Patent ID: 9726053
Date: 2017-08-08
CPC Classifications: F01L

Claim:
1. A valve opening/closing timing control device, comprising: a drive-side rotary member that rotates synchronously with a crankshaft of an internal combustion engine; a driven-side rotary member that rotates in unity with a camshaft of the internal combustion engine, and is capable of relative rotation with respect to the drive-side rotary member; a fluid pressure chamber that is formed by the drive-side rotary member and the driven-side rotary member; a vane that is disposed within the fluid pressure chamber, and divides the fluid pressure chamber into a retard chamber and an advance chamber that permit inflow or discharge of a fluid, and selectively moves a relative rotation phase of the driven-side rotary member with respect to the drive-side rotary member between a retard direction in which volume within the retard chamber increases due to inflow of the fluid and an advance direction in which volume within the advance chamber increases due to inflow of the fluid; an intermediate lock mechanism that includes a lock member provided in any one of the drive-side rotary member and the driven-side rotary member and is capable of moving with respect to an other of the drive-side rotary member and the driven-side rotary member, and a recess that extends in a circumferential direction and is provided in the other of the drive-side rotary member and the driven-side rotary member, the intermediate lock mechanism being capable of switching between a locked state in which the relative rotation phase is constrained to an intermediate locked phase between the most advanced phase and the most retarded phase by the lock member fitting into the recess, and an unlocked state in which the constraint has been released by the lock member withdrawing from the recess; a phase control unit that controls supply of the fluid to the retard chamber and discharge of the fluid from the advance chamber, or controls discharge of the fluid from the retard chamber and supply of the fluid to the advance chamber, such that the lock member attains the intermediate locked phase; and a determination unit that, after the phase control unit executes the control to supply the fluid to the retard chamber and discharge the fluid from the advance chamber, or executes the control to discharge the fluid from the retard chamber and supply the fluid to the advance chamber, when control has been performed such that the lock member moves toward a determination phase that has been set at a different position than the intermediate locked phase in the recess, determines whether the lock member will attain the determination phase, and when the result of that determination is that the lock member will not attain the determination phase, the determination unit determines that the relative rotation phase is in the locked state.