Charge control microcomputer device for vehicles

Claim 1

A charge control microcomputer device for a vehicle, comprising: speed changing means for transmitting the output torque of an engine, said speed changing means including slip clutch means having an output with a variable slippage amount with respect to its input and controlled in accordance with an operating instruction, said speed changing means further including a speed change gear for changing the rotational speed input thereto at an output thereof, said speed change gear receiving the output of said slip clutch means; a charging generator driven by the output of said speed change gear; a battery charged by an output voltage of said charging generator; a voltage regulator for controlling the output voltage of said charging generator to a predetermined value; an engine controlling microcomputer for receiving data from said engine, to control said engine, said engine data comprising at least an engine speed signal; a charge control microcomputer for processing engine data from said engine controlling microcomputer and charge system data including terminal voltage data from said battery and generated voltage data from said changing generator, to provide a reference voltage from said voltage regulator, for detecting charging system faults according to said charge system data, and for processing an engine speed signal to apply said operating instruction to said speed changing means, so that said charging generator is driven with a predetermined range of revolutions per minute at all times; and a display unit for displaying detection data, including fault detection data, from said charge control microcomputer.