Title of Invention

CLUTCH CONTROLLER METHOD OF CONTROLLING CLUTCH, AND STRADDLE-TYPE VEHICLE

Abstract A clutch controller is provided with: a target torque obtaining section for obtaining torque that is supposed to be transmitted from a drive-side member of a clutch to a downstream mechanism in a torque transmission path as target transmission torque, the downstream mechanism including a driven-side member of the clutch; and an clutch actuator control section for actuating a clutch actuator based on the target transmission torque. The target torque obtaining section estimates torque to be transmitted from the drive-side member to the downstream mechanism after the drive-side member and the driven-side member are completely engaged, and obtains the estimated torque as the target transmission torque.
Full Text CLUTCH CONTROLLER, METHOD OF CONTROLLING CLUTCH, AND
STRADDLE-TYPE VEHICLE
This application claims priority from Japanese Patent
Application No. 2007-043645 filed on February 23, 2007 and
Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-028132 filed on
February 7, 2008.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for
controlling an engagement state of a clutch by actuating
an actuator.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a vehicle with a semi-automatic transmission that
actuates an actuator to engage or disengage a clutch, the
clutch is provided with a drive-side member (for example,
friction disk), which rotates upon receipt of rotational
force from a driving source, and a driven-side member (for
example, clutch disk), which is pressed by the drive-side
member to operate in conjunction with the drive-side
member. The vehicle controls the engagement state of the
clutch based on a difference in rotational speed between
the drive-side member and the driven-side member (for
example, JP-A-2001-146930). Generally, such vehicles
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control or gradually reduce the difference ' in rotational
speed between the drive-side member and the driven-side
member during engaging operation of the clutch.
The aforementioned related vehicle controls the
engagement state of the clutch based on the difference in
rotational speed during engaging operation of the clutch.
This, however, can prevent appropriate torque from being
constantly transmitted from the drive-side member to a
downstream mechanism including the driven-side member, and
thus can impair riding comfort. For example, when a half-
clutch state is discontinued, torque transmitted to the
driven-side member increases sharply, providing shocks to
the vehicle. In order to solve such a problem, another
control method has been also proposed, in which a half-
clutch state is maintained until the difference in
rotational speed is almost zero. However, such a control
method can result in insufficient torque being
continuously transmitted to the driven-side member over a
long time period. This case causes the vehicle to
decelerate excessively.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is made in view of the foregoing
problems, and an object of the invention is to provide a
clutch controller, a method of controlling a clutch, and a
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straddle-type vehicle, which allow an improvement in
riding comfort of a vehicle when the clutch is engaged.
In order to solve the foregoing problems, the present
invention is directed to a clutch controller for
controlling an engagement state of a clutch by actuating
an actuator, the clutch controller including: a target
torque obtaining means for obtaining torque that is
supposed to be transmitted from a drive-side member of the
clutch to a downstream mechanism in a torque transmission
path as target transmission torque, the downstream
mechanism including a driven-side member of the clutch;
and a control means for actuating the actuator based on
the target transmission torque. The target torque
obtaining means estimates torque to be transmitted from
the drive-side member to the downstream mechanism in the
torque transmission path after the drive-side member and
the driven-side member are completely engaged, and obtains
the estimated torque as the target transmission torque.
In addition, in order to solve the foregoing problems,
the present invention is directed to a straddle-type
vehicle including: a power source; a clutch for
transmitting torque of the power source or interrupting
transmission of the torque; and a clutch controller for
controlling an engagement state of the clutch by actuating
an actuator. The clutch controller includes: a target
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torque obtaining means for obtaining torque that is
supposed to be transmitted from a drive-side member of the
clutch to a downstream mechanism in a torque transmission
path as target transmission torque, the downstream
mechanism including a driven-side member of the clutch;
and a control means for actuating the actuator based on
the target transmission torque. The target torque
obtaining means estimates torque to be transmitted from
the drive-side member to the downstream mechanism in the
torque transmission path after the drive-side member and
the driven-side member are completely engaged, and obtains
the estimated torque as the target transmission torque.
Further, in order to solve the foregoing problems, the
present invention is directed to a method of controlling a
clutch for controlling an engagement state of the clutch
by actuating an actuator, the method including the steps
of: estimating torque to be transmitted from a drive-side
member of the clutch to a downstream mechanism in a torque
transmission path after the drive-side member and a
driven-side member of the clutch are completely engaged,
the downstream mechanism including the driven-side member;
obtaining the estimated torque as target transmission
torque or torque that is supposed to be transmitted from
the drive-side member to the downstream mechanism in the
torque transmission path; and actuating the actuator based
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on the target transmission torque.
The present invention allows to minimize abrupt
changes in torque transmitted via the clutch at the time
of completely engaging the clutch, and thus to improve the
riding comfort of the vehicle when the clutch is engaged.
The straddle-type vehicle may be a motorcycle (including a
scooter), a four-wheeled buggy, a snowmobile or a two-
wheeled electric vehicle, for example.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a side view of a motorcycle provided with a
clutch controller according to an embodiment of the
present invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a mechanism provided on
a torque transmission path of the motorcycle;
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration
of the clutch controller;
FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing changes in
actual transmission torque with respect to time during
engaging operation of a clutch;
FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating functions of a
control unit provided in the clutch controller;
FIG. 6 is a graph illustrating the relationship
between a difference between target transmission torque
and actual transmission torque, and a command actuation
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amount obtained from an actuation amount relational
expression;
FIG. 7 is a graph showing the relationship between an
actuation amount correction value and an engagement state
of the clutch;
FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of the
processing steps executed by the control unit;
FIGs. 9(a) to 9(e) are time charts showing examples of
the results from the processing executed at gear shifting;
FIG. 10 is a graph showing the relationship between
target transmission torque and an accelerator
displacement;
FIG. 11 is a graph showing the relationship between a
command actuation amount represented by a disengagement
actuation amount relational expression and a value
obtained by subtracting actual transmission torque from
target transmission torque; and
FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing another example of the
processing steps executed by the control unit.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
A description will hereinafter be made of an
embodiment of the present invention with reference to the
drawings. FIG. 1 is a side view of a motorcycle 1
provided with a clutch controller 10 as an example of the
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embodiment of the invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic view
of a mechanism provided on a torque transmission path of
the motorcycle 1.
As shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 2, the motorcycle 1 is
provided not only with the clutch controller 10, but also
with an engine 30, a primary speed reducing mechanism 36,
a clutch 40, a secondary speed reducing mechanism 50, a
front wheel 2, and a rear wheel 3.
As shown in FIG. 1, the front wheel 2 is located at a
front part of a vehicle body, and rotatably supported by
lower ends of a front fork 4 extending vertically.
Handlebars 5 are connected to the top of the front fork 4.
An accelerator grip 5a to be gripped by a rider is mounted
to the right end of the handlebars 5. The accelerator
grip 5a is connected to a throttle valve 37a provided in a
throttle body 37 (see FIG. 2). The throttle valve 37a is
rotated according to rider's accelerator operation, and a
certain amount of air, which depends on the rotation
amount of the throttle valve 37a, is delivered to the
engine 30. The engine 30 outputs torque according to the
rider's accelerator operation. The motorcycle 1 may be
provided with an electronically-controlled throttle
device. In this case, there are provided a sensor for
detecting a rider's accelerator operation and an actuator
for rotating the throttle valve 37a according to the
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accelerator operation detected by the sensor.
As shown in FIG. 2, the engine 30 has a cylinder 31, a
piston 32, an intake port 33, and a crankshaft 34. The
throttle body 37 is connected to the intake port 33 via an
intake pipe 35.
The throttle valve 37a is placed within an intake
passage of the throttle body 37. As described above, the
throttle valve 37a rotates according to the rider's
accelerator operation, and a certain amount of air, which
depends on the accelerator operation, is delivered from
the throttle body 37 to the engine 30. Mixture of air and
fuel supplied from a fuel supplier (not shown, for
example, injector or carburetor) is delivered to an
interior of the cylinder 31. Burning the air-fuel mixture
causes the piston 32 to reciprocate within the cylinder
31. The reciprocating motion of the piston 32 is
converted into rotating motion by the crankshaft 34,
thereby outputting torque from the engine 30.
The primary speed reducing mechanism 36 includes: a
drive-side primary reduction gear 36a, which operates in
conjunction with the crankshaft 34; and a driven-side
primary reduction gear 36b, which meshes with the primary
reduction gear 36a. The primary speed reducing mechanism
36 decelerates the rotation of the engine 30 at a
predetermined ratio.
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The clutch 40 is a friction clutch, for example, and
is provided with a drive-side member 41 and a driven-side
member 42. The drive-side member 41 includes a friction
disk, for example, and rotates together with the drive-
side primary reduction gear 36a. The driven-side member
42 includes a clutch disk, for example, and rotates
together with a main shaft 52. The drive-side member 41
and the driven-side member 42 are pressed against each
other by elastic force of a clutch spring 44 at the time
of engaging the clutch 40, so that the torque of the
engine 30 is transmitted from the drive-side member 41 to
the driven-side member 42. Also, when the clutch 40 is
disengaged, the driven-side member 42 is moved away from
the drive-side member 41, so that torque transmission from
the drive-side member 41 is interrupted. The clutch 40 is
engaged or disengaged by a clutch actuator 14 provided in
the clutch controller 10. More specifically, the clutch
actuator 14 presses a push rod 43, provided interior of
the main shaft 52, in the axial direction against the
elastic force of the clutch spring 44 or release the
pressed push rod 43, so that the driven-side member 42 is
moved away from the drive-side member 41 to disengage the
clutch 40 or so that the driven-side member 42 is pressed
against the drive-side member 41 to engage the clutch 40.
Control of the clutch 40 by means of the clutch controller
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10 will be discussed in details later.
The secondary speed reducing mechanism 50 is designed
to decelerate the rotation of the main shaft 52 and
transmit the decelerated rotation to an axle 3a of the
rear wheel 3. In this example, the secondary speed
reducing mechanism 50 is provided with a gearbox 51 and a
transmission mechanism 57. The gearbox 51 is a mechanism
to change deceleration ratios, such as a constant-mesh
gearbox and a selective-sliding gearbox.
The gearbox 51 has on the main shaft 52 plural shift
gears 53a (for example, first-speed gear, second-speed
gear, third/fourth-speed gear) and shift gears 53b (for
example, fifth-speed gear and six-speed gear). Also, the
gearbox 51 has on a countershaft 55 plural shift gears 54a
(for example, first-speed gear, second-speed gear,
third/fourth-speed gear) and shift gears 54b (for example,
fifth-speed gear and sixth-speed gear). The shift gears
53a are spline-connected to the main shaft 52 and operate
in conjunction with the main shaft 52. The shift gears
54a are provided such that they turn free to the
countershaft 55, and mesh with the corresponding shift
gears 53a, respectively. The shift gears 53b are provided
such that they run idle with respect to the main shaft 52.
The shift gears 54b mesh with the corresponding shift
gears 53b, respectively, while being spline-connected to
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the countershaft 55 to operate in conjunction with the
countershaft 55. A pair of the meshing shift gears 53a,
54a and a pair of the meshing shift gears 53b, 54b each
have a different speed reduction ratio.
The gearbox 51 is also provided with a gearshift
mechanism 56. The gearshift mechanism 56 includes a shift
fork and a shift drum, for example, and selectively moves
the shift gears 53a, 53b, 54a, 54b in the axial direction
of the main shaft 52 or the countershaft 55. Then, the
gearshift mechanism 56 causes the shift gears 53b, 54a,
which are provided to run idle with respect to the
corresponding shafts, to connect with the adjacent shift
gears 53a, 54b, which operate in conjunction with the
corresponding shafts. This changes the pairs of shift
gears to transmit torque from the main shaft 52 to the
countershaft 55. The gearshift mechanism 56 is actuated
by power inputted from a shift actuator 16 to be discussed
later.
The transmission mechanism 57 is designed to
decelerate the rotation of the countershaft 55 and
transmit the decelerated rotation to the axle 3a of the
rear wheel 3. In this example, the transmission mechanism
57 includes: a drive-side member 57a (for example, drive-
side sprocket), which operates in conjunction with the
countershaft 55; a driven-side member 57b (for example,
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driven-side sprocket), which operates in conjunction with
the axle 3a; and a transmission member 57c (for example,
chain), which transmits torque from the drive-side member
57a to the driven-side member 57b.
Torque outputted from the engine 30 is transmitted to
the drive-side member 41 of the clutch 40 via the primary
speed reducing mechanism 36. The torque transmitted to
the drive-side member 41 is transmitted to the axle 3a of
the rear wheel 3 via the driven-side member 42, the
gearbox 51, and the transmission mechanism 57, in the case
that the clutch 40 is engaged or the drive-side member 41
and the driven-side member 42 contact each other, that is,
the clutch 40 is in a half-clutch state.
Now, the clutch controller 10 is described. The
motorcycle 1 is a semi-automatic vehicle which changes the
shift gears of the gearbox 51 without the need for the
rider to operate the clutch. The engagement state of the
clutch 40 (stroke of the clutch 40) is controlled by the
clutch controller 10. FIG. 3 is a block diagram
illustrating a configuration of the clutch controller 10.
As shown in FIG. 3, the clutch controller 10 is provided
with a control unit 11, a storage unit 12, a clutch
actuator drive circuit 13, a clutch actuator 14, a shift
actuator drive circuit 15, a shift actuator 16, an
accelerator operation detector 17, an engine speed
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detector 18, a vehicle speed detector 19, a gear position
detector 21, a clutch position detector 22, and clutch
rotational speed detectors 23a, 23b. The control unit 11
is connected to a shift-up switch 9a and a shift-down
switch 9b.
The control unit 11 includes a central processing unit
(CPU) , and actuates the clutch actuator 15 and the shift
actuator 16 in accordance with programs stored in the
storage unit 12 to control the engagement state of the
clutch 40 and the speed reduction ratios of the gearbox
51. The processing executed by the control unit 11 will
be discussed in detail later.
The storage unit 12 includes a nonvolatile memory and
a volatile memory, and holds in advance the programs
executed by the control unit 11. Additionally, the
storage unit 12 holds tables and expressions to be used
for the processing executed by the control unit 11. These
tables and expressions will be discussed in detail later.
The clutch actuator drive circuit 13 outputs electric
power to drive the clutch actuator 14 in accordance with a
signal inputted from the control unit 11. The clutch
actuator 14 includes, for example, a motor and a power
transmission mechanism (such as hydraulic path and wire),
and is driven by receiving the electric power outputted
from the clutch actuator drive circuit 13. In this
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example, the clutch actuator 14 presses the push rod 43 or
release the pressed push rod 43 to engage or disengage the
clutch 40. More specifically, the clutch actuator 14 is
provided that is capable of being actuated in the
disengagement direction to disengage the clutch 40 by
pressing the push rod 43 or in the engagement direction to
engage the clutch 40 by releasing the pressed push rod 43.
The clutch actuator 14 causes the clutch 40 to be in a
half-clutch state in the process of the engaging operation
in which the clutch 40, which has been disengaged, is
engaged. When the clutch 40 is in a half-clutch state,
only part of the torque of the engine 30 is transmitted
from the drive-side member 41 to the driven-side member
42.
The shift actuator drive circuit 15 outputs electric
power to drive the shift actuator 16 in accordance with a
signal inputted from the control unit 11. The shift
actuator 16 includes, for example, a motor and a power
transmission mechanism (such as hydraulic path and wire),
and is driven by receiving the electric power outputted
from the shift actuator drive circuit 15. The shift
actuator 16 actuates the gearshift mechanism 56 of the
gearbox 51 to change the pairs of shift gears to transmit
toque from the main shaft 52 to the countershaft 55 in
order to change the speed reduction ratios.
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The accelerator operation detector 17 is designed to
detect an amount of the accelerator operation by the rider
(hereinafter referred to as accelerator displacement (for
example, throttle opening)). Examples of the accelerator
operation detector 17 are a throttle position sensor
mounted to the throttle body 37 to detect a throttle
opening and an accelerator position sensor mounted to the
accelerator grip 5a to detect a rotation angle of the
accelerator grip 5a. The accelerator operation detector
17 outputs an electric signal to the control unit 11
according to the accelerator displacement (hereinafter the
electric signal is referred to as request torque signal).
The control unit 11 detects the accelerator displacement
by the rider based on the request torque signal.
The engine speed detector 18 is designed to detect the
rotational speed of the engine 30 (hereinafter referred to
as engine speed). Examples of the engine speed detector
18 are a crank angle sensor for outputting a pulse signal
with a frequency according to the rotational speed of the
crankshaft 34 or the primary reduction gears 36a, 36b and
a tachogenerator for outputting a voltage signal according
to the rotational speed thereof. The engine speed
detector 18 outputs a signal to the control unit 11
according to the engine speed. The control unit 11
calculates the engine speed based on the input signal.
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The vehicle speed detector 19 is designed to detect a
vehicle speed, and outputs a signal to the control unit 11
according to, for example, the rotational speed of the
axle 3a of the rear wheel 3 or the countershaft 55
(hereinafter the signal is referred to as vehicle speed
signal). The control unit 11 calculates the vehicle speed
based on the vehicle speed signal. The vehicle speed
detector 19 may output a signal to the control unit 11
according to the rotational speed of the main shaft 52 as
a vehicle speed signal. In this case, the control unit 11
calculates the vehicle speed not only based on the input
vehicle speed signal, but also based on the speed
reduction ratios of the gearbox 51 and the transmission
mechanism 57.
The gear position detector 21 is designed to detect
the positions of the shift gears 53a, 53b, 54a, 54b
provided movably in the axial direction of the
countershaft 55 or the main shaft 52. An example of the
gear position detector 21 is a potentiometer mounted to
the gearshift mechanism 56 or the shift actuator 16. The
gear position detector 21 outputs a signal to the control
unit 11 according to the positions of the shift gears 53a,
53b, 54a, 54b. Based on the input signal, the control
unit 11 detects that some of the shift gears 53a, 53b,
54a, 54b, which are associated with the gear shifting,
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have finished moving and the speed reduction ratios have
changed already.
The clutch position detector 22 is designed to detect
an engagement state of the clutch 40. Examples of the
clutch position detector 22 are a potentiometer for
outputting a signal according to the position of the push
rod 43 and a potentiometer for outputting a signal
according to the position or the rotation angle of the
output shaft of the clutch actuator 14. Based on the
signal inputted from the clutch position detector 22, the
control unit 11 detects the engagement state of the clutch
40. In other words, the control unit 11 detects the
degree of the contact between the drive-side member 41 and
the driven-side member 42 (the distance between the drive-
side member 41 and the driven-side member 42).
The clutch rotational speed detector 23a is designed
to detect the rotational speed of the drive-side member 41
of the clutch 40. Examples of the clutch rotational speed
detector 23a are a rotary encoder for outputting a pulse
signal with a frequency according to the rotational speed
of the drive-side member 41 and a tachogenerator for
outputting a voltage signal according to the rotational
speed of the drive-side member 41. In turn, the clutch
rotational speed detector 23b is designed to detect the
rotational speed of the driven-side member 42 of the
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clutch 40. Examples of the clutch rotational speed
detector 23b are a rotary encoder and a tachogenerator, as
described for the clutch rotational speed detector 23a.
The shift-up switch 9a and the shift-down switch 9b
are designed for the rider to provide instructions to
change the speed reduction ratios of the gearbox 51 to the
clutch controller 11. These switches 9a, 9b output a
signal to the control unit 11 according to the
instructions of gear shifting. The control unit 11
actuates the shift actuator 16 according to the input
signal to change the pairs of the shift gears to transmit
torque from the main shaft 52 to the countershaft 55.
Now, description is made of the control of the clutch
40 by means of the clutch controller 10 and the basic idea
for such control.
The related clutch controller controls the engagement
state of the clutch based on the difference in rotational
speed between the drive-side member and the driven-side
member of the clutch. Therefore, other technologies have
been proposed to reduce the time period spent for clutch
engaging operation (from the point in time when the drive-
side member and the driven-side member are apart from each
other to the point in time when these members are pressed
against each other), and to improve riding comfort during
the clutch engaging operation or reduce shocks and the
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deceleration feeling (see JP-A-2001-146930). However,
there is a trade-off relationship between the reduction in
time period spent for clutch engaging operation and the
improvement in riding comfort. This restricts the
reduction in time period spent for clutch engaging
operation. In other words, to engage the clutch in a
short time period causes shocks to the vehicle, and on the
other hand, to reduce the shocks requires a longer time
period to engage the clutch.
The present inventor focused attention not on the time
period actually spent for engaging the drive-side member
with the driven-side member, but on the clutch engagement
time period perceived by the rider. Then, the present
inventor found that the rider perceives the clutch
engagement time period due to the deceleration of the
vehicle caused by disengagement of the clutch or a half-
clutch state, as well as due to the slight shocks
generated when the drive-side member and the driven-side
member are completely engaged. In other words, the rider
perceives the time period from the point in time when the
vehicle starts decelerating to the point in time when
slight shocks are generated when the drive-side member and
the driven-side member are completely engaged, as a time
period spent for engaging the clutch. In addition, the
present inventor found that these deceleration and shocks
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are caused by changes in torque transmitted from the
drive-side member to the driven-side member of the clutch.
More specifically, the vehicle decelerates with a decrease
in torque transmitted from the drive-side member to the
driven-side member, and shocks are generated with an
increase in torque at the time when the drive-side member
and the driven-side member are completely engaged.
Thus, the clutch controller 10 described as an example
of the embodiment of the invention obtains torque
transmitted from the drive-side member 41 of the clutch 40
to the downstream mechanism (such as the driven-side
member 42 and the secondary speed reducing mechanism 50 in
FIG. 2 (hereinafter referred to as downstream transmission
mechanism)) in the torque transmission path including the
driven-side member 42 (hereinafter the torque is referred
to as actual transmission torque Tac) . In addition, the
clutch controller 10 estimates torque to be transmitted to
the downstream transmission mechanism after the drive-side
member 41 and the driven-side member 42 are completely
engaged. Then, the clutch controller 10 defines the
estimated torque as target transmission torque Ttg, and
controls the engagement state of the clutch 40 during
engaging operation of the clutch 40 (when the clutch 40 is
in a half-clutch state) such that the actual transmission
torque Tac approximates the target transmission torque
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Ttg.
Thereby, the actual transmission torque Tac is
prevented from excessively decreasing during engaging
operation of the clutch, thus reducing the vehicle
deceleration feeling during the engaging operation. In
addition, the actual transmission torque Tac is prevented
from changing at the time when the clutch is completely
engaged, thus reducing the shocks generated at that time.
Consequently, the rider perceives that it takes less time
to engage the clutch. FIG. 4 is an explanatory view
showing changes in actual transmission torque Tac with
respect to time during engaging operation of the clutch
40. At the time tl, the actual transmission torque Tac
decreases to 0 temporarily because the clutch 40 is
disengaged. After that, the clutch controller 10
estimates torque at the time when the clutch 40 is
completely engaged (at the time t4 in FIG. 4) and defines
the estimated torque as target transmission torque Ttg.
At the time t2, when the clutch controller 10 starts
actuating the clutch 40 in the direction to engage the
clutch 40, the clutch 40 is in a half-clutch state. When
the clutch 40 is in a half-clutch state, the clutch
controller 10 controls the engagement state of the clutch
40 such that the actual transmission torque Tac reaches
the target transmission torque Ttg. As a result of this
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control, at the time t3, the actual transmission torque
Tac is equal to the target transmission torque Ttg and
corresponds with the torque to be obtained after
completion of the clutch engagement. After that, the
clutch 40 is completely engaged at the time t4, and thus
the half-clutch state is discontinued. Because the actual
transmission torque Tac has been already equal to the
target transmission torque Ttg, the current actual
transmission torque Tac is prevented from changing, thus
reducing the shocks to the vehicles. Up to this point,
the basic idea for the control of the clutch 40 by means
of the clutch controller 10 has been discussed.
Hereinafter, the control of the clutch 40 by means of the
clutch controller 10 will be described in details.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating functions of
the control unit 11. The functions of the control unit 11
include an actual torque obtaining section 11a, a target
torque obtaining section lib, a clutch actuator control
section lie, and a shift actuator control section lid.
The actual torque obtaining section 11a obtains actual
transmission torque Tac in a predetermined sampling cycle
(for example, several milliseconds) during engaging
operation of the clutch 40 in which the drive-side member
41 and the driven-side member 42 approach each other.
This processing is executed as follows, for example. In
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the description herein, the actual transmission torque Tac
is referred to as torque transmitted from the drive-side
member 41 to the driven-side member 42.
The actual torque obtaining section 11a calculates the
actual transmission torque Tac based on the torque
outputted from the engine 30 (hereinafter referred to as
EG torque TEac) and based on the inertia torque produced
on a mechanism upstream of the drive-side member 41 (such
as the crankshaft 34, the piston 32 and the primary speed
reducing mechanism 36 (hereinafter referred to as engine-
side mechanism)) in the torque transmission path
(hereinafter the inertia torque is referred to as EG-side
inertia torque TIac). The EG-side inertia torque TIac is
a value obtained by multiplying the inertia moment I on
the engine-side mechanism by the variation in engine speed
Qe per unit time, dQe / dt. The inertia moment I is
calculated in advance, for example, in the stage of
manufacturing the engine 30.
Description is first made of an example of • the
processing for obtaining the EG torque TEac. The actual
torque obtaining section 11a obtains the EG torque TEac
based on the accelerator displacement Aop, detected by the
accelerator operation detector 17, and based on the engine
speed Qe detected by the engine speed detector 18. For
example, the storage unit 12 stores in advance a table
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that establishes the correspondence between the EG torque
TEac, and the engine speed Qe and the accelerator
displacement Aop (hereinafter the table is referred to as
EG torque table). Then, the actual torque obtaining
section 11a detects the accelerator displacement Aop based
on the request torque signal inputted from the accelerator
operation detector 17, while detecting the engine speed Qe
based on the signal inputted from the engine speed
detector 18. Then, the actual torque obtaining section
11a refers to the EG torque table to obtain the EG torque
TEac that corresponds to the detected accelerator
displacement Aop and engine speed Qe. The storage unit 12
may store in advance an expression that represents the
relationship between the engine speed Qe, the accelerator
displacement Aop and the EG torque TEac (hereinafter the
expression is referred to as EG torque relational
expression). In this case, the actual torque obtaining
section 11a substitutes the detected engine speed Qe and
accelerator displacement Aop into the EG torque relational
expression in order to calculate the EG torque TEac.
Now, description is made of an example of the
processing for obtaining the EG-side inertia torque TIac.
The actual torque obtaining section 11a obtains the EG-
side inertia torque TIac based on the engine speed Qe.
Specifically, the actual torque obtaining section 11a
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calculates a variation in engine speed Qe per unit time
(hereinafter the variation is referred to as EG speed
variation dQe / dt) based on the signal inputted from the
engine speed detector 18. Then, a value, which is
obtained by multiplying the EG speed variation dQe / dt by
the inertia moment on the engine-side mechanism
(hereinafter referred to as engine-side inertia moment I),
is defined as EG-side inertia torque TIac (TIac = I x dQe
/ dt) . Alternatively, the storage unit 12 may store in
advance a table that establishes the correspondence
between the EG speed variation dQe / dt and the EG-side
inertia torque TIac. In this case, the actual torque
obtaining section 11a refers to the table to obtain the
EG-side inertia torque TIac that corresponds to the EG
speed variation dQe / dt.
Then, the actual torque obtaining section 11a
subtracts the EG-side inertia torque TIac, produced due to
changes in engine speed Qe, from the EG torque TEac,
obtained from the aforementioned processing, in order to
calculate the actual transmission torque Tac. For
example, the actual torque obtaining section 11a
substitutes the EG torque TEac and the EG-side inertia
torque TIac into the following expression (1) stored in
advance in the storage unit 12 in order to calculate the
actual transmission torque Tac.
25

Tac = (TEac - TIac) x Pratio (1)
Where Pratio is the speed reduction ratio of the
primary speed reducing mechanism 36 (Pratio = the number
of teeth of the driven-side primary reduction gear 36b /
the number of teeth of the drive-side primary reduction
gear 36a).
The processing executed by the actual torque obtaining
section 11a is not limited to this. For example, in the
above description, the actual torque obtaining section 11a
calculates the actual transmission torque Tac. More
specifically, after obtaining the EG torque TEac and the
EG-side inertia torque TIac, the actual torque obtaining
section 11a subtracts the obtained EG-side inertia torque
TIac from the obtained EG torque TEac, and multiplies the
subtraction result by the speed reduction ratio Pratio of
the primary speed reducing mechanism 36. However, for
example, the storage unit 12 may store in advance a table
or an expression that establishes the correspondence
between the actual transmission torque Tac, and the engine
speed Qe, the accelerator displacement Aop and the EG
speed variation dQe / dt. In this case, the actual torque
obtaining section 11a uses the table or the expression to
directly obtain the actual transmission torque Tac that
corresponds to the engine speed Qe, the EG speed variation
dQe / dt and the accelerator displacement Aop.
26

Alternatively, the actual torque obtaining section 11a
may obtain the EG torque TEac based on pressure of air
flowing through the interior of the intake pipe 35
(hereinafter the pressure is referred to as intake
pressure) (see FIG. 2) . For example, the storage unit 12
stores a table that establishes the correspondence between
the EG torque TEac, and the intake pressure and the engine
speed Qe. In addition, a pressure sensor for outputting a
signal according to the intake pressure is disposed in the
intake pipe 35. In this case, the actual torque obtaining
section 11a detects the intake pressure based on the
signal inputted from the pressure sensor at the time when
the crank angle is a predetermined value (for example, at
the end of intake stroke), while detecting the engine
speed Qe based on the signal inputted from the engine
speed detector 18. Then, the actual torque obtaining
section 11a refers to the table stored in the storage unit
12 to obtain the EG torque TEac that corresponds to the
detected intake pressure and engine speed Qe.
A torque detector may be provided in advance for
outputting an electric signal according to the torque
transmitted to the driven-side member 42. Then, the
actual torque obtaining section 11a obtains the actual
transmission torque Tac transmitted to the driven-side
member 42 based on the signal inputted from the torque
27

detector. An example of the torque detector is a sensor
for outputting an electric signal according to the strain
stress on the main shaft 52 to which torque is
transmitted.
Now, description is made of the processing executed by
the target torque obtaining section lib. The target
torque obtaining section lib obtains torque, which is
supposed to be transmitted from the drive-side member 41
to the driven-side member 42 of the clutch 40, as target
transmission torque Ttg. As described above,
specifically, the target torque obtaining section lib
estimates torque to be transmitted from the drive-side
member 41 to the driven-side member 42 after the drive-
side member 41 and the driven-side member 42 are
completely engaged, and defines the estimated torque as
target transmission torque Ttg. The wording, when the
drive-side member 41 and the driven-side member 42 are
completely engaged, means the point in time when there is
no difference in rotational speed between the drive-side
member 41 and the driven-side member 42 (hereinafter
referred to as clutch rotational speed difference Qdiff)
or the point in time when the clutch rotational speed
difference Qdiff is equal to or below a predetermined
value. The target torque obtaining section lib executes
the following processing, for example.
28

The target torque obtaining section lib estimates
torque to be outputted from the engine 30 after completion
of the clutch engagement (hereinafter the torque is
referred to as post-completion EG torque TEfin). In
addition, the target torque obtaining section lib
estimates inertia torque to be produced on the engine-side
mechanism after completion of the clutch engagement
(hereinafter the inertia torque is referred to as post-
completion EG-side inertia torque TIfin). Then, the
target torque obtaining section lib obtains the target
transmission torque Ttg based on the estimated post-
completion EG-side inertia torque TIfin and post-
completion EG torque TEfin.
Description is first made of the processing for
estimating the post-completion EG torque TEfin. The
target torque obtaining section lib estimates the engine
speed Qefin after completion of the clutch engagement
based on the rotational speed of the downstream
transmission mechanism, which is obtained before engaging
operation of the clutch 40 starts or during the engaging
operation. Then, the target torque obtaining section lib
estimates the post-completion EG torque TEfin based on the
estimated engine speed Qefin and the accelerator
displacement Aop obtained before engaging operation of the
clutch starts or during the engaging operation.
29

For example, the target torque obtaining section lib
obtains the rotational speed of the driven-side member 42
that forms the downstream transmission mechanism, while
obtaining the rotational speed of the drive-side member
41, in order to calculate the difference in rotational
speed between these members or the clutch rotational speed
difference Qdiff. In addition, the target torque
obtaining section lib obtains the engine speed Qe based on
the signal inputted from the engine speed detector 18.
Then, the target torque obtaining section lib estimates
the engine speed Qefin after completion of the clutch
engagement based on the clutch rotational speed difference
Qdiff and the engine speed Qe. In other words, the
engine speed Qefin after completion of the clutch
engagement depends on the engine speed Qe and the
rotational speed of the downstream transmission mechanism,
which are obtained before engaging operation of the clutch
40 starts or during the engaging operation. More
specifically, a value of the engine speed Qefin after
completion of the clutch engagement is estimated to change
from the engine speed Qe during engaging operation of the
clutch by an amount depending on the clutch rotational
speed difference Qdiff. Thus, the target torque obtaining
section lib substitutes the clutch rotational speed
difference Qdiff and the engine speed Qe, which are
30

obtained during engaging operation of the clutch 40, into
the following expression (2) in order to calculate the
engine speed Qefin.
Qefin = Qe - Qdiff x Pratio (2)
Then, the target torque obtaining section lib detects
the accelerator displacement Aop by the rider based on the
request torque signal inputted from the accelerator
operation detector 17 during engaging operation of the
clutch 40, and refers to the aforementioned EG torque
table to define the torque that corresponds to the
detected accelerator displacement Aop and the calculated
engine speed Qefin as post-completion EG torque TEfin.
Now, description is made of the processing for
estimating the post-completion EG-side inertia torque
TIfin. A variation in engine speed Qefin per unit time,
dQefin / dt, after completion of the clutch engagement
depends on the variation in rotational speed of the
downstream transmission mechanism per unit time obtained
before engaging operation of the clutch 40 starts or
during the engaging operation. For example, as the
variation in rotational speed of the downstream
transmission mechanism during engaging operation of the
clutch 40 is larger, the variation dQefin / dt in engine
speed Qefin after completion of the clutch engagement is
larger, accordingly. Consequently, the post-completion
31

EG-side inertia torque TIfin is estimated to be larger.
Thus, the target torque obtaining section lib estimates
the post-completion EG-side inertia torque TIfin based on
the variation in rotational speed of the downstream
transmission mechanism obtained before engaging operation
of the clutch 40 starts or during the engaging operation.
For example, the target torque obtaining section lib
calculates a variation in rotational speed Qcl of the
downstream transmission mechanism or the driven-side
member 42 per unit time (hereinafter the variation is
referred to as driven-side rotational speed variation dQcl
/ dt) based on the signal inputted from the clutch
rotational speed detector 23b. Then, the target torque
obtaining section lib substitutes the driven-side
rotational speed variation dQcl / dt into the following
expression (3), for example, in order to calculate the
post-completion EG-side inertia torque TIfin.
TIfin = dQcl / dt x Pratio x I (3)
Where I is the EG-side inertia moment and Pratio is
the speed reduction ratio of the primary speed reducing
mechanism 36, as described above.
Alternatively, the target torque obtaining section lib
may execute this processing for calculating the post-
completion EG-side inertia torque TIfin only before
engaging operation of the clutch 40 starts or in a
32

predetermined cycle during the engaging operation. More
specifically, the target torque obtaining section lib
calculates the driven-side rotational speed variation dQcl
/ dt in a predetermined sampling cycle, for example,
during engaging operation of the clutch 40, and obtains
the post-completion EG-side inertia torque TIfin based on
the calculated driven-side rotational speed variation dQcl
/ dt. Then, the target torque obtaining section lib uses
the sequentially-calculated post-completion EG-side
inertia torque TIfin to calculate the target transmission
torque Ttg. The calculation in such a manner allows a
deviation between the target transmission torque Ttg and
the actual transmission torque Tac to be reduced at the
time of completely engaging the clutch 40.
In addition, the target torque obtaining section lib
may calculate the driven-side rotational speed variation
dQcl / dt based on the signal inputted from the clutch
rotational speed detector 23b immediately before the
clutch 40 is disengaged (for example, several hundred
milliseconds before the clutch 40 starts being disengaged)
in the processing executed by the clutch actuator control
section lie. The clutch actuator control section lie will
be discussed later. Then, the target torque obtaining
section lib may calculate the post-completion EG-side
inertia torque TIfin based on the calculated driven-side
33

rotational speed variation dQcl / dt, and in the process
of the engaging operation of the clutch 40, may use the
calculated post-completion EG-side inertia torque TIfin to
calculate the target transmission torque Ttg. Thereby,
the processing load is reduced in the process of the
engaging operation of the clutch 40.
The processing for obtaining the post-completion EG-
side inertia torque TIfin is not limited to the
aforementioned processing based on the rotational speed
Qcl of the driven-side member 42. For example, the
motorcycle 1 may be provided with a detector for detecting
the rotational speed of the countershaft 55. In this
case, the target torque obtaining section lib calculates a
variation in rotational speed Qcout of the countershaft 55
per unit time, dQcout / dt. Then, the target torque
obtaining section lib substitutes the variation dQcout /
dt in rotational speed of the countershaft 55 into the
following expression (4), for example, in order to
calculate the post-completion EG-side inertia torque
TIfin.
TIfin = dQcout / dt x Pratio x Mratio x I (4)
Where Mratio is the speed reduction ratio of the
gearbox 51 (the number of teeth of the shift gears 54a,
54b / the number of teeth of the shift gears 53a, 53b)
after completion of the clutch engagement.
34

Alternatively, the target torque obtaining section lib
may obtain the post-completion EG-side inertial torque
TIfin based on the vehicle speed signal inputted from the
vehicle speed detector 19. Specifically, the target
torque obtaining section lib calculates a variation in
rotational speed Qf inal of the axle 3a per unit time,
dQfinal / dt, based on the vehicle speed signal. Then,
the target torque obtaining section lib may substitute the
variation dQfinal / dt in rotational speed of the axle 3a
into the following expression (5), for example, in order
to calculate the post-completion EG-side inertia torque
TIfin.
TIfin = dQfinal / dt x Pratio x Mratio x Tratio x I (5)
Where Tratio is the speed reduction ratio of the
transmission mechanism 57.
Now, description is made of the processing for
obtaining the target transmission torque Ttg based on the
post-completion EG torque TEfin and the post-completion
EG-side inertia torque TIfin. The target torque obtaining
section lib subtracts the post-completion EG-side inertia
torque TIfin from the post-completion EG torque TEfin,
which are both obtained from the aforementioned
processing, in order to calculate the target transmission
torque Ttg. For example, the target torque obtaining
section lib substitutes the post-completion EG torque
35

TEfin and the post-completion EG-side inertia torque TIfin
into the following expression (6) in order to calculate
the target transmission torque Ttg.
Ttg = (TEfin - TIfin) x Pratio (6)
Alternatively, the target torque obtaining section lib
may correct the subtraction result, obtained by
subtracting the post-completion EG-side inertia torque
TIfin from the post-completion EG torque TEfin, and
provide the corrected result for the processing for
calculating the target transmission torque Ttg. For
example, the target torque obtaining section lib
substitutes the post-completion EG torque TEfin and the
post-completion EG-side inertia torque TIfin into the
following expression (7) in order to calculate the target
transmission torque Ttg.
Ttg = (TEfin - TIfin) x Ka x Pratio (7)
Where Ka is a correction value. For example, the
correction value Ka is determined according to the
accelerator displacement Aop, which is detected based on
the signal inputted from the accelerator operation
detector 17, and is preset such that the correction value
Ka increases in proportion to the accelerator displacement
Aop. Therefore, as the accelerator displacement Aop
increases, the target transmission torque Ttg, which is
supposed to be transmitted from the drive-side member 41
36

to the downstream transmission mechanism, is preset
higher, so that the rider can obtain acceleration feeling
according to the rider's accelerator operation.
In the process of the engaging operation of the clutch
40, the target torque obtaining section lib executes the
aforementioned processing for estimating the post-
completion EG torque TEfin and the aforementioned
processing for estimating the post-completion EG-side
inertia torque TIfin in a predetermined sampling cycle, in
order to obtain the target transmission torque Ttg based
on the estimated post-completion EG torque TEfin and post-
completion EG-side inertia torque TIfin. Thereby, in the
process of the engaging operation of the clutch 40, the
target transmission torque Ttg changes gradually depending
on the rider's accelerator operation or running conditions
of the vehicle, so that operability of the vehicle
improves.
The processing executed by the target torque obtaining
section lib is not limited to the aforementioned
processing. For example, in the above description, after
calculating the post-completion EG torque TEfin and the
post-completion EG-side inertia torque TIfin, the target
torque obtaining section lib subtracts the post-completion
EG-side inertial torque TIfin from the post-completion EG
torque TEfin to obtain the target transmission torque Ttg.
37

However, the target torque obtaining section lib may-
obtain the target transmission torque Ttg directly from a
value detected by the respective detectors. More
specifically, the storage unit 12 stores in advance an
expression that associates the accelerator displacement
Aop, the clutch rotational speed difference Qdiff, the
driven-side rotational speed variation dQcl / dt, and the
engine speed Qe with the target transmission torque Ttg.
Then, the target torque obtaining section lib may
substitute the detected accelerator displacement Aop,
clutch rotational speed difference Qdiff, driven-side
rotational speed variation dQcl / dt and engine speed Qe
into the expression to calculate the target transmission
torque Ttg.
Alternatively, the target torque obtaining section lib
may obtain the target transmission torque Ttg based on the
accelerator displacement Aop in the process of the
engaging operation of the clutch 40 and based on the
actual transmission torque Tac before the clutch actuator
control section lie starts disengaging the clutch 40.
This processing is executed as follows, for example.
The storage unit 12 stores in advance a table that
establishes the correspondence between the target
transmission torque Ttg, and the accelerator displacement
Aop and the actual transmission torque Tac or an
38

expression that represents the relationship between the
accelerator displacement Aop, the actual transmission
torque Tac and the target transmission torque Ttg. For
example, in the table and the expression, as the
accelerator displacement Aop and the actual transmission
torque Tac increase, the target transmission torque Ttg
increases. When a gear shifting command signal is
inputted from the shift-up switch 9a or the shift-down
switch 9b, the target torque obtaining section lib obtains
the actual transmission torque Tac before the clutch 40 is
disengaged in the processing executed by the clutch
actuator control section lie. The processing for
obtaining the actual transmission torque Tac is performed
in the same manner as the aforementioned processing by the
actual torque obtaining section 11a, for example. In the
process of the engaging operation of the clutch 40, the
target torque obtaining section lib detects the
accelerator displacement Aop by the rider in a
predetermined sampling cycle. Then, the target torque
obtaining section lib uses the table or the expression
stored in the storage unit 12 to obtain the target
transmission torque Ttg that corresponds to the detected
accelerator displacement Aop and the actual transmission
torque Tac obtained before the clutch 40 is disengaged.
Alternatively, the target torque obtaining section lib
39

may obtain the target transmission torque Ttg based on the
intake pressure. This processing is executed as follows,
for example. The storage unit 12 stores in advance a
table that establishes the correspondence between the
torque of the engine 30, and the intake pressure and the
engine speed Qe. In the processing for calculating the
post-completion EG torque TEfin, the target torque
obtaining section lib estimates the engine speed Qefin
after completion of the clutch engagement in the same
manner as the aforementioned processing. In addition, the
target torque obtaining section lib detects the intake
pressure at the time when the crank angle is a
predetermined value (for example, at the end of intake
stroke). Then, the target torque obtaining section lib
may refer to the table stored in the storage unit 12 to
obtain torque that corresponds to the detected intake
pressure and the estimated engine speed Qefin in order to
define the obtained torque as post-completion EG torque
TEfin.
The clutch actuator control section lie actuates the
clutch actuator 14 to control the engagement state of the
clutch 40 based on the actual transmission torque Tac
obtained by the actual torque obtaining section 11a.
Specifically, the clutch actuator control section lie
actuates the clutch actuator 14 in a predetermined cycle
40

(for example, a cycle for calculating the actual
transmission torque Tac and the target transmission torque
Ttg) by an actuation amount according to the difference
between the actual transmission torque Tac and the target
transmission torque Ttg (hereinafter referred to as torque
deviation AT (AT = Ttg - Tac) ) . The clutch actuator
control section lie executes the following processing, for
example.
The storage unit 12 stores in advance an expression
that represents the relationship between the torque
deviation AT and the actuation amount of the clutch
actuator 14 (hereinafter the expression is referred to as
actuation amount relational expression). The clutch
actuator control section lie calculates the torque
deviation AT every time the actual torque obtaining
section 11a obtains the actual transmission torque Tac.
Then, the clutch actuator control section lie substitutes
the calculated torque deviation AT into the actuation
amount relational expression in order to obtain the amount
by which the clutch actuator 14 is to be actuated
(hereinafter the amount is referred to as command
actuation amount), and outputs a signal to the clutch
actuator drive circuit 13 according to the command
actuation amount. The clutch actuator drive circuit 13
supplies electric power to the clutch actuator 14
41

according to the input signal. The clutch actuator 14 is
actuated by the command actuation amount during the
aforementioned cycle. Then, the pressing force between
the drive-side member 41 and the driven-side member 42 is
varied by an amount according to the actuation amount of
the clutch actuator 14, so that the engagement state of
the clutch 40 changes.
For example, the command actuation amount is preset
larger as the torque deviation AT increases. FIG. 6 is a
graph showing the relationship between the torque
deviation AT (AT = Ttg - Tac) and the command actuation
amount obtained from the actuation amount relational
expression. In an example shown in FIG. 6, the actuation
amount relational expression is established such that if
the torque deviation AT is positive, the clutch actuator
14 is actuated in the direction to engage the clutch 40.
In turn, the actuation amount relational expression is
established such that if the torque deviation AT is
negative, the clutch actuator 14 is actuated in the
direction to disengage the clutch 40. In addition, the
actuation amount relational expression is established such
that the command actuation amount increases in proportion
to the torque deviation AT. As described above, the
command actuation amount is an amount by which the clutch
actuator 14 is actuated during one cycle, and the command
42

actuation amount is preset in such a manner that it
increases in proportion to the torque deviation AT. This
makes it possible to increase the speed at which the
clutch actuator 14 operates, if the torque deviation AT is
large.
The relationship between the torque deviation AT and
the command actuation amount is not limited to the
relationship shown in FIG. 6. For example, the actuation
amount relational expression may be established such that
the command actuation amount is proportional to the square
of the torque deviation AT.
Further, in place of the actuation amount relational
expression, the storage unit 12 may store a table that
establishes the correspondence between the command
actuation amount and the torque deviation AT (hereinafter
the table is referred to as actuation amount table) . In
this case, the clutch actuator control section lie refers
to the actuation amount table to obtain the command
actuation amount that corresponds to the torque deviation
AT. Alternatively, the actuation amount table may
establish the correspondence between the command actuation
amount, and the target transmission torque Ttg and the
actual transmission torque Tac. In this case, the clutch
actuator control section lie refers to the actuation
amount table, without calculating the torque deviation AT,
43

to directly obtain the command actuation amount that
corresponds to the target transmission torque Ttg and the
actual transmission torque Tac.
Alternatively, the clutch actuator control section lie
may correct the command actuation amount based on a
predetermined correction value depending on the engagement
state of the clutch 40 (hereinafter the correction value
is referred to as actuation amount correction value Km) .
FIG. 7 is a graph showing an example of the relationship
between the actuation amount correction value Km and the
engagement state of the clutch 40, in which the horizontal
axis represents the engagement state of the clutch 40 and
the vertical axis represents the actuation amount
correction value Km. In the graph, an actuation amount
correction value CI when the clutch 40 is disengaged is
preset larger than an actuation amount correction value C2
when the clutch 4 0 is engaged. In addition, when the
position of the clutch 40 (the positional relationship
between the drive-side member 41 and the driven-side
member 42) is between Pi and P2, the actuation amount
correction value Km is preset larger as the clutch
actuator 14 is actuated in the direction to disengage the
clutch 40. In the case where the actuation amount
correction value Km is preset in this manner, the clutch
actuator control section lie multiplies the difference
44

between the target transmission torque Ttg and the actual
transmission torque Tac by the actuation amount correction
value Km, for example, and refers to the aforementioned
actuation amount table and actuation amount relational
expression to obtain the command actuation amount that
corresponds to the multiplication result ((Ttg - Tac) x
Km) .
When the rider provides gear shifting instructions,
the clutch actuator control section lie actuates the
clutch actuator 14 to disengage the clutch 40 in order to
temporarily interrupt torque transmission from the drive-
side member 41 to the driven-side member 42. After that,
the clutch actuator control section lie detects that some
of the shift gears 53a, 53b, 54a, 54b, which are
associated with the gear shifting instructions, have been
moved already based on the signal inputted from the gear
position detector 21, and then executes the aforementioned
processing. More specifically, according to the obtained
command actuation amount, the clutch actuator control
section lie actuates the clutch actuator 14 in the
direction to engage the clutch 40.
When the rider operates the shift-up switch 9a or the
shift-down switch 9b to provide gear shifting
instructions, the shift actuator control section lid
actuates the shift actuator 16 to change the pairs of
45

shift gears to transmit torque. Specifically, after
detecting that the clutch 40 is disengaged based on the
signal inputted from the clutch position detector 22, the
shift actuator control section lid outputs a signal to the
shift actuator drive circuit 15 according to the rider's
gear shifting instructions. Thereby, the shift actuator
drive circuit 15 supplies electric power to actuate the
shift actuator 16, in order to move some of the shift
gears 53a, 53b, 54a, 54b according to the gear shifting
instructions.
Now, description is made of the flow of the processing
executed by the control unit 11. FIG. 8 is a flowchart
showing an example of the processing executed by the
control unit 11. Here, the processing executed by the
control unit 11 at gear shifting is described as an
example.
The clutch actuator control section lie determines
whether or not a gear shifting command signal is inputted
from the shift-up switch 9a or the shift-down switch 9b
(S101). If no gear shifting command signal is inputted,
the clutch actuator control section lie waits until the
gear shifting command signal is inputted. When the gear
shifting command signal is inputted, the clutch actuator
control section lie actuates the clutch actuator 14 to
disengage the clutch 40 (S102). After detecting that the
46

clutch 40 is disengaged based on the signal inputted from
the clutch position detector 22, the shift actuator
control section lid actuates the shift actuator 16 to move
some of the shift gears 53a, 53b, 54a, 54b, which are
associated with the gear shifting command, in order to
change the speed reduction ratios of the gearbox 51
(S103). After detecting that some of the shift gears 53a,
53b, 54a, 54b have been moved already based on the signal
inputted from the gear position detector 21, the clutch
actuator control section lie executes the processing for
engaging the clutch 40 that has been disengaged.
Specifically, the target torque obtaining section lib
obtains the target transmission torque Ttg (S104) . For
example, the target torque obtaining section lib detects
the accelerator displacement Aop based on the request
torque signal inputted from the accelerator operation
detector 17, while detecting the rotational speed Qcl of
the driven-side member 42 based on the signal inputted
from the clutch rotational speed detector 23b. Then,
based on the detected rotational speed Qcl, the variation
dQcl / dt in rotational speed Qcl per unit time, and the
detected accelerator displacement Aop, the target torque
obtaining section lib estimates torque, which is supposed
to be transmitted to the driven-side member 42 after
completion of the clutch engagement, and defines the
47

estimated torque as target transmission torque Ttg.
In turn, the actual torque obtaining section 11a
obtains the actual transmission torque Tac currently-
transmitted from the drive-side member 41 to the driven-
side member 42 (step S105) . For example, the actual
torque obtaining section 11a detects the engine speed Qe,
while calculating the variation in engine speed Qe per
unit time or EG speed variation dQe / dt. Then, the
actual torque obtaining section 11a obtains the actual
transmission torque Tac based on the engine speed Qe and
the EG speed variation dQe / dt.
After that, the clutch actuator control section lie
obtains the amount by which the clutch actuator 14 is to
be actuated, that is, the command actuation amount based
on the target transmission torque Ttg obtained in the step
S104 and the actual transmission torque Tac obtained in
the step S105, and outputs a signal to the clutch actuator
drive circuit 15 according to the obtained command
actuation amount (S106). Consequently, the drive-side
member 41 and the driven-side member 42 approach each
other, so that the clutch 40 is in a half-clutch state.
Then, the clutch actuator control section lie
calculates the difference in rotational speed between the
drive-side member 41 and the driven-side member 42 (the
clutch rotational speed difference Qdiff) based on the
48

signals inputted from the clutch rotational speed
detectors 23a, 23b, and determines whether or not the
calculated clutch rotational speed difference Qdiff is
smaller than a predetermined value (hereinafter referred
to as speed difference for discontinuing half-clutch)
(S107). Alternatively, the clutch actuator control
section lie may determine whether or not the clutch
rotational speed difference Qdiff continues to be smaller
than the speed difference for discontinuing half-clutch
for a given time period. In the step S107, if the clutch
rotational speed difference Qdiff is equal to or greater
than the speed difference for discontinuing half-clutch,
the control unit 11 returns to the step S104 to reexecute
the subsequent processing steps. When the clutch 40 is in
a half-clutch state, the control unit 11 repeats the steps
S104 to S106 in a predetermined cycle. This allows the
actual transmission torque Tac to follow the target
transmission torque Ttg. In contrast, in the step S107,
if the clutch rotational speed difference Qdiff is smaller
than the speed difference for discontinuing half-clutch,
the clutch actuator control section lie actuates the
clutch actuator 14 to discontinue the half-clutch state of
the clutch 40 and engage the clutch 40 completely (S108).
The aforementioned processing is an example of the
processing executed by the control unit 11 at gear
49

shifting.
Now, description is made of the results of the
processing executed by the control unit 11. FIG. 9 is a
time chart to illustrate the results of the processing
executed at gear changes, wherein FIG. 9(a) shows changes
in engagement state of the clutch 40 with respect to time;
FIG. 9(b) shows changes in target transmission torque Ttg
with respect to time; FIG. 9(c) shows changes in actual
transmission torque Tac with respect to time; FIG. 9(d)
shows changes in torque transmitted to the axle 3a with
respect to time; and FIG. 9(e) shows changes in engine
speed Qe with respect to time. The description herein is
made of an example in which the gearbox 51 is shifted-up,
and the torque, transmitted to the axle 3a of the rear
wheel 3 after the gear shifting, decreases compared to
before the gear shifting.
When the shift-up switch 9a inputs a gear shifting
command signal at the time tl, the clutch actuator control
section lie executes the processing to actuate the clutch
actuator 14, so that the clutch 40 is disengaged as shown
in FIG. 9(a). At this time, as shown in FIGs. 9(c) and
9(d), the actual transmission torque Tac transmitted from
the drive-side member 41 to the driven-side member 42 of
the clutch 40 and the torque transmitted to the axle 3a
are 0. In turn, as shown in FIG. 9(e), the engine speed
50

increases slightly because the load on the engine 30 is
eliminated (see time t2). After that, at the time t3,
when some of the shift gears 53a, 53b, 54a, 54b have been
moved already in the processing executed by the shift
actuator control section lid, the torque estimated to be
transmitted to the driven-side member 42 after completion
of the clutch engagement is preset as target transmission
torque Ttg, as shown in FIG. 9(c) . In addition, the
clutch actuator 14 starts being actuated by the command
actuation amount according to the torque deviation AT.
Consequently, as shown in FIG. 9(a), the clutch 40 is in
half-clutch state in which the drive-side member 41 and
the driven-side member 42 contact each other. As shown in
FIGs. 9(c) and 9(d), the actual transmission torque Tac
transmitted to the driven-side member 42 and the torque
transmitted to the axle 3a start increasing. Then, at the
time t4, the target transmission torque Ttg and the actual
transmission torque Tac are equal to each other. As shown
in FIG. 9(d), the torque, estimated to be transmitted at
the time when the drive-side member 41 and the driven-side
member 42 are completely engaged (at the time t5 in FIGs.
9 (a)-9(e)), is transmitted to the axle 3a and the driven-
side member 42 at the time t4. From the time t3 to the
time t4, as the torque deviation AT is gradually smaller,
the displacement of the clutch 40 per unit time is
51

gradually smaller, accordingly, as shown in FIG. 9(a). In
addition, as shown in FIG. 9(e), because at the time of
shift-up operation, normally the rotational speed of the
driven-side member 42 is lower than the rotational speed
of the drive-side member 41, the engine speed Qe decreases
moderately.
After that, the actual transmission torque Tac and the
target transmission torque Ttg continue to be equal to
each other, and therefore, the engagement state of the
clutch 40 is maintained. After that, at the time t5, when
the clutch rotational speed difference Qdiff is smaller
than the aforementioned speed difference for discontinuing
half-clutch, the clutch actuator control section lie
actuates the clutch actuator 14 to completely engage the
driven-side member 42 with the drive-side member 41 and
discontinue the half-clutch state. At this time, as shown
in FIGs. 9(c) and 9(d), the torque transmitted to the
driven-side member 42 and the axle 3a remains unchanged
and is maintained at the level at the time t4. In FIGs.
9(a) to 9(e), when the clutch 40 is in a half-clutch
state, the target transmission torque Ttg is constant.
However, in case the rider increases the accelerator
displacement Aop when the clutch 40 is in a half-clutch
state, the target transmission torque Ttg, obtained by the
target torque obtaining section lib, changes, accordingly.
52

In this case, the clutch actuator control section lie
controls the engagement state of the clutch 40 such that
the actual transmission torque Tac follows the target
transmission torque Ttg.
The above-mentioned clutch controller 10 is provided
with: the target torque obtaining section lib for
obtaining torque that is supposed to be transmitted from
the drive-side member 41 to the downstream transmission
mechanism including the driven-side member 42 as target
transmission torque Ttg; and the clutch actuator control
section lie for actuating the clutch actuator 14 based on
the target transmission torque Ttg. Thus, the target
torque obtaining section lib estimates the torque to be
transmitted from the drive-side member 41 to the
downstream transmission mechanism after the drive-side
member 41 and the driven-side member 42 are completely
engaged, and defines the estimated torque as target
transmission torque Ttg.
This minimizes the changes in torque transmitted via
the clutch 40 at the time of completely engaging the
clutch 40, and thus improves the riding comfort of the
vehicle at the time when engaging operation of the clutch
40 is required, such as at gear shifting or vehicle start-
up. In addition, the changes in torque are minimized at
the time of completely engaging the clutch 40, thereby
53

allowing the rider to perceive less time spent for
engaging the clutch 40.
Further, in the above-mentioned clutch controller 10,
the target torque obtaining section lib estimates the
post-completion EG torque TEfin, to be outputted from the
engine 30 after the drive-side member 41 and the driven-
side member 42 are completely engaged, and the post-
completion EG-side inertia torque TIfin, to be produced on
the mechanism upstream of the drive-side member 41 (the
engine-side mechanism) in the torque transmission path
after the drive-side member 41 and the driven-side member
42 are completely engaged. Then, based on the estimated
post-completion EG torque TEfin and post-completion EG-
side inertia torque TIfin, the target torque obtaining
section lib estimates the torque to be transmitted to the
downstream mechanism after the drive-side member 41 and
the driven-side member 42 are completely engaged. Thus,
by such simple processing, the target transmission torque
Ttg is set at the torque estimated to be transmitted from
the drive-side member 41 to the downstream transmission
mechanism after the drive-side member 41 and the driven-
side member 42 are completely engaged.
The clutch controller 10 is further provided with the
actual torque obtaining section 11a for obtaining torque
transmitted from the drive-side member 41 to the driven-
54

side member 42 as actual transmission torque Tac. The
clutch actuator control section lie actuates the actuator
based on the difference between the actual transmission
torque Tac and the target transmission torque Ttg. This
allows for the control of the actual transmission torque
Tac to approximate the target transmission torque Ttg,
which minimizes the changes in actual transmission torque
Tac at the time of completely engaging the clutch 40, and
thus improves the riding comfort of the vehicle at the
time when engaging operation of the clutch 40 is required,
such as at gear shifting or vehicle start-up.
In the clutch controller 10, the actual torque
obtaining section 11a obtains the actual transmission
torque Tac based on the EG torque TEac outputted from the
engine 30 and based on the EG-side inertia torque TIac
produced on the mechanism upstream of the drive-side
member 41 (the engine-side mechanism) in the torque
transmission path. The actual transmission torque Tac is
thus obtained without providing any specific sensor for
outputting a signal according to the actual transmission
torque Tac.
Still further, the above-mentioned clutch controller
10 reduces the impacts of the aging (for example, wear-
out) or thermal expansion of the clutch 40. The related
clutch controller controls the clutch based on the
55

difference in rotational speed between the drive-side
member and the driven-side member of the clutch.
Therefore, for example, in case the related clutch
controller continues to control the clutch in the same
manner as above even after the drive-side member and the
driven-side member have worn out and thus the friction
coefficient thereof has changed from the original friction
coefficient, sufficient torque transmission is not
provided from the drive-side member to the driven-side
member. Consequently, the vehicle can decelerate
excessively during engaging operation of the clutch.
Also, in case the drive-side member and the driven-side
member are subjected to thermal expansion, the drive-side
member and the driven-side member are engaged in a time
period shorter than the original time period. This causes
shocks to be generated at the time when these members are
completely engaged. The above-mentioned clutch controller
10 controls the engagement state of the clutch 40 based on
the actual transmission torque Tac actually transmitted to
the driven-side member 42, thus reducing deterioration of
the riding comfort due to the aging or thermal expansion
of the clutch.
The present invention is not limited to the above-
mentioned clutch controller 10, and can have various
alternatives.
56

For example, in the above description, the clutch
actuator control section lie actuates the clutch actuator
14 based on the difference between the target transmission
torque Ttg and the actual transmission torque Tac or the
torque deviation AT. However, for example, the storage
unit 12 may store a table that establishes the
correspondence between the target transmission torque Ttg
and the clutch position (for example, the rotation angle
of the output shaft of the clutch actuator 14) detected by
the clutch position detector 21. Then, referring to the
table, the clutch actuator control section lie may actuate
the clutch actuator 14 such that the clutch position or
the rotation angle of the output shaft of the clutch
actuator 14 corresponds to the target transmission torque
Ttg calculated by the aforementioned processing.
In the above description, the actual transmission
torque Tac is defined as torque transmitted from the
drive-side member 41 to the driven-side member 42.
However, the actual transmission torque Tac may be defined
as torque transmitted from the drive-side member 41 to the
countershaft 55 via the gearbox 51 or torque transmitted
to the driven-side member 57b of the transmission
mechanism 57 via the gearbox 51 and the countershaft 55.
In this case, the actual torque obtaining section 11a
considers the speed reduction ratio of the gearbox 51 for
57

calculating the actual transmission torque Tac. More
specifically, the actual torque obtaining section 11a
multiplies the difference between the aforementioned EG
torque TEac and EG-side inertia torque TIac by the speed
reduction ratio Mratio of the gearbox 51 after the clutch
40 is engaged. In the same manner, the target toque
obtaining section lib multiplies the difference between
the post-completion EG torque TEfin and the post-
completion EG-side inertia torque TIfin by the speed
reduction ratio Mratio of the gearbox 51 after the clutch
40 is engaged, in order to calculate the target
transmission torque Ttg.
In addition, in the above description, the control
unit 11 obtains the actual transmission torque Tac and the
target transmission torque Ttg in the separate processing
steps, and obtains the command actuation amount of the
clutch actuator 14 based on the obtained actual
transmission torque Tac and target transmission torque
Ttg. However, for example, the storage unit 12 may store
in advance an expression that associates the accelerator
displacement Aop, the engine speed fie, the EG speed
variation dfie / dt, the driven-side rotational speed
variation dficl / dt, and the clutch rotational speed
difference fidiff with the command actuation amount. Thus,
the control unit 11 may substitute a detected value into
58

the expression to directly calculate the command actuation
amount.
Further, in the above description, the command
actuation amount of the clutch actuator 14 corresponds to
the torque deviation AT, and the clutch actuator control
section lie actuates the clutch actuator 14 by an amount
corresponding to the torque deviation AT. However, the
clutch actuator control section lie may execute
proportional integral derivative (PID) control, for
example. Specifically, the clutch actuator control
section lie calculates the torque deviation AT, while
calculating a differential value of the calculated torque
deviation AT with respect to time. The clutch actuator
control section lie also calculates an integral value of
the calculated torque deviation AT with respect to time.
Then, the clutch actuator control section lie may
calculate the command actuation amount based on the torque
deviation AT and based on the calculated differential
value and integral value.
Still further, in the above-mentioned processing, the
target torque obtaining section lib estimates the torque
to be transmitted to the driven-side member 42 after the
drive-side member 41 and the driven-side member 42 are
completely engaged, and defines the estimated torque as
target transmission torque Ttg. However, the target
59

torque obtaining section lib may set the target
transmission torque Ttg at a value depending on the
accelerator displacement Aop detected by the accelerator
operation detector 17, when the vehicle starts-up or is
running at lower-speeds below a predetermined value. This
processing is executed as follows, for example.
The storage unit 12 stores in advance a table that
establishes the correspondence between the accelerator
displacement Aop by the rider and the target transmission
torque Ttg (hereinafter the table is referred to as target
transmission torque table). Then, the target torque
obtaining section lib refers to the target transmission
torque table to obtain the target transmission torque Ttg
that corresponds to the accelerator displacement Aop
detected based on the request torque signal.
Alternatively, the storage unit 12 may store an expression
that represents the relationship between the accelerator
displacement Aop by the rider and the target transmission
torque Ttg. Thus, the target torque obtaining section lib
may substitute the detected accelerator displacement Aop
into the expression to obtain the target transmission
torque Ttg.
FIG. 10 is a graph showing the relationship between
the accelerator displacement Aop and the target
transmission torque Ttg obtained from this processing. In
60

the graph, the horizontal axis represents the accelerator
displacement Aop, and the vertical axis represents the
target transmission torque Ttg. This graph shows that .as
the accelerator displacement Aop increases, the target
transmission torque Ttg increases, accordingly. Also,
when the accelerator displacement Aop is lower than a
predetermined value Al, the target transmission torque Ttg
is preset at a negative value.
Then, the clutch actuator control section lie obtains
the command actuation amount of the clutch actuator 14
based on the torque deviation AT or the difference between
the target transmission torque Ttg and the actual
transmission torque Tac obtained by the aforementioned
actual torque obtaining section 11a. In this processing,
for example, the clutch actuator control section lie
refers to the aforementioned actuation amount relational
expression to obtain the command actuation amount that
corresponds to the torque deviation AT.
As described above, the clutch actuator 14 is provided
that is capable of being actuated in the engagement
direction to engage the clutch 40 or in the disengagement
direction to disengage the clutch 40. The clutch actuator
control section lie actuates the clutch actuator 14 in
either of the directions determined based on the torque
deviation AT and the clutch rotational speed difference
61

Qdiff. Specifically, under the operating condition that
the clutch rotational speed difference Qdiff is positive
(under the operating condition that the rotational speed
of the drive-side member 41 is higher than the rotational
speed of the driven-side member 42), if the actual
transmission torque Tac is lower than the target
transmission torque Ttg, the clutch actuator control
section lie actuates the clutch actuator 14 in the
engagement direction. Thereby, the actual transmission
torque Tac increases, approximating the target
transmission torque Ttg. In other words, when the clutch
actuator 14 is actuated in the engagement direction under
such operating condition, the engine speed Qe decreases.
Generally, the engine output characteristics show that the
EG torque TEac increases as the engine speed Qe decreases.
In addition, the EG-side inertia torque TIac (TIac = I x
dQe / dt) is a negative value. Therefore, the actual
transmission torque Tac increases (see the expression
(1)), approximating the target transmission torque Ttg.
If the actual transmission torque Tac exceeds the target
transmission torque Ttg under such operating condition,
the clutch actuator control section lie actuates the
clutch actuator 14 in the disengagement direction.
Thereby, the actual transmission torque Tac decreases.
In contrast, under the operating condition that the
62

clutch rotational speed difference Qdiff is negative
(under the operating condition that the rotational speed
of the driven-side member 42 is higher than the rotational
speed of the drive-side member 41), if the target
transmission torque Ttg is lower than the actual
transmission torque Tac, the clutch actuator control
section lie actuates the clutch actuator 14 in the
engagement direction. Thereby, the actual transmission
torque Tac decreases, approximating the target
transmission torque Ttg. Under such operating condition,
when the clutch actuator 14 is actuated in the engagement
direction, the engine speed Qe increases in contrast to
the aforementioned operating condition. In view of the
engine output characteristics, the EG torque TEac
decreases as the engine speed Qe increases. In addition,
the EG-side inertia torque TIac is a positive value.
Thus, the actual transmission torque Tac decreases,
approximating the target transmission torque Ttg.
This processing is executed as follows, for example.
The clutch actuator control section lie selectively uses
either one of actuation amount relational expressions: The
one expression is established such that the actuation
amount of the clutch actuator 14 increases in the
engagement direction as the torque deviation AT (AT = Ttg
- Tac) increases (hereinafter the expression is referred
63

to as engagement actuation amount relational expression
(for example, the expression representing the relationship
shown in FIG. 6) ) . The other expression is established
such that the actuation amount of the clutch actuator 14
increases in the disengagement direction as the torque
deviation AT increases (hereinafter the expression is
referred to as disengagement actuation amount relational
expression) . FIG. 11 is a graph showing the relationship
between the command actuation amount represented by the
disengagement actuation amount relational expression and
the torque deviation AT. As shown in FIG. 11, in the
disengagement actuation amount relational expression, the
command actuation amount is preset such that if the torque
deviation AT is a negative value, the clutch actuator 14
is actuated in the direction to engage the clutch 40.
Then, the clutch actuator control section lie
calculates the clutch rotational speed difference fldiff
based on the signals inputted from the clutch rotational
speed detectors 23a, 23b. If the calculated clutch
rotational speed difference Qdiff is a positive value (if
the rotational speed of the drive-side member 41 is higher
than the rotational speed of the driven-side member 42),
the clutch actuator control section lie uses the
engagement actuation amount relational expression to
obtain the command actuation amount of the clutch actuator
64

14. In contrast, if the calculated clutch rotational
speed difference Qdiff is a negative value, the clutch
actuator control section lie uses the disengagement
actuation amount relational expression to obtain the
command actuation amount of the clutch actuator 14.
Thereby, an engine brake is applied by the .rider
setting the accelerator displacement at close to 0 at
vehicle start-up. More specifically, in the target
transmission torque table shown in FIG. 10, when the
accelerator displacement is 0, the target transmission
torque Ttg is a negative value. Thus, at vehicle start-
up, if the clutch 40 is disengaged and the actual
transmission torque Tac is 0, then the torque deviation AT
is a negative value. In turn, when the vehicle is
running downslope, the rotational speed of the driven-side
member 42 can be higher than the rotational speed of the
drive-side member 41. In this case, the clutch actuator
control section lie uses the disengagement actuation
amount relational expression to obtain the command
actuation amount, by which the clutch actuator 14 is
actuated in the engagement direction, based on the
negative torque deviation AT (for example, Diffl in FIG.
11) obtained by subtracting the actual transmission torque
Tac from the target transmission torque Ttg.
Consequently, an engine brake is applied.
65

Alternatively, the processing for obtaining the
command actuation amount in such a manner by selectively
using either the engagement actuation amount relational
expression or the disengagement actuation amount
relational expression, depending on whether the clutch
rotational speed difference Qdiff is positive or negative,
may be executed in the aforementioned processing executed
at gear shifting. Thereby, in the case that the
accelerator displacement is small even at gear shifting
and the clutch rotational speed difference Qdiff is
negative, an engine brake is applied.
Further alternatively, the clutch actuator control
section lie may select either one of the engagement
actuation amount relational expression and the
disengagement actuation amount relational expression based
on the rotational speed of the mechanism upstream of the
drive-side member 41 (for example, the engine speed Qe)
and based on the rotational speed of the downstream
transmission mechanism downstream of the driven-side
member 42, rather than based on the clutch rotational
speed difference Qdiff. For example, the clutch actuator
control section lie may compare a value, which is obtained
by multiplying the engine speed Qe by the speed reduction
ratio Pratio of the primary speed reducing mechanism 36,
with a value, which is obtained by multiplying the vehicle
66

speed by the speed reduction ratios of the gearbox 51 and
the transmission mechanism 57, and based on the comparison
result, may determine whether or not the clutch rotational
speed difference Qdiff is positive or negative.
Now, description is made of a flow of the processing
executed by the control unit 11 according to the
embodiment of the invention. FIG. 12 is a flowchart
showing an example of the processing executed by the
control unit 11 according to the embodiment of the
invention. Here, the processing at vehicle start-up is
described as an example.
The control unit 11 determines whether or not the
vehicle conditions satisfy predetermined start-up
conditions (S201). The start-up conditions are that: for
example, the clutch 40 is disengaged, with the gearbox 51
set in a position other than neutral position; and the
engine speed Qe and the accelerator displacement Aop are
equal to or greater than their respective predetermined
values. Alternatively, the start-up conditions may be
that: the clutch 40 is disengaged with the gearbox 51 set
in a position other than neutral position; and a value,
which is obtained by subtracting the rotational speed of
the driven-side member 42 from the rotational speed of the
drive-side member 41 of the clutch 40, is a negative
value. Further alternatively, continuation of these
67

conditions for a given time period or longer may also be a
predetermined start-up condition.
In the determination in the step S201, if the vehicle
conditions satisfy the start-up conditions, the target
torque obtaining section lib detects the accelerator
displacement Aop based on the request torque signal of the
accelerator operation detector 17, and refers to the
aforementioned target transmission torque table to obtain
the target transmission torque Ttg that corresponds to the
accelerator displacement Aop (S202).
In turn, the actual torque obtaining section 11a
obtains the actual transmission torque Tac currently
transmitted from the drive-side member 41 to the driven-
side member 42 (step S203). Further, the clutch actuator
control section lie calculates the clutch rotational speed
difference Qdiff based on the signals inputted from the
clutch rotational speed detectors 23a, 23b. Depending on
a positive or negative value of the calculated clutch
rotational speed difference Qdiff, the clutch actuator
control section lie selects either one of the
aforementioned engagement actuation amount relational
expression and disengagement actuation amount relational
expression (step S204).
Then, the clutch actuator control section lie obtains
the command actuation amount based on the clutch
68

rotational speed difference Qdiff and the torque deviation
AT (S205). Specifically, if the clutch rotational speed
difference Qdiff is negative, the clutch actuator control
section lie substitutes the torque deviation AT into the
disengagement actuation amount relational expression in
order to obtain the command actuation amount. In
contrast, if the clutch rotational speed difference Qdiff
is positive, the clutch actuator control section lie
substitutes the torque deviation AT into the engagement
actuation amount relational expression in order to obtain
the command actuation amount. Then, the clutch actuator
control section lie outputs a signal to the clutch
actuator drive circuit 15 according to the command
actuation amount (S206). This allows the clutch 40, which
has been disengaged, to be in a half-clutch state.
After that, the clutch actuator control section lie
calculates the clutch rotational speed difference Qdiff
based on the signals inputted from the clutch rotational
speed detectors 23a, 23b, and determines whether or not
the calculated clutch rotational speed difference Qdiff is
smaller than the speed difference for discontinuing half-
clutch (S207). In this step, if the clutch rotational
speed difference Qdiff is equal to or greater than the
speed difference for discontinuing half-clutch, the
control unit 11 returns to the step S202 to execute the
69

subsequent processing steps again. Then, when the clutch
40 is in a half-clutch state, the control unit 11 executes
the steps S202 to S206 in a predetermined cycle. This
allows the actual transmission torque Tac to follow the
target transmission torque Ttg, so that the rider can
obtain acceleration as required. In contrast, in the
determination in the step S207, if the clutch rotational
speed difference Qdiff is smaller than the speed
difference for discontinuing half-clutch, the clutch
actuator control section lie actuates the clutch actuator
14 to completely engage the drive-side member 41 with the
driven-side member 42 and discontinue the half-clutch
state of the clutch 40 (S208). The aforementioned
processing is an example of the processing executed by the
control unit 11 at vehicle start-up.
In the above-mentioned clutch controller 10, the
target torque obtaining section lib obtains the target
transmission torque Ttg according to the accelerator
displacement Aop. This allows torque to be transmitted to
the axle 3a according to the rider's request, even in the
case where the drive-side member 41 and the driven-side
member 42 are subjected to wear-out or thermal expansion,
so that operability of the vehicle improves particularly
at vehicle start-up and low-speed running.
The motorcycle 1 is provided with the engine 30 as a
70

driving source. Alternatively, the driving source may be
an electric motor or a hybrid engine combining an electric
motor and an engine.
In addition, in the above description, the clutch
controller 10 and the clutch 40 apply to the motorcycle 1.
However, the above-mentioned clutch controller may apply
to four-wheeled automobiles having a mechanical clutch or
machinery that outputs torque, outputted from the driving
source, via the mechanical clutch to run constantly (for
example, industrial machinery and agricultural machinery).
71

WE CLAIM:
1. A clutch controller for controlling an engagement
state of a clutch by actuating an actuator, comprising:
a target torque obtaining means for obtaining torque
that is supposed to be transmitted from a drive-side
member of the clutch to a downstream mechanism in a torque
transmission path as target transmission torque, the
downstream mechanism including a driven-side member of the
clutch; and
a control means for actuating the actuator based on
the target transmission torque,
wherein the target torque obtaining means estimates
torque to be transmitted from the drive-side member to the
downstream mechanism in the torque transmission path after
the drive-side member and the driven-side member are
completely engaged, and obtains the estimated torque as
the target transmission torque.
2. The clutch controller as claimed in Claim 1, wherein
the target torque obtaining means estimates torque to be
outputted from the power source after the drive-side
member and the driven-side member are completely engaged
and inertia torque to be produced on the mechanism
upstream of the drive-side member in the torque
transmission path after the drive-side member and the
72

driven-side member are completely engaged, and based on
the estimated torque and inertial torque, estimates the
torque to be transmitted to the downstream mechanism after
the drive-side member and the driven-side member are
completely engaged.
3. The clutch controller as claimed in Claim 1, further
comprising:
an actual torque obtaining means for obtaining torque
transmitted from the drive-side member to the downstream
mechanism in the torque transmission path as actual
transmission torque,
wherein the control means actuates the actuator based
on a difference between the actual transmission torque and
the target transmission torque.
4. The clutch controller as claimed in Claim 3, wherein
the actual torque obtaining means obtains the actual
transmission torque based on torque outputted from a power
source and inertia torque produced on a mechanism upstream
of the drive-side member in the torque transmission path.
5. A straddle-type vehicle comprising:
a power source;
a clutch for transmitting torque of the power source
73

or interrupting transmission of the torque; and
a clutch controller for controlling an engagement
state of the clutch by actuating an actuator,
wherein the clutch controller comprises:
a target torque obtaining means for obtaining
torque that is supposed to be transmitted from a drive-
side member of the clutch to a downstream mechanism in a
torque transmission path as target transmission torque,
the downstream mechanism including a driven-side member of
the clutch; and
a control means for actuating the actuator based
on the target transmission torque, and
wherein the target torque obtaining means estimates
torque to be transmitted from the drive-side member to the
downstream mechanism in the torque transmission path after
the drive-side member and the driven-side member are
completely engaged, and obtains the estimated torque as
the target transmission torque.
6. A method of controlling a clutch for controlling an
engagement state of the clutch by actuating an actuator,
the method comprising the steps of:
estimating torque to be transmitted from a drive-side
member of the clutch to a downstream mechanism in a torque
transmission path after the drive-side member and a
74

driven-side member of the clutch are completely engaged,
the downstream mechanism including the driven-side member;
obtaining the estimated torque as target transmission
torque or torque that is supposed to be transmitted from
the drive-side member to the downstream mechanism in the
torque transmission path; and
75
actuating the actuator based on the target
transmission torque.

A clutch controller is provided with: a target torque
obtaining section for obtaining torque that is supposed to
be transmitted from a drive-side member of a clutch to a
downstream mechanism in a torque transmission path as
target transmission torque, the downstream mechanism
including a driven-side member of the clutch; and an
clutch actuator control section for actuating a clutch
actuator based on the target transmission torque. The
target torque obtaining section estimates torque to be
transmitted from the drive-side member to the downstream
mechanism after the drive-side member and the driven-side
member are completely engaged, and obtains the estimated
torque as the target transmission torque.

Documents:

http://ipindiaonline.gov.in/patentsearch/GrantedSearch/viewdoc.aspx?id=TacJMfqJVap4XEOF03lkTw==&loc=wDBSZCsAt7zoiVrqcFJsRw==


Patent Number 272487
Indian Patent Application Number 325/KOL/2008
PG Journal Number 15/2016
Publication Date 08-Apr-2016
Grant Date 04-Apr-2016
Date of Filing 22-Feb-2008
Name of Patentee YAMAHA HATSUDOKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Applicant Address 2500 SHINGAI, IWATA-SHI, SHIZUOKA
Inventors:
# Inventor's Name Inventor's Address
1 KENGO MINAMI C/O. YAMAHA HATSUDOKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA 2500 SHINGAI, IWATA-SHI, SHIZUOKA
PCT International Classification Number G06F17/00; B60W10/06; B62K11/00
PCT International Application Number N/A
PCT International Filing date
PCT Conventions:
# PCT Application Number Date of Convention Priority Country
1 2008-028132 2008-02-07 Japan
2 2007-043645 2007-02-23 Japan