A pressure monitoring system and method for AMT multi-axis shift actuator

Abstract

This invention specifically relates to a pressure monitoring system and method for an AMT multi-axis shift actuator, solving the technical problem that the hardware resources of the existing AMT multi-axis shift actuator's TCU controller are insufficient to meet the pressure acquisition requirements of all shift cylinders. The AMT multi-axis shift actuator pressure monitoring system includes a TCU controller, multiple data acquisition modules, and multiple relays. The data acquisition modules are used to acquire the air pressure on the corresponding shift cylinders. The relays receive control signals from the TCU controller and drive their contacts to close, supplying power to the corresponding data acquisition modules when they are closed. The TCU controller determines the target gear based on the actual operating conditions, identifies the shift shaft that needs to be activated based on the target gear, and then outputs control signals corresponding to the shift shaft to control the contact closure of the corresponding relay. The input terminal of the TCU controller receives the air pressure signals acquired by the data acquisition modules, and the output terminal is used to connect to an external signal processing system.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention specifically relates to a pressure monitoring system and method for an AMT multi-axis shifting actuator. Background Technology

[0002] Currently, AMT (Automatic Mechanical Transmission) is widely used in commercial vehicles, and most of them are of the electro-pneumatic type. For AMTs used by commercial vehicle users, the speed and accuracy of the multi-axis shift actuator's movements during gear shifting are crucial. Traditional AMT multi-axis shift actuators generally have corresponding displacement sensors to monitor changes in displacement on each shift fork shaft. However, their air pressure monitoring typically only has a single pressure sensor to monitor the input air pressure of the AMT. In this type, the pressure sensor can only monitor the total air pressure and cannot monitor the pressure of each shift cylinder on the shift fork shaft in real time during operation. Therefore, it cannot provide in-depth and detailed data for analyzing the gear shifting process.

[0003] Chinese patent CN117052895A discloses "a transmission shift adjustment device and its adjustment method". The transmission shift adjustment device includes a valve seat, a main intake regulating valve, and a pressure detection element. The valve seat includes a shift passage and an intake passage. The main intake regulating valve is located between the shift passage and the intake passage and is used to regulate the amount of air flowing from the intake passage to the shift passage. The pressure detection element is connected to the shift passage and is used to detect the air pressure within the shift passage. The pressure detection element is electrically connected to the main intake regulating valve. Chinese patent CN202251915U discloses "An AMT Sub-gearbox Shift Cylinder Assembly", which includes a sub-gearbox housing, a cylinder head, a sub-gearbox shift shaft, a cylinder body, a piston, and a sub-gearbox shift fork. The piston is fixedly connected to the sub-gearbox shift shaft. A dual solenoid valve consisting of a first solenoid valve and a second solenoid valve is mounted on the cylinder body. A first air hole is opened on the cylinder body on the front side of the piston, and a second air hole is opened on the cylinder body on the rear side of the piston. The first air hole communicates with the working air port of the first solenoid valve through a first air passage in the cylinder body, and the second air hole communicates with the working air port of the second solenoid valve through a second air passage in the cylinder body. A sensor magnetic ring is fixed on the piston, and a position sensor that cooperates with the sensor magnetic ring is fixed on the side of the cylinder body.

[0004] However, none of the above solutions can monitor the pressure of each shift cylinder on the AMT multi-axis shift actuator. When the AMT multi-axis shift actuator has a large number of shift cylinders, and the hardware resources of the AMT multi-axis shift actuator's own TCU (Transmission Control Unit) controller are insufficient to meet the acquisition requirements of all channels, it is necessary to add an additional acquisition facility to collect the pressure of each shift cylinder, which is a huge burden on the system's complexity and cost. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The purpose of this invention is to solve the technical problem that the hardware resources of the TCU controller of the existing AMT multi-axis shift actuator are insufficient to meet the pressure acquisition requirements of all shift cylinders, and to provide a pressure monitoring system and method for AMT multi-axis shift actuators.

[0006] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention adopts the following technical solution:

[0007] A pressure monitoring system for an AMT multi-axis shift actuator, wherein the AMT multi-axis shift actuator includes multiple shift axes, and each shift axis is equipped with multiple shift cylinders; its special feature is that it includes a TCU controller, multiple data acquisition modules and multiple relays;

[0008] Multiple data acquisition modules are respectively installed on multiple shift cylinders to collect the air pressure on the corresponding shift cylinders; multiple relays are respectively installed on multiple shift shafts.

[0009] The control input terminal of the relay is connected to the output terminal of the TCU controller to receive the control signal from the TCU controller and drive its contacts to close; the two ends of the relay contacts are respectively connected to the external power supply and the power supply terminals of multiple data acquisition modules of the corresponding shift shaft, so as to supply power to the corresponding data acquisition modules when they are closed.

[0010] The TCU controller is used to determine the target gear based on the actual working conditions, and then determine the shift shaft that needs to be activated based on the target gear. It then outputs a control signal corresponding to the shift shaft to control the contact of the corresponding relay to close, which is used to control the power supply of the data acquisition module on the corresponding shift shaft. The input terminal of the TCU controller is connected to the output terminal of each data acquisition module to receive the air pressure signal collected by the data acquisition module. The output terminal of the TCU controller is used to connect to an external signal processing system.

[0011] Furthermore, there are three shift shafts, namely shift shaft A, shift shaft B, and shift shaft C; each shift shaft is equipped with two shift cylinders.

[0012] Furthermore, there are three relays, namely relay A, relay B, and relay C, which are respectively set to shift shaft A, shift shaft B, and shift shaft C.

[0013] Furthermore, there are six data acquisition modules, which are divided into three groups: data acquisition modules A1 and A2, data acquisition modules B1 and B2, and data acquisition modules C1 and C2, respectively installed on the six shift cylinders of shift shaft A, shift shaft B, and shift shaft C.

[0014] Furthermore, the TCU controller has two input pins, namely Input1 and Input2; and three low-side output pins, namely LSD_A, LSD_B and LSD_C.

[0015] Furthermore, the control input terminal of the relay A is connected to pin LSD_A of the TCU controller, one end of the contact is connected to an external power supply, and the other end is connected to the power supply terminals of the data acquisition modules A1 and A2 respectively;

[0016] The control input terminal of relay B is connected to pin LSD_B of the TCU controller. One end of the contact is connected to an external power supply, and the other end is connected to the power supply terminals of data acquisition modules B1 and B2 respectively.

[0017] The control input terminal of relay C is connected to pin LSD_C of the TCU controller. One end of the contact is connected to an external power supply, and the other end is connected to the power supply terminals of data acquisition modules C1 and C2 respectively.

[0018] The output terminals of data acquisition module A1, data acquisition module B1, and data acquisition module C1 are respectively connected to Input1 of the TCU controller; the output terminals of data acquisition module A2, data acquisition module B2, and data acquisition module C2 are respectively connected to Input2 of the TCU controller.

[0019] Furthermore, the data acquisition module is a barometric pressure sensor.

[0020] Meanwhile, the present invention also provides a pressure monitoring method for an AMT multi-axis shift actuator, which, based on the above-mentioned pressure monitoring system for an AMT multi-axis shift actuator, is characterized by including the following steps:

[0021] 1. The TCU controller is used to determine the target gear based on the actual working conditions, and the shift shaft that needs to be activated is determined based on the target gear.

[0022] 2】The TCU controller outputs a corresponding control signal to the corresponding relay based on the selected shift shaft, causing the relay to engage;

[0023] 3) After the relay is energized, it supplies power to the data acquisition module it is connected to;

[0024] 4. The data acquisition module monitors the voltage signal of the corresponding shift cylinder on the shift shaft in real time and sends it to the TCU controller.

[0025] 5】The TCU controller converts the voltage signal into a pneumatic signal and sends it to the external signal processing system to complete the pressure monitoring of the AMT multi-axis shifting actuator.

[0026] Further, in step 5, the TCU controller converts the voltage signal into a pressure signal based on the SPEC file of the pressure sensor.

[0027] The beneficial effects of this invention are:

[0028] 1. The present invention provides a pressure monitoring system for an AMT multi-axis shift actuator. Under the limited resources of the existing TCU controller, it can realize real-time monitoring of the working air pressure of each shift axis on the AMT multi-axis shift actuator by using a data acquisition module, TCU controller and relay. This solves the problems of existing AMT multi-axis shift actuators being unable to monitor the pressure of each shift cylinder in real time and the excessive occupation of acquisition channel resources.

[0029] 2. The present invention provides a pressure monitoring system for an AMT multi-axis shifting actuator, which can reduce the pin requirements of the related system for the TCU controller and save related pin resources of the TCU controller. By combining the low-side output pin (output terminal) of the TCU controller with the relay, the real-time acquisition of the shifting cylinder pressure of the AMT multi-axis shifting actuator is realized. The TCU controller achieves the acquisition of the pressure of 6 cylinders with only two input acquisition pins.

[0030] 3. The present invention provides a pressure monitoring method for AMT multi-axis shifting actuators, which can be extended to signal acquisition with more channels or other systems that require signal acquisition. By combining the control signal of the TCU controller, relays and air pressure sensors, the required acquisition effect can be achieved with limited resources. Attached Figure Description

[0031] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the pressure monitoring system for an AMT multi-axis shifting actuator according to the present invention;

[0032] Figure 2 This is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a pressure monitoring method for an AMT multi-axis shifting actuator according to the present invention.

[0033] Explanation of reference numerals in the attached figures:

[0034] 1-AMT multi-axis shifting actuator, 2-Data acquisition module, 3-TCU controller, 4-Relay. Detailed Implementation

[0035] like Figure 1 As shown, an AMT multi-axis shift actuator pressure monitoring system includes multiple data acquisition modules 2, a TCU controller 3, and multiple relays 4. The AMT multi-axis shift actuator 1 includes multiple shift shafts, each with two shift cylinders. Data acquisition modules 2 are mounted on the shift cylinders to collect air pressure data. The control input of each relay 4 is connected to the output of the TCU controller 3 to receive control signals and drive its contacts to engage. The contacts of each relay 4 are connected to an external power source and the power supply of the corresponding data acquisition modules 2 for each shift shaft, providing power to the corresponding data acquisition modules 2 when engaged. The TCU controller 3 determines the target gear based on the actual operating conditions and identifies the shift shaft that needs to be activated, then outputs a control signal to control the engagement of the corresponding relay 4. The input of the TCU controller 3 is connected to the output of the data acquisition modules 2 to receive the air pressure signals collected by the data acquisition modules 2, and the output of the TCU controller 3 is connected to an external signal processing system.

[0036] The TCU controller 3 determines the target gear based on the actual operating conditions and then identifies the shift shaft that needs to operate based on the target gear. It then outputs a control signal to the corresponding shift shaft to activate the contacts of the corresponding relay 4. This control powers the data acquisition module 2 on the corresponding shift shaft and controls the AMT multi-axis shift actuator 1 to perform the shifting action on the corresponding shift shaft. At this time, the relay 4 on the corresponding shaft receives the control signal from the TCU controller 3 and activates, powering the data acquisition module 2 on the corresponding shift shaft. The data acquisition module 2 then transmits the real-time pressure of the two shift cylinders during the shifting process to the TCU controller 3. The TCU controller 3 can analyze the relevant signals and send them to an external signal processing system for storage and analysis. The AMT multi-axis shift actuator 1 is controlled by the TCU controller 3 to achieve the shifting action on the corresponding shaft. The TCU controller 3 controls the air circuit's opening and closing by controlling the shifting action of the AMT multi-axis shift actuator 1, thus realizing the shifting action.

[0037] In this embodiment, the AMT multi-axis shift actuator 1 has three shift shafts, namely shift shaft A, shift shaft B, and shift shaft C. Each shift shaft is equipped with two shift cylinders, whose corresponding action directions are extension and retraction, thereby realizing the switching of gear positions on each shift shaft. Moreover, each time the AMT multi-axis shift actuator 1 switches gears, it will only activate the shift cylinder on the same shift shaft at the same time.

[0038] There are six data acquisition modules 2, which are divided into three groups: data acquisition modules A1 and A2, data acquisition modules B1 and B2, and data acquisition modules C1 and C2. They are respectively installed on the six shift cylinders of shift shaft A, shift shaft B, and shift shaft C. Data acquisition modules A1 and A2 are respectively installed on the shift cylinders corresponding to shift shaft A; data acquisition modules B1 and B2 are respectively installed on the shift cylinders corresponding to shift shaft B; data acquisition modules C1 and C2 are respectively installed on the shift cylinders corresponding to shift shaft C; each set of data acquisition modules 2 corresponds to the corresponding shift shaft of the AMT multi-axis shift actuator 1. The data acquisition module 2 uses a pressure sensor, which is connected to the shift cylinder of the AMT multi-axis shift actuator 1 by threads and communicates with the inside of the shift cylinder to acquire pressure signals; the signal pin of the pressure sensor is connected to the input signal acquisition pin (input terminal of TCU controller 3) of TCU controller 3 to acquire the real-time pressure of the shift cylinder; the power pin of the pressure sensor is connected to the output pin of relay 4. When relay 4 is energized, the pressure sensor connected to relay 4 is powered, thereby acquiring pressure information.

[0039] There are three relays 4, namely relay A, relay B, and relay C. Relay A corresponds to shift shaft A, relay B corresponds to shift shaft B, and relay C corresponds to shift shaft C. The control input terminal of relay A is connected to pin LSD_A of TCU controller 3, one end of the contact is connected to an external power supply, and the other end is connected to the power supply terminals of data acquisition modules A1 and A2 respectively. The control input terminal of relay B is connected to pin LSD_B of TCU controller 3, one end of the contact is connected to an external power supply, and the other end is connected to the power supply terminals of data acquisition modules B1 and B2 respectively. The control input terminal of relay C is connected to pin LSD_C of TCU controller 3, one end of the contact is connected to an external power supply, and the other end is connected to the power supply terminals of data acquisition modules C1 and C2 respectively. Relays 4 receive LSD control signals from controller 3, thereby controlling the power supply to data acquisition module 2.

[0040] The TCU controller 3 can determine the target gear according to the actual working conditions, and determine the shift shaft that needs to be activated according to the target gear, and then output the corresponding control signal to control the relay 4 to engage; the TCU controller 3 has two acquisition pins at the input end, namely Input1 and Input2; the TCU controller 3 has three low-side output pins, namely pin LSD_A, pin LSD_B and pin LSD_C.

[0041] In this embodiment, the TCU controller 3 is used to output control signals and analyze pressure signals. The AMT multi-axis shift actuator 1 is the object under test. The data acquisition module 2 is used to acquire pressure data. The relay 4 is used to power the corresponding pressure sensor according to the low-side control signal of the TCU controller 3. The output pin of the relay 4 (output terminal of the relay 4) is connected to the input terminal of the data acquisition module 2 (power supply pin of the pressure sensor), and is used to power the corresponding pressure sensor when the relay 4 is energized. The input pin of the relay 4 (input terminal of the relay 4) is connected to the low-side output pin of the TCU controller 3 (output terminal of the TCU controller 3), and is used to receive the control signal of the TCU controller 3 to drive the corresponding relay 4 to be energized, thereby controlling the power supply of the pressure sensor on the corresponding shift axis.

[0042] The output terminals of data acquisition module A1, data acquisition module B1, and data acquisition module C1 are respectively connected to Input1 of TCU controller 3; the output terminals of data acquisition module A2, data acquisition module B2, and data acquisition module C2 are respectively connected to Input2 of TCU controller 3. Thus, when the corresponding relay 4 is energized, real-time detection of the shift cylinder pressure in both directions of data acquisition module A1 and data acquisition module A2 on the same axis is performed simultaneously. TCU controller 3 can also monitor the movement displacement on each shift axis of AMT multi-axis shift actuator 1, thereby collecting the relationship between displacement change and air pressure change.

[0043] like Figure 2 As shown, when the system is working, the TCU controller 3 first determines the target gear to be switched based on the working conditions, and then determines the shift shaft that actually needs to be activated based on the target gear. If shift shaft A is activated, the TCU controller 3 outputs a valid low-side signal at pin LSD_A, thereby controlling the relay A corresponding to shift shaft A to work. After receiving the valid low-side control signal from pin LSD_A, relay A is energized, thereby powering the data acquisition modules A1 and A2 (i.e., the air pressure sensor). The air pressure signal is then input to the TCU controller 3 to realize the real-time acquisition of the pressure of the two cylinders when shifting gears on shift shaft A. If shift shaft B or shift shaft C is activated, the above related processes are similar.

[0044] The monitoring method based on the above-mentioned AMT multi-axis shift actuator pressure monitoring system includes the following steps:

[0045] 1. The TCU controller 3 is used to determine the target gear based on the actual working conditions, and the shift shaft that needs to be activated is determined based on the target gear.

[0046] 2】The TCU controller 3 outputs a corresponding control signal to the corresponding relay 4 according to the selected shift shaft, so that the relay 4 is energized;

[0047] 3) After relay 4 is energized, it supplies power to the data acquisition module 2 to which it is connected;

[0048] 4】Data acquisition module 2 monitors the voltage signal of the corresponding shift cylinder on the shift shaft in real time and transmits it to TCU controller 3;

[0049] 5】The TCU controller 3 converts the voltage signal into a pneumatic signal and sends it to the external signal processing system to complete the pressure monitoring of the shifting process of the AMT multi-axis shifting actuator 1.

Claims

1. A pressure monitoring system for an AMT multi-axis shift actuator, wherein the AMT multi-axis shift actuator (1) comprises multiple shift shafts, and each shift shaft is provided with multiple shift cylinders; characterized in that: It includes a TCU controller (3), multiple data acquisition modules (2) and multiple relays (4); The multiple data acquisition modules (2) are respectively installed on multiple shift cylinders to collect the air pressure on the corresponding shift cylinder; Multiple relays (4) are respectively set to correspond to multiple shift shafts; The control input terminal of the relay (4) is connected to the output terminal of the TCU controller (3) to receive the control signal of the TCU controller (3) and drive its contacts to close; the two ends of the contacts of the relay (4) are respectively connected to the external power supply and the power supply terminals of multiple data acquisition modules (2) of the corresponding shift shaft, so as to supply power to the corresponding data acquisition modules (2) when they are closed. The TCU controller (3) is used to determine the target gear according to the actual working conditions, and to determine the shift shaft that needs to be activated according to the target gear. Then, it outputs a control signal corresponding to the shift shaft to control the contact of the corresponding relay (4) to close, which is used to control the power supply of the data acquisition module (2) on the corresponding shift shaft. The input end of the TCU controller (3) is connected to the output end of each data acquisition module (2) to receive the air pressure signal collected by the data acquisition module (2). The output end of the TCU controller (3) is used to connect to an external signal processing system.

2. The pressure monitoring system for an AMT multi-axis shifting actuator according to claim 1, characterized in that: There are three shift shafts, namely shift shaft A, shift shaft B, and shift shaft C; each shift shaft is equipped with two shift cylinders.

3. The pressure monitoring system for an AMT multi-axis shifting actuator according to claim 2, characterized in that: There are three relays (4), namely relay A, relay B and relay C, which are respectively set to shift shaft A, shift shaft B and shift shaft C.

4. The pressure monitoring system for an AMT multi-axis shifting actuator according to claim 3, characterized in that: The data acquisition module (2) consists of six modules, which are divided into three groups: data acquisition modules A1 and A2, data acquisition modules B1 and B2, and data acquisition modules C1 and C2. These modules are respectively installed on the six shift cylinders of shift shaft A, shift shaft B, and shift shaft C.

5. The pressure monitoring system for an AMT multi-axis shifting actuator according to claim 4, characterized in that: The TCU controller (3) has two input pins, namely Input1 and Input2; and three low-side output pins, namely LSD_A, LSD_B and LSD_C.

6. The pressure monitoring system for an AMT multi-axis shifting actuator according to claim 5, characterized in that: The control input terminal of the relay A is connected to pin LSD_A of the TCU controller (3), one end of the contact is connected to an external power supply, and the other end is connected to the power supply terminals of data acquisition modules (2) A1 and A2 respectively; The control input terminal of the relay B is connected to pin LSD_B of the TCU controller (3). One end of the contact is connected to an external power supply, and the other end is connected to the power supply terminals of data acquisition modules (2) B1 and B2 respectively. The control input terminal of the relay C is connected to pin LSD_C of the TCU controller (3), one end of the contact is connected to an external power supply, and the other end is connected to the power supply terminals of data acquisition modules (2) C1 and C2 respectively; The output terminals of data acquisition module A1, data acquisition module B1, and data acquisition module C1 are respectively connected to Input1 of TCU controller (3); the output terminals of data acquisition module A2, data acquisition module B2, and data acquisition module C2 are respectively connected to Input2 of TCU controller (3).

7. A pressure monitoring system for an AMT multi-axis shifting actuator according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: The data acquisition module (2) is a barometric pressure sensor.

8. A pressure monitoring method for an AMT multi-axis shift actuator, based on the pressure monitoring system for an AMT multi-axis shift actuator as described in any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that, Includes the following steps: 1】Use the TCU controller (3) to determine the target gear according to the actual working conditions, and determine the shift shaft that needs to be activated according to the target gear; 2】The TCU controller (3) outputs a corresponding control signal to the corresponding relay (4) according to the selected shift shaft, so that the relay (4) is energized; 3】After the relay (4) is energized, it supplies power to the data acquisition module (2) it is connected to; 4】Data acquisition module (2) monitors the voltage signal of the corresponding shift cylinder on the shift shaft in real time and sends it to the TCU controller (3); 5】The TCU controller (3) converts the voltage signal into a pneumatic signal and sends it to the external signal processing system to complete the pressure monitoring of the AMT multi-axis shift actuator (1).

9. The pressure monitoring method for an AMT multi-axis shifting actuator according to claim 8, characterized in that: In step 5, the TCU controller (3) converts the voltage signal into a pressure signal according to the SPEC file of the pressure sensor.

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