US 12,000,466 B2
Vehicle control apparatus
Yuuki Suzuki, Tokyo (JP); Tomoka Yoshikawa, Tokyo (JP); Kazuki Kodaira, Tokyo (JP); Satoru Kudo, Tokyo (JP); and Hiroki Senda, Tokyo (JP)
Assigned to SUBARU CORPORATION, Tokyo (JP)
Filed by SUBARU CORPORATION, Tokyo (JP)
Filed on Aug. 17, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/451,300.
Claims priority of application No. 2022-148123 (JP), filed on Sep. 16, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2024/0093769 A1, Mar. 21, 2024
Int. Cl. F16H 45/02 (2006.01)
CPC F16H 45/02 (2013.01) [F16H 2045/0226 (2013.01); F16H 2045/0294 (2013.01)] 10 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A vehicle control apparatus to be applied to a vehicle, the vehicle comprising a torque converter and an engine, the torque converter comprising a turbine runner and a turbine shaft, the engine comprising a crankshaft coupled to the torque converter, the vehicle control apparatus comprising:
a turbine hub comprising
a flange coupled to the turbine runner, and
a hub coupled to the turbine shaft;
a lock-up piston comprising
a cylindrical part slidably supported by an outer circumferential surface of the hub, and
a disc part extending from the cylindrical part outward in a radial direction of the cylindrical part;
a damper mechanism coupled to both the turbine hub and the lock-up piston, and configured to permit relative rotation between the hub and the cylindrical part; and
a control system comprising a processor and a memory that are communicably coupled to each other, the control system being configured to control the engine, wherein
the control system is configured to
calculate, in a state in which the lock-up piston is engaged with the crankshaft of the engine, a PV value that is a product of a sliding surface pressure and a sliding speed between the hub and the cylindrical part, and
when the PV value is greater than a threshold, change an engine torque more gradually than when the PV value is equal to or less than the threshold, the engine torque being an output torque of the crankshaft.