Abnormal noise diagnosis device

Abstract

To precisely identify whether noise generating during a clutch half-engagement between an internal combustion and a manual transmission is caused by resonance between a constituent member of the clutch and a constituent member of the manual transmission.SOLUTION: A noise diagnosis device is the device that diagnoses noise generating in a vehicle including an internal combustion, a clutch and a manual transmission to be connected to the internal combustion via the clutch. When a frequency of the noise generating during the clutch half-engagement is included in a predetermined frequency range corresponding to a combination of the clutch and manual transmission, and a clutch transmission torque to be transmitted by the clutch at a time of generation of the noise is included in a predetermined torque range corresponding to the combination of the clutch and the manual transmission, the noise diagnosis device is configured to diagnose that the noise caused by the resonance between the constituent member of the clutch and constituent member of the manual transmission generates during the clutch half-engagement.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an abnormal noise diagnosis device that diagnoses abnormal noise generated in a vehicle. [Background technology]

[0002] A sound and vibration analyzer is known that, when a power transmission mechanism of a vehicle having multiple rotating bodies is in operation, collects and analyzes data on sound or vibration generated in conjunction with the rotation of the rotating bodies and data on the rotation speed of selected rotating bodies (see, for example, Patent Document 1). This sound and vibration analyzer performs frequency analysis on the sound or vibration data and calculates an order corresponding to the specifications of the rotating bodies from the frequency-analyzed sound or vibration data. Furthermore, the sound and vibration analyzer displays on a display unit the sound pressure level calculated from the sound or vibration data in correspondence with the order and vehicle speed, and plays on the display unit a sound having a specific order selected by an operator. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-98984 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In a vehicle including a manual transmission connected to an internal combustion engine via a clutch, an abnormal noise may occur when the clutch is partially engaged (during partial clutch engagement) due to resonance between components of the clutch and components of the manual transmission. However, even if the order of the noise is examined according to the frequency of the noise and the specifications of the rotating body, it is difficult to identify that the abnormal noise occurring during partial clutch engagement is caused by resonance between components of the clutch and components of the manual transmission.

[0005] Therefore, the main object of the present disclosure is to accurately determine whether or not abnormal noise generated during partial engagement of the clutch between an internal combustion engine and a manual transmission is caused by resonance between components of the clutch and components of the manual transmission. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The abnormal noise diagnosis device disclosed herein is an abnormal noise diagnosis device that diagnoses abnormal noise generated in a vehicle that includes an internal combustion engine, a clutch, and a manual transmission connected to the internal combustion engine via the clutch, and if the frequency of abnormal noise generated while the clutch is partially engaged is within a predetermined frequency range that corresponds to the combination of the clutch and the manual transmission, and if the clutch transmission torque transmitted by the clutch at the time the abnormal noise is generated is within a predetermined torque range that corresponds to the combination of the clutch and the manual transmission, the abnormal noise diagnosis device diagnoses that abnormal noise caused by resonance between components of the clutch and components of the manual transmission has occurred while the clutch is partially engaged.

[0007] This abnormal noise diagnosis device makes it possible to accurately determine whether an abnormal noise occurring during partial engagement of the clutch between the internal combustion engine and the manual transmission is caused by resonance between the components of the clutch and the manual transmission. Furthermore, the abnormal noise diagnosis device of the present disclosure may include a diagnosis unit constructed by machine learning to diagnose the cause of the abnormal noise based on given information when it is determined that an abnormal noise caused by resonance between the components of the clutch and the manual transmission is not occurring during partial engagement of the clutch. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating an abnormal sound diagnosis system including an abnormal sound diagnosis device according to the present disclosure. [Figure 2] 3 is a flowchart showing a series of processes executed by the abnormal sound diagnosis device of the present disclosure. [Figure 3]1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the relationship between the frequency of an abnormal noise generated due to resonance between a component of the clutch and a component of a manual transmission when the clutch is partially engaged, and the clutch transmission torque transmitted by the clutch when the abnormal noise is generated. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0009] Next, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0010] 1 is a schematic diagram showing an abnormal sound diagnosis system 1 including a server 20 as an abnormal sound diagnosis device according to the present disclosure. The abnormal sound diagnosis system 1 shown in the figure is used to diagnose the cause of abnormal sounds generated in various vehicles, including a vehicle X equipped with a manual transmission MT. In addition to the manual transmission MT, the vehicle X includes an internal combustion engine EG and a clutch C interposed between the internal combustion engine and the manual transmission MT.

[0011] As shown in FIG. 1, the abnormal sound diagnosis system 1 includes, in addition to a server 20, a mobile terminal 10 capable of exchanging information with the server 20 via communication. The mobile terminal 10 is used by a worker (user of the abnormal sound diagnosis system 1) at a vehicle dealership, repair shop, or the like when responding to a user (owner) of a vehicle X or the like in which an abnormal sound has occurred, or when performing a reproduction test in which the vehicle X or the like is driven (operated) on a roadway or test bench to reproduce the abnormal sound. In this embodiment, the mobile terminal 10 is a smartphone including an SoC, ROM, RAM, an auxiliary storage device (flash memory) M, a touch-panel display 11, a communication module 12 capable of exchanging various information with the server 20 and an electronic control unit (ECU) (not shown) of the vehicle X or the like via wired or wireless communication, a microphone (not shown), and the like. An abnormal sound diagnosis support application (program) is also installed on the mobile terminal 10. As shown in FIG. 1, the mobile terminal 10 includes a medical interview information acquisition unit 13, a sound acquisition unit 14, a vehicle state acquisition unit 15, a calculation processing unit 16, an extraction unit 17, and a display control unit 18, which are constructed in cooperation with an abnormal sound diagnosis support application (software) and hardware such as the SoC of the mobile terminal 10.

[0012] The medical interview information acquisition unit 13 acquires, via the display unit 11, medical interview information indicating the state of the vehicle X or the like at the time of the occurrence of an abnormal noise, which is provided by a user of the vehicle X or the like. The medical interview information includes vehicle identification information including the vehicle model, vehicle identification number (chassis number), etc., orders, date and time of occurrence, occurrence frequency, location of the abnormal noise, type of sound (onomatopoeia), physical quantities that change while the vehicle X or the like is traveling, the driving state of the vehicle X or the like, warm-up effects in an engine-equipped vehicle, selection items selected by the driver while driving the vehicle X or the like, driving environment information of the vehicle X or the like, and the like, and is input by the above-mentioned worker or the user of the vehicle X or the like. The sound acquisition unit 14 acquires time axis data of the sound (sound pressure) when a reproduction test is performed by the worker. The vehicle state acquisition unit 15 acquires vehicle state data indicating the state of the vehicle X or the like in synchronization with the acquisition of the time axis data of the sound by the sound acquisition unit 14 when a reproduction test is performed. The vehicle state data includes a plurality of physical quantities corresponding to items of the medical interview information, such as vehicle speed, acceleration, road gradient of the traveling road surface, and gear position of the manual transmission MT. The calculation processing unit 16 performs analysis processing of the time axis data of the sound acquired by the sound acquisition unit 14. The extraction unit 17 performs narrowing down of the analysis results by the calculation processing unit 16 in accordance with the selection of the operator, etc. The display control unit 18 controls the display unit 11.

[0013] The server 20, which serves as an abnormal sound diagnosis device, is a computer including a CPU, ROM, RAM, input / output devices, a communication module, etc., and is installed and managed, for example, by the automobile manufacturer that produces the vehicle X, etc. The server 20 has an abnormal sound diagnosis unit 21 that diagnoses abnormal sounds generated in the vehicle X, etc., through cooperation between hardware such as the CPU and a pre-installed abnormal sound diagnosis application. The abnormal sound diagnosis unit 21 includes a neural network (convolutional neural network) as a diagnosis module constructed by supervised learning (machine learning) to diagnose the cause of abnormal sounds generated in the vehicle X, etc., and the part that is the source of the abnormal sound, based on the medical interview information and sound time axis data acquired by the mobile terminal 10.

[0014] When the server 20 detects the occurrence of a new abnormal noise in the vehicle X or the like, the abnormal noise diagnosis unit 21 performs re-learning using the acquired sound time axis data for the new abnormal noise and the details of each item of the medical interview information as training data. The server 20 also includes a storage device 22 that stores an abnormal noise database that stores, for each vehicle model, information on multiple abnormal noises that are known to occur in the vehicle. The abnormal noise database associates each of the multiple abnormal noises with information such as the sound time axis data, the cause of the abnormal noise, the part that is the source of the noise, the details of the medical interview information provided by the user or the like, and measures to resolve the abnormal noise. The server 20 also updates the abnormal noise database based on information acquired from the vehicle X or the like, and information (reports) related to newly discovered abnormal noises sent from the automobile manufacturer (developer, etc.), vehicle dealership, repair shop, etc.

[0015] Next, a procedure for diagnosing an abnormal noise generated in a vehicle X or the like using the abnormal noise diagnosis system 1 will be described. When a user of the vehicle X or the like requests the worker at a vehicle dealership or the like to resolve an abnormal noise, the worker listens to medical history information from the user and then performs a reproduction test to acquire information necessary for diagnosing the abnormal noise. To perform the reproduction test, the worker connects the mobile terminal 10 to an electronic control device of the vehicle X or the like, and places (fixes) the mobile terminal 10 or an external microphone connected to the mobile terminal 10 in an appropriate location of the vehicle X or the like (for example, the passenger compartment or engine compartment). The worker also launches an abnormal noise diagnosis support application and turns on the start switch of the vehicle X or the like. Accordingly, the mobile terminal 10 acquires information such as the vehicle identification number or chassis number of the vehicle X or the like from the electronic control device. The worker also taps the recording start button displayed on the display unit 11 and drives (operates) the vehicle X or the like on a roadway or a test stand to reproduce the driving condition in which the abnormal noise occurred based on the medical history information from the user of the vehicle X or the like.

[0016] While the vehicle X or the like is traveling (operating), the sound acquisition unit 14 of the mobile terminal 10 acquires time axis data of sounds emitted from the vehicle X or the like at predetermined time intervals (micro time intervals) and stores the data in the auxiliary storage device M. In addition, the vehicle state acquisition unit 15 acquires vehicle state data specified by the worker in accordance with the medical interview information from the electronic control device of the vehicle X or the like at predetermined time intervals (micro time intervals) in synchronization with the acquisition of the sound time axis data by the sound acquisition unit 14, and stores the vehicle state data in the auxiliary storage device M. When the worker taps the recording stop button displayed on the display unit 11, the acquisition of the sound time axis data and vehicle state data is completed.

[0017] After the reproduction test is completed, the calculation processing unit 16 performs a Short-Time Fourier Transform (STFT) on the time-axis data of the sound to obtain a spectrogram (acoustic spectrogram) showing the relationship between time, frequency, and sound pressure. The display control unit 18 then displays the spectrogram on the display unit 11. In this embodiment, the spectrogram is a color map with the horizontal axis representing time and the vertical axis representing frequency, and color-coding the sound pressure level to show the relationship between time and sound pressure level for each frequency. Furthermore, on the display unit 11, the operator selects (specifies) a range of the spectrogram to be diagnosed (analyzed) by the abnormal sound diagnosis unit 21 (server 20) (hereinafter referred to as the "diagnosis range"). Furthermore, the operator inputs medical interview information into the input screen displayed on the display unit 11. When the operator taps an information transmission button displayed on the display unit 11, the information necessary for diagnosing the abnormal sound is transmitted from the communication module 12 of the mobile terminal 10 to the server 20. In this embodiment, the information transmitted from the mobile terminal 10 to the server 20 includes time axis data of the sound acquired by the sound acquisition unit 14, vehicle state data acquired by the vehicle state acquisition unit 15, medical interview information, and information defining the above-mentioned diagnostic range.

[0018] 2 is a flowchart showing a series of processes executed by the server 20 in response to receiving information from the mobile terminal 10. As shown in the figure, the abnormal sound diagnosis unit 21 of the server 20 acquires sound time axis data, vehicle condition data, medical interview information, and information defining the diagnosis range from the mobile terminal 10 (S100), and determines whether the target vehicle is equipped with a manual transmission MT based on the vehicle identification number, etc., included in the medical interview information (S110). If the target vehicle is equipped with a manual transmission MT (S110: YES), the abnormal sound diagnosis unit 21 determines whether the abnormal sound occurred while the clutch C was partially engaged (half-clutch engaged) based on the operating state of the vehicle X included in the medical interview information (S120). If the abnormal sound occurred while the clutch C was partially engaged (S120: YES), the abnormal sound diagnosis unit 21 acquires the frequency fc of the abnormal sound generated while the clutch C was partially engaged from the sound time axis data acquired in step S100 (S130). In step S130, the abnormal sound diagnosis unit 21 extracts a characteristic frequency in the diagnosis range selected by the operator according to a predetermined procedure, and sets the extracted frequency as the frequency fc of the abnormal sound.

[0019] Next, the abnormal sound diagnosis unit 21 determines the vehicle speed V (km / h), acceleration a (m / s) of the vehicle X in the diagnosis range selected by the operator from the vehicle condition data acquired in step S100. 2 ), road surface gradient θ (deg), and gear position of the manual transmission MT are acquired, and the clutch transmission torque Tc, which is the average value within the diagnostic range of the torque T transmitted by the clutch C when the abnormal noise occurs, obtained from the following equation (1) is calculated (S140). In equation (1), "M" is the weight (kg) of the vehicle X, "G" is the acceleration due to gravity, "Ffrict" is the running resistance obtained from a predetermined function of the vehicle speed V, "r" is the tire radius (m), and "total" is the product of the gear ratio of the gear position of the manual transmission MT when the clutch C is partially engaged and the final gear ratio of the differential gear. In addition, the weight M, the function for deriving the running resistance Ffrict, and the tire radius r are acquired corresponding to the vehicle identification number, etc., from a vehicle information database stored in the storage device 22 or another server.

[0020] T=(M·a+M·G·sinθ+Ffrict)×r / itotal…(1)

[0021] Furthermore, the abnormal sound diagnosis unit 21 obtains the model of the clutch C and the model of the manual transmission MT mounted on the vehicle X from the vehicle information database based on the vehicle identification number etc. included in the medical interview information, and reads out the abnormal sound occurrence conditions corresponding to the combination of the clutch C (model) and the manual transmission MT (model) from the storage device 22 (S150). Here, the present inventor has conducted extensive research into abnormal sounds that occur when the clutch C is partially engaged in a vehicle X that includes a manual transmission MT, and as a result, has found that the frequency of abnormal sounds that occur due to resonance between the friction plates (components) of the clutch C and the input shaft (components) of the manual transmission MT when the clutch C is partially engaged, and the torque transmitted by the clutch C when the abnormal sound occurs, fall within a frequency range and a torque range (see dashed lines in the figure) that are determined for each combination of the clutch C and the manual transmission MT, as shown in Figure 3. Based on this, in this embodiment, for each of a plurality of combinations of the clutch C and the manual transmission MT, abnormal noise occurrence conditions that define the frequency range and torque range of abnormal noise that occurs due to resonance between the friction plates of the clutch C and the input shaft of the manual transmission MT are determined in advance through experiments and analyses, and are stored in the memory device 22 (abnormal noise database) of the server 20.

[0022] Then, the abnormal sound diagnosis unit 21 determines whether the frequency fc of the abnormal sound acquired in step S130 is within the frequency range of the abnormal sound generation conditions corresponding to the combination of the clutch C and the manual transmission MT, and whether the clutch transmission torque Tc calculated in step S140 is within the torque range of the abnormal sound generation conditions corresponding to the combination of the clutch C and the manual transmission MT (S160).If the frequency fc is within the frequency range of the abnormal sound generation conditions, and the clutch transmission torque Tc is within the torque range of the abnormal sound generation conditions (S160: YES), the abnormal sound diagnosis unit 21 diagnoses (determines) that the abnormal sound generated in the vehicle X is caused by resonance between the friction plates of the clutch C and the input shaft of the manual transmission MT while the clutch C is partially engaged (S170). On the other hand, if the target vehicle is not equipped with a manual transmission MT (S110: NO), if the abnormal noise does not occur while the clutch C is half-engaged (S120: NO), or if at least one of the frequency fc and the clutch transmission torque Tc is not included in the frequency range or torque range for the abnormal noise occurrence conditions (S160: NO), the abnormal noise diagnosis unit 21 diagnoses the cause of the abnormal noise occurring in the vehicle X, etc., using the neural network based on the information acquired in step S100 (S115).

[0023] After the processing of step S170 or step S115, the abnormal sound diagnosis unit 21 generates a diagnosis result including the name of the abnormal sound, the part that is the source of the abnormal sound, the cause of the abnormal sound, and measures to eliminate the abnormal sound that are read from the storage device 22 (S180). Furthermore, the abnormal sound diagnosis unit 21 transmits the diagnosis result generated in step S180 to the mobile terminal 10 (S190), thereby ending the series of processes in FIG. 2. When the diagnosis result from the server 20 is received by the mobile terminal 10, the diagnosis result is displayed on the display unit 11. This allows the worker to accurately explain the diagnosis result from the server 20 to the user of vehicle X, etc., and promptly proceed with measures to address the abnormal sound.

[0024] As described above, the server 20 as an abnormal sound diagnosis device in the abnormal sound diagnosis system 1 diagnoses that an abnormal sound caused by resonance between components of the clutch C and components of the manual transmission MT has occurred while the clutch C is partially engaged (during partial clutch engagement) if the frequency fc of the abnormal sound generated while the clutch C is partially engaged is within the frequency range corresponding to the combination of the clutch C and the manual transmission MT, and the clutch transmission torque Tc transmitted by the clutch C at the time the abnormal sound has occurred is within the torque range corresponding to the combination of the clutch C and the manual transmission MT (S100-S170). This makes it possible to accurately determine whether an abnormal sound generated while the clutch C between the internal combustion engine EG and the manual transmission MT is partially engaged is caused by resonance between components of the clutch C and components of the manual transmission MT.

[0025] The server 20 also includes an abnormal sound diagnosis unit 21 that is constructed by machine learning so as to diagnose the cause of the abnormal sound based on given information when it is determined that the abnormal sound caused by resonance between components of the clutch C and components of the manual transmission MT is not occurring while the clutch C is partially engaged. This further improves the versatility of the server 20 and, ultimately, the abnormal sound diagnosis system 1 that includes the server 20. The abnormal sound diagnosis support application installed in the mobile terminal 10 may be installed on a tablet terminal, a personal computer, or the like, and the tablet terminal or the like may be used instead of the mobile terminal 10. Furthermore, some of the functions of the abnormal sound diagnosis unit 21 may be provided in the mobile terminal 10, and the abnormal sound diagnosis system 1 may be configured as a single information processing device such as a personal computer. [Industrial Applicability]

[0026] The disclosed invention is extremely useful for diagnosing abnormal noises that occur in vehicles that include manual transmissions. [Explanation of symbols]

[0027] 1 Abnormal sound diagnosis system, 10 Mobile terminal, 20 Server (abnormal sound diagnosis device), 21 Abnormal sound diagnosis unit, C Clutch, EG Internal combustion engine, MT Manual transmission, X Vehicle.

Claims

[Claim 1] An abnormal noise diagnosis device for diagnosing an abnormal noise generated in a vehicle including an internal combustion engine, a clutch, and a manual transmission connected to the internal combustion engine via the clutch, An abnormal noise diagnosis device that diagnoses that abnormal noise caused by resonance between components of the clutch and components of the manual transmission has occurred while the clutch is partially engaged, if the frequency of the abnormal noise occurred while the clutch is partially engaged is within a predetermined frequency range corresponding to the combination of the clutch and the manual transmission, and if the clutch transmission torque transmitted by the clutch when the abnormal noise occurred is within a predetermined torque range corresponding to the combination of the clutch and the manual transmission.

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