Patent GB-1382331-A (GB)
Title: Automatic transmission control systems
IPC: F16H61/12
Filed: 1972-01-14
Abstract: 1382331 Change speed control ASSOCIATED ENG Ltd 5 Jan 1973 [14 Jan 1972] 1963/72 Heading F2D An automatic transmission on a motor vehicle is controlled by ratio-selecting clutches and brakes engaged by fluid pressure supplied to them by shift valves B, C, D, operated by solenoids 53 ... 55, and, to cushion ratio shift, means is provided to pulse the valve solenoids electrically for a period after initiation of a shift. As shown, the solenoids operate the shift valves by fluid pressure controlled by pilot valves actuated by the solenoids. Gear arrangement.-The gear, which is driven through a fluid coupling or torque converter, provides direct drive, reverse and two or three reduced ratios. As shown, in Fig. 2 (not shown), it is an intermeshed planet gear providing three forward speeds by forward and direct-reverse input clutches (37, 23), a second ratio brake (25) and a one-way and parallelled band brake (33, 29), for automatic and manual low-reverse respectively. Fluid system.-Supply and regulation.-Line pressure 51, Fig. 6, from a single pump, acts leftwards on a main regulator valve A, spilling to exhaust 52, under control of a load spring 49 which, in direct-drive only, is opposed by line pressure 51 supplied through a line 79 to a differential land space 80, to reduce direct-drive line pressure from a normal 180 p.s.i. to 90 p.s.i. A line 76 normally feeds the torque converter 16 at 20 p.s.i. from line 51, 74 through a restrictor 75, but the line 79, which halves main regulated pressure in direct drive, also shifts left (position shown) a rightwardly spring-loaded torque converter pressure-control valve E, to replace the restrictor 75 by a second restrictor 82, which maintains converter and gear lubricating pressure at the constant 20 p.s.i. During idle the valve E overcomes the low line pressure to cut off the converter and lube supply until line pressure reaches 50 p.s.i. Shift valves.-B, C, D, together with the main regulator valve A and converter pressure control valve E, are mounted in a common valve block, Fig. 5, not shown, the shift valves being loaded to inoperative position by springs 65, 71, the latter being common to the valves C, D and arranged between them. The valves are always loaded in compression and may therefore be made in multiple length sections to reduce the effect of bore and valve irregularities. Energizing (or de-energizing) valve solenoids 53 ... 55 blocks exhaust passages from head spaces 143 ... 145 of the respective valves, whereby line pressure 51, constantly supplied to the said spaces through restrictors 58, .. 60, builds up therein to shift the valves B, C, D to their operative positions (B and D being so shown). Tapered sections 92 adjacent effective lands graduate the pressure change at the delivery passage, which are as follows. 31 for the manual low-reverse brake 30; 27 for the apply side 26a of the second ratio brake; 38 for the forward clutch 37; and 39, tied to a second ratio brake-release line 26r, for the direct-reverse clutch 32. The pressure reaching these passages in some cases passes through two of the valves or through multiple ports in the same valve. Solenoid shift pattern - With the solenoids closing the exhaust path when energized, the following ratios are selected by energizing the following solenoids Neutral, 53; automatic low, 54, 55; second, 54; direct-drive, none; manual low, 55; reverse, 53, 55 With this sequence, failure of any solenoid shifts upwards towards direct-drive A modification, Fig 7, not shown, re-arranges the valve porting, the valve D being operated by using the valve solenoid 53 to control pressure in the space between the two adjacent ends of the valves C and D to force them apart, an additional return spring being provided. The solenoid valves 53, 54, 55 block exhaust when deenergized, resulting in a changed energization pattern, one or more solenoids being energized for every operating condition, including neutral, and all three being energized for reverse. Shift circuit, electrical.-Automatic shift parameters are output speed and engine torque, as manifested by intake depression or throttle setting. Figs. 8 and 9 (arranged in sequence side-by-side), show a circuit for energizing a single one of the solenoids 53 ... 55 through an output line 172, the signal on which triggers a transistor (175, Fig. 10, not shown) controlling a power transistor (174) or electromagnetic relay feeding the valve solenoid. Speed and torque signals 102, 103 are compared in a differential amplifier 100 the output signal 104 of which passes to a delay circuit producing delays of different extent for energizing and de-energizing the valve-solenoid to give a smooth shift. The delay circuit comprises a differential amplifier 105, capacitor 112, diodes 107, 108 and resistors 106, &c., the control voltage of the resistor 106 being varied by transistors 114...116, the bases of which receive input signals varying in accordance with speed, engine torque, and transmission temperature, to exert a corresponding control on the delay period. A Zener diode 121 maintains the output signal 120 of the differential amplifier 105 at either +5V or zero. Further shift cushioning is produced by pulse energization of the shift valve solenoid for a predetermined period during shift, under control of a monostable multivibrator 122, providing different up and downshift pulse rates determined by a transistor 124, controlled by a signal 123. A pulse steering circuit, comprising capacitors 128,129 and an inverting NAND circuit 134, applies negative pulses to the monostable 122 whether voltage change at input 120, 127 is up or down. A diode 139 and transistors 137, 138 can, when required, reduce the pulse period to zero under control of signals 135, 136. The monostable 122 has two outputs 140, 141, inverse to each other, feeding NAND gates 144, 145 along with signals from the line 120, that for 145 being inverted in a NAND gate 142, and providing with a 5V-fed resistor 146 an output 147. Outputs 120, 147, inverted in NAND gates 148, 149, pass to NAND gates 150, 151, the outputs of which, pre-set by resistors 159, 160 control the mark-space ratio of the output from a transistor oscillator 153 ... 156, this ratio being further adjustable by torque, speed or transmission temperature dependent voltages on lines 161, 162. Oscillator output167 passes to a NAND gate 168 along with 5V input, and thence to an inverting NAND gate 169, after which it is combined with the output of a NAND gate 152 directly fed by the signal lines 120, 147, and applied to an inverting NAND gate 171, producing the output signal 172, amplified in Fig. 10, not shown, for energizing the shift-valve solenoid. The wave form of the current at each stage of the circuit is given in Fig. 12 (not shown).