressure chamber of the clutch actuator and the control system piping; ) A switching valve is provided between the control system piping and the exhaust system piping, and has an orifice formed in a piston reciprocably arranged in a cylinder, and when the clutch is in the engaged state, . An automatic clutch device characterized in that the control system piping and the exhaust system piping are configured to communicate with each other via the orifice.