Method for controlling a hydraulic system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11085532-B2
Application number	US-201916299633-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 12, 2019
Priority date	Mar 12, 2019
Publication date	Aug 10, 2021
Grant date	Aug 10, 2021

Abstract

A hydraulic system may include an electrohydraulic control valve disposed in fluid communication between a source of pressured fluid and a hydraulic actuator. The hydraulic system may be controlled to correct for offset errors between a target actuator pressure and a current actuator pressure output from the control valve, without amplifying pressure oscillations in the fluid between the control valve and the hydraulic actuator.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of controlling a hydraulic system, the method comprising:
receiving an electric pressure command signal representing an increase in a target actuator pressure to output from an electrohydraulic control valve disposed in fluid communication between a source of pressured fluid and a hydraulic actuator,
opening the control valve in response to the pressure command signal to provide a flow of pressurized fluid from the source of pressurized fluid to the hydraulic actuator, the flow of pressurized fluid generating pressure oscillations in the fluid between the control valve and the hydraulic actuator;
sensing a current actuator pressure representative of the pressure of the fluid between the control valve and the hydraulic actuator on multiple occasions;
calculating the pressure difference between the target actuator pressure and the current actuator pressure on multiple occasions as a function of time;
generating an adjustment factor based at least in part upon (i) the calculated pressure difference between the target actuator pressure and the current actuator pressure, (ii) the rate of change in the pressure difference between the target actuator pressure and the current actuator pressure as a function of time, and (iii) the sum of the pressure difference between the target actuator pressure and the current actuator pressure over time;
applying the adjustment factor to the pressure command signal to obtain an adjusted pressure command signal; and
applying the adjusted pressure command signal to the control valve to correct for an offset error between the target actuator pressure and the current actuator pressure.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein applying the adjusted pressure command signal to the control valve does not amplify the pressure oscillations generated in the fluid between the control valve and the hydraulic actuator.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the pressure difference between the target actuator pressure and the current actuator pressure is calculated as a function of time to produce a raw error signal consisting of a series of raw error values, a mean error value is calculated from the series of raw error values, and the adjustment factor is generated from the mean error value.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the adjustment factor is generated by applying a control algorithm to the calculated mean error value, and wherein the control algorithm includes at least one of a proportional, integral, or derivative term.

5. The method of claim 3 comprising:
storing the series of raw error values in a memory as a function of time, and wherein the mean error value is calculated by:
sequentially evaluating the raw error values in the series of raw error values to identify a peak error value and an adjacent valley error value; and
calculating the mean error value by summing the peak error value and the adjacent valley error value to obtain an error value sum and then dividing the error value sum by two.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the peak error value and the adjacent valley error value are identified by:
calculating a first derivative with respect to time of the raw error values to produce a series of differentiated error values;
comparing each differentiated error value to a previous differentiated error value in the same series to identify:
(i) a first pair of adjacent first and second differentiated error values of opposite sign, wherein the first differentiated error value of the first pair is a positive value, and
(ii) a second pair of adjacent third and fourth differentiated error values of opposite sign, wherein the third differentiated error value of the second pair is a negative value;

identifying a first raw error value in the series of raw error values that corresponds to the first differentiated error value and storing the first raw error value as the peak error value; and
identifying a second raw error value in the series of raw error values that corresponds to the third differentiated error value and storing the second raw error value as the valley error value.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the series of raw error values follows a wave pattern that includes a succession of peaks and valleys, and wherein the adjustment factor is generated without the series of raw error values having completed a full cycle of the wave pattern.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the electric pressure command signal is generated in response to input signals received by an electronic control unit of a vehicle.

9. An electrohydraulic actuation system comprising:
a hydraulic subsystem including an electrohydraulic control valve disposed in fluid communication between a source of pressured fluid and a hydraulic actuator, the control valve controlling a flow and pressure of fluid between the source of pressured fluid and the hydraulic actuator;
a pressure sensor that senses a current actuator pressure representative of the pressure of the fluid between the control valve and the hydraulic actuator;
a target pressure module that determines a target actuator pressure to output from the control valve;
an error module that receives a current actuator pressure signal from the pressure sensor representative of the sensed current actuator pressure as a function of time and a target actuator pressure signal from the target pressure module representative of the target actuator pressure determined by the target pressure module, wherein the error module calculates an adjustment factor based at least in part upon (i) a calculated pressure difference between the target actuator pressure and the current actuator pressure, (ii) a calculated rate of change in the pressure difference between the target actuator pressure and the current actuator pressure as a function of time, and (iii) a sum of the pressure difference between the target actuator pressure and the current actuator pressure over time; and
an adjustment module that applies the adjustment factor to the target actuator pressure to generate an adjusted target actuator pressure to output from the control valve, wherein the adjusted target actuator pressure corrects for offset errors between the target actuator pressure and the current actuator pressure, without amplifying pressure oscillations generated in the fluid between the electrohydraulic control valve and the hydraulic actuator.

10. The system of claim 9 comprising: a valve control module that controls opening of the control valve based upon the adjusted target actuator pressure.

11. The system of claim 10 comprising: a solenoid in fluid communication with the control valve, and wherein the valve control module controls opening of the control valve by generating an electric pressure command signal and applying the electric pressure command signal to the solenoid.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the electric pressure command signal moves the control valve toward an open position, and wherein a biasing member biases the control valve toward a closed position.

13. The system of claim 9 wherein the source of pressured fluid is a pump in fluid communication with a sump, and wherein the pump is mechanically driven by an internal combustion engine or an electric motor.

14. The system of claim 9 wherein the hydraulic actuator comprises a component of an automated manual transmission, dual clutch transmission, continuously variable transmission, automatic transmission, manual transmission, or torque converter.

15. The system of claim 9 wherein the error module:
calculates the pressure difference between the current actuator pressure and the target actuator pressur

Assignees

• Gm Global Tech Operations Llc

Inventors

• Moorman Steven P
• Weingartz Christopher J

Classifications

• F15B11/10 Primary

  in which the servomotor position is a function of the pressure {also pressure regulators as operating means for such systems, the device itself may be a position indicating system} · CPC title

• F15B11/003

  Systems with load-holding valves · CPC title

• F15B2211/31576

  having a single pressure source and a single output member · CPC title

• F15B2211/20515

  Electric motor · CPC title

• F15B2211/6653

  Pressure control · CPC title