Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

James Merner

Bradley Dean Riedle

Steven Anatole Frait

Daniel Warren McCarrick

Pramod Kumar Jain

Ronald Thomas Cowan

Chuanchi Tang

Howard Cecil Kuhn

Balaram G Sankpal

An assembly that includes a target component mounted for rotation about an axis, a sensor mounted adjacent the inner member and directed toward the inner member to measure the rotational speed of the target component and an outer component interposed between the sensor and the target component. Low magnetic permeability of the outer component is assured by appropriate selection of the material, maintaining the concentration of martensite in the outer component below a reference concentration as indicated by certain reference indices such as the Instability Function, and/or by maintaining the temperature at which a stamping operation is performed on the inner member above a pre-determined temperature.

Sensing an operating parameter of a target concealed from a sensor by an interposed component

An automatic transmission ratio shift control system and method for a powertrain having a throttle-controlled engine and multiple-ratio gearing, torque flow paths through the gearing being established and disestablished by pressure-operated friction elements, an electronic controller for establishing torque transitions between the friction elements as ratio changes occur in the multiple-ratio gearing, the engine throttle being controlled by an electronic throttle control that is decoupled from the driver-controlled accelerator pedal, the transmission torque output being controlled by means of a friction element capacity control strategy including a feed-forward torque term determined by changes in commanded torque, the slip duration during a ratio change being controlled by means of closed-loop engine torque control.

Automatic transmission shift control

A control strategy and method for controlling application and release of friction elements in an automatic transmission to effect gear ratio changes as one friction element is release and another friction element is applied during ratio changes. The transmission has an electronic controller and multiple solenoid regulator valves hydraulically coupled directly to pressure-operated friction elements. Powertrain variables are obtained and processed to calculate gear ratio control parameters derived from desired line pressure for a pressure control valve circuit that communicates with the friction elements. The desired gear ratio is determined for each given set of powertrain variables. Upshifts and downshifts are obtained by releasing one friction element in synchronism with an application of the other friction element, whereby a direct friction element to friction element torque transition is achieved with minimal inertia torque disturbances.

Control strategy and method for independently controlling friction element actuators for an automatic transmission

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Canton, MI, United States of America

James Merner