Method and control for operating a transmission in neutral

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10023190-B2
Application number	US-201615337540-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 28, 2016
Priority date	Oct 28, 2016
Publication date	Jul 17, 2018
Grant date	Jul 17, 2018

Abstract

A vehicle powertrain includes an engine and a transmission coupled to the engine. The transmission has a first neutral state in which a first combination of clutches are engaged and a second neutral state in which a second combination of clutches are engaged. A vehicle controller is programmed to, in response to the transmission being in the first neutral state and an engine-torque request exceeding a threshold value, shift the transmission to the second neutral state.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle powertrain comprising:
a transmission including first and second neutrals having different combinations of engaged clutches; and
a controller programmed to
responsive to, the transmission being in the first neutral and an engine-torque request exceeding a threshold value, shift the transmission to the second neutral, and
responsive to, the transmission being in the first neutral and the engine-torque request exceeding the threshold value, limit engine torque to a magnitude less than the engine-torque request.

2. The vehicle powertrain of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further programmed to shift the transmission back to the first neutral in response to the engine-torque request being below a second threshold value.

3. The vehicle powertrain of claim 2 , wherein the transmission is shifted back to the first neutral after the engine-torque request is below the second threshold value for a threshold amount of time.

4. The vehicle powertrain of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further programmed to:
increase engine torque to a magnitude substantially equal to the engine-torque request in response to the transmission being in the second neutral.

5. The vehicle powertrain of claim 1 , wherein the first neutral has a first number of clutches engaged, and the second neutral has a second number of clutches engaged that is less than the first number.

6. The vehicle powertrain of claim 1 , wherein the second neutral has a smaller inertia-coupling value than the first neutral.

7. A vehicle powertrain comprising:
a transmission including shift actuators engageable with planetary gear sets; and
a controller programmed to,
responsive to, the transmission being in a first neutral and an engine-torque request exceeding a threshold, disengage at least one of the shift actuators to place the transmission in a second neutral, and
limit engine torque below the engine-torque request responsive to the transmission being in the first neutral and the engine-torque request exceeding the threshold.

8. The vehicle powertrain of claim 7 , wherein the controller is further programmed to re-engage at least one of the shift actuators to shift the transmission back into the first neutral in response to the engine-torque request being below a second threshold value.

9. The vehicle powertrain of claim 7 , wherein the controller further programmed to limit the engine torque to a magnitude less than the engine- torque request for a predefined time.

10. The vehicle powertrain of claim 7 , wherein the controller is further programmed to increase the engine torque to a magnitude substantially equal to the engine-torque request in response to the transmission being in the second neutral.

11. The vehicle powertrain of claim 7 , wherein the first neutral has a larger inertia-coupling value than the second neutral.

12. The vehicle powertrain of claim 7 , wherein the engine-torque request is based on a pedal position of an accelerator pedal.

13. A method of controlling clutches of a transmission, the method comprising:
engaging a first combination of the clutches to generate a first neutral state in response to the transmission being in PARK or NEUTRAL; and
disengaging one of the clutches of the first combination of clutches to generate a second neutral state in response to an engine-torque request exceeding a threshold value while the transmission is in the first neutral state; and
shifting the transmission to the first neutral state in response to a gear selector being actuated by a driver.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising limiting engine torque to a magnitude less than the engine-torque request in response to the transmission being in the first neutral state and the engine-torque request exceeding the threshold value.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising increasing engine torque to a magnitude substantially equal to the engine-torque request in response to the transmission being in the second neutral state.

16. The method of claim 13 further comprising re-engaging the one of the clutches to shift the transmission back into the first neutral state in response to the engine-torque request being below a second threshold value.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Mcdonnell Alexander Phillip
• Cicala Stephen Michael
• Suter Charles William
• Riedle Bradley Dean
• Kiliaris Leonidas
• Diakiw Markian Oleh
• Nickerson Kurt Howard

Classifications

• B60W10/115

  with planetary gears · CPC title

• B60W2540/16

  Ratio selector position · CPC title

• B60W2540/10

  Accelerator pedal position · CPC title

• B60W2510/101

  Transmission neutral state · CPC title

• B60W2710/1005

  Transmission ratio engaged · CPC title