Vehicle starting device

Abstract

To reduce costs of a vehicle.SOLUTION: A vehicle 500 comprises: an engine control device 100 for controlling an internal combustion engine 10; a starter motor 15 for starting the engine; a shift lever mechanism 20 having a shift lever for selecting a shift range of an automatic transmission; and a shift position sensor 34 for outputting a shift position signal corresponding to a shift position representing an operation position of the shift lever. The control device 100 acquires a start request signal indicating that there is a request for starting the internal combustion engine 10 given by a vehicle driver and the shift position signal. Then, if the acquired shift position signal is a signal indicating a predefined shift position, the control device performs processing to output a permission signal for permitting driving of the starter motor 15.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a starting device for a vehicle. [Background technology]

[0002] For example, the vehicle described in Patent Document 1 includes a starter motor for starting the engine, and a shift position sensor that outputs a shift position signal corresponding to the operating position of a shift lever that selects a shift range of an automatic transmission. The vehicle also includes an SBW-ECU equipped with a microcomputer, which acquires a signal from the shift position sensor. When the shift position signal input to the SBW-ECU indicates that the automatic transmission is in a non-power transmitting state, the starter ECU allows the starter motor to be driven. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2017-31926 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In the above vehicle, when the drive of the starter motor is permitted, the signal of the shift position sensor is acquired by the SBW-ECU. Here, the SBW-ECU is a relatively expensive component, so it is difficult to reduce the cost in a vehicle that requires such an SBW-ECU. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] A vehicle starting device that solves the above problem is applied to a vehicle that includes an engine control device that controls an internal combustion engine, a starter motor for starting the engine that is driven when an enable signal that enables driving is output, a shift lever mechanism having a shift lever that selects a shift range of an automatic transmission, and a shift position sensor that outputs a shift position signal corresponding to the shift position that is the operating position of the shift lever. The engine control device acquires the shift position signal. The starting device has an enable signal output unit that outputs the enable signal when the shift position signal acquired by the engine control device is a signal indicating a default shift position and a start request signal indicating that a start request has been made by the vehicle driver.

[0006] According to this configuration, the engine control device acquires the shift position signal, so there is no need to provide a separate SBW-ECU that acquires the shift position signal, which reduces the cost of the vehicle.

[0007] In addition, in the above-mentioned starting device, the permission signal output unit may be the engine control device that executes a permission signal output process, and the permission signal output process may be a process of acquiring the shift position signal and the start request signal, and outputting the permission signal if the acquired shift position signal is a signal indicating a default shift position.

[0008] Also, in the above starting device, the permission signal output unit may be configured using a relay, and the engine control device may be configured to output the shift position permission signal to the relay when the acquired shift position signal is a signal indicating a default shift position, and the relay may be configured to output the permission signal when the shift position permission signal and the start request signal are input. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic diagram showing a starting device for a vehicle according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 2]FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing a starting device for a vehicle according to a second embodiment. [Diagram 3] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a starting device for a vehicle according to a modified example of the first embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] (First embodiment) Hereinafter, a first embodiment of a starting device for a vehicle will be described with reference to FIG. <Configuration of vehicle starting device> As shown in FIG. 1, a vehicle 500 includes an internal combustion engine 10 and a starter motor 15 for starting the engine.

[0011] The vehicle 500 is equipped with a shift lever mechanism 20 having a shift lever operated by the vehicle driver to select a shift range of the automatic transmission equipped in the vehicle 500. The shift lever mechanism 20 is provided with various shift positions such as "P (parking range)", "R (reverse range)", "N (neutral range)", and "D (drive range)". Note that "P" and "N" are shift positions where the automatic transmission is in a non-power transmitting state, and "D" and "R" are shift positions where the automatic transmission is in a power transmitting state.

[0012] The shift lever mechanism 20 is provided with a shift position sensor 34 that outputs a shift position signal SFT corresponding to the shift position, which is the operating position of the shift lever. The vehicle 500 includes a smart switch 32 that is pressed and operated by the vehicle driver when there is a request to start the internal combustion engine 10. A signal line of the smart switch 32 is connected to the SMART-ECU 200. The SMART-ECU 200 includes a central processing unit (CPU) and a memory in which control programs and data are stored. The SMART-ECU 200 outputs various signals indicating the operation state of the smart switch 32 to the control device 100 described below by the CPU executing the programs stored in the memory. Note that these various signals include a start request signal SD that is output when there is a request to start the internal combustion engine 10 by the vehicle driver.

[0013] The vehicle 500 includes a first relay R1. The contacts of the first relay R1 are normally open and are connected to a drive power source for the starter motor 15 and the motor of the starter motor 15. One end of the coil of the first relay R1 is grounded, and the other end is connected to an output port of the control device 100. When an enable signal SA that enables the starter motor 15 to be driven is output from the output port of the control device 100, the coil of the first relay R1 is energized, and the contacts of the first relay R1 are closed, so that the starter motor 15 is driven.

[0014] The vehicle 500 is equipped with a control device 100. The control device 100 is an engine control device that controls control variables of the internal combustion engine 10 (intake air amount, injected fuel amount, ignition timing, etc.). The control device 100 includes a central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as CPU) 110, a memory 120 in which control programs and data are stored, and the like. The control device 100 executes various control-related processes by the CPU 110 executing the programs stored in the memory 120. The control device 100 acquires various signals related to the operation of the vehicle 500 and the internal combustion engine 10. These various signals include the above-mentioned shift position signal SFT and start request signal SD.

[0015] The vehicle 500 has a permission signal output unit that outputs the above-mentioned permission signal SA when the shift position signal SFT acquired by the control device 100 is a signal indicating a default shift position and when the start request signal SD is output.

[0016] The permission signal output unit of this embodiment is composed of a control device 100 that executes the following permission signal output process. The control device 100 executes the following process as the permission signal output process. That is, the control device 100 acquires a shift position signal SFT and a start request signal SD. Then, if the acquired shift position signal SFT is a signal indicating a default shift position, the control device 100 executes a process to output a permission signal SA. Note that the default shift position is set to a shift position where the automatic transmission is in a non-power transmitting state, that is, "P" or "N."

[0017] <effect> The operation of this embodiment will now be described. The control device 100 directly acquires the shift position signal SFT and also acquires a start request signal SD indicating a request made by the vehicle driver to start the internal combustion engine 10. When the shift position signal SFT indicating that the shift position of the shift lever mechanism 20 is "N" or "P" is input and the start request signal SD is input, the control device 100 outputs an enable signal SA to the first relay R1. When the enable signal SA is output to the first relay R1, the first relay R1 is actuated as described above, and the drive of the starter motor 15 is started. Thus, in this embodiment, the drive of the starter motor 15 is started when the shift position is "N" or "P".

[0018] When the engine speed of the internal combustion engine 10 exceeds a predetermined speed due to the driving of the starter motor 15, the control device 100 starts fuel injection and ignition in the internal combustion engine 10, thereby igniting the air-fuel mixture.

[0019] <Effects> The effects of this embodiment will be described. When permitting the drive of the starter motor 15, the control device 100 directly acquires the shift position signal SFT. Therefore, unlike the conventional technology described above, it is not necessary to separately provide an SBW-ECU that acquires the shift position signal SFT, and the cost of the vehicle 500 can be reduced.

[0020] Second embodiment Hereinafter, a second embodiment of the starting device for a vehicle will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, the configuration of the enable signal output unit is different from that of the first embodiment. Therefore, the following will describe the starting device of this embodiment, focusing on these differences.

[0021] As shown in FIG. 2, the vehicle 500 is equipped with a second relay R2. The vehicle 500 includes an ignition switch 31, which is operated by the vehicle driver when there is a request to start the internal combustion engine 10, instead of the smart switch 32. The contacts of the ignition switch 31 are normally open, and one end of the contacts is connected to a power source that supplies power to the coil of the first relay R1. The other end of the contacts of the ignition switch 31 is connected to a contact of a second relay R2, which will be described later. When the vehicle driver operates the ignition switch 31 to close the contacts of the ignition switch 31, the above-mentioned start request signal SD is input to the second relay R2, which will be described later.

[0022] The vehicle 500 includes the second relay R2. The contact of the second relay R2 is normally open. One end of the contact of the second relay R2 is connected to the ignition switch 31, and the other end is connected to the coil of the first relay R1. One end of the coil of the second relay R2 is grounded, and the other end is connected to the output port of the control device 100.

[0023] When the acquired shift position signal SFT is a signal indicating the above-mentioned default shift position, i.e., "P" or "N", the control device 100 executes a process of outputting a shift position permission signal SFTA from the output port to the second relay R2.

[0024] When the shift position permission signal SFTA is output from an output port of the control device 100, the coil of the second relay R2 is energized and the contacts of the second relay R2 are closed. When the contacts of the second relay R2 are closed and the contacts of the ignition switch 31 are closed, the second relay R2 energizes the coil of the first relay R1, and the second relay R2 outputs an permission signal SA to the first relay R1. When the coil of the first relay R1 is energized in this manner, the contacts of the first relay R1 are closed, and the starter motor 15 is put into a driving state.

[0025] Thus, in this embodiment, the second relay R2 is configured to output the permission signal SA when the shift position permission signal SFTA and the start request signal SD are input, and the above-mentioned permission signal output unit is configured using this second relay R2.

[0026] <effect> The operation of this embodiment will now be described. The control device 100 directly acquires the shift position signal SFT. Then, when the shift position signal SFT indicating that the shift position of the shift lever mechanism 20 is "N" or "P" is input, the control device 100 outputs a shift position permission signal SFTA to the second relay R2. When a start request signal SD indicating a start request of the internal combustion engine 10 by the vehicle driver occurs while the shift position permission signal SFTA is input to the second relay R2, the second relay R2 outputs an permission signal SA to the first relay R1. When the permission signal SA is output to the first relay R1, the first relay R1 is operated as described above, and the drive of the starter motor 15 is started. In this way, in this embodiment as well, the drive of the starter motor 15 is started when the shift position is "N" or "P".

[0027] <Effects> The effects of this embodiment will be described. In the present embodiment as well, the control device 100 directly acquires the shift position signal SFT when permitting the driving of the starter motor 15. Therefore, unlike the conventional technology described above, it is not necessary to separately provide an SBW-ECU that acquires the shift position signal SFT, and the cost of the vehicle 500 can be reduced.

[0028] <Example of change> The above-described embodiments may be modified as follows: The embodiments and the following modifications may be combined with each other to the extent that no technical contradiction occurs.

[0029] The vehicle 500 in the first embodiment is provided with the smart switch 32 and the SMART-ECU 200 in order to input the start request signal SD to the control device 100. In addition, instead of the smart switch 32 and the SMART-ECU 200, the vehicle 500 may be provided with the ignition switch 31 described above.

[0030] As shown in Fig. 3, in this modified example, one end of the contact of the ignition switch 31 is connected to a power source. The other end of the contact of the ignition switch 31 is connected to an input port of the control device 100. When the vehicle driver operates the ignition switch 31 to close the contact of the ignition switch 31, a Hi signal is input to the input port of the control device 100 as the start request signal SD indicating that the vehicle driver has requested the start of the internal combustion engine 10. Note that one end of the contact of the ignition switch 31 may be grounded instead of being connected to the power source. In this case, when the vehicle driver operates the ignition switch 31 to close the contact of the ignition switch 31, a Lo signal is input to the input port of the control device 100 as the start request signal SD.

[0031] Even in this modified example, the same functions and effects as those of the first embodiment can be obtained. The control device 100 is not limited to a device that includes a CPU 110 and a memory 120 and executes software processing. For example, the control device 100 may include a dedicated hardware circuit (e.g., ASIC, etc.) that processes at least a part of the software processing executed in the above embodiment. That is, the control device 100 may have any of the following configurations (a) to (c). (a) A processing device that executes all of the above processing according to a program, and a program storage device such as a memory that stores the program. (b) A processing device and a program storage device that execute a part of the above processing according to a program, and a dedicated hardware circuit that executes the remaining processing. (c) A dedicated hardware circuit that executes all of the above processing. Here, the software processing circuit that includes the processing device and the program storage device, and the dedicated hardware circuit may be multiple. That is, the above processing may be executed by a processing circuit that includes at least one of one or more software processing circuits and one or more dedicated hardware circuits. [Explanation of symbols]

[0032] 10. Internal combustion engine 15…Starter motor 20...Shift lever mechanism 31…Ignition switch 32…Smart switch 34...Shift position sensor 100...Control device 110...Central processing unit 120…Memory 200…SMART-ECU 500…Vehicle R1…First relay R2: Second relay

Claims

[Claim 1] The present invention is applied to a vehicle including an engine control device that controls an internal combustion engine, a starter motor for starting the engine that is driven when an enable signal for enabling driving is output, a shift lever mechanism having a shift lever that selects a shift range of an automatic transmission, a shift position sensor that outputs a shift position signal corresponding to a shift position that is an operating position of the shift lever, and an ignition switch that is operated by a vehicle driver when there is a request to start the internal combustion engine, The engine control device receives the shift position signal, a permission signal output unit that outputs the permission signal when the shift position signal acquired by the engine control device is a signal indicating a default shift position and a start request signal is generated by a vehicle driver operating the ignition switch, The enable signal output unit is configured using a relay, When the acquired shift position signal is a signal indicating a default shift position, the engine control device outputs a shift position permission signal to the relay, The relay is configured to output the permission signal when the shift position permission signal and the start request signal are input. Vehicle starting device.

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