Throttle control apparatus of internal combustion engine and throttle control method

A throttle control apparatus of an internal combustion engine, comprising a throttle controller that:

• detects running conditions of a driven mechanism that is driven by the engine;
• calculates a steady-state required torque based on the detected running conditions of the driven mechanism, the steady-state required torque being required to bring the driven mechanism into a steady-state running mode;
• determines whether an operation performed on the engine causes the driven mechanism to proceed to the steady-state running mode;
• controls a throttle valve of the engine so that an output torque of the engine matches the calculated steady-state required torque when it is determined that the operation performed on the engine causes the driven mechanism to proceed to the steady-state running mode;
• and
• determines that the engine is operated so as to release the driven mechanism from the steady-state running mode when a difference between the demanded output torque calculated based on the operation performed on the engine and the calculated steady-state required torque is larger than said first predetermined value, and switches over to throttle control under which the throttle opening amount is controlled to a target throttle opening amount that depends upon an accelerator operated amount.

A throttle control method of an internal combustion engine, comprising:

• detecting running conditions of a driven mechanism that is driven by the engine;
• calculating a steady-state required torque based on the detected running conditions of the driven mechanism, the steady-state required torque being required to bring the driven mechanism into a steady-state running mode;
• calculating a demanded output torque based on an operation performed on the engine;
• determining that the operation performed on the engine causes the driven mechanism to proceed to a steady-state running mode under a first condition in which a difference between the calculated demanded output torque and the calculated steady-state required torque is equal to or smaller than a first predetermined value;
• and
• controlling a throttle valve so that an output torque of the engine matches the calculated steady-state required torque when it is determined that the operation performed on the engine causes the driven mechanism to proceed to the steady-state running mode.