Patent GB-1486087-A (GB)
Title: Control device for regulating the hydraulic control pressure applied to automatic transmissions in motor vehicles
IPC: F16H61/02
Filed: 1975-10-07
Abstract: 1486087 Change speed control REGIE NATIONALE DES USINES RENAULT and AUTOMOBILES PEUGEOT SA 7 Oct 1975 [7 Oct 1974] 41070/75 Heading F2D In an automatic transmission on a motor vehicle having ratio-establishing friction clutches and brakes engaged by fluid pressure, line pressure is controlled by a control voltage which responds to electric signals representing, at 17, Fig. 7, the rotational speed of a part of the transmission such as the input or output of a driving torque converter; at 18 the load on the engine, e.g. throttle setting or mass intake airflow rate; and at e1, e2, representing as part of a binary code (see below) the ratio established or being established, the response to the said parameters being as follows. The control voltage generator comprises a first, means, viz a frequency-voltage converter 69, 70, 71 and amplifier 73a, which produces a first voltage h which decreases linearly with increasing speed, the rate of decrease being varied by a feed-back loop 73b depending on the established ratio signal e1; a second means, operational amplifier 80, for deriving from the first voltage h a second voltage f which decreases linearly in agreement with the first voltage h but is shifted in value in accordance with the engine load 17; third means, function generator 81, for deriving from the second voltage j and from the ratio signal e1 a third voltage k which decreases with increasing speed along two intersecting straight lines having differing slopes which depend on the gear ratio signal e1; and fourth means, two summator-subtractor stages 83, 84, receiving also the engine load signal 17, for deriving from the third voltage k a fourth voltage l which decreases with speed along two straight lines of differing slope which intersect at points at which the fourth voltage depends on the load. The voltage generator further comprises fifth means, viz an amplifier 85a in which the gain is variably controlled by a feed-back loop 85b receiving one ratio-established or being established signal e1, and a signal e2 which is the other ratioestablished signal e2, inverted at 72, the final output signal appearing at 22. Figs. 4 and 5 show the manner in which the output signal 22, responding to speed, torque and ratio 18, 17, 12, controls line pressure 14 by hydraulic feed-back 14a to a pressure-voltage converter 26 applying a voltage feed-back 27 to a differential amplifier 28 receiving the output signal 22 (Figs. 4 and 7) and issuing an error signal 29 through an amplifier 30 and correcting circuit 31, e.g. a phase advancing circuit to improve stability, which issues a control signal 39 to an electronic circuit 32 and voltagepressure transducer 33, Figs. 4 and 5. The electronic circuit 32 comprises a voltage-duration converter 43, controlled by a stable clock 45, to issue a rectangular signal 46 the pulses of which are at clock frequency and their duration proportional to the voltage of the input signal 39. Output transistors 47, 50 governed by the signal 46, then control the voltage applied from a supply line 42 across the winding of the voltagepressure transducer 33 in which a magnetic ball 41 controls an exhaust orifice by maintaining equilibrium under the three forces of magnetic attraction, hydraulic repulsion and dynamic force, the orifice being fed by feed-back 14b from the final line pressure 14 through a restrictor 35, the transducer 33 providing control pressure 24 for a main pressure regulator 23 receiving pump pressure 16 and feeding the main line 14. Since the input voltage 39 is proportional to the error signal 29, the hydraulic control pressure 24 is also proportional thereto. Fig. 6, not shown, modifies the transducer circuit. A needle valve (57) connects input 14b to control output 24, which latter has a permanently open fixed exhaust restrictor (60a), and hydraulic feed-back (63) is to a piston (58) providing additional load for the solenoidcontrolled needle valve.  The gear ratio signals e1, e2 and e2 from the shift command and inverter circuits 11, 72, Fig. 7, represent the three ratios and reverse as a binary code, Fig. 9, not shown, these signals being respectively at. 001 in first and reverse, 101 in second, and 110 in third. As a safety feature the decreasing function of the speed signal voltage a, Fig. 7, with increase in speed results in maximum line pressure on failure of the speed detector 18. A fail-safe circuit 76 receiving the load signal 17 provides at f a voltage decreasing with load and grounds the load signal as soon as it exceeds a predetermined safe value (Fig. 13, not shown). The load voltage f issues to a function generator 78, detailed in Fig. 14, not shown, which varies the output voltage g in a predetermined experimentally determined manner with engine load. This circuit uses polarized diodes and resistors to obtain the required function.  The function generator 81, Fig. 7, is detailed in Fig. 15, not shown, and uses a voltage control stabilized by a Zener diode which determines the location of the line determining the changes of slope in the load lines. Fig. 11, not shown, shows the load lines representing the voltages h ... m in the circuit Fig. 7, each line representing a particular load for each of three gear ratios and reverse, and each consisting of two linear portions of differing slope, with the object of providing an approximation between similar load lines, Fig. 2, obtained by experiment, and representing converter turbine speed against turbine torque at particular loads CM (maximum) to Cm (minimum) in a particular gear ratio, and similar lines connecting line pressure with turbine speed.