Throttle device

Abstract

Provided is a throttle device including a total of two throttle units in an engine for each two cylinders, each of the throttle units having a unit body having intake air passages corresponding to the four cylinders of the engine, a throttle shaft rotatably supported by the unit body, throttle valves secured to the throttle shaft to open and close the intake air passages for the cylinders, and a motor driving and rotating the throttle shaft, in which a first motor provided in a first throttle unit and a second motor provided in a second throttle unit out of the two throttle units have mutually different responsivities to a change in rotation speed.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This Application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2019-219688 filed on Dec. 4, 2019, Japanese Patent Application No. 2019-219689 filed on Dec. 4, 2019, and Japanese Patent Application No. 2019-219690 filed on Dec. 4, 2019, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a throttle device controlling intake air of an engine.

Description of the Related Art

Many of engines mounted on vehicles such as motorcycles for driving the vehicles to travel have a plurality of cylinders to obtain high outputs. Further, multi-throttle devices that provide throttle valves for each of the plurality of cylinders have widely been employed in motorcycles to improve engine outputs.

For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-2822463 discloses an inline four-cylinder engine provided with a throttle valve in each of intake air passages for cylinders. The engine disclosed in the aforementioned document includes a motor to drive a throttle valve for a first cylinder and a throttle valve for a second cylinder, a motor to drive a throttle valve for a third cylinder, and a motor to drive a throttle valve for a fourth cylinder. This enables degrees of opening of the first cylinder, the second cylinder, the third cylinder, and the fourth cylinder to be individually controlled by controlling driving of each motor. Further, the engine disclosed in the aforementioned document includes a cylinder deactivated operation function of deactivating operations of a part (the third cylinder and the fourth cylinder) of the plurality of cylinders.

According to such an engine provided with throttle valves for each of cylinders and provided with a plurality of motors for driving the throttle valves as described above, cases in which degrees of opening of the throttle valves significantly differ from each other may occur due to the individual control of the driving of the motors. According to such an engine provided with the cylinder deactivated operation function as in the aforementioned document, throttle valves of the part of cylinders that are deactivated are set to have predetermined degrees of opening (in a closed state, for example) at the time of the cylinder deactivated operation, and the degree of opening of the throttle valves of the cylinders that are deactivated and of the cylinders that are not deactivated at the time of the cylinder deactivated operation may thus significantly differ from each other, for example.

There is a possibility that when it is attempted to control all the throttle valves to have the same target degree of opening, for example, from such a state in which the degrees of opening of the throttle valves significantly differ from each other in this manner, the difference in degree of opening of the throttle valves is not immediately solved at the time of shifting to the target degree of opening and a driver of the vehicle have an uncomfortable feeling due to a difference in outputs of the cylinders caused by the difference in degree of opening of the throttle valves.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention, which has made in view of such circumstances, is to provide a multi-throttle valve device that is employed in multi-cylinder engine and is capable of curbing an uncomfortable feeling due to a difference in outputs of the cylinders.

In order to achieve the aforementioned object, a throttle device according to the present invention includes: a plurality of throttle units provided in an engine for each of cylinders or for each of cylinder groups, each of the throttle units including a throttle body having intake air passages corresponding to the plurality of cylinders of the engine, a throttle shaft rotatably supported by the throttle body, and throttle valves secured to the throttle shaft to open and close the intake air passages for the cylinders, and a motor driving and rotating the throttle shaft, in which a first motor that is the motor provided in a first throttle unit and a second motor that is the motor provided in a second throttle unit out of the plurality of throttle units have mutually different responsivities to a change in rotation speed.

According to the throttle device of the present invention, it is possible to set the opening/closing speeds of the throttle valve of the first throttle unit and of the throttle valve of the second throttle unit to be different from each other and thereby to immediately solve a difference in degree of opening of the throttle valves in a case in which the first motor and the second motor are driven to have the same predetermined degree of opening from a state in which the degrees of opening of the throttle valves are different from each other. It is thus possible to quickly solve a difference between an output of the cylinder, intake air of which is controlled by the first throttle unit, and an output of the cylinder, intake air of which is controlled by the second throttle unit, to obtain a smooth engine output, and to curb an uncomfortable feeling of a driver.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinafter and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus, are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is an external view of a throttle device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an overview configuration diagram of a throttle unit;

FIG. 3 is an internal structure diagram of a deceleration mechanism;

FIG. 4 is an electric circuit diagram for driving the throttle device;

FIG. 5 is a graph illustrating a transition example of a degree of throttle opening from a fully closed state to a fully opened state of throttle valves;

FIG. 6 is a graph illustrating a transition example of the degree of throttle opening at the time of shifting from a cylinder deactivated operation to an ordinary operation;

FIG. 7 is a structure diagram of a deceleration mechanism according to another embodiment of a second throttle unit;

FIG. 8 is an assembly diagram of an attachment unit of a return spring in the second throttle unit;

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an installation state of the return spring in a first throttle unit;

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an installation state of the return spring in a second throttle unit.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described on the basis of drawings.

FIG. 1 is an external view of a throttle device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an overview configuration diagram of a throttle unit (second throttle unit 12). FIG. 3 is an internal structure diagram of a deceleration mechanism 20 (decelerator).

The throttle device 10 according to the present invention is a multi-throttle device attached to a multi-cylinder engine. The throttle device 10 according to this embodiment is employed in an inline four-cylinder engine 1 mounted on a vehicle such as a motorcycle. For the engine 1, four cylinders (2a, 2b, 2c, and 2d) from #1 to #4 are disposed to be aligned in a vehicle width direction (left-right direction) in the vehicle.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the throttle device 10 has a first throttle unit 11 (throttle unit) for a #1 cylinder 2a and a #2 cylinder 2b disposed on one side of the engine 1 in the vehicle width direction and a second throttle unit 12 (throttle unit) for a #3 cylinder 2c and a #4 cylinder 2d disposed on the other side of the engine 1 in the vehicle width direction. The first throttle unit 11 and the second throttle unit 12 are disposed to be aligned on the left and right sides in the vehicle width direction.

The first throttle unit 11 and the second throttle unit 12 are configured to be symmetric on the left and right sides.

The first throttle unit 11 includes a first segment body 14a in which an intake air passage 13a of the #1 cylinder 2a is formed and a second segment body 14b in which an intake air passage 13b of the #2 cylinder 2b is formed.

The second throttle unit 12 includes a second segment body 14b in which an intake air passage 13c of the #3 cylinder 2c is formed and a first segment body 14a in which an intake air passage 13d of the #4 cylinder 2d is formed.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, each of the first throttle unit 11 and the second throttle unit 12 further includes a throttle shaft 15, throttle valves 16b to 16d, motors 17a and 17b (motors), a deceleration mechanism 20, a return spring 21, and a throttle position sensor 22. Note that FIG. 2 illustrates the internal structure of the second throttle unit 12 and the intake air passage 13c is provided with the throttle valve 16c while the intake air passage 13d is provided with the throttle valve 16d. In the first throttle unit 11, the intake air passage 13a is provided with the throttle valve 16a while the intake air passage 13b is provided with the throttle valve 16b.

The first segment body 14a and the second segment body 14b are disposed to be aligned in the left-right direction (vehicle width direction) in accordance with the corresponding cylinders 2a to 2d to form a unit body 23 (throttle body).

The intake air passages 13a to 13d are formed to extend perpendicularly (in the front-back direction in FIGS. 1 and 2) to the left-right direction. The throttle shaft 15 extends in the vehicle width direction through the unit body 23, passes through the inside of the two intake air passages (13a and 13c or 13c and 13d), and is rotatably supported by the unit body 23.

The throttle valves 16a to 16d are disk-shaped members that have substantially the same diameter as the inner diameter of the intake air passages 13a to 13d, are secured to the throttle shaft 15, and are disposed inside the intake air passages 13a to 13d. The throttle valves 16a to 16d rotate inside the intake air passages 13a to 13d along with rotation of the throttle shaft 15 and can rotate at an arbitrary angle between a closed position at which the intake air passages 13a to 13d are closed and an opened position at which the intake air passages 13a to 13d are opened.

The first motor 17a and the second motor 17b are electric motors. The first motor 17a and the second motor 17b are secured to second segment bodies 14b of the throttle units 11 and 12, respectively, and rotation drive shaft 24 thereof are disposed parallel to the throttle shafts 15.

The deceleration mechanism 20 is disposed between the first segment body 14a and the second segment body 14b. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the deceleration mechanism 20 has an intermediate axis 25, a first gear 26 secured to the rotation drive shaft 24 of the motors (the first motor 17a and the second motor 17b), a second gear 27 secured to the intermediate axis 25 and engaged with the first gear 26, a third gear 28 secured to the intermediate axis 25, and a fourth gear 29 secured to the throttle shaft 15 and engaged with the third gear 28. The intermediate axis 25 is disposed to be parallel to the rotation drive shaft 24 and the throttle shaft 15 and is rotatably supported by the unit body 23.

The deceleration mechanism 20 transmits the rotation of the rotation drive shaft 24 of the motors (the first motor 17a and the second motor 17b) to the first gear 26, the second gear 27, the intermediate axis 25, the third gear 28, and the fourth gear 29 in this order to decelerate the rotation and drives and rotates the throttle shaft 15.

The return spring 21 is a torsion spring disposed to be wound around the throttle shaft 15 several times and including one end portion supported by the unit body 23 and the other end portion supported by the throttle shaft 15. The return spring 21 biases the throttle shaft 15 to bring the throttle valves 16c and 16d into the closed state.

The throttle position sensor 22 is provided at the one end portion of the throttle shaft 15 and functions to detect the rotational angle of the throttle shaft 15. The throttle position sensor 22 is disposed in the first segment body 14a, for example.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the second segment bodies 14b of the first throttle unit 11 and the second throttle unit 12 are disposed inward in the left-right direction, that is, the first motor 17a (motor) of the first throttle unit 11 and the second motor 17b (motor) of the second throttle unit 12 are disposed inward in the left-right direction, and the throttle position sensor 22 is disposed outward in the left-right direction, in the throttle device 10.

Also, the first throttle unit 11 includes fuel injection valves 30a and 30b injecting a fuel into the intake air passages 13a and 13b. The second throttle unit 12 includes fuel injection valves 30c and 30d injecting a fuel into the intake air passages 13a and 13b. In other words, the throttle device 10 includes a total of four fuel injection valves 30a to 30d corresponding to the cylinders 2a to 2d.

The fuel is supplied from a fuel pump, which is not illustrated, to the two fuel injection valves 30a and 30b included in the first throttle unit 11 via a fuel pipe 31. Also, the fuel is supplied from a fuel pump, which is not illustrated, to the two fuel injection valves 30c and 30d included in the second throttle unit 12 via a fuel pipe 32.

FIG. 4 is an electric circuit diagram for driving the throttle device 10.

Driving of each of the first motor 17a of the first throttle unit 11 and the second motor 17b of the second throttle unit 12 in the throttle device 10 is controlled by the control unit 40.

The control unit 40 is a control device for controlling operations of the engine 1 and is configured to include an input/output device, a storage device (such as a ROM, a RAM, or a nonvolatile RAM), a central processing unit (CPU), and the like. The control unit 40 inputs a degree of opening of an accelerator detected by an accelerator opening degree sensor 41 provided in the vehicle, applies a predetermined voltage of the first motor 17a of the first throttle unit 11 and the second motor 17b of the second throttle unit 12, outputs a drive current, controls driving of each of the motors 17a and 17b, and controls operations of each of the fuel injection valves 30a to 30d. At this time, the rotational angle of the throttle shaft 15 detected by the throttle position sensor 22 is input for each of the first throttle unit 11 and the second throttle unit 12, and feedback control is performed such that the rotational angle of the throttle shaft 15 is obtained in accordance with the degree of accelerator opening.

In addition, the control unit 40 includes a cylinder deactivation control unit 42 executing a cylinder deactivated operation.

The cylinder deactivation control unit 42 controls driving of the second motor 17b such that the throttle valves 16c and 16d in the second throttle unit 12 are brought into a fully opened state (predetermined degree of opening) and stops fuel injection through the fuel injection valves 30c and 30d, in a predetermined operation region of the engine 1, for example, in response to a low output request for a degree of accelerator opening of equal to or less than a predetermined value. Note that operations of the first motor 17a and the fuel injection valves 30a and 30b in the first throttle unit 11 are controlled in accordance with a requested output based on an accelerator operation or the like even in the predetermined operation region.

In this manner, the combustion in the two #3 and #4 cylinders 2c and 2d from among the four #1 to #4 cylinders 2a to 2d in the engine 1 is stopped. Thus, since fuel consumption at the #3 and #4 cylinders 2c and 2d becomes zero, and the throttle valves 16c and 16d are brought into the fully opened state in the #3 and #4 cylinders 2c and 2d, it is possible to reduce a pumping loss and to curb fuel consumption in the entire engine 1.

Further, in this embodiment, the second motor 17b for the #3 and #4 cylinders 2c and 2d that are subjected to cylinder deactivation to have a specification with a higher responsivity to a change in rotation speed than that of the first motor 17a for the #1 and #2 cylinders 2a and 2b that are not subjected to cylinder deactivation. It is only necessary to cause the second motor 17b to have a thicker wire diameter or a reduced number of windings of the coil than that of the first motor 17a, for example. It is possible to reduce a resistance of the coil by increasing the wire diameter or reducing the number of windings of the coil. It is thus possible to increase a current flowing through the second motor 17b with a low coil resistance and to improve the responsivity of the second motor 17b as compared with the first motor 17a when the same voltage is applied to the first motor 17a and the second motor 17b.

FIG. 5 is a graph illustrating a transition example of a degree of throttle opening of the throttle valves 16a and 16b and throttle valves 16c and 16d from the fully closed state to the fully opened state. FIG. 5 illustrates transition of the degree of opening of each of the throttle valves (16a and 16b, and 16c and 16d) in a case in which the same voltage (predetermined voltage) is applied to the first motor 17a and the second motor 17b at the same time.

FIG. 6 is a graph illustrating a transition example of a degree of throttle opening at the time of transition from the cylinder deactivated operation to the ordinary operation. FIG. 6 illustrates transition of the degrees of opening of the throttle valves 16a, 16b, 16c, and 16d until the degrees of opening of the throttle valves 16a, 16b, 16c, and 16d transition to a predetermined degree of opening Vol when the cylinder deactivated operation is released from the cylinder deactivated operation state and transition to the ordinary operation is achieved. Note that FIG. 6 illustrates a case in which a requested output of the engine slightly increases from the cylinder deactivated operation state and transitions to the ordinary operation in which combustion is carried out in all the cylinders 2a to 2d is achieved. Note that in order to avoid large variation in the output of the entire engine 1, when the requested output of the engine 1 slightly increases from the cylinder deactivated operation state and switching to the ordinary operation is achieved, the degree of opening (predetermined degree of opening Vo2) of the throttle valves 16a and 16b in the cylinder deactivated operation state is greater than the degree of opening (predetermined degree of opening Vo1) of the throttle valves 16a, 16b, 16c, and 16d in the ordinary operation.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, in a case in which the same voltage is applied to the first motor 17a and the second motor 17b at the same time from the fully closed state, the second motor 17b with a higher responsivity more quickly operates than the first motor 17a, and the degree of opening of the throttle valves 16c and 16d driven by the second motor 17b is brought into the fully opened state in an early stage.

As illustrated in FIG. 6, the degree of opening of the throttle valves 16a and 16b in the first throttle unit 11 is the degree of throttle opening Vo2 corresponding to the requested output based on an accelerator operation or the like while the degree of opening of the throttle valves 16b and 16d in the second throttle unit 12 is a fully opened state. Also, in a case in which an operation of opening the accelerator is performed, a requested output increases, and the cylinder deactivated operation is released, for example, each of the first motor 17a and the second motor 17b is controlled to achieve the ordinary operation in which all the throttle valves 16a to 16d have the requested degree of opening Vo1 based on the accelerator operation or the like.

Here, in a case in which the responsivity to a change in rotation speed of the second motor 17b is equivalent to that of the first motor 17a in a comparative example, the degree of opening of the throttle valves 16c and 16d in the second throttle unit 12 and the degree of opening of the throttle valves 16a and 16b in the first throttle unit 11 (represented by the thin solid line in FIG. 6) transition at equivalent speeds, as represented by the dashed line in FIG. 6. Thus, a period of time during which the degree of opening of the throttle valves 16c and 16d does not reach the predetermined degree of opening Vol occurs even when the degree of opening of the throttle valves 16a and 16b reaches the predetermined degree of opening Vol. Thus, there is a possibility that the degrees of opening of the throttle valves 16a and 16b and of the throttle valves 16c and 16d do not conform to each other over the entire period of time of the switching from the cylinder deactivated operation to the ordinary operation and immediately after the transition from the cylinder deactivated operation to the ordinary operation and the driver has an uncomfortable feeling from the output of the engine 1 due to a difference in output of the #1 and #2 cylinders 2a and 2b and the #3 and #4 cylinders 2c and 2d.

On the contrary, since the responsivity of the second motor 17b is higher than that of the first motor 17a in this embodiment, the degree of opening of the throttle valves 16c and 16d and the degree of opening of the throttle valves 16a and 16b conform to each other before the degree of opening of the throttle valves 16a and 16b in the first throttle unit 11 reaches a predetermined degree of opening Vol as represented by the thick solid line in FIG. 6. Note that each of the first motor 17a and the second motor 17b may be controlled such that the transition is carried out with the degree of opening of the throttle valves 16c and 16d and the degree of opening of the throttle valves 16a and 16b maintained to conform to each other, until the predetermined degree of opening Vo1 is reached after the degree of opening of the throttle valves 16c and 16d and the degree of opening of the throttle valves 16a and 16b conform to each other.

Since the degree of opening of the throttle valves 16a and 16b in the first throttle unit 11 thus conforms to the degree of opening of the throttle valves 16c and 16d in the second throttle unit 12 in an early stage when the transition from the cylinder deactivated operation to the ordinary operation is achieved in this embodiment, it is possible to quickly cause the outputs of the #1 and #2 cylinders 2a and 2b to conform to the outputs of the #3 and #4 cylinders 2c and 2d, to smooth the output of the engine, and thereby to improve an output feeling.

As described above, the throttle device 10 according to this embodiment is the multi-throttle device 10 provided with the throttle valves 16a to 16d in the intake air passages 13a to 13d of the four cylinders 2a to 2d in the engine 1 and includes the two throttle units 11 and 12. The throttle device 10 has a structure in which the first motor 17a included in the first throttle unit 11 drives the two throttle valves 16a and 16b while the second motor 17b included in the second throttle unit 12 drives the two throttle valves 16a and 16b.

Also, in this embodiment, the first motor 17a of the first throttle unit 11 and the second motor 17b of the second throttle unit 12 are caused to have mutually different responsivities to a change in rotation speed.

In this manner, it is possible to cause the throttle valves 16a and 16b in the first throttle unit 11 and the throttle valves 16c and 16d in the second throttle unit 12 to be differently responsive to valve opening degree control with a simple configuration by causing the first motor 17a and the second motor 17b to have different responsivities.

Further, the engine 1 according to this embodiment include the cylinder deactivated operation function and changes the degree of opening of the throttle valve 16b in the second throttle unit 12 corresponding to a part of the four cylinders 2a to 2d, namely the cylinders 2c and 2d into a fully opened state at the time of a low requested output.

In this embodiment, since the second motor 17b of the second throttle unit 12 that is caused to operate in a fully opened state in the cylinder deactivated operation function is caused to have a specification with a higher responsivity than the first motor 17a of the first throttle unit 11 in which the cylinders are not deactivated in the cylinder deactivated operation, it is possible to curb an uncomfortable feeling from an output of the engine 1 with a simple configuration by quickly reducing the degree of opening of the throttle valves 16c and 16d in the second throttle unit 12 to the same degree of opening of the throttle valves 16a and 16b in the first throttle unit 11 when the cylinder deactivated operation is released. Also, it is possible to use a motor that is less responsive than the second motor 17b as the first motor 17a and thereby to curb a component cost of the first motor 17a.

Note that although the first motor 17a and the second motor 17b have different wiring diameters or numbers of windings of the coils in the aforementioned embodiment, the control unit 40 may perform drive current output control such that the drive currents of the first motor 17a and the second motor 17b are different from each other. For example, it is only necessary to set the drive current to be supplied to the second motor 17b that deactivates the cylinders in the cylinder deactivated operation function to be higher than the drive current to be supplied to the first motor 17a that is not used in the cylinder deactivation. In this manner, it is possible to cause the first motor 17a and the second motor 17b even with the same specification to have different responsivities and to quickly cause the degrees of opening of the throttle valves 16a to 16d to conform to each other when the cylinder deactivated operation state is released.

The deceleration ratio of the deceleration mechanism 20 in the first throttle unit 11 and the deceleration ratio of the deceleration mechanism 20 in the second throttle unit 12 may further be set to different deceleration ratios.

FIG. 7 is a structure diagram of a deceleration mechanism 45 (decelerator) according to another embodiment in the second throttle unit 12.

For example, the gear ratio of the third gear 28 and the fourth gear 29 in the deceleration mechanism 45 in the second throttle unit 12 used for the cylinder deactivated operation function may be set lower than the gear ratio in the deceleration mechanism 20 in the first throttle unit 11, which is set to a gear ratio similar to that of the deceleration mechanism 20 illustrated in FIG. 3, as illustrated in FIG. 7 in aforementioned embodiment. Note that the gear ratio of the first gear 26 and the second gear 27 may be set to be low instead of or along with that of the third gear 28 and the fourth gear 29.

In this manner, it is possible to set the rotation speed of the throttle shaft 15 in the second throttle unit 12 to be higher than the rotation speed of the throttle shaft 15 in the first throttle unit 11.

In this manner, it is possible to change the opening/closing speeds of the throttle valves 16a to 16d by causing the deceleration mechanisms 20 and 45 to have different deceleration ratios in the first throttle unit 11 and the second throttle unit 12 and thereby to further significantly change the responsivities. Thus, it is possible to significantly change the responsivities in the first throttle unit 11 and the second throttle unit 12 even in a case in which the wiring diameters or the numbers of windings of the coils are limited or a case in which operating currents to the coils are limited due to a limitation of the size of the first motor 17a or the second motor 17b, for example.

Also, the deceleration mechanisms 20 and 45 in the aforementioned embodiment may have structures in which set torques of the return springs 21 can be changed. The set torques of the return springs 21 are biasing torques toward the closed direction caused by the return springs 21 in the closed state of the throttle valves 16a to 16d.

FIG. 8 is an assembly diagram of an attachment unit of the return spring 21 in the second throttle unit 12. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an installation state of the return spring 21 in the first throttle unit 11. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an installation state of the return spring 21 in the second throttle unit 12. Note that the up-down direction in FIG. 8 is opposite of that in FIGS. 1 to 3, 7, 9, and 10 for easiness of viewing the attachment unit of the return spring 21, and the throttle shaft 15 is illustrated above the motor 17. Although the first throttle unit 11 and the second throttle unit 12 are bilaterally symmetric, the first throttle unit 11 and the second throttle unit 12 are illustrated in a left-side-right manner in FIG. 9 for easiness of comparison between the first throttle unit 11 and the second throttle unit 12.

As illustrated in FIG. 8, a cylindrical rib 52 projecting outward in an axial line direction of an insertion hole 51 is formed around the insertion hole 51, into which the throttle shaft 15 is inserted, at an end portion (specifically, the end portion of the second segment body 14b on the side of the deceleration mechanism 20) of the unit body 23. Also, two projections (a first projection 53a and a second projection 53b) are formed outside the rib 52 in the radial direction at the end portion of the second segment body 14b. The first projection 53a and the second projection 53b have columnar shapes with a diameter of about several mm, for example, project outward in the axial line direction of the insertion hole 51 in parallel with the rib 52, and project up to the vicinity of the distal end of the rib 52. The first projection 53a and the second projection 53b are disposed at mutually opposite positions with the insertion hole 51 sandwiched therebetween, for example, at an interval from each other in a circumferential direction on a concentric circle around the insertion hole 51 at the center.

Both end portions 21a and 21b of the return spring 21 project outward in the radial direction. The return spring 21 is disposed such that the distal end portion of the rib 52 is inserted thereinto, and is configured such that the end portion 21a on the side of the second segment body 14b can be locked at the first projection 53a and the second projection 53b.

A fourth gear 29 and the throttle shaft 15 are secured to each other via a disk-shaped hook plate 55. A shaft coupling hole 55a into which the throttle shaft 15 is inserted is provided at the center of the hook plate 55. The shaft coupling hole 55a and the distal end portion of the throttle shaft 15 are formed into rectangular shapes, for example, and the throttle shaft 15 and the hook plate 55 are coupled such that the throttle shaft 15 and the hook plate 55 cannot rotate relative to each other, that is, rotation of the fourth gear 29 is transmitted to the throttle shaft 15.

A step difference 15a positioning the hook plate 55 in the axial direction is provided at the distal end portion of the throttle shaft 15. The return spring 21 is disposed between the hook plate 55 disposed with the distal end portion of the throttle shaft 15 inserted thereinto and the second segment body 14b. The fourth gear 29 is secured to the outside of the hook plate 55 with a plurality of bolts, for example.

A first hook 55b and a second hook 55d extend outward in the radial direction with distal ends bent toward the axial direction (on the side of the second segment body 14b) and a stopper 55c are formed at the end portion the outer peripheral portion of the hook plate 55. The first hook 55b and the second hook 55d are disposed at an interval from each other in a circumferential direction on a concentric circle around the shaft coupling hole 55a at the center. Grooves, for example, are formed in both the first hook 55b and the second hook 55d such that the end portion 21b of the return spring 21 is easily locked at the grooves.

The stopper 55c abuts on a stopper bolt 56 provided in the second segment body 14b and prevents rotation of the throttle shaft 15 in one direction (right rotation in FIG. 8). The stopper bolt 56 is adapted such that an abutting position with respect to the stopper 55c can be adjusted.

Although the return spring 21 biases the hook plate 55 in one rotation direction (right rotation in FIG. 8) relative to the second segment body 14b, the rotation is prevented at a predetermined rotation position by the stopper 55c. In other words, the throttle shaft 15 is biased to rotate relative to the unit body 23 by a biasing force of the return spring 21. In this manner, the throttle valves 16c and 16d (16a and 16b in the first throttle unit 11) are closed when the motor 17 does not operate.

Also, the fourth gear 29 rotates against the biasing of the return spring 21 (left rotation in FIG. 8) via the deceleration mechanism 20 by operating the motor 17.

In the deceleration mechanism 20 in this embodiment, the projections 53a and 53b are provided at two locations of the second segment body 14b, and the end portion 21a of the return spring 21 on the side of the second segment body 14b can be selectively locked at any one of the projections 53a and 53b. The throttle valves 16c and 16d (16a and 16b) are biased in the closed direction by the biasing of the return spring 21, and the throttle valves 16c and 16d (16a and 16b) are brought into a closed state when the motor 17 does not operate. The biasing torque of the return spring 21 in the closed state, namely, the set torque of maintaining the throttle valves 16c and 16d (16a and 16b) in the closed state are defined by the locking position of the end portion 21a of the return spring 21.

As illustrated in FIG. 9, the set torque is set to be relatively small by locking the end portion 21a of the return spring 21 at the first projection 53a in the first throttle unit 11.

As illustrated in FIG. 10, the set torque is set to be relatively large by locking the end portion 21a of the return spring 21 at the second projection 53b in the second throttle unit 12.

Also, the first hook 55b and the second hook 55d are formed in the hook plate 55, and the set torque can be changed depending on which of the first hook 55b and the second hook 55d the end portion 21b of the return spring 21 is to be locked at.

The set torque is set to be relatively small by locking the end portion 21b of the return spring 21 at the first hook 55b in the first throttle unit 11.

The set torque is set to be relatively large by locking the end portion 21b of the return spring 21 at the second hook 55d in the second throttle unit 12.

It is thus possible to cause the throttle valves 16c and 16d of the second throttle unit 12 that is subjected to cylinder deactivation to further quickly perform a closing operation as compared with the throttle valves 16a and 16b of the first throttle unit 11 that is not subjected to cylinder deactivation, when the throttle valves 16a to 16d of the first throttle unit 11 and the second throttle unit 12 are caused to operate from the fully opened state to the fully closed state.

Although the description of the embodiments will now end, the aspects of the present invention are not limited to the aforementioned embodiments. For example, although the present invention is applied to the engine 1 provided with the cylinder deactivated operation function in the aforementioned embodiments, the present invention may be applied to an engine with no cylinder deactivated operation function.

It is possible to immediately solve differences in degrees of opening of a plurality of throttle valves in a case in which control is performed to obtain the same degree of opening from the state in which the degrees of opening differ from each other, in an engine in which a state where the degrees of opening of the plurality of throttle valves differ from each other may occur regardless of the engine being not provided with the cylinder deactivated operation function. It is thus possible to achieve smooth operations of the engine with a simple configuration.

Although the present invention is applied to the throttle device 10 in the four-cylinder engine 1 in the embodiments, the present invention may be applied to a throttle device for an engine with a plurality of cylinders instead of the four-cylinder engine.

Although the throttle device 10 according to the embodiment has the two throttle units 11 and 12, and the total of two motors 17a and 17b for each two of the four cylinders drive the throttle valves for the cylinders, the throttle device may include three or more throttle units and motors. The number of throttle valves operated by each motor may be any number instead of two.

The throttle device according to the present invention can be employed for an engine used for applications other than the motorcycle.

The present invention is employed in a multi-cylinder engine and can widely be applied to a throttle device in which a plurality of motors share operations of opening and closing a plurality of throttle valves.

Claims

1. A throttle device comprising: a plurality of throttle units provided in an engine for each of cylinders or for each of cylinder groups, each of the throttle units includinga throttle body having intake air passages corresponding to the plurality of cylinders of the engine,a throttle shaft rotatably supported by the throttle body,throttle valves secured to the throttle shaft to open and close the intake air passages for the cylinders, anda motor driving and rotating the throttle shaft,wherein a first motor that is the motor provided in a first throttle unit and a second motor that is the motor provided in a second throttle unit out of the plurality of throttle units are electric motors,at least either numbers of windings or wire diameters of coils are set to be different between the first motor and the second motor, andthe first motor and the second motor have mutually different responsivities to a change in rotation speed.

2. A throttle device comprising: a plurality of throttle units provided in an engine for each of cylinders or for each of cylinder groups, each of the throttle units includinga throttle body having intake air passages corresponding to the plurality of cylinders of the engine,a throttle shaft rotatably supported by the throttle body,throttle valves secured to the throttle shaft to open and close the intake air passages for the cylinders, anda motor driving and rotating the throttle shaft,wherein a first motor that is the motor provided in a first throttle unit and a second motor that is the motor provided in a second throttle unit out of the plurality of throttle units are electric motorsa control unit outputting drive currents to the first motor and the second motor,wherein the control unit outputs the drive currents different from each other to the first motor and the second motor to set mutually different responsivities to a change in rotation speed for the first motor and the second motor.

3. The throttle device according to claim 1, further comprising: a control unit outputting drive currents to the first motor and the second motor,wherein the control unit outputs the drive currents different from each other to the first motor and the second motor to set mutually different responsivities to a change in rotation speed for the first motor and the second motor.

4. The throttle device according to claim 1, further comprising: a cylinder deactivation control unit stopping operations only of the second motor out of the first motor and the second motor and setting the throttle valves of the second throttle unit to have a predetermined degree of opening in a predetermined operating region of the engine, and deactivating combustion of the cylinder or the cylinder group corresponding to the second throttle unit,wherein the responsivity to a change in rotation speed of the second motor is higher than the responsivity to a change in rotation speed of the first motor.

5. The throttle device according to claim 2, further comprising: a cylinder deactivation control unit stopping operations only of the second motor out of the first motor and the second motor and setting the throttle valves of the second throttle unit to have a predetermined degree of opening in a predetermined operating region of the engine, and deactivating combustion of the cylinder or the cylinder group corresponding to the second throttle unit,wherein the responsivity to a change in rotation speed of the second motor is higher than the responsivity to a change in rotation speed of the first motor.

6. The throttle device according to claim 3, further comprising: a cylinder deactivation control unit stopping operations only of the second motor out of the first motor and the second motor and setting the throttle valves of the second throttle unit to have a predetermined degree of opening in a predetermined operating region of the engine, and deactivating combustion of the cylinder or the cylinder group corresponding to the second throttle unit,wherein the responsivity to a change in rotation speed of the second motor is higher than the responsivity to a change in rotation speed of the first motor.

7. The throttle device according to claim 1, wherein each of the first throttle unit and the second throttle unit is provided with a decelerator decelerating rotation of a drive shaft of the motor and transmitting the decelerated rotation to the throttle shaft, anda deceleration ratio of the decelerator of the first throttle unit and a deceleration ratio of the decelerator of the second throttle unit are different from each other.

8. The throttle device according to claim 2, wherein each of the first throttle unit and the second throttle unit is provided with a decelerator decelerating rotation of a drive shaft of the motor and transmitting the decelerated rotation to the throttle shaft, anda deceleration ratio of the decelerator of the first throttle unit and a deceleration ratio of the decelerator of the second throttle unit are different from each other.

9. The throttle device according to claim 3, wherein each of the first throttle unit and the second throttle unit is provided with a decelerator decelerating rotation of a drive shaft of the motor and transmitting the decelerated rotation to the throttle shaft, anda deceleration ratio of the decelerator of the first throttle unit and a deceleration ratio of the decelerator of the second throttle unit are different from each other.

10. The throttle device according to claim 4, wherein each of the first throttle unit and the second throttle unit is provided with a decelerator decelerating rotation of a drive shaft of the motor and transmitting the decelerated rotation to the throttle shaft, anda deceleration ratio of the decelerator of the first throttle unit and a deceleration ratio of the decelerator of the second throttle unit are different from each other.

11. The throttle device according to claim 5, wherein each of the first throttle unit and the second throttle unit is provided with a decelerator decelerating rotation of a drive shaft of the motor and transmitting the decelerated rotation to the throttle shaft, anda deceleration ratio of the decelerator of the first throttle unit and a deceleration ratio of the decelerator of the second throttle unit are different from each other.

12. The throttle device according to claim 6, wherein each of the first throttle unit and the second throttle unit is provided with a decelerator decelerating rotation of a drive shaft of the motor and transmitting the decelerated rotation to the throttle shaft, anda deceleration ratio of the decelerator of the first throttle unit and a deceleration ratio of the decelerator of the second throttle unit are different from each other.

13. The throttle device according to claim 1, wherein two units being the throttle units are provided in the engine.

14. The throttle device according to claim 1, wherein the throttle device is provided in the engine of a motorcycle.