Valve timing controller

Abstract

A valve timing controller includes: a driving side rotation member synchronously rotating with a crankshaft of an internal combustion engine; a driven side rotation member contained in the driving side rotation member and rotating integrally with a cam shaft for opening and closing a valve coaxially with a rotating axis of the driving side rotation member; an electromagnetic valve displacing a relative rotation phase between the driving side and driven side rotation members by supplying a working fluid to advancing and retarding chambers defined between the driving side and driven side rotation members; an intermediate locking mechanism holding the relative rotation phase in an intermediate locking phase; a phase detection section detecting the relative rotation phase; and a control section controlling the electromagnetic valve based on a detection signal of the phase detection section.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A valve timing controller comprising:
 a driving side rotation member that synchronously rotates with a crankshaft of an internal combustion engine;   a driven side rotation member that is contained in the driving side rotation member and rotates integrally with a cam shaft for opening and closing a valve of the internal combustion engine coaxially with a rotating axis of the driving side rotation member;   an electromagnetic valve that displaces a relative rotation phase between the driving side rotation member and the driven side rotation member by supplying a working fluid to an advancing chamber and a retarding chamber defined between the driving side rotation member and the driven side rotation member;   an intermediate locking mechanism that holds the relative rotation phase in an intermediate locking phase;   a phase detection section that detects the relative rotation phase; and   a control section that controls the electromagnetic valve based on a detection signal of the phase detection section,   wherein the intermediate locking mechanism includes
 a first locking mechanism configured with a first lock member supported by one of the driving side rotation member and the driven side rotation member, a first lock recess portion formed on the other one of the driving side rotation member and the driven side rotation member, and a first biasing member that biases the first lock member toward the first lock recess portion, and 
 a second locking mechanism configured with a second lock member supported by one of the driving side rotation member and the driven side rotation member, a second lock recess portion formed on the other one of the driving side rotation member and the driven side rotation member, and a second biasing member that biases the second lock member toward the second lock recess portion, 
   the control section includes a lock releasing control section that executes a control for causing the electromagnetic valve to supply the working fluid to the one of the advancing chamber and the retarding chamber to retract the first lock member from the first lock recess portion against the biasing force of the first biasing member and displace the relative rotation phase in a first direction that becomes an advancing direction or a retarding direction from the intermediate locking phase, and after the phase detection section detects that the relative rotation phase exceeds a sequence region set from the intermediate locking phase to a predetermined phase in the first direction, executes a control for causing the electromagnetic valve to supply the working fluid to the other one of the advancing chamber and the retarding chamber to retract the second lock member from the second lock recess portion against a biasing force of the second biasing member, and   the lock releasing control section includes a lock releasing determination section that determines whether or not a locked state of the intermediate locking mechanism is released based on a predetermined determination phase.   
     
     
         2 . The valve timing controller according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the determination phase is configured with a first determination phase set in the first direction from the sequence region and a second determination phase set in a second direction opposite to the first direction from the sequence region,   in the intermediate locking mechanism in the locked state, the first lock member is engaged with the first lock recess portion and the second lock member is engaged with the second lock recess portion, and   the lock releasing determination section determines that the locked state is released when the relative rotation phase detected by the phase detection section is displaced in the second direction and exceeds the second determination phase after the relative rotation phase is displaced in the first direction from the intermediate locking phase and exceeds the first determination phase.   
     
     
         3 . The valve timing controller according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the determination phase is configured with a third determination phase set in the first direction from the sequence region and a fourth determination phase positioned on a boundary on the first direction side in the sequence region,   in the intermediate locking mechanism in the locked state, the first lock member is engaged with the first lock recess portion and the second lock member is engaged with the second lock recess portion, and   the lock releasing determination section determines that the locked state is released when a time period until the relative rotation phase detected by the phase detection section is displaced in the second direction opposite to the first direction and exceeds the fourth determination phase after the relative rotation phase is displaced in the first direction from the intermediate locking phase and exceeds the third determination phase is longer than a first predetermined value.   
     
     
         4 . The valve timing controller according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the determination phase is configured with a fifth determination phase set in the first direction from the sequence region,   in the intermediate locking mechanism in the locked state, the first lock member is engaged with the first lock recess portion and the second lock member is engaged with the second lock recess portion, and   the lock releasing determination section determines that the locked state is released when a time period during which the relative rotation phase detected by the phase detection section is displaced in the first direction from the intermediate locking phase and is within a predetermined phase range set before and after the fifth determination phase is longer than a second predetermined value.   
     
     
         5 . The valve timing controller according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a drain flow passage that discharges the working fluid that acts on the second lock member to cause a lock shift operation in which the second lock member is engaged with the second lock recess portion, in a case where the relative rotation phase is set in the sequence region,   wherein the determination phase is configured with a sixth determination phase set in the second direction opposite to the first direction from the sequence region and a seventh determination phase set in the first direction from the sequence region,   in the intermediate locking mechanism in a state in which the locked state is released, the first lock member is not engaged with the first lock recess portion and the second lock member is not engaged with the second lock recess portion, and   the lock releasing determination section determines that the state is shifted to the locked state when the relative rotation phase is not displaced in the first direction from the seventh determination phase and the control for causing the electromagnetic valve to supply the working fluid to the other one of the advancing chamber and the retarding chamber is executed in a state where the relative rotation phase detected by the phase detection section is positioned in the sequence region after being displaced in the second direction from the sixth determination phase.   
     
     
         6 . The valve timing controller according to  claim 3 ,
 wherein the first predetermined value is corrected based on a temperature of the working fluid.   
     
     
         7 . The valve timing controller according to  claim 4 ,
 wherein the second predetermined value is corrected based on a temperature of the working fluid.