Throttle control system, throttle control method, and memory medium
AssigneeToyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsFukiko Horibe, Hiroshi Fujitani
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A driving process causes a target angular position of a specific gear in a throttle device to reach an initial position by continuing to increase or decrease the target angular position at a constant speed. A determination process determines that wear has occurred on a gear mechanism in the throttle device based on a parameter related to a change speed of an angular position in a specific range during execution of the driving process. The specific range is a range from a specific angular position to the initial position. The specific angular position is the angular position that is separated from the initial position by a predetermined constant angle.
Claims10
A throttle control system, comprising:
- a throttle device;
- and
- control circuitry that controls the throttle device, wherein
- the throttle device includes:
- an electric motor having a driving shaft;
- a gear mechanism having gears, the gear mechanism being driven by rotation of the driving shaft;
- a driven shaft that is rotated by the gear mechanism;
- a throttle valve that is selectively opened and closed by rotation of the driven shaft;
- a rotation sensor that obtains an angular position of a specific gear, the specific gear being one of the gears;
- and
- a spring mechanism that biases the specific gear such that the angular position becomes a predetermined initial position when the specific gear does not receive torque from the electric motor or the driven shaft, and
- the control circuitry is configured to execute:
- a driving process that causes a target angular position of the specific gear to reach the initial position by continuing to increase or decrease the target angular position at a constant speed;
- and
- a determination process that determines that wear has occurred on the gear mechanism based on a parameter related to a change speed of the angular position in a specific range during execution of the driving process, the specific range being a range from a specific angular position to the initial position, and the specific angular position being the angular position that is separated from the initial position by a predetermined constant angle.
A throttle control method for controlling a throttle device by control circuitry, the throttle control method comprising:
- executing, by the control circuitry, a driving process that causes a target angular position of a specific gear to reach a predetermined initial position by continuing to increase or decrease the target angular position at a constant speed, wherein
- the throttle device includes:
- an electric motor having a driving shaft;
- a gear mechanism having gears, the gear mechanism being driven by rotation of the driving shaft;
- a driven shaft that is rotated by the gear mechanism;
- a throttle valve that is selectively opened and closed by rotation of the driven shaft;
- a rotation sensor that obtains an angular position of the specific gear, the specific gear being one of the gears;
- and
- a spring mechanism that biases the specific gear such that the angular position becomes the initial position when the specific gear does not receive torque from the electric motor or the driven shaft;
- and
- executing, by the control circuitry, a determination process that determines that wear has occurred on the gear mechanism based on a parameter related to a change speed of the angular position in a specific range during execution of the driving process, the specific range being a range from a specific angular position to the initial position, and the specific angular position being the angular position that is separated from the initial position by a predetermined constant angle.
A non-transitory computer-readable memory medium that stores a program for causing a processor to execute a throttle control process that controls a throttle device, the throttle control process comprising:
- executing, by the control circuitry, a driving process that causes a target angular position of a specific gear to reach a predetermined initial position by continuing to increase or decrease the target angular position at a constant speed, wherein
- the throttle device includes:
- an electric motor having a driving shaft;
- a gear mechanism having gears, the gear mechanism being driven by rotation of the driving shaft;
- a driven shaft that is rotated by the gear mechanism;
- a throttle valve that is selectively opened and closed by rotation of the driven shaft;
- a rotation sensor that obtains an angular position of the specific gear, the specific gear being one of the gears;
- and
- a spring mechanism that biases the specific gear such that the angular position becomes the initial position when the specific gear does not receive torque from the electric motor or the driven shaft;
- and
- executing, by the control circuitry, a determination process that determines that wear has occurred on the gear mechanism based on a parameter related to a change speed of the angular position in a specific range during execution of the driving process, the specific range being a range from a specific angular position to the initial position, and the specific angular position being the angular position that is separated from the initial position by a predetermined constant angle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.