Controller of fan coupling device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11566558-B2
Application number	US-202117214212-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 26, 2021
Priority date	Apr 28, 2020
Publication date	Jan 31, 2023
Grant date	Jan 31, 2023

Abstract

A controller of a fan coupling device includes: an acquisition unit that acquires an acceleration parameter and a deviation parameter; a control unit that controls a regulation mechanism; a prediction unit that predicts that hunting occurs in the rotation speed of the fan, when an operating point of the fan expressed with the deviation parameter and the acceleration parameter belongs to a predicted region; and a restraining unit that executes, when the hunting is predicted to occur, a hunting restraining process of executing at least one of lowering an integral gain of a feedback control to be lower than when the hunting is not predicted to occur and increasing a derivative gain of the feedback control to be higher than when the hunting is not predicted to occur.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A controller of a fan coupling device, the fan coupling device including a drive shaft that is rotationally driven, a rotor coupled to the drive shaft, a housing configured to house the rotor, the housing being supported so as to be rotatable relative to the rotor, a fan fixed to the housing, a labyrinth chamber formed between the housing and the rotor in the housing and configured to transmit rotational motive power of the rotor to the housing through working fluid, and a regulation mechanism configured to regulate an amount of the working fluid in the labyrinth chamber, the controller comprising:
an acquisition unit configured to acquire an acceleration parameter corresponding to an actual rotation acceleration of the fan and a deviation parameter corresponding to a deviation that is a value obtained by subtracting a target rotation speed of the fan from an actual rotation speed of the fan;
a control unit configured to control the regulation mechanism by feedback control based on the deviation parameter;
a prediction unit configured to predict that hunting occurs in the rotation speed of the fan, when an operating point of the fan expressed with the deviation parameter and the acceleration parameter belongs to a predicted region, out of the predicted region and a non-predicted region other than the predicted region defined by a coordinate system having the deviation parameter as a horizontal axis and the acceleration parameter as a vertical axis; and
a restraining unit configured to execute, when the hunting is predicted to occur, a hunting restraining process of executing at least one of lowering an integral gain of the feedback control to be lower than when the hunting is not predicted to occur and increasing a derivative gain of the feedback control to be higher than when the hunting is not predicted to occur.

2. The controller according to claim 1 , wherein:
the predicted region is at least in some part of a first quadrant and some part of a third quadrant of the coordinate system; and
the non-predicted region is at least in some part of a second quadrant and some part of a fourth quadrant of the coordinate system.

3. The controller according to claim 1 , wherein in the first quadrant of the coordinate system, a first boundary line indicating a boundary between the predicted region and the non-predicted region is apart from the horizontal axis and extends along the horizontal axis, the non-predicted region is on a side of the fourth quadrant of the coordinate system from the first boundary line, and the predicted region is on an opposite side of the fourth quadrant from the first boundary line.

4. The controller according to claim 1 , wherein a second boundary line indicating a boundary between the predicted region and the non-predicted region in the second quadrant of the coordinate system is apart from the horizontal axis such that the deviation parameter approaches zero as the acceleration parameter approaches zero, the predicted region is on a side of the first quadrant of the coordinate system from the second boundary line, and the non-predicted region is on a side of the third quadrant of the coordinate system.

5. The controller according to claim 1 , wherein
in the third quadrant of the coordinate system, a third boundary line indicating a boundary between the predicted region and the non-predicted region is apart from the horizontal axis and extends along the horizontal axis, the non-predicted region is on a side of the second quadrant of the coordinate system from the third boundary line, and the predicted region is on an opposite side of the second quadrant of the coordinate system from the third boundary line.

6. The controller according to claim 1 , wherein a fourth boundary line indicating a boundary between the predicted region and the non-predicted region in the fourth quadrant of the coordinate system is apart from the horizontal axis such that the deviation parameter approaches zero as the acceleration parameter approaches zero, the predicted region is on a side of the third quadrant of the coordinate system from the fourth boundary line, and the non-predicted region is on a side of the first quadrant.

7. The controller according to claim 1 , wherein the non-predicted region includes a prescribed range around an origin of the coordinate system in the fourth quadrant of the coordinate system.

8. The controller according to claim 1 , wherein the non-predicted region includes a prescribed range around the origin of the coordinate system in the second quadrant of the coordinate system.

9. The controller according to claim 1 , wherein the non-predicted region includes a prescribed range around the origin of the coordinate system.

10. The controller according to claim 1 , wherein the predicted region is symmetric with respect to the origin in the coordinate system.

11. The controller according to claim 1 , wherein the predicted region is asymmetric with respect to the origin in the coordinate system.

12. The controller according to claim 1 , wherein the restraining unit executes, while the operating point of the fan belongs to the predicted region, at least one of lowering the integral gain to be lower than while the operating point of the fan belongs to the non-predicted region and increasing the derivative gain to be higher than while the operating point of the fan belongs to the non-predicted region as the hunting restraining process, and stops the hunting restraining process while the operating point of the fan is out of the predicted region and belongs to the non-predicted region.

13. The controller according to claim 1 , wherein after the hunting is predicted to occur, the restraining unit executes, as the hunting restraining process, at least one of lowering the integral gain to be lower than before the hunting is predicted to occur and increasing the derivative gain to be higher than before the hunting is predicted to occur.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Yamaguchi Masaaki
• Takaoka Toshio
• Takagi Noboru
• Akiyama Shoichi

Classifications

• F01P7/042 Primary

  using fluid couplings (couplings or clutches of this type per se F16D35/00) · CPC title

• F16D35/024 Primary

  the valve being actuated electrically, e.g. by an electromagnet (F16D35/026 takes precedence) · CPC title

• F01P2025/64

  Number of revolutions · CPC title

• F16D48/06

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

• F16D2500/10468

  Fluid adhesion clutch · CPC title