Patent Application
20180051757
The invention relates to a method for operating a dual-clutch transmission having a dual-clutch system comprising two clutches, of the type defined in more detail in the preamble of patent claim 1.
In order to meet the increasing demands with regard to driving comfort and with regard to the performance demanded of a vehicle by sporty drivers as desired through the control of the transmission, exact knowledge of the behavior of the system to be controlled is necessary. This is important in particular for the realization of functions by means of which demanded operating state changes of automatic transmissions, such as dual-clutch transmissions, are to be performed within short operating times. During the execution of such so-called timing-sensitive functions, an accuracy of the timing of between 10 and 20 milliseconds must be ensured, for which reason deviations between a target system behavior and an actual system behavior must already be correspondingly taken into consideration through pilot control of the system in order to be able to achieve a required reproducibility of the system behavior for a driver of a vehicle equipped with an automatic transmission of said type.
In general, hydraulic controllers of automatic transmissions have, out of their working principle, a so-called dead time in the response behavior. As a result the target specifications in the region of a hydraulic system are implemented in the real system only after the expiry of defined operating times. The dead time of the response behavior of a hydraulic system of an automatic transmission varies to a not inconsiderable extent as a function of the operating temperature of the hydraulic fluid of the hydraulic system and also to a certain extent as a function of tolerances in the region of pilot stages and geometrical and mechanical tolerances such as valve geometries, spring characteristic values and the like, and is thus specific to the individual parts. If the scatter owing to manufacturing tolerances is too great, this limits in particular the performance that can be reproducibly attained.
In the case of automatic transmissions known from practice, it is sought, for example, to reproduce the dead time behavior of clutch actuation paths with respect to the temperature in the region of electronic transmission controllers by means of models, and to correspondingly readjust the scattering component with the aid of an observer function if necessary.
This purely reactive approach by means of the observer function is however disadvantageously suitable for being able to take into consideration deviations of the system behavior resulting from a corresponding adaptation of the actuation during operation of a hydraulic system only during the execution of robust functions, because the time required for this is available during the execution of such so-called robust functions. To be able to ensure acceptable reproducibility even during the execution of so-called performance-emphasized functions, the exact knowledge of the actuation timing of the individual transmission components is necessary already in advance. Then, the respective sequences or target specifications of the individual components can be exactly coordinated with one another, and both demanded driving comfort and corresponding performance can be achieved.
Furthermore, the response behavior or a dead time of a hydraulic system of an automatic transmission also varies in a manner dependent on the extent to which air accumulations are present in the hydraulic actuation paths. Such air accumulations exist in the region of clutch actuation paths in particular after relatively long interruptions in operation, during which the hydraulic supply to hydraulic systems of automatic transmissions is substantially equal to zero. During the operation of automatic transmissions, their hydraulic systems are normally deaerated as required toward an oil sump by means of constant leakage volume flows.
At present, the response behavior of the actuation path of clutches of automatic transmissions is taken into consideration by means of corresponding adaptive algorithms in the electronic transmission controller. Further parameters, such as characteristic curve deviations, scatter relating to the torque transfer capacity of clutches and stiffness transitions of the clutches are determined adaptively during operation. Residual inaccuracies that arise in a manner dependent on the operating state are compensated during the operation of an automatic transmission by means of corresponding controllers.
In order to be able to correspondingly meet comfort demands that are made and correspondingly correct erroneous actuations despite the scatter of the operating behavior of the clutches, the system is given a relatively large amount of time. The times available for the regulation however cannot be reduced to any desired extent, and furthermore, the operating time required for the correcting action is not always available. Therefore, during operating state profiles or during specific driving profiles, for example during a sport mode or during a racetrack operating mode or the like during which the driver comfort demand is not a priority and the driver rather desires high performance, controlled sequences are provided for the operation of an automatic transmission. By means of the sequences, demanded operating state changes such as for example so-called performance shifts, are implemented within shorter operating times than operating state changes executed in regulated fashion.
The two clutches of a dual-clutch system of a dual-clutch transmission are actuated in the manner described in more detail below during a performance-emphasized ratio change in the dual-clutch transmission such that the clutch assigned to the transmission part in which the presently selected ratio is engaged is opened, whereas to the further transmission part in which the target ratio has been engaged in preparatory fashion is transferred in parallel thereto into the closed operating state. For this purpose, the clutch for engagement is transferred within short operating times toward its closed operating state by means of a so-called fast-charging pulse while the further clutch of the dual-clutch system is in the closed operating state, wherein the actuating pressure of the clutch for engagement is at the end of a so-called fast-charging phase reduced to a defined pressure level at which the clutch for engagement exhibits its desired torque transfer capability.
At the time point of the demand for the ratio change, a time period is determined in a manner dependent on the present operating state of the dual-clutch transmission, after the expiry of which time period the actual actuating pressure of the clutch for engagement will exceed a defined pressure threshold in a manner dependent on the specification of the target actuating pressure of the clutch for engagement, and the target actuating pressure of the clutch for disengagement is abruptly reduced to the opening pressure level in order to transfer the clutch for disengagement into its open operating state to an extent coordinated by the actuation of the clutch for engagement.
Furthermore, the target actuating pressure of the clutch for disengagement is reduced at a time point from the pressure level of the fast-charging phase or from the fast-charging pressure level in a defined manner to the closing pressure level, when the clutch for engagement fully transmits the acting torque. The demanded performance shift is then executed as desired if the clutch for disengagement then substantially no longer transmits any torque at said time point.
By means of the system parameters likewise adapted as described above, it is possible to calculate a suitably exact and relatively short lengthening of the fast-charging pulse and to thus increase the actual pressure of the clutch for engagement directly with maximum system performance to virtually any target transmission level by means of a targeted so-called overcharging of the piston chamber of the clutch for engagement, wherein the maximum system performance is limited by the hydraulic delay time or by the dead time of the hydraulic system.
To be able to execute with high shift quality a performance shift which is to be performed within a short operating time, the clutch for disengagement must as required be adjusted toward its fully open operating state at the correct time point as abruptly as possible and before the time of taking-on of load by the clutch for disengagement.
Since a so-called blending phase of the overlapping shift without an interruption of tractive force between the two clutches is not defined by means of targeted control and regulation as in the case of conventional and more comfort-emphasized shifts but rather is defined only by the hydraulic delay time of the hydraulic system, the timing relating to the actuation of the two clutches must be defined very accurately in order to ensure or set the correct torque balance during the blending phase.
If the actuation timing of the clutches is not realized owing to corresponding inaccuracies in the system behavior in certain operating ranges of the dual-clutch transmission or is disrupted as a result of states such as air inclusions in the actuation path of the clutches of the hydraulic system, then the performance shift to be executed is likewise impaired owing to a disrupted torque balance during the blending phase of the two clutches of the dual-clutch system, which gives rise to discontinuities in the profile of an output torque, which impair driving comfort.
If the actuating pressures of the clutch for engagement and of the clutch for disengagement cross too early, a transmission deficit occurs during a performance shift, and thus an undesired load-release shock occurs during a traction upshift. By contrast to this, the two transmission halves of a dual-clutch transmission are braced relative to one another if the actuating pressures of the two clutches of the dual-clutch system cross too late.
The accuracy for the timing required for the execution of a performance shift lies in the range from approximately 10 to 20 milliseconds owing to the high performance demands as discussed above. In order to be able to realize such an exact actuation of the clutches, highly accurate knowledge of the system parameters under the present operating conditions, such as the system pressure, the pump volumetric flow, the operating temperature, the drive rotational speed and the like, is required.
The abovementioned adaptation algorithms are however directed out of principle to the determination of the reproducible component specific to the individual parts under steady-state conditions. If a corresponding component is not detected by means of the adaptation algorithm or if a sporadically occurring scatter is too great, for example owing to air inclusions in the clutch actuation path or the variance of the operating conditions, this limits the performance that can be reproducibly attained with acceptable comfort.
This situation is countered in practice through the fact that sensitive transmission functions such as the performance shift are permitted only in limited operating ranges and only during extremely sporty driving programs activated by the driver, because a driver then tends to accept impairments in comfort.
Present efforts to reduce the energy consumption of motor vehicles are supported inter alia through efficiency improvements of automatic transmissions. For this purpose, it is attempted inter alia to reduce leakage volume flows of hydraulic systems to a minimum, which however impairs a continuous deaeration of the hydraulic system by means of the leakage volume flows and has the effect that the hydraulic systems are often not sufficiently deaerated, and as a result the respective desired functional behavior is not ensured. Such a sufficiently deaerated or ensured operating state of the hydraulic system of an automatic transmission often cannot be determined as required over wide operating ranges of an automatic transmission or of a vehicle power train equipped therewith, as a result of which timing-sensitive and performance-emphasized functions are prevented in the absence of knowledge of such an operating state of the hydraulic system in order to avoid undefined operating states of an automatic transmission.
It is duly possible for functional impairments during the operation of an automatic transmission which result from air inclusions in the hydraulic system to be compensated by means of corresponding countermeasures if sufficient control and regulating times are available. This is however not suitable for timing-sensitive and performance-emphasized processes for which such countermeasures must be implemented with the correct timing, because such an observer or regulator provides its feedback too late and is therefore not usable. Here, it is particularly critical that, owing to a multiplicity of intercoordinated processes, timing-sensitive actuation sequences can no longer be stopped or terminated after having been started in order to avoid reactions in the vehicle power train which impair driving comfort, if necessary.
Regardless of possible air inclusions in hydraulic systems of automatic transmissions, the response behavior of automatic transmissions varies in each case in a manner dependent on the respectively present operating point and on component-specific tolerances and in a manner dependent on manufacturing tolerances, for which reason each automatic transmission or each hydraulic system has even in the fully deaerated operating state a so-called reproducible component of a dead time or of the response behavior which is specific to each individual example.
Since automatic transmissions are operated with an applicatively determined and averaged dead time value, in the case of automatic transmissions whose reproducible dead time specific to each individual example is greater than the average applicative dead time this has the effect that timing-sensitive and performance-emphasized functions are prevented despite a hydraulic system of an automatic transmission being in a fully deaerated operating state. Furthermore, in the case of transmissions whose reproducible dead time specific to each individual example lies below the averaged applicative dead time, even in the non-fully-deaerated operating state of its hydraulic system a reliable response behavior is determined and timing-sensitive and performance-emphasized functions are started and executed despite air inclusions in the system, whereby driving comfort is however in turn impaired in an undesired manner.
The present invention is therefore based on the object of providing a method for operating a dual-clutch transmission having a dual-clutch system comprising two clutches by means of which timing-sensitive and performance-emphasized operating state changes of the dual-clutch transmission can be executed as desired.
Said object is achieved according to the invention by means of a method having the features of patent claim 1.
In the method according to the invention for operating a dual-clutch transmission having a dual-clutch system comprising two clutches, in each case one of the clutches is in a closed state during the realization of a ratio and the other in each case is in an open state. The clutch in a closed state is opened during a ratio change and the clutch in an open state is closed. A target actuating pressure of the clutch for engagement is first set to a fast-charging pressure level during a ratio change to be performed within short operating times and is subsequently adjusted to a closing pressure level, while a target actuating pressure of the clutch for disengagement is adjusted to an opening pressure level before the setting of the closing pressure level of the target actuating pressure of the clutch for engagement.
According to the invention, at least during a ratio change, an actual actuating pressure of the clutch for engagement is monitored in the dual-clutch transmission and the target actuating pressure of the clutch for disengagement is adjusted to the opening pressure level if the actual actuating pressure of the clutch for engagement exceeds a pressure threshold.
Since it is the case during an activated performance shift that, in spite of all preventative measures taken, the timing does not take effect in such a way as to realize perfect performance, and effects that are unacceptable to a driver can arise during such adverse operating state profiles despite everything, the actual actuating pressure of the clutch for engagement is monitored during the execution of the approach according to the invention during a performance shift, and is adapted, in a manner dependent on the monitoring the timing of the performance shift, if necessary during the execution thereof within correspondingly short operating times such that the performance shift can be performed in each case with acceptable driving comfort or shift comfort.
By means of the approach according to the invention, performance shifts can generally be implemented over a greater operating range of a dual-clutch transmission with simultaneously acceptable driving comfort. This is advantageous because, owing to the high shift speed of performance shifts, it is additionally also achieved that other disturbances or changes in the system environment that can arise during a performance shift that is actively taking place, for example a load reversal, are owing to the short operating time window so unlikely, or the effects thereof on the shift sequence so slight, that they are no longer of significance with regard to effect on driver impression.
Thus, performance shifts and further time-sensitive functions can be performed over a wide operating range of a vehicle power train with acceptable driving comfort throughout, for example even in a lower sport-oriented range, that is to say shifts demanded by a driver only using a manual shifting gate. Aside from the aspect of the smooth transition of sporty and at the same time comfortable operation, it is now also ensured to a greater extent that, owing to shifts which are performed adequately quickly, hybrid applications with electric machines do not have to unduly interrupt the recuperation process during stoppage processes.
If a time period after the expiry of which the actual actuating pressure of the clutch for engagement reaches the pressure threshold is determined theoretically, by means of a model which represents the dual-clutch system, in a manner dependent on the operating state of the dual-clutch transmission which the dual-clutch transmission is in before the target actuating pressure of the clutch for engagement is set to the fast-charging pressure level, the actuation of the clutches of the dual-clutch system can in a manner dependent on the operating state of the dual-clutch transmission present at the time point of the demand for the ratio change to be performed be defined and adapted with little effort in terms of control and regulation to the actual sequence of the ratio change for the entire future ratio change.
In an easily implementable variant of the method according to the invention, the clutch for disengagement is opened before the expiry of the determined time period if the actual actuating pressure of the clutch for engagement reaches the pressure threshold already before the expiry of the determined time period.
If the actual actuating pressure of the clutch for engagement reaches the pressure threshold only after the expiry of the determined time period, the clutch for disengagement is opened only after the expiry of the determined time period.
By means of the delayed opening of the clutch for disengagement, it is achieved with little effort that the clutch for disengagement is not transferred into its open operating state too early and the start of the blending phase of the two clutches is delayed until the clutch for engagement is substantially prepared for taking on load from the clutch for disengagement.
A further theoretically determined time period after the expiry of which the target actuating pressure of the clutch for engagement is adjusted from the fast-charging pressure level toward the closing pressure level is lengthened by a time period, which is variable in a manner dependent on the operating state, if the actual actuating pressure of the clutch for engagement reaches the pressure threshold only after the expiry of the determined time period. By means of the lengthening of the fast-charging pulse of the clutch for engagement, it is in turn the case that the start of the blending phase of the two clutches is delayed until the clutch for engagement is substantially prepared for taking on load from the clutch for disengagement.
In an advantageous variant of the method according to the invention, the fast-charging pressure level of the target actuating pressure of the clutch for engagement is at least temporarily varied such that a torque acting at the transmission output side during the ratio change corresponds at least approximately to the torque acting before the execution of the demanded ratio change.
In this way, it is in turn achieved with little actuating effort that the shift sequence of the performance shift is not unduly influenced by the characteristics of the vehicle power train. Here, for the level of the torque transfer capacity to be set in the region of the clutch for engagement or for the torque level of said clutch, a value may be selected in each case taking into consideration the transmission ratio step of the shift, by means of which value the acceleration level during the blending phase of the two clutches can be kept at the level of the actual ratio engaged in the dual-clutch transmission. It is achieved in this way that the vehicle power train is loaded virtually uniformly during the blending phase of the performance shift and disturbances or undesired fluctuations in the profile of the torque acting in the region of an output are avoided in a simple manner.
If the target actuating pressure of the clutch for engagement is varied in regulated fashion from the fast-charging pressure level toward the closing pressure level during a rotational-speed alignment phase of the transmission input rotational speed from the level of the synchronous rotational speed of the actual ratio toward the level of the synchronous rotational speed of the demanded target ratio, the level of the torque transfer capacity of the clutch for engagement can during the rotational-speed alignment phase be adjusted in harmoniously regulated fashion from the synchronous rotational speed of the actual ratio toward the synchronous rotational speed of the transmission input shaft of the target ratio for engagement. No corresponding engine torque intervention is required for this purpose, whereby the entire dynamic torque of the drive machine is available for utilization for a desired level of performance to be set.
In a further variant of the method according to the invention, a ratio change demanded as a performance shift is prevented, and is executed as a comfort-emphasized shift, if at least one operating parameter of the dual-clutch transmission lies within or outside a range.
As exclusion criteria, it is for example possible to check operating parameters which prevent or pose a risk to a disturbance-free sequence of the performance shift or in the presence of which comfort demands must obligatorily be met before the implementation of corresponding performance.
Here, it is possible in each case before the execution of a timing-sensitive function or of a performance shift to check whether an operating temperature of the hydraulic fluid is too high or too low, the drive rotational speed of a drive machine of a vehicle power train equipped with the dual-clutch transmission lies outside a defined rotational speed window and whether a present volumetric flow of the hydraulic pump is too high or too low. Furthermore, it is also possible to monitor the system pressure presently prevailing in the primary pressure circuit and a clutch fill level and to prevent a demanded ratio change in the form of a performance shift in particular in the presence of an excessively low system pressure by means of which the performance demands made cannot be met as desired.
It may additionally be provided that a ratio change demanded as a performance shift is not executed if the torque of the target ratio to be set by means of the demanded performance shift is higher than a maximum achievable value or lower than a minimum value, wherein the ratio change is then executed in the form of a comfort-emphasized shift.
If a vehicle equipped with the vehicle power train is equipped for example with a so-called comfort mode and if the latter is activated, a possibly demanded performance shift may likewise be suppressed and executed as a comfort-emphasized shift.
If the hydraulic system is in an insufficiently adapted operating state or if the hydraulic system is in an emergency or substitute program or if a defective sensor system is present, this likewise has the effect in a variant of the method according to the invention that a demanded performance shift is not executed and the demanded ratio change is executed as a comfort-emphasized shift.
In a further variant of the method according to the invention, a ratio change demanded as a performance shift is executed as a comfort-emphasized shift if an additional time period from the time point at which the target actuating pressure of the clutch for engagement is adjusted toward the fast-charging pressure level to a time point at which the actual actuating pressure exceeds a defined pressure threshold is longer than an adapted dead time of a hydraulic system of the dual-clutch transmission.
The information required for implementing this variant regarding the additional time period can be determined and stored in each case during a shift performed before the presently demanded ratio change. Thus, it is ensured with little effort that performance shifts are executed as desired within short operating times as performance shifts in the presence of an additional time period which was determined during a previously performed shift and which is shorter than or equal to an adapted dead time. However, if during a shift an additional time period is determined which is longer than the adapted dead time, a ratio change which follows the preceding shift and which is demanded as a performance shift is not executed with the desired high performance and is executed as a comfort-emphasized shift.
In a variant of the method according to the invention, a ratio change demanded as a performance shift is executed as demanded only after a minimum number of shifts or charging processes of the clutches which result in a deaerated state of the actuating paths of the clutches, the demanded ratio change otherwise being implemented as a comfort-emphasized shift.
Both the features specified in the patent claims and the features specified in the following exemplary embodiments of the subject matter according to the invention are suitable in each case individually or in any desired combination with one another for refining the subject matter according to the invention.
Further advantages and advantageous embodiments of the subject matter according to the invention will emerge from the patent claims and from the exemplary embodiments described in principle below with reference to the drawing, wherein for the sake of clarity, the same reference designations are used for structurally and functionally identical components in the description of the various exemplary embodiments.
In the drawing:
Aside from the valve device, the electrohydraulic transmission control system or the hydraulic system also comprises a so-called system pressure valve, in the region of which a system pressure can be introduced into a pressure circuit designed as a primary pressure circuit of the electrohydraulic transmission control system, which pressure circuit is supplied with hydraulic fluid provided by the hydraulic pump via the system pressure valve with higher priority than a secondary pressure circuit likewise arranged downstream of the system pressure valve.
Various consumers of the transmission 3 are supplied with hydraulic fluid both via the primary pressure circuit and via the secondary pressure circuit, wherein inter alia shift elements or clutches of a dual-clutch system of the transmission 3 are charged with actuating pressure via the primary pressure circuit, whereas a cooling and lubricating oil system of the transmission 3 is provided with a supply via the secondary pressure circuit of the electrohydraulic transmission control system.
At a time point T0, an actual ratio is engaged in the transmission 3, which actual ratio is in a manner known per se engaged in the region of one of the two transmission parts of the transmission 3 by means of at least one shift element, wherein the power flow in the vehicle power train 1 between a transmission input shaft and a transmission output shaft of the transmission 3 is led through the clutch which is engaged in the power flow at the time point T0 by corresponding application of the actual actuating pressure p_Kab_ist. At the time point T1, a demand for a ratio change is triggered which is to be implemented by means of the disengagement described in more detail below of the clutch for disengagement and by means of corresponding closure or engagement of the clutch for engagement of the dual-clutch system. As a result of the disengagement of the clutch for disengagement and the engagement of the clutch for engagement, the torque to be conducted via the transmission 3 is, after the ratio change, transmitted as correspondingly demanded via the ratio engaged in the region of the second transmission part of the transmission 3.
For this purpose, the target actuating pressure p_Kzu_soll of the clutch for engagement of the dual-clutch system is at the time point T1 increased to the fast-charging pressure level p_Kzu_soll_sf, whereas the target actuating pressure p_Kab_soll of the clutch for disengagement is from the time point T1 for the time being left constant at the closing pressure level p_Kab_soll_sd.
Since the electrohydraulic transmission control system or the hydraulic system of the transmission 3 reacts with a delay to the increase of the target actuating pressure p_Kzu_soll to the fast-charging pressure level p_Kzu_soll_sf owing to a response behavior inherent in the system, it is only at a time point T2 which follows the time point T1 that the profile of the actual actuating pressure p_Kzu_ist increases in the manner illustrated in
At the time point T4, the clutch for engagement is in an operating state in which the torque transfer capacity thereof is equal to zero as before and an increase of the actual actuating pressure p_Kzu_ist of the clutch for engagement results in an immediate increase in the torque transfer capacity. From the time point T4, the target actuating pressure p_Kzu_soll of the clutch for engagement is increased in ramped fashion toward the closing pressure level p_Kzu_soll_sd, wherein the profile of the actual actuating pressure p_Kzu_ist of the clutch for engagement follows the profile of the target actuating pressure p_Kzu_soll with a defined delay as illustrated. At the time point T5, the target actuating pressure p_Kzu_soll of the clutch for engagement reaches the closing pressure level p_Kzu_soll_sd and is subsequently left at said pressure level. At a further time point T6 which in turn follows the time point T5, the actual actuating pressure p_Kzu_ist of the clutch for engagement likewise reaches the individually predefinable closing pressure level p_Kzu_ist_sd.
To be able to execute the ratio change in the transmission 3 with a desired high level of driving comfort, the target actuating pressure p_Kab_soll of the clutch for disengagement is at the time point T4 reduced in ramped fashion as illustrated to a pressure level p_Kab_soll1, at which the torque transfer capacity of the clutch for disengagement is substantially equal to zero. The target actuating pressure reaches said pressure level at the time point T5. From the time point T5, the target actuating pressure p_Kab_soll is left at the pressure level p_Kab_soll1. The profile of the actual actuating pressure p_Kab_ist of the clutch for disengagement in turn follows the target specification with a corresponding delay and reaches the pressure value p_Kab_soll1 shortly after the time point T6 at a time point T7.
At a time point T8 which follows the time point T7, the target actuating pressure p_Kab_soll of the clutch for disengagement is abruptly reduced to the opening pressure level p_Kab_soll_auf and is subsequently left constant at said pressure level, whereby the profile of the actual actuating pressure p_Kab_ist of the clutch for disengagement likewise falls as illustrated toward the opening pressure level p_Kab_soll_auf over the time t, and the clutch for disengagement is discharged. At a time point T9, the clutch for disengagement has been substantially completely discharged and the demanded ratio change has been fully completed.
The delayed response behavior of the clutch for engagement as illustrated in
This has the result that the dead time t_tot also varies to a not inconsiderable extent from transmission to transmission in a transmission series owing to allowed manufacturing tolerance ranges of the components installed in the transmission 3, which if a dead time determined applicatively for all transmissions is taken as a basis can give rise to considerable driving comfort losses in particular in the case of operating state changes of the transmission 3 to be performed within short operating times, and is thus undesired. Such a timing-sensitive function is a so-called performance shift which may be demanded for example by a driver or by a driving strategy correspondingly stored in the vehicle and which, owing to a sporty demand, is to be executed much more quickly or within shorter operating times in relation to the more comfort-oriented shift illustrated in
At the time point T0, an actual ratio is in turn engaged in the region of the transmission 3. At the time point T1, a demand for a ratio change toward a target ratio is in turn triggered, wherein as described above with regard to
By contrast to the shift process as per
System parameters such as for example a characteristic curve deviation of electrohydraulic pressure actuators and torque transfer capacities and stiffness transitions of the clutch for engagement and of the clutch for disengagement are determined adaptively. Furthermore, the response behavior of the clutch actuating paths are taken into consideration by means of correspondingly adaptive algorithms in the electronic transmission controller. By means of the adapted system parameters, it is made possible to calculate a suitably exact adaptation, which is provided for relatively short operating times t, of the fast-charging phase and to perform targeted overcharging of the piston chamber of the clutch for engagement during a performance shift in order to increase the actual actuating pressure p_Kzu_ist of the clutch for engagement directly to virtually any target pressure level with maximum system performance, which is limited by the hydraulic delay time. For this reason, the target actuating pressure p_Kzu_soll of the clutch for engagement is in this case reduced from the fast-charging pressure level p_Kzu_soll_sf to the closing pressure level p_Kzu_soll_sd for the first time at a time point T13 which follows the time point T11, whereas the clutch for disengagement is abruptly opened ahead of time at the correct moment, that is to say in this case at the time point T11.
Since, during the above-described execution of a performance shift, the blending phase between the two clutches of the dual-clutch system which ends at a time point T14 is no longer based on targeted closed loop and open loop control as in the case of the shift forming the basis of the illustration in
In a manner dependent on the respectively present operating state profile of the vehicle power train 1, the target actuating pressure p_Kzu_soll of the clutch for engagement is for example reduced from the fast-charging pressure p_Kzu_soll_sf to the closing pressure level p_Kzu_soll_sd during the performance shift to be executed only proceeding from a time point T15, in order to be able to execute the performance shift as desired with high performance or driving power within desired short operating times with at the same time the highest possible level of driving comfort.
Aside from the operating parameters specified here, the response behavior of the hydraulic system or of the electrohydraulic transmission control system of the transmission 3 is also undesirably impaired by air inclusions in the hydraulic actuating path of the clutches, which makes the actuation of the transmission 3 during the execution of a performance shift additionally difficult.
To be able to realize performance shifts and further time-sensitive functions over a wide operating range of the vehicle power train 1 with acceptable driving comfort throughout, for example even in a lower sport-oriented range, that is to say shifts demanded merely by a driver using a manual shifting gate, it is necessary to determine the reproducible dead time t_tot specific to each individual example. In a manner dependent on the reproducible dead time t_tot specific to each individual example, it is necessary in each case before the execution of a performance shift to determine whether the performance shift can be executed as desired, because performance shifts cannot readily be ended after having been started. This results from the fact that a termination of a performance shift leads to a considerable impairment in driving comfort and in the driving behavior of the vehicle, which is not accepted by a driver.
Aside from the aspect of the smooth transition of sporty and at the same time comfortable operation, it is also sought to achieve that, by means of shifts which are performed adequately quickly, hybrid applications with electric machines do not have to unduly interrupt the recuperation process during stoppage processes.
To improve the robust and reproducible driving impression that can be realized, operating states which are acutely unfavorable for the reproducibility and phases which can adversely affect the behavior subsequently are determined already in advance, and the execution of a performance shift is impeded in order to ensure comfort. Modifications of the actuation during a performance shift for the purposes of achieving this aim are described below. Before the execution of a performance shift, the following exclusion criteria are checked in advance in order to be able to ensure the regulated sequence of a performance shift.
Air inclusions in the hydraulic actuating path of the clutches are highly unfavorable for the execution of time-sensitive functions such as the performance shift, because the existence of air inclusions and the effects thereof on the system behavior, in particular on the response behavior of the hydraulic system, are not determinable and directly tangible in advance. To be able to suitably counter this situation, operating states or operating state profiles during which air can typically collect or has been collected in the actuating duct or actuating path of the clutches of the dual-clutch system are determined first. This is the case for example after a vehicle restart after a relatively long standstill period or during so-called engine start-stop phases.
Furthermore, relatively long interruptions in charging of the clutches and relatively long driving periods promote air accumulations, wherein such driving periods are characterized by a high pump delivery or cooling oil volume flow. Since it is generally known that, during charging processes or hydraulic actuations of the clutches of the dual-clutch system of the transmission 3, air accumulations are purged out of the actuating ducts thereof, a minimum number of shifts or charging processes of the clutches which must be executed in order to be able to assume a deaerated state of the actuating paths of the clutches before timing-sensitive functions or performance shifts are performed is defined as exclusion criterion. For example, if the hydraulic pump has drawn in air along with the hydraulic fluid, or if the charging processes required for an adequately deaerated operating state of the hydraulic system have not been reached, then preceding charging processes are additionally continuously evaluated as regards whether a deaerated system can be inferred therefrom.
The significant influence of air inclusions on the dead time t_tot of the hydraulic system of the transmission 3 can be determined by measurement for example using pressure sensors provided in the dual-clutch system or in the region of the clutches. For this purpose, a so-called dead time adaptation and monitoring based thereon are performed, which provide corresponding information which is utilized. On the basis of the information provided by the dead time adaptation regarding the reproducible dead time specific to each individual part example, it can be verified with the aid of the monitoring whether the value determined for the dead time exceeds a significance threshold, on the basis of which it can in turn be identified whether the hydraulic system has been sufficiently deaerated or if too much air is situated in the hydraulic system. In the case of the latter monitoring result, the performance shift is blocked until a value admissible for the execution of the performance shift function is determined.
For the adaptation of an applicatively determined dead time of the hydraulic system assigned to the clutches, in a deaerated operating state of the hydraulic system in each case one target actuating pressure of one of the clutches is generated, and time monitoring is started at the time point from which the target actuating pressure is demanded. By means of the time monitoring, the time period that elapses until the actual actuating pressure is identified as being higher than a threshold is determined, wherein the applicative dead time is adapted in a manner dependent on the determined time period. Subsequently, the adapted value of the dead time is stored in a non-transient memory and is thus available as desired for the monitoring.
In order to be able to execute the dead time adaptation in each case proceeding from a defined operating state of the hydraulic system and thus in a uniquely verifiable and reproducible manner, the target actuating pressure of the respectively checked clutch is demanded proceeding from a substantially unpressurized operating state of the clutch and is furthermore abruptly increased here to a defined pressure level of the actuating pressure. To avoid erroneous adaptations, the time period is determined several times in succession in the manner described, wherein an average value is subsequently formed on the basis of the successively determined time periods, in a manner dependent on which average value the applicative dead time is adapted.
Since the dead time varies considerably in a manner dependent on the present operating temperature of the hydraulic fluid that is used in the hydraulic system for actuating the clutches, the time period is determined for the entire temperature range of the hydraulic fluid. Furthermore, the time period is also determined for different hydraulic fluid volume flows that are directed towards the clutch in order to be able to provide and take into consideration the dependency on the charging speed of the clutches.
To be able to take into consideration effects which influence the dead time over the service life of the transmission 3, the dead time adaptation is repeated several times over the service life of the transmission, wherein then the adapted dead times determined during the most recent dead time adaptation form the basis for the dead time adaptation to be newly performed and are adapted by said newly performed dead time adaptation, by means of which the most recently adapted dead times are used instead of the applicative dead time.
If the monitoring now determines in each case a response behavior of the hydraulic system which deviates from the adapted response behavior or from the adapted dead time by more than a threshold, a hydraulic system not sufficiently deaerated for the execution of the performance shift is for example identified by means of the monitoring function, and the performance shift is not permitted.
As further exclusion criteria, operating parameters are checked which prevent or pose a risk to a disturbance-free sequence of the performance shift or in the presence of which comfort demands must imperatively be met before the implementation of corresponding performance.
Here, it is checked in each case whether an operating temperature of the hydraulic fluid is too high or too low, the drive rotational speed of the drive machine 2 lies outside a defined rotational speed window and whether a present volumetric flow of the hydraulic pump is too high or too low. Furthermore, the system pressure presently prevailing in the primary pressure circuit and a clutch fill level are monitored, wherein performance demands made cannot be met as desired in particular in the presence of an excessively low system pressure. Furthermore, a performance shift is not executed if the torque of the target ratio to be set by means of demanded performance shift is higher than a maximum achievable value or lower than a minimum value. If a vehicle equipped with the vehicle power train 1 is equipped for example with a so-called comfort mode and if the latter is activated, a possibly demanded performance shift is likewise suppressed. If the hydraulic system is in an insufficiently adapted operating state or if the hydraulic system is in an emergency or substitute program or if a faulty sensor arrangement is present, this likewise has the effect that a demanded performance shift is not executed.
If the exclusion criteria, which are not considered exhaustively here, for the execution of a performance shift are not met, the execution of a performance shift is permitted, wherein the shift sequences forming the basis for
Since, despite everything, it is possible during an active performance shift that, in spite of all preventative measures taken, the timing does not take effect in such a way as to realize perfect performance, and effects that are unacceptable to a driver can arise during such adverse operating state profiles despite everything, the actual actuating pressure of the clutch for engagement is monitored during the performance shifts respectively forming the basis for the illustrations as per
In
If the performance shift is started as desired at the time point T1 and if it is already the case during the charging process of the clutch for engagement, that is to say during the fast-charging phase, that a pressure value p_Kzu_ist_grenz14 of the actual actuating pressure p_Kzu_ist is determined which is higher than the pressure value p_Kzu_ist_grenz 1 before a time at which this would be expected from the set timing, measures which adapt the profile of the actual actuating pressure p_Kzu_ist of the clutch for engagement as desired are no longer possible, as a result of which the target actuating pressure p_Kab_soll of the clutch for disengagement is reduced abruptly from the closing pressure level p_Kab_soll_sd to the opening pressure level p_Kab_soll_auf already before the time point T11, that is to say in this case at the time point T16, which has the effect that the blending phase is commenced already at the time point T16 as a result of early opening of the clutch for disengagement.
By contrast to this, if it is the case during the charging process of the clutch for engagement that a pressure value p_Kzu_ist_grenz15 is not exceeded at the time point T11 but is reached only at a later time point T17, the target actuating pressure p_Kzu_soll of the clutch for engagement is, by contrast to the shift sequence forming the basis for
Thus, the threshold value p_Kzu_ist_grenz14 of the actual actuating pressure p_Kzu_ist of the clutch for engagement, which triggers the early opening of the clutch for disengagement as described in more detail with regard to
In order that the shift sequence of the performance shift is not unduly influenced by the characteristics of the vehicle power train 1, for the level of the torque transfer capacity to be set in the region of the clutch for engagement or for the torque level of said clutch, a value is selected in each case taking the transmission ratio step of the shift into consideration, by means of which selected value the acceleration level during the blending phase of the two clutches can be kept at the level of the actual ratio engaged in the transmission 3 at the time point T0. It is achieved in this way that the vehicle power train 1 is loaded virtually uniformly during the blending phase of the performance shift and disturbances or undesired fluctuations in the profile of the torque acting in the region of the output 4 are avoided in a simple manner. The subsequent level of the torque transfer capacity is during the rotational-speed alignment phase adjustable in harmoniously regulated fashion from the synchronous rotational speed of the actual ratio toward the synchronous rotational speed of the transmission input shaft of the target ratio for engagement. No corresponding engine torque intervention is required for this purpose, whereby the entire dynamic torque of the drive machine is available for utilization for a desired level of performance.
Specifically, this is achieved as illustrated in
During certain operating state profiles of the vehicle power train 1, the target actuating pressures p_Kzu_soll of the clutch for engagement which have to be set in order to realize an as far as possible acceleration-neutral overlap phase lie in part above the fast-charging pressure level p_Kzu_soll_sf in order to attain the target torque level. Then, the fast-charging phase alone does not ensure that, during the increase of the actual actuating pressure p_Kzu_ist of the clutch for engagement, the volume-flow-generating pressure delta between the target actuating pressure p_Kzu_soll and the actual actuating pressure p_Kzu_ist is sufficient to maintain the desired gradient of the profile of the actual actuating pressure p_Kzu_ist until the acceleration-neutral level is attained. Without additional measures, the gradient of the profile of the actual actuating pressure p_Kzu_ist of the clutch for engagement levels off in an undesired manner, and the build-up of the torque transfer capacity of the clutch for engagement is delayed if the acceleration-neutral level is attained too late.
For this reason, in this case, at a time point T22 that precedes the time point T11, the target actuating pressure p_Kzu_soll of the clutch for engagement is increased from the fast-charging pressure level p_Kzu_soll_sf to a further pressure level p_Kzu_soll_zw1 and is kept constant at said value until a further time point T23, at which the target actuating pressure p_Kzu_soll is reduced from the further pressure level p_Kzu_soll_zw1 to the intermediate pressure level p_Kzu_soll_zw, at which the target actuating pressure p_Kzu_soll is in turn left until the time point T20, before said target actuating pressure is adjusted by means of the pressure ramp as described with regard to
By means of this approach, it is achieved that, during the fast-charging phase that is initially performed in the standard manner until the time point T22, the actual actuating pressure p_Kzu_ist of the clutch for engagement is adjusted to the charging pressure level p_Kzu_ist_fa, and it is subsequently ensured by means of the further minimum-delta-P function that the clutch for engagement continues to be charged up to the target pressure p_Kzu_soll_zw of the acceleration-neutral pressure level, or the actual actuating pressure p_Kzu_ist is adjusted to said pressure level. The maximum performance gradient is thus maintained until the target level is reached.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2016 215 220.3 | Aug 2016 | DE | national |
