Control device and control method for vehicle drive mechanism

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10138806-B2
Application number	US-201615555707-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 4, 2016
Priority date	Mar 5, 2015
Publication date	Nov 27, 2018
Grant date	Nov 27, 2018

Abstract

The present invention relates to a control device and to a control method for a vehicle drive mechanism including a moving body having a movability range regulated by two stoppers, and a sensor which senses a position of the moving body. The control device of the present invention learns an output of the sensor corresponding to a contact state of a high-rigidity stopper, and limits, to a lower level, an operation variable of the actuator for moving the moving body toward a low-rigidity stopper along with an increase in an amount of change in the output of the sensor from the contact state of the high-rigidity stopper. Then, the control device learns the output of the sensor corresponding to the contact state of the low-rigidity stopper, and controls the actuator based on the output of the sensor learned at both the stopper positions.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A control device for a vehicle drive mechanism including a moving body which is movably supported, two stoppers, each of which defines an end of a movability range of the moving body, an actuator which drives the moving body in a moving direction, and a sensor which senses a position of the moving body, the control device comprising:
a learning unit that learns an output of the sensor corresponding to a contact state of each of the two stoppers,
wherein the learning unit executes the learning for a high-rigidity stopper of the two stoppers prior to the learning for a low-rigidity stopper of the two stoppers.

2. The control device for a vehicle drive mechanism according to claim 1 ,
wherein when the low-rigidity stopper is brought into the contact state, the learning unit limits an operation variable of the actuator to a lower level along with an increase in an amount of change in the output of the sensor from the contact state of the high-rigidity stopper.

3. The control device for a vehicle drive mechanism according to claim 2 ,
wherein the learning unit limits the operation variable for moving the moving body toward the low-rigidity stopper to a lower level than the operation variable for moving the moving body toward the high-rigidity stopper.

4. The control device for a vehicle drive mechanism according to claim 2 ,
wherein when the low-rigidity stopper is brought into the contact state, the learning unit changes an upper limit value of the operation variable to a smaller value in accordance with an increase in the amount of change in the output of the sensor from the contact state of the high-rigidity stopper.

5. The control device for a vehicle drive mechanism according to claim 2 ,
wherein the actuator is a motor, and
wherein the learning unit limits at least one of a current and an applied voltage of the motor.

6. The control device for a vehicle drive mechanism according to claim 1 ,
wherein the high-rigidity stopper is a stopper, closer to the actuator, of the two stoppers.

7. A control method for a vehicle drive mechanism including a moving body which is movably supported, two stoppers, each of which defines an end of a movability range of the moving body, an actuator which drives the moving body in a moving direction, and a sensor which senses a position of the moving body, the control method comprising:
moving the moving body toward a high-rigidity stopper of the two stoppers;
learning an output of the sensor corresponding to a contact state of the high-rigidity stopper;
moving the moving body toward a low-rigidity stopper of the two stoppers from the contact state of the high-rigidity stopper;
limiting, to a lower level, an operation variable of the actuator for moving the moving body toward the low-rigidity stopper from the contact state of the high-rigidity stopper along with an increase in an amount of change in the output of the sensor from the contact state of the high-rigidity stopper;
learning the output of the sensor corresponding to the contact state of the low-rigidity stopper; and
controlling the actuator based on a learned value of the output of the sensor.

Assignees

• Hitachi Automotive Systems Ltd

Inventors

• Okamoto Naoki
• Shinozaki Yuya

Classifications

• F02D2700/03

  Controlling by changing the compression ratio · CPC title

• F02D2250/16

  End position calibration, i.e. calculation or measurement of actuator end positions, e.g. for throttle or its driving actuator · CPC title

• F01L2800/09

  Calibrating · CPC title

• F02D15/02

  by alteration or displacement of piston stroke · CPC title

• F02D41/2474

  Characteristics of sensors · CPC title