Vehicular drive system and control method

A vehicular drive system comprising:

• an engine;
• an electric differential portion in which a differential state of i) a rotation speed of an input shaft of the electric differential portion that is connected to the engine and ii) a rotation speed of an output shaft of the electric differential portion is controlled by controlling an operating state of an electric motor that is connected to a rotating element of a differential mechanism in a manner such that power can be transmitted to the differential mechanism;
• a differential state switching device formed of an apply element for selectively switching the differential mechanism between a differential state in which differential operation is possible and a locked state in which differential operation is not possible;
• and
• a controller which controls the differential state switching device based on a switching line graph which is set in advance according to a running state of the vehicle and has i) a differential region in which the differential operation of the differential mechanism is possible, ii) a locked region in which the differential operation of the differential mechanism is not possible, iii) and a standby region which is between the differential region and the locked region and which places the differential state switching device in a state just before the differential state switching device starts to apply.

A vehicular drive system comprising:

• an engine;
• an electric differential portion in which a differential state of i) a rotation speed of an input shaft of the electric differential portion that is connected to the engine and ii) a rotation speed of an output shaft of the electric differential portion is controlled by controlling an operating state of an electric motor that is connected to a rotating element of a differential mechanism in a manner such that power can be transmitted to the differential mechanism;
• differential state switching means formed of an apply element for selectively switching the differential mechanism between a differential state in which differential operation is possible and a locked state in which differential operation is not possible;
• and
• controlling means for controlling the differential state switching means based on a switching line graph which is set in advance according to a running state of the vehicle and has i) a differential region in which the differential operation of the differential mechanism is possible, ii) a locked region in which the differential operation of the differential mechanism is not possible, iii) and a standby region which is between the differential region and the locked region and which places the differential state switching means in a state just before the differential state switching means starts to apply.