Four-wheel drive vehicle and control device for four-wheel drive vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9770982-B2
Application number	US-201615075911-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 21, 2016
Priority date	Mar 24, 2015
Publication date	Sep 26, 2017
Grant date	Sep 26, 2017

Abstract

Provided is a control device for a four-wheel drive which can maintain driving stability while restraining noise and vibration. A control device includes: a second control device that, when at least one of front wheel has slipped, engages a dog clutch after rotating a propeller shaft by a rotational force transmitted via first and second friction clutches; and a third control device that, if a predetermined condition is satisfied when the front wheels are not slipping, engages the dog clutch after rotating the propeller shaft by the rotational force transmitted via the first and second friction clutches. The time required to synchronize the dog clutch by the third control device is longer than that required to synchronize the dog clutch by the second control device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A control device that is mounted on a four-wheel drive vehicle, in which
the four-wheel drive vehicle in configured to be switched between a two-wheel drive mode and a four-wheel drive mode and includes:
a pair of right and left main drive wheels to which a driving force of a driving source is transmitted in the two-wheel drive mode and the four-wheel drive mode,
a pair of right and left auxiliary drive wheels to which the driving force of the driving source is transmitted in the four-wheel drive mode,
a drive shaft that transmits the driving force to the auxiliary drive wheels,
a first clutch configured to cut off transmission of the driving force from the driving source to the drive shaft,
a second clutch configured to cut off transmission of the driving force from the drive shaft to the auxiliary drive wheels, and

a first actuator that actuates the first clutch,
a second actuator that actuates the second clutch, the second actuator including an electric motor,
the control device controls the first and second actuators, and
the first clutch is a dog clutch that transmits a rotational force when a projection engages with a recess, and the second clutch is a friction clutch that transmits the rotational force when friction members are caused to frictionally contact each other by a pressing force received from the second actuator, the control device comprising:
a first control device that, when the four-wheel drive vehicle is in the two-wheel drive mode in which the driving force is transmitted only to the pair of right and left main drive wheels, cuts off transmission of the rotational force via the dog clutch and the friction clutch to stop rotation of the drive shaft;
a second control device that, when at least one of the pair of right and left main drive wheels slips in the two-wheel drive mode, causes the projection and the recess of the dog clutch to engage with each other after rotating the drive shaft by the rotational force transmitted via the friction clutch to synchronize the dog clutch; and
a third control device that, if a predetermined condition is satisfied when the pair of right and left main drive wheels are not slipping in the two-wheel drive mode, causes the projection and the recess of the dog clutch to engage with each other after rotating the drive shaft by the rotational force transmitted via the friction clutch to synchronize the dog clutch, wherein
time required to synchronize the dog clutch by the third control device is set to be longer than that required to synchronize the dog clutch by the second control device, and
a first electric current that drives the electric motor when controlled by the second control device is greater than a second electric current that drives the electric motor when controlled by the third control device.

2. The control device according to claim 1 , wherein
the predetermined condition is that a driver has performed an operation to switch the four-wheel drive vehicle from the two-wheel drive mode to the four-wheel drive mode.

3. The control device according to claim 1 , wherein
the predetermined condition is that it has been determined that at least one of the pair of right and left main drive wheels is likely to slip.

4. The control device according to claim 1 , wherein
time required to eliminate a clearance between the friction members by the pressing force of the second actuator when controlled by the third control device is set to be longer than that required to eliminate the clearance between the friction members by the pressing force of the second actuator when controlled by the second control device.

5. The control device according to claim 2 , wherein
time required to eliminate a clearance between the friction members by the pressing force of the second actuator when controlled by the third control device is set to be longer than that required to eliminate the clearance between the friction members by the pressing force of the second actuator when controlled by the second control device.

6. The control device according to claim 3 , wherein
time required to eliminate a clearance between the friction members by the pressing force of the second actuator when controlled by the third control device is set to be longer than that required to eliminate the clearance between the friction members by the pressing force of the second actuator when controlled by the second control device.

7. The control device according to claim 4 , wherein
the second actuator includes a conversion mechanism that converts torque of the electric motor to the pressing force that causes the friction members to frictionally contact each other, and
at least one of a rotational speed and rotational torque of the electric motor at the time of eliminating the clearance between the friction members when controlled by the third control device is set to be lower than that of the electric motor at the time of eliminating the clearance between the friction members when controlled by the second control device.

8. The control device according to claim 1 , wherein
the rotational force that is transmitted via the friction clutch when controlled by the third control device is set to be smaller than the rotational force that is transmitted via the friction clutch when controlled by the second control device.

9. The control device according to claim 2 , wherein
the rotational force that is transmitted via the friction clutch when controlled by the third control device is set to be smaller than the rotational force that is transmitted via the friction clutch when controlled by the second control device.

10. The control device according to claim 3 , wherein
the rotational force that is transmitted via the friction clutch when controlled by the third control device is set to be smaller than the rotational force that is transmitted via the friction clutch when controlled by the second control device.

11. The control device according to claim 4 , wherein
the rotational force that is transmitted via the friction clutch when controlled by the third control device is set to be smaller than the rotational force that is transmitted via the friction clutch when controlled by the second control device.

12. The control device according to claim 7 , wherein
the rotational force that is transmitted via the friction clutch when controlled by the third control device is set to be smaller than the rotational force that is transmitted via the friction clutch when controlled by the second control device.

13. A four-wheel drive vehicle comprising the control device of claim 1 .

14. The control device according to claim 1 , wherein
the electric motor is a first electric motor that drives a hydraulic pump, and
the first actuator includes a second electric motor moves a rotary member that engages the dog clutch.

15. The control device according to claim 14 , wherein
the second actuator includes the hydraulic pump, a first control valve, and a second control valve, and
the first and second control valves switch a flow path of hydraulic oil that causes the friction members to frictionally contact.

Assignees

• Jtekt Corp

Inventors

• Nozu Tomohiro
• Mita Masaki
• Kodama Akira
• Niimi Shotaro

Classifications

• F16D2500/50607

  Facilitating engagement of a dog clutches, e.g. preventing of gear butting · CPC title

• F16D2500/10462

  Dog-type clutch · CPC title

• F16D2500/3067

  Speed of the engine · CPC title

• F16D2500/70406

  Pressure · CPC title

• B60Y2400/424

  Friction clutches · CPC title