Coupling and control assembly including controllable coupling assembly having speed sensor and methods of controlling the controllable coupling assembly using information from the speed sensor for park/hill-hold operations

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11215245-B2
Application number	US-201916701633-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 3, 2019
Priority date	Dec 3, 2019
Publication date	Jan 4, 2022
Grant date	Jan 4, 2022

Abstract

A coupling assembly has a second coupling member mounted for rotation and a first coupling member having a speed sensor to sense a speed of rotation of the second coupling member. The coupling assembly further has a forward and a reverse locking element movable between (i) a coupling position in which the locking elements engage the second coupling member to thereby prevent rotation of the second coupling member in opposite first and second directions and (ii) a non-coupling position. Upon the speed of rotation of the second coupling member decreasing to be lower than a hill-hold speed threshold, the reverse locking element is moved to the coupling position while the forward locking element is maintained in the non-coupling position. Irrespective of a Park command, the locking elements are maintained in the non-coupling position while the speed of rotation of the second coupling member is greater than a park speed threshold.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A coupling and control assembly comprising:
a controllable coupling assembly including a first coupling member and a second coupling member supported for rotation relative to the first coupling member about an axis, the first coupling member having a first coupling face oriented to face radially with respect to the axis and having a speed sensor, the second coupling member having a second coupling face oriented to face radially with respect to the axis and having locking formations, the coupling members being positioned relative to each other so that the speed sensor is in a close-spaced opposition to the locking formations;
a first electromechanical component configured to move a first locking element between (i) a coupling position in which the first locking element engages one of the locking formations to thereby prevent rotation of the second coupling member in a first direction about the axis and (ii) a non-coupling position in which the first locking element is disengaged from the locking formations;
a second electromechanical component configured to move a second locking element between (i) a coupling position in which the second locking element engages one of the locking formations to thereby prevent rotation of the second coupling member in a second direction opposite to the first direction about the axis and (ii) a non-coupling position in which the second locking element is disengaged from the locking formations;
wherein the speed sensor is configured to sense the locking formations rotate past the sensor as the second coupling member rotates relative to the first coupling member about the axis to generate a speed signal indicative of a speed of rotation of the second coupling member; and
a controller operative to receive the speed signal from the speed sensor and configured to control one of the electromechanical components to move the locking element corresponding to the one of the electromechanical components from the non-coupling position to the coupling position and control the other one of the electromechanical components to maintain the locking element corresponding to the other one of the electromechanical components in the non-coupling position upon the speed of rotation of the second coupling member decreasing to be lower than a hill-hold speed threshold.

2. The coupling and control assembly of claim 1 wherein:
the controller is further configured to control the one of the electromechanical components to move the locking element corresponding to the one of the electromechanical components from the coupling position back to the non-coupling position upon the speed of rotation of the second coupling member subsequently increasing to be greater than the hill-hold speed threshold.

3. The coupling and control assembly of claim 1 wherein:
the controller is further configured to control the first electromechanical component to move the first locking element from the non-coupling position to the coupling position and control the second electromechanical component to maintain the second locking element in the non-coupling position upon the speed of rotation of the second coupling member in the second direction decreasing to be lower than the hill-hold speed threshold to thereby prevent inadvertent rotation of the second coupling member in the first direction.

4. The coupling and control assembly of claim 3 wherein:
the controller is further configured to control the first electromechanical component to move the first locking element from the coupling position back to the non-coupling position upon the speed of rotation of the second coupling member in the second direction subsequently increasing to be greater than the hill-hold speed threshold.

5. The coupling and control assembly of claim 1 wherein:
the controller is further configured to control the second electromechanical component to move the second locking element from the non-coupling position to the coupling position and control the first electromechanical component to maintain the first locking element in the non-coupling position upon the speed of rotation of the first coupling member in the first direction decreasing to be lower than the hill-hold speed threshold to thereby prevent inadvertent rotation of the first coupling member in the second direction.

6. The coupling and control assembly of claim 5 wherein:
the controller is further configured to control the second electromechanical component to move the second locking element from the coupling position back to the non-coupling position upon the speed of rotation of the first coupling member in the first direction subsequently increasing to be greater than the hill-hold speed threshold.

7. The coupling and control assembly of claim 1 wherein:
the controller is further configured to, in response receiving a Park command, control the electromechanical components to move the locking elements from the non-coupling position to the coupling position while the speed of rotation of the second coupling member is less than a park speed threshold; and
the controller is further configured to, irrespective of receiving the Park command, control the electromechanical components to maintain the locking elements in the non-coupling position while the speed of rotation of the second coupling member is greater than the park speed threshold.

8. The coupling and control assembly of claim 7 wherein:
the controller includes a main controller, a first solenoid controller associated with the first electromechanical component, and a second solenoid controller associated with the second electromechanical component;
wherein the main controller is configured to, in response to receiving the Park command, provide a control signal to the solenoid controllers commanding the solenoid controllers to move the locking elements from the non-coupling position to the coupling position;
the solenoid controllers are configured to, in response to the control signal, control the electromechanical components to move the locking elements from the non-coupling position to the coupling position while the speed of rotation of the second coupling member is less than the park speed threshold; and
the solenoid controllers are further configured to, in response to the control signal, ignore the control signal and maintain the locking elements in the non-coupling position while the speed of rotation of the second coupling member is greater than the park speed threshold.

9. The coupling and control assembly of claim 7 wherein:
the first coupling member further having a position sensor configured to generate a position signal indicative of whether the second locking element is in the coupling or non-coupling position; and
the controller is operative to receive the position signal and is further configured to, in response to receiving a Reverse command after the locking elements have been moved to the coupling position in response to the Park command, control the second electromechanical component to move the second locking element to the non-coupling position, control the first electromechanical component to maintain the first locking element in the coupling position, diagnose from the position signal that the second electromechanical component is stuck in the coupling position, command a torque increase from an electric motor based upon a condition to remove torque from the second locking element so that the second locking element is allowed to move to the non-coupling position, and control the first electromechanical component to move the first locking element to the non-coupling position after the second locking element is allowed to move to the non-coupling position as confirmed from the position signal.

Assignees

• Means Ind Inc

Inventors

• Kimes John W
• Woodley Philip B

Classifications

• F16D41/04 Primary

  combined with a clutch for locking the driving and driven members (F16D41/02, F16D41/24 take precedence) · CPC title

• F16D27/09

  and with interengaging jaws or gear-teeth · CPC title

• F16D48/06 Primary

  Control by electric or electronic means, e.g. of fluid pressure · CPC title

• F16D2300/18

  Sensors; Details or arrangements thereof · CPC title

• B60W10/02

  including control of driveline clutches · CPC title