Apparatus for controlling clutches

A clutch control apparatus for controlling the operation for engaging a friction type clutch provided between an internal combustion engine and a transmission, said apparatus comprising:

• an actuating means for operating said clutch;
• a data generating means responsive to an engaging command signal for generating an electric signal representing time course changes in a target clutch stroke pattern;
• a stroke detecting means for detecting an actual clutch stroke of said clutch;
• and
• a control means responsive to said data generating means and said stroke detecting means for controlling said actuating means to make the difference between a target clutch stroke and the actual clutch stroke substantially zero, whereby the actual clutch stroke is changed in accordance with said pattern.

A clutch control apparatus for controlling the operation for engaging a friction type clutch coupled with an internal combustion engine in response to an engaging command signal, said apparatus comprising:

• an actuating means for operating said clutch;
• a data generating means responsive to the engaging command signal for generating an electric signal representing time course changes in a target clutch stroke pattern;
• an acceleration detecting means for detecting the amount of operation of an acceleration member associated with said internal combustion engine;
• a correcting means responsive to said acceleration detecting means for correcting the electric signal in accordance with the amount of operation of said acceleration member to obtain a corrected target clutch stroke;
• a stroke detecting means for detecting an actual clutch stroke of said clutch;
• and
• a control means responsive to said correcting means and said stroke detecting means for controlling said actuating means to make the difference between the corrected target clutch stroke and the actual clutch stroke substantially zero.

A method of controlling the operation for engaging a friction type clutch coupled with an internal combustion engine in response to an engaging command signal, said method comprising steps of:

• detecting the amount of operation of an acceleration member associated with said internal combustion engine;
• reading out from a memory means a series of digital data representative of discrete target clutch strokes in a stroke region for effecting a control operation for engaging said clutch in response to the engaging command signal at a time interval determined in accordance with the amount of operation of the acceleration member detected in said detecting step;
• sensing an actual clutch stroke of said clutch;
• and
• controlling the actual clutch stroke of said clutch to substantially equal the target clutch stroke represented by the digital data at the time interval determined in response to the engaging command signal and the actual clutch stroke obtained in the sensing step.