JPH09164928A - Automatic vehicle shift switching device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] To provide a shift switching device for an automatic vehicle capable of always performing a shift operation easily and reliably. [Structure] The power of the engine 1 is supplied to the output shaft 57 and the output shaft 5.
Gears 60 and 61 fixed to 7, a forward gear 62 or a reverse gear 63 rotatably supported on the intermediate shaft 58, and a forward gear 62 or a reverse gear that slides on the intermediate shaft 58 by a shift operation. A drum brake (first brake) 9 that transmits to a drive shaft 59 via a dog clutch (forward / reverse switching clutch) 70 that meshes with a gear 63 and applies braking to the wheels 3a to 3d, and the output shaft 57 are provided. In a shift switching device for an automatic vehicle equipped with an electromagnetic brake (second brake) 18, when a shift operation is performed while the vehicle is stopped and the electromagnetic brake 18 is in an ON state, this is detected to detect the drum brake. 9 is turned on and the electromagnetic brake 18 is turned off.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a shift switching device for an automatic vehicle capable of automatic traveling along a predetermined guide route and manual traveling by a passenger's manual operation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an example of an automated vehicle, a golf car for carrying luggage such as a golf bag or a person is known in a golf course. This golf car detects a guide wire buried in a predetermined guide path. However, in addition to automatic traveling along with this, manual traveling by manual operation by an occupant is possible.

By the way, in such an automatic vehicle, engine power is output to the output shaft, a gear fixed to the output shaft, a forward gear rotatably supported on the intermediate shaft by meshing with the gear. A reverse gear, which transmits to the drive shaft through a forward / reverse switching clutch that slides on the intermediate shaft by a shift operation and meshes with the forward gear or the reverse gear, and applies braking to the four wheels, such as a drum brake. Some include a parking brake provided on the output shaft.

[0004]

By the way, in the above automatic vehicle, the parking brake is in the braking state (ON state) when the vehicle is stopped, but the four-wheel drum brakes are in the releasing state (OFF state). When the vehicle is parked on a slope, the forward / reverse switching clutch meshes with a load applied to the forward gear or the reverse gear. For this reason,
Even if the shift operation is performed in this state, the meshed state of the forward / reverse switching clutch and the forward gear or the reverse gear cannot be easily released, which may make the shift operation difficult.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a shift switching device for an automatic vehicle capable of always performing a shift operation easily and reliably. .

[0006]

To achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is characterized in that the engine power is output shaft, a gear fixed to the output shaft, and the intermediate shaft is freely rotated by meshing with the gear. A forward gear or a reverse gear that is supported so that it can be transmitted to the drive shaft through a forward-reverse switching clutch that slides on the intermediate shaft by a shift operation and meshes with the forward gear or the reverse gear, and the wheels. In a shift switching device for an automatic vehicle including a first brake that applies braking to a vehicle and a second brake for parking provided on the output shaft, a shift operation is performed when the vehicle is stopped and the second brake is in an ON state. When this is done, this is detected and the first brake is turned on.
The second brake is turned off at the same time.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the first brake is a brake that is turned on when energized, and the second brake is a spring-closed electromagnetic brake that is turned on when de-energized. In addition, when the shift operation is detected, the first brake is turned off and the second brake is turned on after the ON state of the first brake and the OFF state of the second brake are maintained for a set time. And

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the invention, when the accelerator operation is performed within the set time, the accelerator operation is detected and the first brake is turned off.

Therefore, according to the first aspect of the present invention, even if the forward / reverse switching clutch is engaged with the forward gear or the reverse gear under a load due to, for example, the vehicle stopping on a slope, that state is maintained. When the shift operation is performed with, the first brake is detected and the second brake (parking brake) is turned off, so that the forward drive gear or the reverse drive gear can be rotated. The engagement of either one of them and the forward / reverse switching clutch in a state where a load is applied is released, and as a result, the shift operation can be performed easily and reliably.

According to the second aspect of the invention, when the vehicle is stopped and the shift operation is performed while the second brake is in the ON state, the first brake that is in the ON state only within the set time period. Since the power is consumed in the first brake and the second brake is not consumed after the set time in which the second brake is turned on, the power consumption can be minimized.

Further, according to the third aspect of the invention, the first brake is turned on when the occupant operates the accelerator before the set time elapses, for example, immediately after performing the shift operation.
Since the vehicle is FFed (the second brake is in the OFF state at this time), the vehicle can run and the vehicle can quickly start.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, the overall structure of the automatic vehicle will be outlined with reference to FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the structure of the automatic vehicle.

The automatic vehicle according to the present embodiment is used as a golf car used in, for example, a golf course, and can be automatically driven along a predetermined guide route or manually operated by an occupant. Is. This automatic vehicle is equipped with an engine 1, and a transmission 4 for transmitting a driving force supplied from the engine 1 via a V-belt type automatic transmission 2 to rear wheels 3a and 3b which are drive wheels. A steering wheel 5 for steering the front wheels 3c, 3d, which are steered wheels; an accelerator for adjusting the opening (throttle opening) of a throttle valve (not shown) provided in the carburetor 6 of the engine 1 for changing the vehicle speed. A pedal 7, a brake pedal 8 for applying a braking force to the vehicle, a drum brake 9, and a shift lever 10 for switching between forward and backward movement of the vehicle are provided.

The automatic vehicle is also equipped with a controller 11 for controlling automatic traveling, a steering driver 12, a steering motor 13, and a throttle motor 1.
4, brake motor driver 15, brake motor 1
6. In addition to the electromagnetic brake 18, various sensor groups such as a guide wire sensor 19, a fixed point sensor 20, left and right bumper switches 21, a rear-end collision prevention sensor 22, left and right obstacle sensors 23, switching for switching between automatic braking and manual braking The controller 11 receives signals from the mechanism 24 and the remote control transmitter 25.
A remote control receiver 26 and the like for inputting to the are provided. In FIG. 4, 27 is an amplifier for the rear-end collision prevention sensor 22.

By the way, the steering driver 12
Supplies a drive current corresponding to a steering instruction signal output from the controller 11 to the steering motor 13 via a steering relay 28 during automatic traveling. The rotation of the steering motor 13 is driven by gears 29, 30.
A steering operation is transmitted to the steering shaft 31 via a steering wheel, and the steering shaft 31 rotates to perform a desired steering operation. During automatic driving, the controller 11
Steering clutch 32 is turned off by the signal from
Then, the steering wheel 5 is separated from the steering shaft 31, and manual steering operation becomes impossible.

The throttle motor 14 is driven in response to an opening degree instruction signal output from the controller 11 during automatic traveling to adjust the opening degree of the throttle valve in the carburetor 6 (throttle opening degree). During automatic driving, the throttle clutch 33 is turned on by the signal output from the controller 11 and the throttle motor 1
4, the throttle operation is performed, the throttle clutch 33 is turned off and the throttle pedal is operated by the accelerator pedal 7 during manual traveling. The operation of the accelerator pedal 7 is detected by the accelerator switch 34, and the throttle opening is determined by the throttle potentiometer 35.
Detected by the controller 11, and each signal is detected by the controller 11
Is input to

Further, the brake motor driver 15
Is to supply a drive current according to a control instruction signal output from the controller 11 to the brake motor 16 via the brake relay 36 during automatic traveling, and the brake motor 16 via the gear 37 and the switching mechanism 24. Then, the drum brake 9 provided on each of the four wheels 3a to 3d is driven to apply a braking force to the vehicle. Even during automatic traveling, the brake pedal 8 is connected to the drum brake 9 via the switching mechanism 24, and braking by operating the brake pedal 8 is also possible. The operation of the brake pedal 8 is detected by the brake switch 38,
The detection signal is input to the controller 11.

On the other hand, the guide wire sensor 19 is arranged so that the center of the T-shaped arm 39 rotatably mounted horizontally at the front end of the vehicle and the left and right faces the ground. These guide wire sensors 19 magnetically detect a guide wire (not shown) buried along the course of the golf course,
A detection signal corresponding to the distance from the guide wire is input to the controller 11. Then, the controller 11 calculates the deviation amount of the vehicle position from the guide wire based on the detection signal from the guide wire sensor 19, and outputs to the steering driver 12 a steering instruction signal for setting the deviation amount to "0". By outputting the output, the vehicle is automatically driven along the guide line.

The fixed point sensor 20 is attached to a predetermined position of the vehicle so as to face the ground, and is composed of a plurality of fixed magnets (not shown) embedded in the golf course or the like at predetermined intervals. Is detected magnetically and a detection signal corresponding to the arrangement pattern is output to the controller 11, thereby providing the controller 11 with information for controlling the running / stopping of the vehicle and the traveling speed of the vehicle. is there.

By the way, an operation panel 40 is installed near the driver's seat. The operation panel 40 has a main switch and a manual / instruction for instructing switching between manual traveling and automatic traveling.
Various switches such as an automatic changeover switch, a start / stop switch for instructing start and stop, and a warning lamp and an indicator lamp for displaying a warning are provided. When automatic running is selected by the manual / auto switch of the operation panel 40, the controller 11 switches the running mode of the vehicle from manual running to automatic running and performs control for automatic running.
In addition, as a sensor group for detecting the traveling state of the vehicle, the transmission 4 has two sensors (No.
1, 2) vehicle speed sensors 41 and 42, a rotation sensor 43 for detecting the number of revolutions in the engine 1, a drum brake 9 in the gear 37, and a stroke of a braking system including a braking force transmission path is increased, so that the brake motor 16 Brake limit switches 44 for detecting whether or not the rotation angle of each exceeds a certain limit value are provided, and these detection signals are input to the controller 11.

Further, in the vicinity of the shift lever 10, a forward movement detection switch 45 and a reverse movement detection switch 46 for detecting the position of the shift lever 10 are provided, and an alarm buzzer 47 for issuing an alarm at the time of reverse movement is provided. Cage,
These are electrically connected to the controller 11.

Here, the structure of the main part of the controller 11 (the part related to the control of the shift switching device according to the present invention) will be described with reference to FIG. Note that FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a main part of the controller 11.

The controller 11 is composed of a CPU (central processing unit) 48, hardware such as a memory, and as shown in FIG. 5, the CPU 48 includes a forward detection switch 45, a reverse detection switch 46 and a throttle. A sensor input determination unit 50 that determines a detection signal input from the potentiometer 35 via an input unit (interface) 49. Based on the determination result of the sensor input determination unit 50, normal time (non-lever switching) and lever switching A normal-time braking control calculation unit 51 that calculates each braking control amount, a lever-switching-time braking control calculation unit 52, and the braking control calculation units 51 and 5
2. An excitation voltage calculation unit 53 that calculates an excitation voltage for driving the brake relay 36 according to the braking control amount obtained by 2 and a motor current command value calculation unit 54 that calculates a motor current supplied to the brake motor driver 15. An excitation voltage calculation unit 55 that calculates an excitation voltage for driving the electromagnetic brake 18 is provided. The results calculated by the excitation voltage calculation unit 53, the motor current command value calculation unit 54, and the excitation voltage calculation unit 55 are output to the brake relay 36, the brake motor driver 15, and the electromagnetic brake 18 via the output unit (interface) 56. It is output respectively.

Next, the structure of the power transmission system and the braking system including the shift switching device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
1. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the power transmission system and the braking system of the automatic vehicle.

As shown, the transmission 4
The output shaft 57 and the intermediate shaft 5 from the front of the vehicle body (upper side in FIG. 1).
8 and the drive shaft 59 are arranged parallel to each other and are rotatable, and one end of the output shaft 57 is connected to the output shaft of the engine 1 via the V-belt type automatic transmission 2.
The electromagnetic brake 18 is attached to the other end of the output shaft 57. The electromagnetic brake 18 is a parking brake that is ON / OFF controlled by the controller 11, and is a spring-closed electromagnetic brake that maintains a braking state (ON state) by the urging force of a spring (not shown) when not energized. It is a brake and is attached to the output shaft 57 having a relatively high rotational speed for the purpose of suppressing the control torque to be small. On the other hand, the drum brake 9 provided on each of the four wheels 3a to 3d includes the brake motor 16 controlled by the controller 11 during automatic traveling.
These are driven by (ON) when the brake motor 16 is energized to generate a braking force, and are turned OFF when the brake motor 16 is not energized to release the braking force.

Gears 60 and 61 of different sizes are fixed to the output shaft 57 in the transmission 4.
One gear 60 meshes with a large-diameter forward gear 62 rotatably supported on the intermediate shaft 58, and the other gear 61.
Is also meshed with a small-diameter reverse gear 63 rotatably supported by the intermediate shaft 58 via an idler gear 64. A large diameter gear 65 is fixed to the intermediate shaft 58, and the gear 65 meshes with a small diameter gear 66 fixed to the drive shaft 59. A differential device (differential gear) 67 is provided on the drive shaft 59.

By the way, the forward gear 6 of the intermediate shaft 58
A dog clutch 70 for forward / reverse switching is slidably fitted along the intermediate shaft 58 between the second gear 63 and the reverse gear 63. The dog clutch 70 is shift-switched to the shift lever 10. Wire 72 and spring 73,
It is connected via 74.

Thus, the shift lever 10 and the forward gear 6
2, the reverse gear 63, the dog clutch 70, etc. constitute the shift switching device according to the present invention. The operation of the shift switching device will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 2 and the timing chart shown in FIG. This will be described below.

When the shift lever 10 is in the "forward" position, the dog clutch 70 meshes with the forward gear 62, and the rotation of the engine 1 is automatically changed by the V-belt type automatic transmission 2 to output the output shaft 57. Transmitted to the gear 6
0, the speed is reduced by the forward gear 62 and transmitted to the intermediate shaft 58 via the dog clutch 70.
6, the speed is increased and transmitted to the output shaft 59, and the output shaft 59 and the rear wheels 3a and 3b attached to both ends of the output shaft 59 are rotationally driven at a predetermined speed to automatically or manually move the automatic vehicle forward. Be punished. At this time, it is detected by the accelerator switch 34 whether or not the accelerator pedal 7 has been operated (accelerator operation) (STEP 1 in FIG. 2), and when the accelerator operation is performed, the controller 11 supplies the current to the brake motor 16. Is stopped (set to supply current = 0), the drum brake 9 is turned off (STEP 2), and the electromagnetic brake 18 is energized to turn off the electromagnetic brake 18 (STEP 3). It is possible to travel forward without receiving power.

On the other hand, when the accelerator is not operated, the vehicle speed sensors 41 and 42 detect the vehicle speed = 0 (that is,
It is determined whether the shift lever 10 is in the "neutral" position (stopped) (STEP 4), and if the vehicle is running, the determination result is "NO", so the process is STEP.
5, it is judged again whether or not the vehicle speed = 0.
In this case as well, the judgment result is "NO", so the processing is STEP
Proceeding to steps 2 and 3, both the drum brake 9 and the electromagnetic brake 18 are kept in the OFF state. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, when the automatic vehicle gradually decelerates and stops during forward traveling (vehicle speed = 0), the shift lever 10 is in the “forward” position, and therefore the determination result of STEP 4 is “NO”. ", The process proceeds to STEP 5, but the determination result in STEP 5 is" YES ", so the process proceeds to STEP 6 and the drum brake 9 is turned off.
With the F state maintained, the energization of the electromagnetic brake 18 is stopped and the electromagnetic brake 19 is turned on (see STEP 7 and FIG. 3).

Therefore, when the automatic vehicle stops on a slope, for example, with the shift lever 10 in the "forward" position, the electromagnetic brake 18 is in the ON state and the forward gear 6
Since the rotation of 2 is locked, the dog clutch 70
Mesh with the forward gear 62 under a load (load from the rear wheels 3a and 3b side). Therefore, conventionally, even if the shift operation is performed in this state, the dog clutch 70
The meshed state between the forward gear 62 and the forward gear 62 could not be easily released.

Therefore, in the present invention, when the shift lever 10 is operated in the above state to be set to the "neutral" position and this is detected by the forward movement detection switch 45 and the reverse movement detection switch 46, the judgment result in STEP 4 is Since the result is "YES", a constant current is supplied to the brake motor 16 to turn on the drum brake 9 (STEP
8) Then, the electromagnetic brake 18 is also energized and the electromagnetic brake 18 is turned off (STEP 9), and this state is maintained for a predetermined set time T (see FIG. 3) (STEPs 10 and 11).
In this way, the drum brake 9 is turned on during the set time T.
As a result, the electromagnetic brake 18 is turned off, the locked state of the forward gear 62 is released, and the forward gear 62 becomes free to rotate on the intermediate shaft 58. Because of this, the dog
The engagement between the clutch 70 and the forward gear 62 can be easily released, and the shift lever 10 can be switched to the "reverse" position to surely engage the dog clutch 70 with the reverse gear 63.

When the set time T elapses, the energization of the brake motor 16 is stopped (supply current = 0), the drum brake 9 is turned off (STEP 6), the energization of the electromagnetic brake 18 is also stopped, and the electromagnetic brake is stopped. 18 is turned on (STEP 7). In this way, electric power is consumed in the drum brake 9 that is in the ON state only within the set time T, and after the set time T in which the electromagnetic brake 18 is turned ON, both the drum brake 9 and the electromagnetic brake 18 consume power. Power consumption can be suppressed to a minimum.

After the dog clutch 70 is engaged with the reverse gear 63 by the above shift operation, the accelerator pedal 7 is operated to travel backward, and this accelerator operation is detected by the accelerator switch 34. , STEP 1 is determined to be “YES”, the drum brake 9 is maintained in the OFF state (STEP 2), and the electromagnetic brake 18 is also turned OFF (see STEP 3 and FIG. 3), so that the vehicle can travel backward. During reverse running, the rotation of the engine 1 is automatically changed by the V-belt type automatic transmission 2 and transmitted to the output shaft 57, and the rotation direction is reversed by the gear 61, the idle gear 64 and the reverse gear 63. Intermediate shaft 58 via the dog clutch 70
To the output shaft 59, and the output wheels 59 and the rear wheels 3a and 3b attached to both ends of the output shaft 59 are reversely rotated at a predetermined speed. Can be moved backwards automatically or manually.

By the way, if the occupant operates the accelerator before the set time T elapses, for example, immediately after performing the shift operation, the determination result in STEP 10 is "NO", and the determination result in STEP 1 is ""Yes" and the process is STEP
Since the drum brake 9 and the electromagnetic brake 18 are both turned off as indicated by the chain line in FIG. 3, the vehicle can be moved backward and the vehicle can be quickly started.

Although the operation of switching the shift lever 10 from the "forward" position to the "reverse" position has been described above, the operation of switching the shift lever 10 from the "reverse" position to the "forward" position is reversed. Since it is the same, the description thereof will be omitted.

[0038]

As is apparent from the above description, claim 1
According to the invention described, for example, even if the forward / reverse switching clutch meshes with a load applied to the forward gear or the reverse gear because the vehicle has stopped on a slope, if the shift operation is performed in that state, Detecting this, the first brake turns on
And the second brake (parking brake) is turned off
Therefore, the forward drive gear or the reverse drive gear can rotate, and the engagement of any one of these with the forward / reverse drive switching clutch is disengaged, and as a result, the shift operation is easy and Therefore, the effect that it can be surely performed can be obtained.

According to the second aspect of the invention, when the vehicle is stopped and the shift operation is performed while the second brake is in the ON state, the first brake which is in the ON state only within the set time period. In the first embodiment, the electric power is consumed, and the electric power is not consumed in both the first and second brakes after the elapse of the set time in which the second brake is turned on. Therefore, it is possible to obtain the effect that the electric power consumption can be minimized.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the first brake is turned on when the occupant operates the accelerator before the set time elapses, for example, immediately after the shift operation is performed.
Since the vehicle is FFed (the second brake is in the OFF state at this time), the vehicle is allowed to travel, and the effect that the vehicle can start quickly is obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a power transmission system and a braking system of an automatic vehicle equipped with a shift switching device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the shift switching device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of the shift switching device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an automatic vehicle equipped with a shift switching device according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a main part of a controller of an automatic vehicle equipped with a shift switching device according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Engines 3a to 3d Front and Rear Wheels (Wheels) 9 Drum Brake (First Brake) 10 Shift Lever 11 Controller 18 Electromagnetic Brake (Second Brake) 57 Output Shaft 58 Intermediate Shaft 59 Drive Shaft 60, 61 Gear 62 Forward Gear 63 Backward Gear 70 dog clutch (forward / reverse switching clutch)

Claims (3)

[Claims] Claim: What is claimed is: 1. An engine power output shaft, a gear fixed to the output shaft, a forward gear or a reverse gear geared with the gear and rotatably supported on the intermediate shaft, and on the intermediate shaft by a shift operation. Is transmitted to the drive shaft through a forward / reverse switching clutch that slides and meshes with the forward gear or the reverse gear, and a first brake for braking the wheel and a parking first provided on the output shaft. In a shift switching device for an automatic vehicle including two brakes, when a shift operation is performed while the vehicle is stopped and the second brake is in an ON state, this is detected to turn on the first brake, and A shift switching device for an automatic vehicle, characterized in that the second brake is turned off. 2. The first brake is a brake that is turned on when energized, and the second brake is a spring-closed electromagnetic brake that is turned on when de-energized, and when the shift operation is detected, the first brake The shift switching device for an automatic vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the first brake is turned off and the second brake is turned on after the on state of the first brake and the off state of the second brake are maintained for a set time. . 3. The shift switching device for an autonomous vehicle according to claim 2, wherein when an accelerator operation is performed within the set time, the first brake is detected by detecting the accelerator operation.