Patent ID: 8335624

Claim:
A clutch connection control apparatus arranged to connect and disconnect a torque between a first shaft and a second shaft, the clutch connection control apparatus comprising: a clutch including a driving member movable in a first direction and a second direction opposite to the first direction, the clutch biased in the first direction and arranged to shift to a first state where the torque is transmitted between the first shaft and the second shaft by the movement in the first direction of the driving member, and to shift to a second state where the torque is not transmitted between the first shaft and the second shaft by the movement in the second direction of the driving member; a driving device arranged to move the driving member in the clutch in the first direction and the second direction; a detector arranged to detect a load applied to the driving device by the driving member in a process of shifting from the second state to the first state or a process of shifting from the first state to the second state in a predetermined preparation operation; a calculator arranged to calculate a rate of change in the load detected by the detector; a determination unit arranged to determine the value of the load applied to the driving device by the driving member at a time point preceding a time point where the clutch shifts to the first state or the second state, or to determine a position of an element having a predetermined relationship with a position of the driving member at the time point preceding the time point where the clutch shifts to the first state or the second state, as a pre-operation point based on the rate of change in the load calculated by the calculator; a storage device arranged to store the pre-operation point determined by the determination unit; and a control device arranged to control the driving device such that the movement speed of the driving member is changed when the value of the load applied to the driving device in the process of shifting from the second state to the first state, or when the position of the element having the predetermined relationship with the position of the driving member, is equal to the pre-operation point stored in the storage device in a normal clutch operation.