JPH0543321Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed explanation of the invention] (a) Technical field of the invention The invention relates to a shift lever device for a vehicle, and is particularly suitable for driving on roads where the vehicle speed change pattern is the same everywhere, such as when driving long distances. The present invention relates to a suitable vehicle shift lever device.

(b) Prior Art and Problems Conventionally, in manual vehicle transmission systems, the driver operates a clutch pedal and a lever to shift to a desired gear position. Therefore, when driving long distances or in congested conditions, shifting operations are very troublesome, and especially in large vehicles, clutch and shift lever operations are heavy, causing fatigue.

Therefore, the present applicant first used a transmission with a mechanical clutch and a shift gear without a synchronizing device, and simply selected the desired shift gear with a push button, and the actuator automatically activated the transmission based on the command from the control unit. We have developed and applied for an automatic transmission device for vehicles that performs shift changes automatically (Utility Application No. 59-20536). The automatic transmission device for a vehicle is
The driver's effort during shift change operations is greatly reduced, reducing fatigue, and even beginners can perform shift change operations smoothly without gear noise. Moreover, this technology is superior to conventional vehicle automatic transmission using a torque converter. It has extremely excellent effects such as being able to improve fuel efficiency compared to other devices.

By the way, the conventional shift lever device has a shift lever 26 as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10.
It was configured to command a gear shift change by operating a in a select direction 100 and a shift direction 102. That is, by operating the shift lever 26a within the range of the elongated hole 52 of the bracket 50, a gear selection operation is performed, and the shift lever 2
The gear shift operation was performed by swinging the gear 6a together with the bracket 50 about the rod 54. Based on the operation of the shift position switch and select position detection switch, the gear shift operation is reported by voice or the like. Therefore, when a gearshift operation is performed by operating the shift lever 26a, a voice report is made to inform the driver that the gearshift operation has been performed accurately. I can do it.

However, even if the shift lever 26a is operated,
Since the shift lever 26a is not linked to the transmission, it was not possible to get the feeling of being shifted to a specific gear by operating the shift lever, unlike a vehicle equipped with a manual transmission. .

(c) Purpose of the invention The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and its purpose is to provide a shift lever for a vehicle that can provide almost the same shift feeling as the gear shift operation of a manual transmission. The goal is to provide equipment.

(d) Structure of the invention In order to achieve the above object, the present invention performs intermittent control of the clutch, gear shift control of the transmission, and engine speed control in response to the operation of the shift lever. In an automatic transmission device for a vehicle that performs gear shifting based on the shift lever, an air chamber is formed in the shift knob of the shift lever so that at least a part of the shift knob can be moved by the pressure of the air chamber, and when the shift operation of the shift lever is started, the air chamber of the shift knob is moved. Air supply control means that supplies air to move a part of the shift knob from a normal position, and after completion of gear shift control based on shift operation of a shift lever, exhausts air in an air chamber to return a part of the shift knob to a normal position. This configuration constitutes a shift lever device for a vehicle.

(E) Embodiment of the invention Hereinafter, an embodiment of the invention will be described in detail based on the drawings.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show the hardware configuration and control block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the engine 11 is equipped with a mechanical clutch 12.
A transmission 13 is attached through the propeller shaft 14, and its output shaft is connected to a rear axle (not shown) through a propeller shaft 14. The engine 11 is also provided with a fuel injection pump 15.

The clutch 12 is equipped with a clutch stroke sensor that detects whether the clutch is disengaged or engaged, that is, whether it has entered the range A (connected state) or the range C (disconnected state) in FIG. 4 based on its stroke amount. 16 and
For example, a clutch actuator 17 for driving the clutch is equipped with a valve. Note that the range B in FIG. 4 is a half-clutch state.

The transmission 13 also includes a countershaft rotation sensor 18 that detects the rotational speed of the countershaft, a vehicle speed sensor 19 that detects the rotational speed of the output shaft, and a countershaft rotation sensor 18 that detects the rotational speed of the countershaft.
A transmission actuator 20 for shifting the transmission 13 and a shift position sensor 21 for detecting the shift position of the transmission 13 are mounted. 22 is a clutch pedal position sensor that detects the position of the clutch pedal 23, 24 is an accelerator pedal, and 25 is an accelerator switching device.

Reference numeral 26 is a shift tower provided in the driver's cab for specifying the shift stage when changing the shift.As shown in Fig. 5, the shift lever 26a is used to select reverse R, second S, auto A, or one other than second.
5 ranges from speed to 6th speed and neutral N
A total of 9 ranges can be selected, and there is a switch inside for each range.

while clutch 12 and transmission 1
Control unit 27 that controls 3
is a shift change control unit 28 that issues a shift change command when shift change requirements are satisfied (when a shift designation operation, etc. is performed normally) based on signals from the shift tower 26 and clutch pedal position sensor 22; , when the shift change command is output from the shift change control unit 28, the synchronization speed at the designated shift stage is calculated based on the signal from the shift position sensor 21 and the input from the vehicle speed sensor 19 of the transmission 13. At the same time, a synchronization determination section 29 determines the synchronization state by comparing the calculated value with the rotation speed (current rotation speed) measured by the countershaft rotation speed sensor 18, and synchronization detection from the synchronization determination section 29. A transmission control section 31 receives a signal and issues a drive signal to the transmission actuator 20 via a relay box 30, and the shift change control section 28
clutch actuator 17 based on the command from
and an engine control section 33 that controls the accelerator switching device 25 to switch accelerator operation from manual to automatic when a shift change command is output.

The shift change control section 28 outputs an alarm signal to the transmission error lamp 34 or the clutch error lamp 35 when a malfunction occurs in the shift change operation. The shift change control unit 28 also causes a shift completion lamp 37 to indicate shift completion and double clutch instruction when the shift change operation is completed, and a double clutch command lamp 38 to indicate shift completion and double clutch instruction when the clutch operation and accelerator operation are switched to manual. If so, a signal is sent to the buzzer 36, respectively.

In addition, 39 and 40 are the ON relay of the electric brake (exhaust brake) used to quickly obtain synchronization of the transmission 13, and the temporary relay when performing a shift change operation while manually operating the electric brake. 41 is a transmission position indicator that displays the transmission position; 42 is a reset button that resets the shift completion lamp 37, buzzer 36, etc.;

In the above configuration, the manual, that is, the lever 26a of the shift tower 26 is operated to shift up according to a predetermined shift pattern, the vehicle speed at that time is stored in a memory provided in the transmission control unit 31, and then When the lever 26a is set to auto range A, the vehicle is controlled to automatically shift up using the vehicle speed pattern stored in the memory.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the shift lever 26a is composed of a shift knob 60 and a shaft 62, and an air chamber 64 is formed in the shift knob 60. The tip of the shaft 62 is slidably inserted into the air chamber 64. A piston portion 62a is formed at the tip of the shaft 62. The piston portion 62a is urged upward by a spring 66 mounted within the air chamber 64. Note that the shift knob 60 is divided into an upper portion 60A and a lower portion 60B, and the upper portion 60A and the lower portion 60B are screwed together by a threaded portion 60C. An O-ring 68 is inserted between the upper part 60A and the lower part 60B, and the lower part 60
An O-ring 70 is inserted between the side wall of B and the piston portion 62a.

In addition, an air supply passage 72 is provided in the center of the shaft 62.
is bored into the air supply passage 72, and air is introduced into the air supply passage 72 through a tube 74 and an air valve 76. The air valve 76 is operated in response to a command from the shift change control section 28 and is configured to supply air in the air tank to the air chamber 64 via the tube 74 and the air supply passage 72. When air is supplied into the air chamber 64, the shift knob 60 moves upward against the force of the spring 66. On the other hand, when the air in the air chamber 64 is exhausted, the shift knob 60 moves downward.

The present embodiment has the above-mentioned configuration, and its operation will now be explained based on the flowchart of FIG. 6.

First, when the shift lever 26a is operated, an on signal is output from the shift change control section 28 to the air valve 76 in conjunction with this operation, and the air in the air tank is supplied to the air chamber 64, and the shift knob
The entire 0 moves upward (step 200). That is,
The driver operates the shift knob 60 with it moved upward. Next, move on to step 202,
The accelerator is fully closed by actuation of accelerator switching device 25, and then the clutch is turned on by actuation of clutch actuator 17 (step 204). Thereafter, the transmission is set to neutral by the operation of the transmission actuator 20 (step 206), and the clutch is turned on by the operation of the clutch actuator 17 (step 208). .

Next, the system waits until the engine speed reaches the synchro speed based on the detection output of the vehicle speed sensor 19 (step 210). Thereafter, when the engine speed reaches the synchro speed, a gear is set by operating the transmission actuator 20 (step 212), and the accelerator switching device 25
The accelerator is returned to its original position by the operation of (step 214). Thereafter, the signal output from the shift change control unit 28 to the air valve 76 is turned off, and the air in the air chamber 64 is exhausted to the atmosphere (step 216). This causes the shift knob 60 to move downward. That is, by moving the shift knob 60 downward, the driver can feel that the gear shift operation has been performed reliably.

7 and 8 show the structure of another embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, the shift knob 60 is divided into an upper part 60A and a lower part 60B, and a disk-shaped groove is formed at the top of the upper part 60A, and a rubber 80 is installed in this groove, and a part of the lower part 60B is used as an air chamber. The lower part 60B is connected to the lock nut 8 by forming an air passage 82 and communicating with the air supply passage 72.
It is connected to the shaft 62 via 4,
This example is also similar to the previous embodiment, and the same or equivalent parts are given the same reference numerals and their explanation will be omitted.

In this case as well, when the shift lever 26a is operated, the air valve 76 is actuated to supply air from the air pump via the tube 74 and the air supply passage 72 to the air passage 8 which also serves as a part of the air chamber.
2, and the rubber 80 expands. On the other hand, after the gear shift control is completed, the air valve 76
When turned off, the air in the air chamber formed by the expansion of the rubber 80 is exhausted to the atmosphere, and the
The state shown in the figure is reached, and the driver can feel that the gear shift has been completed by the contraction of the rubber 80.

Although the rubber 80 is attached to the top of the shift knob 60 in the above description, it is also possible to attach the rubber 80 to the side of the shift knob 60 in the same manner as in the previous embodiment.

(f) Effects of the invention As explained above, according to the invention, the gear shift operation was performed reliably by the movement of the air chamber formed in the shift knob of the shift lever, which is almost the same as the gear shift operation of a manual transmission. You can get the same shift feeling,
This provides an excellent effect of contributing to improved operability.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a sectional view of the main parts of an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is an overall block diagram of the device according to the present invention, Fig. 3 is a block diagram of Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 is a clutch stroke sensor. 5 is a perspective view of the shift tower, FIG. 6 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the device according to the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another implementation of the shift lever according to the present invention. A sectional view showing an example, FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the state of the shift lever shown in FIG. 7 when air is discharged, FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the configuration of a conventional shift lever, and FIG. 10 is a method of operating the shift lever. FIG. In the diagram, 11...engine, 12...clutch,
13...Transmission, 14...Propeller shaft, 17...Clutch actuator, 1
8... Counter shaft rotation speed sensor, 19...
...Vehicle speed sensor, 20...Transmission actuator, 21...Shift position sensor, 22...
... Clutch pedal switch, 23 ... Clutch pedal, 24 ... Accelerator pedal, 25 ... Accelerator switching device, 26 ... Shift tower, 27 ... Control unit, 28 ... Shift change control section, 29 ... Synchro judgment section , 30... Relay box, 31... Transmission control section,
32...Clutch intermittent control unit, 33...Engine control unit, 34...Transmission error lamp, 35...Clutch error lamp, 36...Buzzer, 37...Shift completion lamp, 60...Shift knob, 62... ...Shaft, 64...Air chamber, 7
6...Air valve, 80...Rubber.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] In a vehicle automatic transmission system that performs intermittent clutch control, transmission gear shift control, and engine speed control in response to shift lever operation, and changes gears based on shift lever operation, the shift knob of the shift lever is An air chamber is formed so that at least a part of the shift knob can be moved by the pressure of the air chamber, and when a shift operation of the shift lever is started, air is supplied to the air chamber of the shift knob to move a part of the shift knob from a fixed position and shift the shift knob. A shift lever device for a vehicle, comprising an air supply control means for discharging air from an air chamber to return a part of a shift knob to a normal position after completion of gear shift control based on shift operation of the lever.