Method and apparatus for diagnosing a malfunction of a clutch actuator
AssigneeLuK Lamellen und Kupplungsbau Beteiligungs KG
InventorsJürgen Eich, Klaus Küpper, Alexander Schweizer, Ralf Enderlin, Thomas Jäger, Martin Vornehm
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Abstract
In a method and apparatus for diagnosing a malfunction in a clutch actuator of a motor vehicle, the actual position of the clutch actuator is measured by a position sensor. Simultaneously, an estimated position of the clutch actuator is calculated by an emulation unit that emulates the function of the clutch actuator. Malfunctions of the clutch-actuator are diagnosed by comparing the actual, measured position to the estimated position.
Claims10
A method of diagnosing a malfunction of a clutch actuator that actuates the engagement and disengagement of a clutch of a motor vehicle with a transmission and a control unit, comprising the steps of:
- a) feeding an input command signal representing a desired amount of clutch engagement from the control unit to the clutch actuator and simultaneously feeding the input command signal to an emulation model of the clutch-actuator;
- measuring a clutch-actuator position and generating an actual position signal corresponding to the measured clutch-actuator position;
- b) measuring a clutch-actuator position and generating an actual position signal corresponding to the measured clutch-actuator position;
- c) calculating in the emulation model a theoretically estimated clutch-actuator position based on the input command signal, and generating an estimated position signal corresponding to the theoretically estimated clutch-actuator position;
- d) feeding the actual position signal and the estimated position signal to a first comparator unit which, in turn, generates a first comparison signal representing the result of a comparison of said actual and estimated position signals;
- e) feeding the first comparison signal to a first arithmetic unit which evaluates the first comparison signal and, based on said evaluation, generates a first status signal that is characteristic of the clutch-actuator's ability to function properly.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.