Hydraulic pressure supply apparatus for automatic transmission

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9255589-B2
Application number	US-201314108506-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 17, 2013
Priority date	Dec 21, 2012
Publication date	Feb 9, 2016
Grant date	Feb 9, 2016

Abstract

In a hydraulic pressure supply apparatus for an automatic transmission having hydraulic pressure supply destinations comprising at least three hydraulic actuators different from one another in required hydraulic pressure and a lubrication system, there are provided with at least three, actually five, hydraulic pumps, at least three, actually five, regulator valves capable of regulating hydraulic pressures delivered from the hydraulic pumps to values corresponding to the respective required pressures to be supplied to the hydraulic pressure supply destinations, and the selector valves installed between the hydraulic pumps and the regulator valves, wherein the operation of the selector valves is controlled to connect the hydraulic pumps to the regulator valves in accordance with the flow rates required by five hydraulic pressure supply destinations comprising the hydraulic actuators and the lubrication system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A hydraulic pressure supply apparatus for an automatic transmission having hydraulic pressure supply destinations comprising at least three hydraulic actuators different from one another in required hydraulic pressure and a lubrication system, comprising:
at least three hydraulic pumps connected to a prime mover and installed in oil passages connecting the hydraulic pressure supply destinations and a reservoir, to pump hydraulic oil from the reservoir and deliver it to the oil passages when driven by the prime mover;
at least three regulator valves installed in the oil passages to be capable of regulating the hydraulic pressures delivered from the hydraulic pumps to values corresponding to the respective required hydraulic pressures and delivering them to the hydraulic pressure supply destinations;
selector valves installed in the oil passages at locations between the hydraulic pumps and regulator valves; and
a controller that controls operation of the selector valves so as to connect the hydraulic pumps to the regulator valves in accordance with required flow rates of the hydraulic pressure supply destinations.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controller controls the operation of the selector valves so as to connect the hydraulic pumps to the regulator valves by determining the pump to be assigned to the destination requiring a highest flow rate, and then by determining the pumps to be assigned to the destinations consecutively requiring a next highest flow rate.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the hydraulic pumps comprise fixed-delivery pumps that are different from one another in delivery capacity.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the fix-delivery pumps are communicated with all of the regulator valves through the selector valves to establish mutually different capacities.

5. The apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the delivery capacities of the hydraulic pumps are represented by multiplying a predetermined unit by an integer composed of a prime number.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the hydraulic pumps comprise variable delivery pumps.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6 , further including:
sub regulator valves installed in the oil passages at locations downstream of the regulator valves to be capable of additionally regulating the hydraulic pressures to be delivered to the hydraulic pressure supply destinations.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a number of the hydraulic pumps is the same as the number of the regulator valves.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the hydraulic pumps comprise fixed-delivery pumps and variable delivery pumps.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the automatic transmission comprises a continuously variable transmission connected to the prime mover through a torque converter and connected to drive wheels through a forward-reverse switching mechanism, while the hydraulic pressure supply destinations are constituted by at least drive/driven pulleys of the continuously variable transmission, a forward clutch of the forward-reverse switching mechanism, a lock-up clutch of the torque converter, and the lubrication system.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the hydraulic pressure supply destinations are divided into at least three groups made up of a first group comprising the drive/driven pulleys of the continuously variable transmission, a second group comprising the forward clutch of the forward-reverse switching mechanism and the lock-up clutch of the torque converter, and a third group comprising the lubrication system.

Assignees

• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kanehara Shigeru
• Fujikawa Atsushi

Classifications

• F16H61/0031 Primary

  using auxiliary pumps, e.g. pump driven by a different power source than the engine · CPC title

• Y10T137/86027

  Electric · CPC title

• F15B15/20 Primary

  Other details {, e.g. assembly with regulating devices} · CPC title

• F16H61/00

  Control functions within {control units of} change-speed- or reversing-gearings for conveying rotary motion {; Control of exclusively fluid gearing, friction gearing, gearings with endless flexible members or other particular types of gearing} · CPC title

• F16H61/0025

  Supply of control fluid; Pumps therefor · CPC title