Patent Description:
Motorized agricultural or work vehicles are well known for handling materials and performing specific demanding tasks. With reference to <FIG>, a prime mover E, generally an internal combustion, drives a variable displacement HP hydraulic pump in rotation, which powers a variable displacement hydraulic motor HM operatively connected to the hydraulic pump defining a so-called hydrostat HY, in which a forward hydraulic line F and a return hydraulic line R interconnect the hydraulic pump with the hydraulic motor. As a reference <CIT> discloses a vehicle with an engine which drives a pump and an hydraulic motor to a wheel, comprising a braking mode; <CIT> discloses a vehicle with an engine which drives a pump and an hydraulic motor to a wheel, comprising only a driving mode.

To better define the diagram in <FIG>, this transmission is referred to as a "series" hydraulic transmission, in the sense that the connection between the prime mover and the vehicle wheels occurs exclusively through the hydrostat.

The displacement of the hydraulic pump is electrically controlled. Generally, there is a control map of the hydraulic pump displacement which allows to control the displacement of this according to the rotation speed of the prime mover. Typically, the relationship between the pump displacement and the speed of the prime mover is linear and the displacement grows with increasing speed.

The displacement of the hydraulic motor is electrically controlled.

Generally, there is a map of adjustments of displacement of the hydraulic motor, which allows the relative displacement to be controlled as a function of the pressure generated on the forward F and return R hydraulic lines or as a function of the speed of the vehicle.

Therefore the ordinary control strategies of the hydraulic motor displacement are:.

When the driver wants to slow down, the first action he takes is to release the accelerator pedal.

In the case of "pressure control" of the hydraulic motor displacement, the pressure of the hydraulic line of the forward travel, being not pressurized, causes the hydraulic motor to reaches its minimum displacement and therefore to have a low braking effect.

Similarly, in the case of "speed control" of the hydraulic motor displacement, if the accelerator pedal is released when the vehicle travels at a speed higher than the aforementioned predetermined speed value, the displacement is low, if not minimal, with the same effects described above.

Thus, when the vehicle has to face, for example, a long and steep descent, if the driver releases the accelerator pedal, the vehicle continues to move at high speed. This could lead the braking system to go into crisis or in any case to reduce its braking capacity to the point of rendering critical the safety of the vehicle itself.

If not specifically excluded in the detailed description that follows, what is described in this chapter is to be considered as an integral part of the detailed description.

The object of the present invention is to improve the behavior of an agricultural or work vehicle equipped with a hydraulic transmission, in particular in relation to the relative braking capacity and as a consequence in relation to the safety of the vehicle itself.

The basic idea of the present invention is to increase the displacement of the variable displacement hydraulic motor when it is detected that the vehicle, in dynamic conditions, need to be braked.

The invention is defined in the appended independent method claim <NUM> and in the appended independent device claim <NUM>.

In order to intervene on the displacement of the hydraulic motor, the control is carried out by means of an electric actuator.

In dynamic conditions, if the accelerator pedal is fully released and at least one further control condition occurs, it is determined that the vehicle needs to be braked and an increase in the displacement of the hydraulic motor is forced so as to restore vehicle speed to safe conditions.

Preferably, the engine displacement is brought to the maximum possible.

One of the conditions to be considered to trigger this signal can be.

Thanks to the present invention, when the vehicle is downhill, an increase in the displacement of the hydraulic motor is forced which starts to pressurize the hydraulic oil like a hydraulic pump, pressurizing hydraulic oil in the line opposite to the direction of travel and inducing the hydraulic pump to work like a hydraulic motor connected to the prime mover. Advantageously, an operative connection is established between the hydraulic motor and the prime mover, and by increasing the displacement of the motor, and consequently the flow rate of hydraulic fluid pumped towards the pump, there is a greater beneficial effect of braking the vehicle.

According to a preferred variant of the invention that combines with any of the previous ones, depressing the accelerator pedal restores the ordinary strategy of controlling the displacement of the hydraulic motor.

According to another preferred variant of the invention, a pressure on the accelerator pedal first leads to gradually reducing the displacement of the hydraulic motor up to the value that would have occurred according to the ordinary strategy of controlling the displacement of the hydraulic motor and, subsequently, restores the ordinary strategy of controlling the displacement of the hydraulic motor. Advantageously, a sudden reduction in the displacement of the hydraulic motor is prevented from inducing a sudden acceleration of the vehicle downstream.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will become clear from the following detailed description of an example of its embodiment (and its variants) and from the attached drawings given purely by way of non-limiting explanation, in which:.

It should also be noted that the terms "first", "second", "third", "upper", "lower" and the like can be used here to distinguish various elements. These terms do not imply a spatial, sequential or hierarchical order for the modified elements unless it is specifically indicated or inferred from the text.

The elements and features illustrated in the various preferred embodiments, including the drawings, can be combined with each other without however departing from the scope of this application as described below.

According to the present invention, the complete release (C2) of the acceleration pedal in dynamic conditions (C1) of the vehicle activates the monitoring of the safety conditions of the vehicle, which expresses an judgment on the need to provide autonomous braking (C3) of the vehicle. The idea of the invention is to provide an autonomous contribution to vehicle braking through the hydraulic transmission HY, temporarily replacing the ordinary strategy of controlling the displacement of the hydraulic motor.

This contribution is completely independent on the vehicle service brakes activation.

According to the present invention, the hydraulic motor HM is of the electrohydraulic type, in which its displacement is electrically controlled by the processing unit UCM on board the vehicle.

The judgment relating the braking need consists, for example, in detecting that the vehicle is traveling down a road.

The vehicle is equipped with a processing unit UCM configured to receive a signal from the accelerator pedal (or lever) which is <NUM>% at the minimum incline and <NUM>% at the maximum inclination.

The UCM processing unit is operationally associated with a sensor, for example the phonic wheel, designed to detect the rotation speed of the prime mover "Engine Speed".

The processing unit is operationally associated with a sensor, for example associated with a drive shaft, to detect a vehicle speed "Vehicle speed".

The processing unit is configured to detect the occurrence of the following conditions:.

When it appears that all the three previous conditions C1 - C3 are satisfied, then an increase in the displacement of the hydraulic motor is forced up to a predetermined value. The signal indicating the need to provide autonomous vehicle braking includes at least one of:.

Therefore, the value of the displacement to which the hydraulic motor is forced can be chosen for example to increase the deceleration of the vehicle beyond a predetermined threshold, or it can be the maximum value of the displacement.

Therefore, unlike an ordinary strategy for controlling the displacement of the hydraulic motor, the displacement, at the complete release of the accelerator pedal (C2), when the vehicle is in dynamic conditions (C1) and a signal indicates that the vehicle must be braked, displacement of the hydraulic motor is forced to increase obtaining the engine brake typical of vehicles equipped with mechanical transmission, that is, by means of transmission shafts, gears, etc. without a hydrostat.

Often the prime mover is a Diesel cycle, which offers a good braking effect especially if equipped with a variable geometry turbo compressor.

According to a preferred variant of the invention, as soon as the accelerator pedal (or lever) is touched, the ordinary operation of the transmission is re-established as described above.

This preferred variant of the invention is schematized with the help of <FIG>, which shows an exemplary flow chart of said variant.

According to a further preferred variant of the invention, shown in <FIG>, this ordinary operation is not re-established (immediately) when the accelerator pedal is activated, but only when a relative inclination P% exceeds a predetermined threshold Th2, for example, set at <NUM>%.

In the interval between <NUM> and Th2, the displacement of the hydraulic motor is reduced proportionally to the inclination of the accelerator pedal up to a predetermined value in Th2. The predetermined value of displacement in Th2 can be.

The proportional reduction of the displacement of the hydraulic motor is summarized by step ST2.

When the displacement value is predetermined or minimum, in the interval between O% and Th2 it can also be envisaged to inhibit the prime mover from receiving the accelerator pedal position signal.

When the inclination of the accelerator pedal exceeds Th2 up to <NUM>%, the prime mover is controlled as in ordinary conditions ORD, i.e. the rotational speed of the prime mover and therefore the displacement of the hydraulic pump are linearly dependent on the inclination of the accelerator pedal, while the hydraulic motor is controlled with the ordinary control strategy, which is typically in "pressure" or "speed" control. Then, it resumes from the beginning to monitor the occurrence of the three conditions C1, C2, C3.

It is worth highlighting that the nature of the ordinary control strategy is not relevant for the purposes of the present invention, which is independent of it.

With reference to <FIG>, after the increase in the displacement of the hydraulic motor is forced in ST1, the accelerator pedal fully released condition continues to be checked in a loop, when this condition is no longer verified (CK2 - NO), then it is checked (CK3) whether the relative inclination is between <NUM>% and Th2, in the positive case (CK3 - YES) then the displacement of the hydraulic motor is reduced (ST2) as described above and it resumes checking (CK3) whether its inclination is between <NUM>% and Th2. If not (CK3 - NO), the ordinary strategy of controlling the displacement of the hydraulic motor is restored and it restarts from the beginning (START).

It is worth highlighting that after verification (CK3) if the inclination of the accelerator pedal is between <NUM>% and Th2 a complete new release of the accelerator pedal occurs, being the control dynamics many times faster than the dynamics of the engine displacement control hydraulic, it returns to step ST1 in a transparent way for the driver.

The present invention can be advantageously realized by means of a computer program, which comprises coding means for carrying out one or more steps of the method, when this program is executed on a computer. Therefore, it is intended that the scope of protection includes said computer program and further computer readable means comprising a recorded message, said computer readable means comprising program coding means for carrying out one or more steps of the method, when said program is run on a computer.

Claim 1:
Braking method of an agricultural or work vehicle equipped with a hydraulic transmission (HY) wherein a hydraulic pump (HP) is driven by a prime mover (E) to power a hydraulic motor (HM), wherein the hydraulic motor is operationally connected to at least one vehicle wheel (W), the hydraulic pump having variable displacement with the relative displacement controlled proportionally to the rotation speed (Engine Speed) of the prime mover (E), the hydraulic motor having variable displacement, the method comprising a first step of forcing (ST1) a displacement increase of the hydraulic motor (HM) till to a predetermined value, when, in dynamic conditions (C1) of the vehicle, a relating accelerator pedal is completely released (C2) and a signal (C3) indicating the need to brake the vehicle is present and when the displacement of the hydraulic motor is increased following said first step (ST1), as a result of a pressure on the accelerator pedal, the method comprises a third step (ORD) to restore the ordinary control strategy of the displacement of the hydraulic motor;
said braking method is further characterized in that said ordinary control strategy provides that the displacement of the hydraulic motor is inversely proportional to the speed of the vehicle.