Off-gear and in-gear linkage automatic transmission and method

Abstract

The automatic transmission comprises a plurality of gear shifting guide rails and a gear shifting execution mechanism, and is characterized in that two adjacent gear positions in the transmission are not on the same gear shifting guide rail; gear shifting forks are arranged on the gear shifting guide rails; the gear shifting executing mechanism can control the two gear shifting guide rails at the same time to achieve linkage that one gear shifting fork executes out-of-gear operation and the other gear shifting fork executes in-gear operation, and out-of-gear operation and in-gear operation are completed in the same action stroke. The driving gear drives the gear shifting gear A and the gear shifting gear B to carry out gear selecting operation, and the time of the gear shifting process is not occupied. According to the automatic transmission, the gear shifting time can be shortened, the gear shifting comfort is improved, and the driving safety is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to an automatic transmission and a method for linkage between shifting out of gear and shifting in gear. Background Art

[0002] In the field of automobiles and other means of transportation, gear-type stepped transmission is the most popular product. Its basic structure and basic control method have evolved for hundreds of years and have maintained a relatively stable form to this day.

[0003] In the structure of the multi-speed step-variable transmission, there are many different arrangements of gears and shafts, but in the shift control operation, there is only one form and steps: disengage the clutch → disengage the current gear → move and select the next gear → engage the next gear → re-engage the clutch. If the clutch cooperation action is ignored, the typical shift operation of the above multi-speed step-variable transmission has three steps: 1. Disengage the gear, 2. Select the gear, 3. Enter the (new) gear. The operation of these three steps cannot be omitted, cannot be replaced, and the operation order cannot be reversed. This is the general rule for the current multi-speed step-variable transmission. Regardless of whether the shift operation is completed manually (MT) or by an automatic shift actuator (AMT), the rules of the above three steps are the same.

[0004] Shortening the time taken for gear shifting has always been a design pursuit in the transmission industry. Shortening the "gear shifting time" means shortening the "power interruption time", which is of great positive significance for improving gear shifting comfort and driving safety. Summary of the invention

[0005] The object of the present invention is to provide an automatic transmission and method with linked shifting and disengaging, which helps to shorten the "shifting time", improve the shifting comfort and improve the driving safety.

[0006] The technical solution of the present invention is: an automatic transmission with gear shifting and shifting linkage, comprising a plurality of gear shifting rails and a gear shifting actuator, wherein two adjacent gear positions in the transmission are not on the same gear shifting rail; gear shifting forks are arranged on the gear shifting rails; the gear shifting actuator can simultaneously control the two gear shifting rails to realize the linkage of one gear shifting fork executing gear shifting and the other gear shifting fork executing gear shifting, and gear shifting and shifting are completed in the same action stroke.

[0007] Furthermore, the shift actuator includes a shift gear A and a shift gear B driven to rotate synchronously by a first drive mechanism, and the shift gear A and the shift gear B are both provided with a shift shift block, and the shift guide rail is fixed with a shift connecting block, and the shift connecting block is provided with two shift grooves along the axial direction of the shift guide rail; a second drive mechanism and a third drive mechanism are also provided for driving the shift gear A and the shift gear B to move linearly respectively.

[0008] Furthermore, the first driving mechanism includes a driving gear driven to rotate by a motor via a reducer, and the driving gear is meshed with the gear selection gear A and the gear selection gear B respectively.

[0009] Furthermore, the second driving mechanism includes a shaft rod A which is parallel to the shift rail and driven by a cylinder A to move linearly, and the shift selection gear A is compositely connected to the shaft rod A.

[0010] Furthermore, the third driving mechanism includes a shaft rod B which is parallel to the shift rail and is driven by a cylinder B to move linearly, and the shift selection gear B is compositely connected to the shaft rod B.

[0011] Furthermore, a pair of shifting blocks are provided at the side ends of the shift selector gear A and the shift selector gear B along the circumferential direction, and the shifting blocks are fan-shaped.

[0012] Furthermore, the included angle between the pair of shift paddles on the shift selector gear A is different from the included angle between the pair of shift paddles on the shift selector gear B, and the value of the included angle varies depending on different shift selection requirements.

[0013] Furthermore, a plurality of shift rails are arranged in the transmission, and one of the shift rails is a reverse gear shift rail.

[0014] A method for shifting out of gear and shifting in linkage, comprising an automatic transmission with shifting out of gear and shifting in linkage, comprising the following steps: (1) The shift rails include rails I, II, III and reverse shift rails; the gear positions of the ① and ③ gears are set on the front and rear sides of the neutral position of rail I; the gear positions of the ⑤ and ② gears are set on the front and rear sides of the neutral position of rail II; the gear positions of the ④ and ⑥ gears are set on the front and rear sides of the neutral position of rail III; (2) driving the shift selector gear A and the shift selector gear B to rotate synchronously through the first drive mechanism; When the shift selector block of the shift selector gear A moves to the shift selector slot of the shift connection block entering the I track, and the shift selector block of the shift selector gear B moves to the shift selector slot of the shift connection block entering the II track, at this time, the second drive mechanism and the third drive mechanism can respectively operate the shift fork on the I track and the shift fork on the track to shift out of gear and shift in gear; When the shift selector block of the shift selector gear A moves to the shift selector slot of the shift connection block entering the II track, and the shift selector block of the shift selector gear B moves to the shift selector slot of the shift connection block entering the III track, at this time, the second drive mechanism and the third drive mechanism can respectively operate the shift fork on the II track and the shift fork on the III track to shift out of gear and shift in gear; When the shift selector block of the shift selector gear A moves to the shift selector slot of the shift connection block entering the I track, and the shift selector block of the shift selector gear B moves to the shift selector slot of the shift connection block entering the III track, at this time, the second drive mechanism and the third drive mechanism can respectively operate the shift fork on the I track and the shift fork on the III track to shift out of gear and shift in gear; When the shift paddle block of the shift gear A is vacant, the shift paddle block of the shift gear B moves to the shift slot of the shift connecting block entering the reverse gear shift guide rail. At this time, the third drive mechanism can operate the shift fork on the reverse gear shift guide rail to shift out of gear and into gear.

[0015] Furthermore, when a gear selection position is selected, the difference between upshift and downshift operations is that cylinder A and cylinder B perform opposite pushing and pulling actions.

[0016] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following advantages: 1. This automatic transmission helps to shorten the "shift time" and "power interruption time", which can shorten the shift process time by at least half, improve shift comfort and driving safety. For example, it is very useful when a heavy-loaded vehicle is shifting gears on a slope.

[0017] 2. The gear selection operation of the gear shift actuator is completed in advance before the gear shift, and does not take up the time of the gear shift operation process. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] Figure 1 This is the gear diagram of a typical 6-speed transmission; Figure 2 is the gear diagram of the present invention; Figure 3 A top view of a shift actuator according to an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 4 It is a side view of the shift actuator of the present invention; Figure 5 It is a schematic diagram of the gear selection position for switching between rails I and II of the present invention; Figure 6 It is a schematic diagram of the gear selection position for switching between rail II and rail III of the present invention; Figure 7 It is a schematic diagram of the gear selection position for switching between the III track and the I track of the present invention; Figure 8 A schematic diagram of the gear selection position of the present invention, in which the gear selection gear B selects the R gear; In the figure: 1-shift fork 2-shift gear A 3-shift gear B 4-shift block 5-shift connecting block 6-shift slot 7-motor 8-reducer 9-drive gear 10-cylinder A 11-shaft A 12-cylinder B 13-shaft B 14-output shaft 15-shift guide rail. Implementation In order to make the above features and advantages of the present invention more understandable, embodiments are given below with reference to the accompanying drawings for detailed description, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0020] refer to Figures 2 to 8 The present invention extracts the "gear selection step" that takes up the gear shifting time in the gear shifting process of existing products and places it before the gear shifting process through a specific gear shifting actuator and the rearrangement of the gear positions in the transmission; and merges the "gear shifting step" and "gear shifting step" of the existing products into one step of "gear shifting and gear shifting linkage"; these two measures can shorten the gear shifting process time by at least half.

[0021] Specifically, an automatic transmission with shifting and shifting linkage includes a plurality of shift rails 15 arranged at intervals and a shifting actuator. The gear pairs of each gear in the transmission are arranged according to the principle of "adjacent gears are on different rails", that is, the gear positions of two adjacent gears are not on the same shift rail; the shift rails are fixed with a shift fork 1; the shifting actuator can simultaneously control the two shift rails to move forward or backward to realize the linkage of one shift fork performing shifting and the other shift fork performing shifting, and the shifting and shifting are completed in the same action stroke. At the same time, the gear selection operation of the shifting actuator is completed in advance before the shifting, and does not occupy the time of the shifting operation process.

[0022] The present invention is further elaborated from two aspects: the position design of the gear pair and the action logic of the gear shift actuator. A 6-speed transmission (6MT) is used as an example for explanation (taking the 6-speed transmission as an example does not mean that the feasibility of the operation of "shifting and shifting linkage" is only applicable to the 6-speed transmission; on the contrary, the operation of "shifting and shifting linkage" can be used for other types of multi-speed gear transmissions (including combined transmissions) as long as they meet the arrangement rule: the positions of two adjacent gears are not on the same track (different tracks)).

[0023] 1. In terms of the position design of the gear pair: Figure 1 The figure below shows the gear position diagram of a typical 6-speed transmission, where ① and ② are on the same track, and the shifting process is two consecutive moves in the same direction on the same track (one shift-out and one shift-in). The shifting process between ③ and ④, and between ⑤ and ⑥ is similar to that between ① and ②, and all occur on the same track. The difference is that when shifting between ② and ③, and between ④ and ⑤, their shift-out and shift-in operations occur on two different tracks, respectively.

[0024] Obviously, if you want to achieve the operation of "shifting out and shifting in linkage", it is possible to achieve it in the two sets of off-track switching operations between ② and ③, and between ④ and ⑤; but in the same-track switching between ① and ②, ③ and ④, and between ⑤ and ⑥, it cannot be achieved by a single shift fork. Therefore, if you want to achieve "shifting out and shifting in linkage" for all gear switching, you need to design an actuator that simultaneously operates the shift forks on two tracks, so that the shift fork on one track is performing the shifting out operation while the shift fork on the other track is performing the shifting in operation, and you also need to make corresponding adjustments to the arrangement of the gear pairs inside the transmission.

[0025] according to Figure 2 The gear arrangement and distribution inside the transmission can be designed based on the gear positions shown in the figure (including B1, B2, B3, etc.), so that the switching of all adjacent gear positions of the transmission (① gear and ② gear, ② gear and ③ gear, ③ gear and ④ gear, ④ gear and ⑤ gear, ⑤ gear and ⑥ gear, etc.) can be linked with the gear shifting and shifting. The characteristic of this arrangement is that the adjacent gear positions must be arranged on different tracks. For example, the gear pairs of ① gear and ③ gear are located on the same track, the gear pairs of ② gear and ⑤ gear are located on the same track, and the gear pairs of ④ gear and ⑥ gear are located on the same track, and they are arranged in sequence, and the reverse gear (R gear) is located on a separate track.

[0026] (II) In terms of the design of the gear shift actuator: In this embodiment, the shift actuator includes a shift gear A 2 and a shift gear B 3 which are arranged on the transmission and driven by the first drive mechanism to rotate synchronously. The shift gear A and the shift gear B are both provided with a shift selector block 4. The shift guide rail is fixed with a shift connecting block 5. The shift connecting block is provided with two shift grooves 6 along the axial direction of the shift guide rail. The transmission is also provided with a second drive mechanism and a third drive mechanism which respectively drive the shift gear A and the shift gear B to move linearly. The second drive mechanism and the third drive mechanism drive the shift fork on a certain shift guide rail to make the engagement sleeve corresponding to the shift guide rail disengage or shift in gear. Figure 3 and Figure 4 .

[0027] In this embodiment, the first driving mechanism includes a driving gear 9 driven to rotate by a motor 7 installed on the transmission through a reducer 8, and the driving gear is respectively meshed with the gear selection gear A and the gear selection gear B. The motor can be a 24V motor, and the driving gear is fixedly installed on the output shaft 14 of the reducer. Under the controlled drive of the motor, the rotation of the driving gear synchronously drives the gear selection gear A and the gear selection gear B to rotate, so that the gear selection block on the gear selection gear A and the gear selection block on the gear selection gear B respectively enter the gear selection slot of the corresponding shift connection block (that is, prepare to drive the shift guide rail) or leave a gear selection slot (that is, do not operate the shift guide rail), that is, the gear selection gear A and the gear selection gear B have each selected the shift guide rail (this gear selection operation does not occupy the shift time).

[0028] In this embodiment, the second driving mechanism includes a shaft A11 which is parallel to the shift rail and driven by the cylinder A10 to move linearly, and the gear selection gear A is compositely connected with the shaft A11. That is, the gear selection gear A accepts the movement of the shaft A and the rotation of the driving gear, but neither transmits the rotation to the shaft A nor transmits the movement to the driving gear.

[0029] In this embodiment, the third driving mechanism includes a shaft rod B13 which is parallel to the shift rail and driven by the cylinder B12 to move linearly, and the gear selection gear B is compositely connected with the shaft rod B13. That is, the gear selection gear B accepts the movement of the shaft rod B and the rotation of the driving gear, but neither transmits the rotation to the shaft rod B nor transmits the movement to the driving gear.

[0030] By controlling the air pressure supplied to the two cylinders, cylinder A and cylinder B can be controlled to push or pull the selected shift rail through shaft A and shaft B respectively, one of which controls the shifting, while the other controls the shifting.

[0031] Since the driving gear is fixed on the output shaft of the reducer, the driving gear only transmits the rotational motion of the gear selection to the gear selection gear A and the gear selection gear B, and does not restrict the linear movement (push or pull) of the gear selection gear A and the gear selection gear B driven by the corresponding cylinders.

[0032] In this embodiment, the side ends of the gear selection gear A and the gear selection gear B are both provided with a pair of gear selection blocks along the circumferential direction, which are the "bridge" connecting the movement of the cylinder and the movement of the shift rail; the gear selection blocks are fan-shaped so as to better fit into the gear selection slot to push (or pull) the shift rail. Specifically, the angle between the pair of gear selection blocks on the gear selection gear A is different from the angle between the pair of gear selection blocks on the gear selection gear B, and the width of the fan-shaped surface of each gear selection block is also different, in order to ensure that in each gear selection position, the gear selection gear A and the gear selection gear B can accurately select the correct track to shift out of gear and shift in gear, without making a wrong selection or missing a selection.

[0033] In this embodiment, four shift rails are arranged in the transmission, and one of the shift rails is a reverse gear shift rail. For example, they are arranged in sequence from left to right, namely, rail I, rail II, rail III and rail R (reverse gear rail). The gear pairs of ① and ③ gears can be arranged on rail I, the gear pairs of ② and ⑤ gears can be arranged on rail II, and the gear pairs of ④ and ⑥ gears can be arranged on rail III, and they are arranged in sequence and located at the front and rear sides of the neutral gear. At the same time, the reverse gear (R gear) is located on a separate rail, see Figure 2 .

[0034] refer to Figures 5 to 8 A method for linkage between shifting out of gear and shifting in gear adopts an automatic transmission with linkage between shifting out of gear and shifting in gear, comprising the following steps: (1) The shift rails can be named as I rail, II rail, III rail and reverse shift rail (R rail) respectively; the gear positions of ① and ③ gears are set in front of and behind the neutral position of I rail; the gear positions of ⑤ and ② gears are set in front of and behind the neutral position of II rail; the gear positions of ④ and ⑥ gears are set in front of and behind the neutral position of III rail; (2) During the gear selection process (not taking up the gear shifting time), the gear selection gear A and the gear selection gear B are driven to rotate synchronously by the first driving mechanism; When the shift selector of the shift gear A moves to the shift selector slot of the shift connection block entering the I track, the shift selector of the shift gear B moves to the shift selector slot of the shift connection block entering the II track; at this time, cylinder A and cylinder B can respectively control the shift fork on the I track and the shift fork on the II track to perform the shift disengagement and shift entry operations; the shift gear A and the shift gear B are in Figure 5 Position shown.

[0035] When the shift selector of the shift gear A moves to the shift selector slot of the shift connection block on the II track, the shift selector of the shift gear B moves to the shift selector slot of the shift connection block on the III track; at this time, cylinder A and cylinder B can respectively control the shift fork on the II track and the shift fork on the III track to disengage and shift; the shift gear A and the shift gear B are in Figure 6 Position shown.

[0036] When the shift selector of the shift gear A moves to the shift selector slot of the shift connection block on the I track, the shift selector of the shift gear B moves to the shift selector slot of the shift connection block on the III track; at this time, cylinder A and cylinder B can respectively control the shift fork on the II track and the shift fork on the III track to disengage and shift; the shift gear A and the shift gear B are in Figure 7 Position shown.

[0037] When the shift selector of the shift selector gear A is idle, the shift selector of the shift selector gear B moves to the shift selector slot of the shift connection block on the reverse shift rail; at this time, cylinder B can operate the shift fork on the reverse shift rail to shift and shift (to shift or exit R gear). Figure 8 Position shown.

[0038] Not switching means maintaining the current gear.

[0039] Figure 5 , Figure 6 , Figure 7 , Figure 8 The gear selection positions introduced can realize the operation of 1st gear, 2nd gear, 3rd gear, 4th gear, 5th gear, 6th gear and R gear and the switching between each adjacent gear.

[0040] Upshift and downshift: When a gear selection position is selected, the difference between upshift and downshift operation is that cylinder A and cylinder B perform opposite pushing and pulling actions.

[0041] For example: The gears of the transmission are arranged according to Figure 2 The B2 arrangement is as follows: when the first gear selection position is selected (switching between rails I and II), if you want to shift from 1st gear to 2nd gear, cylinder A pulls back (drives the 1st gear coupling sleeve on rail I to disengage from 1st gear to neutral), and cylinder B pushes forward (drives the 2nd gear coupling sleeve on rail II to enter 2nd gear from neutral); after shifting to 2nd gear, if you want to shift down to 1st gear, the gear selection position remains unchanged, and the cylinder operation direction is opposite to that of shifting up. Cylinder B is controlled to pull back (drives the 2nd gear coupling sleeve on rail II to disengage from 2nd gear to neutral), and cylinder A is pushed forward (drives the 1st gear coupling sleeve on rail I to enter 1st gear from neutral).

[0042] The upshift and downshift operations between other adjacent gears are similar to the above example and will not be described in detail.

[0043] The above only Figures 3 to 8 Taking the structure shown as an example, the logical function of the actuator is explained. The specific design scheme of the actuator is not unique, but the principle is the same. It is characterized by the arrangement of adjacent gears on different tracks and the linkage execution of two independent drive devices (cylinders).

[0044] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, according to the teachings of the present invention, it does not require creative labor to design different forms of automatic transmissions with linked shifting and shifting. Without departing from the principles and spirit of the present invention, all equal changes, modifications, substitutions and variations made within the scope of the patent application of the present invention should fall within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. An automatic transmission with gear shifting and gear shifting linkage, comprising a plurality of gear shifting rails and a gear shifting actuator, characterized in that: Two adjacent gear positions in the transmission are not on the same gear shift rail; the gear shift rails are each provided with a gear shift fork; the gear shift actuator can simultaneously control the two gear shift rails to realize the linkage of one gear shift fork executing the shift-out and the other gear shift fork executing the shift-in, and the shift-out and the shift-in are completed in the same action stroke.

2. The automatic transmission with shift-out and shift-in linkage according to claim 1, characterized in that: The shift actuator includes a shift gear A and a shift gear B driven to rotate synchronously by a first drive mechanism, the shift gear A and the shift gear B are both provided with a shift shift block, the shift guide rail is fixed with a shift connecting block, and the shift connecting block is provided with two shift selector grooves along the axial direction of the shift guide rail; a second drive mechanism and a third drive mechanism are also provided to respectively drive the shift gear A and the shift gear B to move linearly.

3. The automatic transmission with shift-out and shift-in linkage according to claim 2, characterized in that: The first driving mechanism includes a driving gear driven to rotate by a motor via a reducer, and the driving gear is meshed with a gear selection gear A and a gear selection gear B respectively.

4. An automatic transmission with shift-out and shift-in linkage according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that: The second driving mechanism includes a shaft rod A which is parallel to the shift guide rail and is driven by a cylinder A to move linearly, and the shift selection gear A is compositely connected with the shaft rod A.

5. The automatic transmission with shift-out and shift-in linkage according to claim 4, characterized in that: The third driving mechanism comprises a shaft rod B which is parallel to the shift guide rail and is driven by a cylinder B to move linearly, and the shift selection gear B is compositely connected with the shaft rod B.

6. An automatic transmission with shift-out and shift-in linkage according to claim 2, 3 or 5, characterized in that: A pair of shifting blocks are arranged at the side ends of the shifting gear A and the shifting gear B along the circumferential direction, and the shifting blocks are fan-shaped.

7. The automatic transmission with shift-out and shift-in linkage according to claim 6, characterized in that: The included angle between the pair of shift paddles on the shift selector gear A is different from the included angle between the pair of shift paddles on the shift selector gear B, and the value of the included angle varies depending on different shift selection requirements.

8. The automatic transmission with shift-out and shift-in linkage according to claim 1, characterized in that: A plurality of shift rails are arranged in the transmission, and one of the shift rails is a reverse shift rail.

9. A method for linkage between shifting out of gear and shifting in gear, comprising the automatic transmission with linkage between shifting out of gear and shifting in gear as claimed in claim 7, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: (1) The shift rails include rail I, rail II, rail III and reverse shift rail; Set the gear positions of ① and ③ gears in front and rear of the neutral position of track I; set the gear positions of ⑤ and ② gears in front and rear of the neutral position of track II; The gear positions of the 4th and 6th gears are set in front and rear of the neutral position of the III track; (2) driving the shift selector gear A and the shift selector gear B to rotate synchronously through the first drive mechanism; When the shift block of the shift gear A moves to the shift slot of the shift connection block entering the I track, and the shift block of the shift gear B moves to the shift slot of the shift connection block entering the II track, at this time, the second drive mechanism and the third drive mechanism can respectively operate the shift fork on the I track and the shift fork on the II track to shift out of gear and shift in gear; When the shift selector block of the shift selector gear A moves to the shift selector slot of the shift connection block entering the II track, and the shift selector block of the shift selector gear B moves to the shift selector slot of the shift connection block entering the III track, at this time, the second drive mechanism and the third drive mechanism can respectively operate the shift fork on the II track and the shift fork on the III track to shift out of gear and shift in gear; When the shift selector block of the shift selector gear A moves to the shift selector slot of the shift connection block entering the I track, and the shift selector block of the shift selector gear B moves to the shift selector slot of the shift connection block entering the III track, at this time, the second drive mechanism and the third drive mechanism can respectively operate the shift fork on the I track and the shift fork on the III track to shift out of gear and shift in gear; When the shift paddle block of the shift gear A is vacant, the shift paddle block of the shift gear B moves to the shift slot of the shift connecting block entering the reverse gear shift guide rail. At this time, the third drive mechanism can operate the shift fork on the reverse gear shift guide rail to shift out of gear and into gear.

10. The method for linkage between shifting out of gear and shifting in gear according to claim 9, characterized in that: When a gear selection position is selected, the difference between upshifting and downshifting operations is that cylinder A and cylinder B perform opposite pushing and pulling actions.

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