Throttle valve control apparatus

A throttle valve control apparatus comprising:

• a throttle valve for adjusting the amount of air drawn into an engine;
• an actuator for operating said throttle valve;
• throttle position detecting means for detecting a position of said throttle valve;
• commanding means for applying a command signal to said actuator to operate said throttle valve through said actuator;
• monitor means for monitoring a position changing response of said throttle valve to said command signal from said commanding means in accordance with the throttle valve position detected by said throttle position detecting means;
• and
• fault predicting means responsive to the response of said throttle valve monitored by said monitor means to predict a fault in the operation of said throttle valve.

A throttle valve control apparatus comprising:

• a throttle valve for adjusting the amount of air drawn into an engine mounted on a vehicle;
• an actuator for operating said throttle valve;
• throttle position detecting means for detecting an actual position of said throttle valve;
• operating condition detecting mean for detecting operating conditions of said vehicle and said engine;
• throttle position setting means responsive to an operating condition detected by said operating condition detecting means to set a desired throttle position for said throttle valve;
• driving signal output means for applying to said actuator a driving signal corresponding to said desired throttle position of said throttle valve set by said throttle position setting means;
• deviation computing means for determining a deviation between the actual throttle position of said throttle valve detected by said throttle position detecting means and the desired throttle position of said throttle valve set by said throttle position setting means;
• integrated value computing means for determining an integrated value of said deviation determined by said deviation computing means over a given interval of time;
• and
• decision means for determining the occurrence of a fault when said integrated value determined by said integrated value computing means is greater than a predetermined decision value.

A throttle valve control apparatus comprising:

• a throttle valve for adjusting an amount of air drawn into an engine;
• a stepping motor coupled to said throttle valve for adjusting a position of said throttle valve;
• a power source for supplying a current to said stepping motor;
• a switch arranged between said stepping motor and said power source to selectively switch on and off said current to said stepping motor;
• a return spring for biasing said throttle valve into a fully closed direction;
• accelerator position detecting means for detecting a position of an accelerator pedal actuated by a driver;
• fully closed position detecting means for detecting that said throttle valve is in said fully closed position;
• and
• computer means, responsive to said accelerator position detected by said accelerator position detecting means, for controlling said stepping motor, said computing means including:
• (a) setting means for setting a desired position of said throttle valve responsive to the accelerator position detected by said accelerator position detecting means;
• (b) signal output means for applying a command signal to said stepping motor corresponding to the desired throttle position set by said setting means;
• (c) step-out determining means for determining that said stepping motor is in a step-out condition when said stepping motor is controlled by the output of said signal output means such that said throttle valve is controlled to be in a position other than the fully closed position, and said fully closed position detecting means detects that said throttle valve is in said fully closed position;
• and
• (d) cut-off command means for applying to said switch a command signal for cutting off the flow of current to said stepping motor when said step-out determining means determines that said stepping motor is in said step-out condition.

A throttle valve control apparatus comprising:

• a throttle valve for adjusting the amount of air drawn into an engine mounted on a vehicle;
• an actuator for operating said throttle valve;
• accelerator position detecting means for detecting a position of an accelerator pedal depressed by a driver;
• operating condition detecting means for directly detecting that said accelerator pedal is being depressed;
• first setting means responsive to the accelerator position detected by said accelerator position detecting means to set a desired position of said throttle valve;
• driving signal output means for applying to said actuator a driving signal corresponding to the desired throttle position set by said first setting means;
• fault detecting means for comparing the accelerator position detected by said accelerator position detecting means and an output from said operating condition detecting means to detect a fault in said accelerator position detecting means;
• and
• second setting means to set another desired throttle position in accordance with an output from said operating condition detecting means when a fault is detected by said fault detecting means.