Control apparatus for four-wheel drive vehicle
AssigneeHonda Motor Co., Ltd.
InventorsMasatoshi Noguchi, Hirohiko Totsuka, Yuji Okamura
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In apparatus for controlling operation of a four-wheel drive vehicle having a prime mover (engine), drive wheels driven by the prime mover and free wheels, a VC (viscous coupling; torque transferring device) installed between the drive wheels and free wheels to transfer torque generated in response to a difference between inputted and outputted rotation thereof, output of the prime mover is decreased based on a desired rotational speed of the drive wheels driven by the prime mover when calculated difference between inputted and outputted rotation of the VC is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, thereby enabling to control the driving force effectively so as to achieve required vehicle driving performance.
Claims8
An apparatus for controlling operation of a four-wheel drive vehicle having a prime mover, drive wheels driven by the prime mover and free wheels, a torque transferring device installed between the drive wheels and free wheels to transfer torque generated in response to a difference between inputted and outputted rotation thereof, comprising:
- a rotation difference detecting unit that detects the difference between inputted and outputted rotation of the torque transferring device;
- a desired drive wheel speed calculating unit that calculates a desired rotational speed of the drive wheels driven by the prime mover by adding a value determined from a torque transferring characteristic of the torque transferring device to the outputted rotation of the torque transferring device;
- and
- a prime mover output decreasing unit that decreases output of the prime mover based on the desired rotational speed of the drive wheels when the calculated difference between inputted and outputted rotation of the torque transferring device is equal to or greater than a predetermined value.
A method of controlling operation of a four-wheel drive vehicle having a prime mover, drive wheels driven by the prime mover and free wheels, a torque transferring device installed between the drive wheels and free wheels to transfer torque generated in response to a difference between inputted and outputted rotation thereof, comprising the steps of:
- detecting, by a rotation difference detecting unit, the difference between inputted and outputted rotation of the torque transferring device;
- calculating by a desired drive wheel speed calculating unit, a desired rotational speed of the drive wheels driven by the prime mover, wherein the desired rotational speed is calculated by adding a value determined from a torque transferring characteristic of the torque transferring device to the outputted rotation of the torque transferring device;
- and
- decreasing, by a prime mover output decreasing unit, output of the prime mover based on the desired rotational speed of the drive wheels when the calculated difference between inputted and outputted rotation of the torque transferring device is equal to or greater than a predetermined value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.