JPH02185631A - Device for controlling throttle valve of engine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To get rid of the rush of a vehicle even at the time of the failure of an electric motor, etc., and improve safety by limiting the controlling range of the opening of a throttle valve by means of the motor to be less than the opening by means on the step-in of an accelerator pedal and linking pulleys with a belt, etc. CONSTITUTION:During constant speed traveling by turning on an automatic operation switch 24, if an electronic control device 25 detects the failure of an electric motor 6 or the breakage of belts 10, 11 from the output of an opening sensor 21 or if failure occurs in the control device 25 itself, it turns off a solenoid valve 181 and opens the atmospheric port 184 of an actuator 18 to carry out the opening/closing of a throttle valve 2 by the operation of an accelerator pedal 16. At this time, the rotation of a pulley 4 in the opening direction of the throttle valve 2 is limited by the contact between a rotation range limiting window and a stopper pin 12, without permitting the throttle valve 2 to open more than the opening corresponding to the step-in quantity of the pedal 16 by means of the motor 6 while relieving the shock at the time of limiting the rotation by means of a belt 10, etc. Also, a reduction ratio can be freely selected by pulleys 4/9a and 9b/5. Thereby, the rush of a vehicle caused by the failure of the motor, etc., can be prevented.

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 turn on 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 in which the amount of accelerator depression is converted into an electric quantity by means of a means (accelerator depression m signal), 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. The development of a throttle valve control device that sequentially calculates the optimal throttle opening degree in response to It is progressing.

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-61-603
Publication No. 31 discloses that a first throttle valve that is linked to an accelerator pedal and an electric second throttle valve are arranged in series in the intake passage of the engine, and that slip control during vehicle acceleration is performed by the electric second throttle valve. This is done by driving the throttle valve to open and close, and if the second throttle valve drive control means fails, the first throttle valve is driven by accelerator operation to maintain safety. ing.

[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 obtain a throttle valve control device that can automatically operate the engine 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] A throttle valve control device for an engine according to the present invention includes a first pulley disposed on a valve shaft of a throttle valve, and a first pulley coaxially opposed to the first pulley. a second pulley arranged and driven by an electric motor; a rotary plate rotatably disposed on the valve shaft; a third boolean connected to each of the second pulleys by a belt or chain; a limiting member that limits the rotation range of the first pulley with respect to the rotating plate; and a limiting member that controls the rotating plate in response to operation by a driver. and a means for rotating.

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

Figure 1 shows a vehicle that is equipped with an inter-vehicle distance sensor that detects the distance between the vehicle in front and the vehicle in front, and adjusts the opening of the throttle valve to maintain the vehicle's running speed at a set speed. This figure shows 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 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 pulley (4) is fixed to one end thereof. A second pulley (5) is disposed coaxially with the first pulley (4), and an electric motor (6) fixed to the intake passage (1) is connected to the second pulley. Drive connected. In addition, the valve stem (
3) A rotating plate (7) is rotatably provided on the top. A pulley shaft (8) is fixed at a position away from the axis of the rotating plate (7).
) on which a third pulley (9) is rotatably arranged. This third pulley (9) is a combination of a small pulley (9a) and a large pulley (9b), and there is no space between the small pulley (9a) and the first pulley (4). The first belt (10) is hung, and the large pulley (9b) and the second
A second belt (lI) is hung between the pulley (5) and the pulley (5). As shown in Fig. 2 (H-■ sectional view in Fig. 1), the first pulley (4) is provided with a rotation range limiting window (4a) extending a predetermined distance in the circumferential direction. A stopper pin (12) is fixed to the plate (7) in correspondence with the rotation range limiting window (4a). When one end of the rotation range limiting window (4a) comes into contact with the stopper pin (12), the rotation range of the first pulley (4) with respect to the upward rotation plate (7) is limited.

The side surface of the rotating plate (7) is the return spring (
13) One end is held. The other end of this return spring (I3) is held on the intake passage (1) side, so that the torque in the direction of returning the throttle valve (2) to the closed position is applied to the rotation plate (7), the stopper pin (12), and the first is applied to the valve stem (3) via a pulley (4). In addition, a back spring (1
4) One end is held. back spring (14
) is held at the other end by the first pulley (4), thereby applying a torque in the direction of bringing the first pulley (4) into contact with the stopper pin (12) (in the direction opposite to arrow A in Fig. 2). is added. An accelerator wire (I5) is hung in the groove (7a) on the outer periphery of the rotating plate (7), and the other end of the accelerator wire (I5) is connected to an accelerator pedal (16). When the accelerator pedal (16) is depressed, the rotating plate (7) rotates against the spring force of the return spring (13), and the throttle valve is rotated through the third pulley (9) and the first pulley (4). (2) Valve stem (3) in the opening direction
).

The accelerator pedal (I6) is attached to the accelerator pedal (16).
An accelerator sensor (17) is attached to detect the amount of depression. Further, a negative pressure responsive actuator (18) is connected to the accelerator pedal (16). This actuator (18) includes a solenoid valve (181), a diaphragm (182), and a negative pressure chamber (183) partitioned by the diaphragm (182), and the negative pressure chamber (183) is throttled by a pipe (19). The valve (2) is communicated with the downstream intake passage (1). In addition, the diaphragm (18
2) and the accelerator pedal (16) are connected by a diaphragm wire (20). The solenoid valve (+81) is provided in the middle of the pipe (19) that leads negative pressure, and opens into the air hole (184) that opens into the negative pressure chamber (183) when energized.
) is closed to apply negative intake pressure to the diaphragm (182), and when the current is cut off, the atmospheric hole (184) is opened to bring the inside of the negative pressure chamber (183) to approximately atmospheric pressure.

When the solenoid valve (181) is energized and negative pressure acts on the diaphragm (182), the accelerator pedal (I
6) is driven.

An 08 degree sensor (21) is attached to the throttle valve (2). This opening sensor (2I) can be composed of, for example, a potentiometer.

The vehicle (not shown) includes an inter-vehicle distance sensor (22) for detecting the inter-vehicle distance to the vehicle in front, and a vehicle speed sensor (23).
An automatic operation switch (24) for instructing automatic operation of the engine is also provided. The inter-vehicle distance sensor (22) can be configured, for example, by a radar device. The vehicle is also equipped with an electronic control device (25) that drives and controls the electric motor (6) and controls the solenoid valve (181) on and off. The electronic control device (25)
are the above-mentioned inter-vehicle distance sensor (22) and vehicle speed sensor (23).
, the switch signal of the automatic operation switch (24), and the output signal of the opening sensor (21) are input. The electronic control device (25) performs predetermined arithmetic processing based on this input information and outputs control signals to the electric motor (6) and the solenoid valve (181).

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 (181) is cut off.

At this time, the pressure inside the negative pressure chamber (183) of the actuator (18) is close to atmospheric pressure, so the diaphragm (182)
) does not operate, allowing free operation of the accelerator pedal (I6). Therefore, by operating the accelerator, the rotating plate (7) is rotated against the return spring (13), and the third pulley (9) and the hanging pulley (4) rotate integrally with the rotating plate (7). ) to open and close the throttle valve (2) by rotating the valve shaft (3). 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, 1001 v/h), operate the accelerator pedal (16) to adjust the vehicle speed to the desired vehicle speed, and then operate the automatic driving switch (24) to the automatic driving side. do. As a result, the solenoid valve (181) is energized, the air hole (184) is closed, and the intake passage (1) is closed.
Intake negative pressure is introduced into the negative pressure chamber (183) of the actuator (181) through the pipe (19) and acts on the diaphragm (182). As a result, the diaphragm (1
82) drives the accelerator pedal (16) against the spring force of the return spring (13), and rotates the rotating plate (7) regardless of the operation of the accelerator pedal (16) by the driver.
Rotate to open the throttle valve (2) to the fully open position.

At this time, the electronic control device (25) also controls the vehicle speed sensor (25).
The vehicle speed signal from 3) is input, and the rotation of the electric motor (6) is controlled so that the vehicle speed becomes the desired vehicle speed. This electric motor (
6) is rotated by the second pulley (5) and third pulley (9).
) to the first pulley (4), which rotates the valve shaft (3) of the throttle valve (2). The electric motor (6) rotates and connects the third pulley (9) via the second V-belt (11).
When rotates in the direction of arrow B in Fig. 2, the first V-belt (
10) rotates in the direction of arrow A against the backspring (14).

In this way, 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 following distance sensor (22) detects that the distance between the preceding vehicle and the preceding vehicle has become short, the electronic control device (25)
Regardless of the above-mentioned desired vehicle speed, the throttle valve (2) is driven to the closing side to perform the throttle speed control so as to maintain an appropriate inter-vehicle distance. 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, if the electric motor (6) or electronic control device (25) breaks down, or if the V-belts (10) and (11) become slack or cut and become inoperable, In such an abnormal state, the opening sensor (21
) is detected by the output signal of the solenoid valve (181).
The energization is cut off and the air hole (184) is opened. This allows the accelerator pedal (16) to be operated freely, so that the driver can control the opening and closing of the throttle valve (2) by operating the accelerator pedal (16). At that time, the first pulley (
Since the rotation of 4) is limited by one end of the rotation range limiting window (4a) coming into contact with the stopper bin (12),
The electric motor (6) does not open the throttle valve (2) beyond the opening degree corresponding to the depression of the accelerator pedal (I6).

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.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the pulleys (4), (5), and (9) are connected by ■belt, but instead of ■belt, a toothed belt or chain may be used. This embodiment also produces the same effects as the above embodiment.

[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. In addition, since each pulley is connected by a belt or chain, the reduction ratio (pulley ratio) can be freely selected.Furthermore, it is possible to use a belt, etc. to reduce the impact when the boob hits the stopper pin and stops rotating. It also has the effect of being able to do it.

[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, (+) is the intake passage, (2) is the throttle valve, (3) is the valve shaft, (4) is the first pulley, (4a) is the rotation range limiting window, and (5) is the second pulley. , (6) is the electric motor, (7) is the rotating plate, (9) is the third pulley, (1
0), (11) are belts, (12) are stopper pins, (
! 3) is a return spring, (15) is an accelerator wire, (16) is an accelerator pedal, (18) is an actuator, (21) is an opening sensor, and (24) 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 pulley disposed on the valve shaft, and a valve disposed coaxially with and facing the first pulley; a second pulley driven by an electric motor; a rotating plate rotatably disposed on the valve shaft; and belts or belts disposed on the rotating plate and connected to the first pulley and the second pulley, respectively. a third pulley connected by a chain, a limiting member that limits the rotation range of the first pulley with respect to the rotating plate, and means for rotating the rotating plate in response to an operation by a driver. A throttle valve control device for an engine, characterized by comprising: