초록 ▼

A shift prompter/driver information display for a highway truck is disclosed. The display is operable to cruising, prompting, and shifting modes of operation. In the cruising mode of operation the driver of the vehicle can select, via a set of keypad switches, information about the vehicle\s operati

A shift prompter/driver information display for a highway truck is disclosed. The display is operable to cruising, prompting, and shifting modes of operation. In the cruising mode of operation the driver of the vehicle can select, via a set of keypad switches, information about the vehicle\s operation that he desires to see presented on a multi-digit decimal readout of the display. Information concerning fuel economy, engine speed, vehicle speed, travel time, travel distance and engine hours can be selected. In the prompting mode of operation the display indicates that operation of the transmission to a different gear is appropriate. The shifting mode commences when the driver initiates a shift to a different gear. In the shifting mode the target gear to which the transmission should be shifted is presented on the display. Additional displays are included to aid the driver in completing the shifting procedure and these involve indicating when the engine speed is substantially equal to the synchronous meshing speed of the target gear. One of these is a linear analogue display that is associated with the digital display and is operational in both the cruising mode and in the shifting mode; in the shifting mode it indicates approach of engine speed to synchronous meshing speed, and in the cruising mode it indicates actual fuel economy relative to a desired fuel economy goal.

대표청구항 ▼

For a vehicle having a powertrain which comprises an engine that drives a shiftable multi-gear transmission through a clutch, an on-board microcomputer-based display that provides information about the vehicle powertrain\s operation to the driver of the vehicle in respective cruising, prompting, and

For a vehicle having a powertrain which comprises an engine that drives a shiftable multi-gear transmission through a clutch, an on-board microcomputer-based display that provides information about the vehicle powertrain\s operation to the driver of the vehicle in respective cruising, prompting, and shifting modes of operation and comprises: a multi-digit numerical display section for displaying decimal values; information category selection means for selecting a particular category of information about the vehicle powertrain\s operation; means for causing the value of the selected category of information to be displayed on said multi-digit numerical display section in a cruising mode when the vehicle is being operated with the transmission in gear and the clutch engaged; an information category indicator display section to indicate the particular selected category of information being displayed on said multi-digit numerical display section; a prompting indicator display section; means for sensing powertrain conditions to initiate a prompting mode by causing said prompting indicator display section to signal when shifting of the transmission from a presently selected gear to a different gear is desirable; means to initiate a shifting mode by causing the identity of a target gear to which shifting of the transmission is desirable to be indicated on a particular one or more of the digits of said multi-digit numerical display section in response to initiation of shifting of the transmission from the presently selected gear; and a further display section that is operable during shifting of the transmission to show when the engine has attained a speed that is substantially synchronous with the meshing speed of the particular target gear whose identity is displayed on said multi-digit numerical display section so that shifting of the transmission to the target gear can be completed substantially at the synchronous meshing speed of the target gear.