JP5110416B2 - vehicle - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle, for example, an inverted pendulum vehicle that performs posture control.

An inverted pendulum vehicle, in which a driver gets on a drive wheel arranged on one axis and travels while maintaining a balance like a unicycle, has attracted attention.
These inverted pendulum vehicles are configured to maintain a balance by using the principle of a wheel-type inverted pendulum as shown in the following Patent Document 1, for example.
In an inverted pendulum vehicle, the center of gravity is above the axle, so how to maintain balance is important. The balance can be maintained by moving the vehicle in the direction in which the center of gravity moves (the direction in which the vehicle inclines), but it is more effective to use a balancer together.

Patent Document 2 proposes an inverted pendulum vehicle including a balancer for assisting in maintaining balance.
The technique proposed in Patent Document 2 is a balance method in the case where the drive wheels are formed of a sphere, and the principle thereof is as shown in FIG.
That is, when there is a vehicle 100 that includes the drive wheels 11, the riding section 13, and the balancer 101 and has an axle in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction shown in the drawing, the balancer 101 is moved in the opposite direction with respect to the inclination of the riding section 13. It is moved to maintain balance.

JP 2005-094898 A JP 2004-129435 A

When the balance control is performed by moving the balancer within a finite stroke like the balancer 101, it is necessary to increase the balancer mass to some extent in order to exert the balancer effect.
Therefore, in order to maintain the strength of the balancer control system, the weight of the balancer system also increases, which is disadvantageous in improving fuel consumption.
Further, since the balancer has an asymmetric shape with respect to the axle, if the balancer is rotated around the axle, the center of gravity of the vehicle moves, and posture control becomes complicated.
Moreover, since the balancer is operated at the upper part of the axle, an operation space for the balancer is required.
Furthermore, since the boarding position needs to be arranged above the balancer, the vehicle height is increased and the entire vehicle is enlarged.
In addition, since the balancer is held against gravity, there is a problem that energy consumption increases.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to facilitate posture control, improve performance, and reduce the size of a vehicle.

In the first aspect of the present invention, a driving wheel driving means for driving a driving wheel disposed on a single axle, a driving operation unit disposed above the driving wheel and performing a driving operation of the driving wheel, A flywheel that rotates about a rotation axis on the same axis as the axle, and attitude control means for accelerating the rotation of the flywheel and controlling the attitude of the driving operation unit to a predetermined position by a reaction force generated at that time The vehicle is equipped with a vehicle to achieve the object.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the vehicle according to the first aspect, the attitude control means moves the flywheel in the same direction as the direction in which the driving operation unit is tilted around the axle from the predetermined position. It is characterized by acceleration.
In the invention according to claim 3, in the vehicle according to claim 1, or claim 2, wherein the shape control lifting means, wherein Ri driving operation unit is the predetermined position near, do not require the reaction force In this case, the flywheel is freely rotated.

According to the present invention, posture control is performed by accelerating the flywheel that rotates about the rotation axis on the same axis as the axle, so that posture control can be easily performed with high performance, and the vehicle can be downsized.

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of a vehicle of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.
(1) Outline of Embodiment In the vehicle of the present embodiment, a balancer that performs posture control is configured by a flywheel that rotates about the same axis as the axle.
That is, when the balancer is rotated or braked, an angular acceleration is generated in the balancer due to an increase or decrease in the rotational speed. At this time, due to the inertia of the balancer, a torque (reaction torque) that rotates the vehicle in the direction opposite to the acceleration direction of the balancer is generated around the balancer axis. The vehicle attitude is controlled by this torque.
The vehicle according to the present embodiment freely rotates the balancer (a state where the rotational speed is constant) after the posture of the vehicle is stabilized by increasing or decreasing the rotational speed of the balancer.

Thus, the stroke can be made infinite by configuring the balancer with a flywheel.
Further, since the center of gravity is not moved by driving the balancer, posture control is facilitated.
In addition, the balancer can be reduced in size and weight, and the vehicle can be reduced in size.
Furthermore, energy consumption can be reduced because the balancer is held against gravity.

(2) Details of Embodiment FIG. 1 illustrates an example of an external configuration of a vehicle.
The vehicle of the present embodiment is composed of an inverted pendulum vehicle, which senses the posture of the riding section and performs posture control so as to maintain the balance in the front-rear direction in the driving direction of the drive wheels according to the posture. It is something to run.
The attitude control method in the present embodiment is disclosed in, for example, US Pat. No. 6,302,230, JP-A 63-35082, JP-A 2004-129435, and JP-A 2004-276727. Various control methods can be used.

As shown in FIG. 1, the inverted pendulum vehicle includes two drive wheels 11a and 11b arranged coaxially.
Both the drive wheels 11 a and 11 b are driven by a drive motor (wheel motor) 12 housed in a wheel motor housing 121.
Further, between the drive wheels 11a and 11b, a balancer constituted by a flywheel (not shown) and a balancer motor for accelerating the rotation of the balancer are provided in the wheel motor housing 121 coaxially with the drive wheels 11a and 11b. ing.

A riding section 13 on which the driver rides is disposed above the drive wheels 11a and 11b (hereinafter referred to as drive wheels 11 when referring to both drive wheels 11a and 11b) and the drive motor 12.
The riding section 13 includes a seat surface section 131 on which a driver sits, a backrest section 132, and a headrest 133.
The riding section 13 is supported by a support member 14 (frame) fixed to the wheel motor housing 121.

A control device 15 is disposed on the left side of the riding section 13. The steering device 15 is a driving operation unit that gives instructions for acceleration, deceleration, turning, rotation, stop, braking, and the like of the inverted pendulum vehicle by the operation of the driver.
The control device 15 in the present embodiment is fixed to the seat surface portion 131, but may be configured by a remote controller connected by wire or wirelessly. Moreover, an armrest may be provided and the control device may be arranged on the upper part thereof.

  In this embodiment, control such as acceleration / deceleration is performed by a travel command instructed by operation of the control device 15. For example, as shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-67254, the driver leans forward with respect to the vehicle. By changing the moment and the front / rear tilt angle, the vehicle may be switchable so as to perform vehicle attitude control and travel control according to the tilt angle.

A display / operation unit 17 is arranged on the right side of the boarding unit. The display / operation unit 17 includes a display unit 172 including a liquid crystal display device (not shown), and an input unit 171 including a touch panel and a dedicated function key arranged on the surface of the display unit 172.
The display / operation unit 17 may be configured by the same remote controller as the control device 15. Further, the left / right arrangement of the display / operation unit 17 and the control device 15 may be reversed, or both may be arranged on the same side.

A control unit 16 is disposed between the riding section 13 and the drive wheel 11.
In the present embodiment, the control unit 16 is attached to the lower surface of the seat portion 131 of the riding portion 13, but may be attached to the support member 14.

Next, the principle of attitude control by a balancer configured with a flywheel will be described.
FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram that models the vehicle of the present embodiment, and shows a front view of the vehicle as viewed from the forward direction.
In this model, the vehicle is connected to the riding section 13, the drive motor 12 connected to the riding section 13 via the frame, the drive wheels 11 driven by the drive motor 12, and the balancer motor connected to the riding section 13 via the frame. 22, a balancer 21 driven by a balancer motor 22. However, the mass of the frame is ignored.
In correspondence with the vehicle shown in FIG. 1, the center of gravity of the portion of the vehicle shown in FIG. 1 excluding the drive motor 12, the drive wheels 11, the balancer motor 22, and the balancer 21 corresponds to the riding section 13 in FIG. .

Here, it is assumed that the balance in the direction perpendicular to the horizontal plane with respect to the traveling direction (left and right direction as viewed from the driver) is maintained, and the balance in the traveling direction is controlled.
FIG. 2B shows a side view of the modeled vehicle viewed from the balancer 21 side. However, the balancer motor 22 is omitted.
In the following, as shown in FIG. 2B, the direction in which the riding section 13 rotates (tilts) in the forward direction of the vehicle around the axle 25 is defined as a positive direction, and the opposite direction is defined as a negative direction. To do.

The balancer 21 is a rotating body having mass, and its center of gravity is on the axle 25. The rotation axis of the balancer motor 22 is coaxial with the axle 25, and the balancer motor 22 rotates the balancer 21 in a designated direction and a designated angular acceleration.
That is, the balancer motor 22 rotates the balancer 21 in the positive direction at the angular acceleration when the designated angular acceleration is a positive value, and moves the balancer 21 in the negative direction at the angular acceleration when the designated angular acceleration is a positive value. Rotate.

When the balancer motor 22 accelerates the rotation of the balancer 21, due to the inertia of the balancer 21, torque that rotates in the direction opposite to the acceleration direction of the balancer 21 is generated on the stator side of the balancer motor 22.
Since the balancer motor 22 is fixed to the vehicle, this torque acts as a torque for rotating the riding section 13 in the direction opposite to the acceleration direction of the balancer 21. In this embodiment, this torque is called a reaction force.
That is, the reaction force is a reaction that occurs when the balancer motor 22 applies torque to the balancer 21.
According to this principle, when the rotation of the balancer 21 is accelerated in the positive direction, a reaction force that tilts in the negative direction is applied to the riding portion 13, and when the rotation of the balancer 21 is accelerated in the negative direction, the riding portion 13 is positively applied. A reaction force that tilts in the direction acts.

As described above, the reaction force against the acceleration of the balancer 21 acts as a force for tilting the riding portion 13 in the forward direction or the backward direction, so that it can be used for vehicle attitude control.
That is, when the riding section 13 is tilted by an external force or the like from the target tilt angle around the axle 25 (target tilt angle), the rotation of the balancer 21 is accelerated in the tilt direction of the riding section. As a result, a reaction force acts in a direction in which the riding section 13 is brought closer to the target inclination angle, and the position of the riding section 13 can be controlled so as to approach the destination inclination angle.

FIG. 3 explains the principle of attitude control in an inverted pendulum vehicle.
As shown in FIG. 3A, the weight of the occupant A is m1, and the distance from the wheel center (rotary shaft) of the driving wheel 11 to the center of gravity of the occupant is r1.
In this specification, the angular acceleration is represented by {θ} and {ω}. In the drawing, θ dots and dots with two dots added above θ, and ω dots with one dot added above ω. indicate.
Further, the weight m1 of the occupant A is a value obtained by subtracting the weight of the balancer 21 from the total weight M of the rotating portion in a state where the occupant is boarded and the driving wheel 11 is fixed. Can be approximated.

As shown in FIG. 3 (b) due to the application of some external force from the state of FIG. 3 (a), the center of gravity of the occupant A (hereinafter referred to as the occupant's center of gravity) is inclined forward by angular acceleration {θ1}. And
The gyro sensor 162 detects the inclination angle θ1 and the angular acceleration {θ1} due to the inclination of the occupant's center of gravity.
When the inclination of the occupant's center of gravity is detected, the rotation of the balancer 21 is accelerated in the inclination direction of the occupant A with angular acceleration {ω2}, as shown in FIG.
Acceleration direction The inclination direction is determined by whether the inclination angle θ with respect to the reference line (the vertical line passing through the axle 25 in the example of FIG. 3) is positive or negative, and normal rotation in the forward direction of the vehicle is positive, and vice versa. To do.

The angular acceleration {ω2} for moving the balancer 21 is {ω2}> K {θ1}. K is a constant and its derivation will be described later.
The balancer 21 is accelerated by detecting the rotation speed of the balancer 21 and increasing the rotation speed if the rotation direction is the positive direction (when rotating in the same direction as the direction to be accelerated). A direction acceleration {ω2} is obtained.
If the balancer 21 is rotating in the direction opposite to the direction in which it is to be accelerated, positive or negative acceleration is performed by decreasing the rotational speed. When the rotational speed decreases to zero, the rotational speed in the reverse direction is increased.

  When the balancer 21 is rotated at an angular acceleration {ω2}, as shown in FIG. 3C, the occupant A moves backward (opposite to the first tilt direction) by the reaction force against the torque for moving the balancer 21. Moving.

When it is detected that the occupant A moves backward to reach the angle θ3 (<0) beyond the vertical line, that is, the inclination angle θ with respect to the vertical line is reversed, the balancer 21 is moved in the angle θ3 direction (opposite direction). ) (Accelerate in the negative direction).
That is, the angular acceleration {θ3} when the inclination angle of the occupant A is reversed is also detected by the gyro sensor 162, and the balancer is operated with the angular acceleration {ω4} ({ω4}> K {θ3}) corresponding to the angular acceleration {θ3}. 21 is accelerated.
The acceleration in this case is a negative acceleration in the example of FIG. That is, the balancer 21 is rotated in the positive direction (clockwise direction in the drawing) until just before, and thus the balancer 21 is accelerated (decelerated) in the negative direction by decreasing (decelerating) the number of rotations. When it becomes, it will be rotated backward).
As a result, as shown in FIG. 3D, the occupant A moves forward again with angular acceleration {θ5} by the reaction force against the torque for moving the balancer 21 backward.

Thereafter, similarly, the balancer 21 is accelerated in the inclination angle direction by the angular acceleration {ω} corresponding to the angular acceleration {θ} when the inversion of the inclination angle with respect to the vertical line of the occupant A is detected. The operation of returning the occupant A in the vertical direction with force is repeated. Through such a pendulum movement of the occupant A, the inclination angle θ centered on the vertical line gradually converges to 0, and can be returned to the normal posture shown in FIG.
Although the inclination angle of the occupant A shown in FIG. 3 is shown large for the sake of explanation, the balancer 21 is actually accelerated immediately upon detection of the inclination angle θ1 or the angular acceleration {θ1}. It ’s just a movement.

As shown in FIG. 3A, the vehicle needs a reaction force when the position of the riding section 13 returns to the target vertical line (target inclination angle), that is, the riding section 13 is at a predetermined position. Otherwise, the torque applied by the balancer motor 22 to the balancer 21 is set to zero, and the balancer 21 is freely rotated (free-run).
The reason why the balancer 21 is freely rotated in cases other than when the reaction force of the balancer 21 is used in this way is to prevent unnecessary reaction force from being generated by controlling (for example, braking) the balancer 21.
Even if the balancer 21 is freely rotated, power is not consumed and the center of gravity of the vehicle is not moved, so that there is no inconvenience in operation of the vehicle.

The freely rotating balancer 21 is gradually stopped by friction with a bearing or the like, or is accelerated again by the balancer motor 22 before stopping.
For this reason, when the balancer motor 22 accelerates the rotation of the balancer 21, the balancer 21 may already be rotating due to the previous acceleration.
When the balancer 21 is already rotating when accelerating the rotation of the balancer 21, the balancer motor 22 accelerates the balancer 21 from the rotation speed.

  For example, when the balancer 21 is freely rotating in the positive direction and the balancer 21 is accelerated in the positive direction, the balancer motor 22 accelerates the rotation of the balancer 21 to rotate at a higher speed. Conversely, when accelerating the rotation of the balancer 21 in the negative direction, the balancer 21 is decelerated to reduce the rotation speed of the balancer 21.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the balancer 21 is configured to accelerate in the negative direction by the balancer motor 22. However, for example, acceleration in the negative direction is performed using physical braking means such as a brake. It can also be configured to do.
For example, consider a case where a brake device is installed on the balancer 21. When the balancer 21 is rotating in the positive direction and it is desired to accelerate it in the negative direction, when the brake device is applied to the balancer 21, the rotation of the balancer 21 is decelerated (that is, accelerated in the negative direction). ), And thereby a reaction force can be generated.

Here, the constant K will be described.
Now, T1 is obtained from the following equation (1) as the torque required for the occupant A to move forward with angular acceleration {θ1}.

  T1 = m1 × (r1 × r1) × {θ1} (1)

On the other hand, when the balancer 21 is accelerated in the positive direction, the magnitude of the torque T2 (reaction force) acting in the negative direction with respect to the occupant A (the riding section 13) is obtained by the following equation (2).
However, the balancer 21 is a disk having a diameter D, a thickness L, and a mass m, and an acceleration (angular acceleration) is dω / dt. Is the angular velocity of the balancer 21.

  T2 = m · (D × D / 16 + L × L / 12) × {ω} (2)

If this torque T2 is greater than T1, the occupant A (carrying part 13) can be returned to the direction opposite to the inclined direction (rearward) by the torque (reaction force of torque T2-T1).

(1) From the equation (2), the following equation (3) is obtained.
{Ω2}> ((m1 × r1 × r1) / m · (D × D / 16 + L × L / 12)) {θ1} (3)
Therefore, K = (m1 × r1 × r1) / (m · (D × D / 16 + L × L / 12)).

In actual control, the balancer motor 22 is driven and controlled so that the driving torque of the balancer 21 by the balancer motor 22 is T2, and T2> T1.
Angular acceleration {θ1} is detected by the gyro sensor 162.
The weight m1 of the occupant A is the weight m1a of the device + the weight m1b of the passenger, and the device weight m1a is known for each vehicle. As the passenger's weight m1b, an expected maximum body weight of the passenger, for example, 90 kg is set. If the expected maximum weight is set and T2 is determined based on that value, the condition of T2> T1 is satisfied even if the weight is less than that, and the occupant A is returned in the opposite direction by the movement of the balancer 21 Can do.

  It should be noted that a weight scale (weight measurement means) for measuring the weight of the passenger is placed on the seat surface portion 131 on which the driver of the riding section 13 sits, and the measured value is used as the weight m1b of the passenger. Good.

As described above, the vehicle can perform posture control by the reaction force accompanying the acceleration of the rotation of the balancer 21.
By the way, when the external force applied to the riding section 13 is large and the angular acceleration at which the riding section 13 tilts is large, the maximum reaction force Tbmax that can be generated by the balancer 21 may be insufficient for the posture control.
In this case, in the vehicle of the present embodiment, the deficiency of the reaction force is compensated by the tilt driving torque by the drive motor 12.

For example, when the riding section 13 tilted with a large external force (a large angular acceleration) in the positive direction is re-established in the vertical direction, the balancer 21 generates the maximum balancer torque and drives the drive motor 12 to accelerate the vehicle in the forward direction. Let
When the vehicle is accelerated in the forward direction, the vehicle tries to rotate in the direction opposite to the forward direction due to the law of inertia, and thus a reverse torque is generated in the riding section 13. Thus, the torque generated with respect to the drive wheels 11 in order for the drive motor 12 to tilt the vehicle in the forward or backward direction will be referred to as tilt drive torque.
As described above, the negative reaction force Tbmax by the balancer 21 and the reaction force obtained by combining the tilt driving torque act on the riding section 13 and return to the direction opposite to the initial tilt direction. Thereafter, as described with reference to FIG. 3, after the pendulum movement, the riding section 13 is controlled to the vertical position.
Note that after the angular acceleration {θ} of the riding section 13 (occupant A) is reduced during the pendulum movement and the reaction force due to the acceleration of the balancer 21 is sufficient, the control by the drive motor 12 using the tilt drive torque is not performed. It is unnecessary.

Next, the hardware configuration of the vehicle will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 4 shows the configuration of the control unit 16.
The control unit 16 has a function of running the inverted pendulum while the vehicle performs posture control using the balancer 21.
Hereinafter, each component which comprises the control unit 16 is demonstrated.

The control unit 16 includes a main control device 161, a gyro sensor 162, a drive motor control device 163, a balancer motor control device 165, and a storage unit 164.
The control unit 16 includes a control device 15 that constitutes peripheral devices, an input unit 171, a display unit 172, a balancer detection unit 173, a tire angle detection unit 174, a drive motor inverter 31, a drive motor 12, and a balancer motor inverter. 32, the balancer motor 22, and a battery (not shown).

The main control device 161 includes a main CPU, and is configured by a computer system including a ROM storing various programs and data (not shown), a RAM used as a work area, an external storage device, an interface unit, and the like.
The ROM stores various programs such as a posture control program for maintaining the posture of the inverted pendulum vehicle using the balancer 21 and a travel control program for controlling travel based on various travel commands from the control device 15. The control device 161 performs corresponding processing by executing these various programs. These programs may be stored in the storage unit 164 and read out by the main CPU.
The attitude control program detects the tilt angle and tilt angular velocity of the vehicle from sensors described later, and uses these detected values to control the drive motor 12 and the balancer motor 22 so that the vehicle travels in accordance with a travel command instructed by the driver. Control.

The gyro sensor 162 functions as an attitude detection sensor that detects the attitude of the riding section 13.
The gyro sensor 162 detects the inclination angle and the angular acceleration of the riding section 13 as a physical quantity based on the inclination of the riding section 13.
The main controller 161 recognizes the tilt direction from the tilt angle detected by the gyro sensor 162.

In the gyro sensor 162 of the present embodiment, the angular acceleration and the tilt angle are detected and supplied to the main controller 161, but only the angular acceleration may be detected.
In this case, the main control device 161 accumulates the angular velocity supplied from the gyro sensor 162, thereby calculating the angular acceleration and the angle to acquire the tilt angle.

In addition to the gyro sensor 162, various sensors that output signals according to the angular acceleration when the riding section 13 tilts, such as a liquid rotor type angular accelerometer and an eddy current type angular accelerometer, are used as the attitude detection sensor. can do.
The liquid rotor type angular accelerometer detects the movement of the liquid instead of the pendulum of the servo type accelerometer, and measures the angular acceleration from a feedback current when the movement of the liquid is balanced by the servo mechanism. On the other hand, an angular accelerometer that uses eddy currents generates a magnetic circuit using a permanent magnet, a cylindrical aluminum rotor is arranged in the circuit, and is generated in accordance with changes in the rotational speed of the rotor. The angular acceleration is detected based on the magnetic electromotive force.

The drive motor control device 163 controls the drive motor inverter 31 and thereby controls the drive motor 12.
The drive motor control device 163 includes a torque-current map for the drive motor 12, and outputs a current corresponding to the drive torque commanded from the main control device 161 to the drive motor 12 according to the torque-current map. Thus, the drive motor inverter 31 is controlled.

The drive motor inverter 31 is connected to a battery (not shown), converts a direct current supplied by the battery into an alternating current according to an instruction from the drive motor control device 163, and supplies the alternating current to the drive motor 12.
As described above, the main control device 161, the drive motor control device 163, the drive motor inverter 31, and the drive motor 12 operate in cooperation to constitute drive wheel drive means.

The balancer motor control device 165 controls the balancer motor inverter 32 and thereby controls the balancer motor 22.
The balancer motor control device 165 includes a torque-current map for the balancer motor 22, and outputs a current corresponding to the drive torque commanded from the main control device 161 to the balancer motor 22 according to the torque-current map. Thus, the balancer motor inverter 32 is controlled.

The balancer motor inverter 32 is connected to the battery together with the drive motor inverter 31. The balancer motor inverter 32 converts a direct current supplied from the battery into an alternating current according to an instruction from the balancer motor control device 165 and supplies the alternating current to the balancer motor 22.
As a result, the balancer motor 22 rotates in the rotation direction instructed by the balancer motor control device 165 at the instructed angular acceleration.
Thus, the main control device 161, the balancer motor control device 165, the balancer motor inverter 32, and the balancer motor 22 operate in cooperation to control the posture of the vehicle (the posture of the driving operation unit) to a predetermined position. It constitutes a control means.

In addition to storing programs, the storage unit 164 stores a navigation program, map data for performing navigation, and the like when performing navigation.
The input unit 171 is disposed in the display / operation unit 17 (see FIG. 1) and functions as an input unit for performing various data, instructions, and selection.

The input unit 171 includes a touch panel arranged on the display unit 172 and a dedicated selection button. In the touch panel portion, a position pressed (touched) by the driver corresponding to various selection buttons displayed on the display unit 172 is detected, and the selection content is acquired from the pressed position and the display content.
The display unit 172 is disposed on the display / operation unit 17. The display unit 172 displays buttons, descriptions, and the like that are selected from the input unit 171 and input targets.

The tire angle detection unit 174 is also composed of, for example, a resolver, and detects the angle of the drive wheels 11 and supplies it to the main controller 161.
The main control device 161 can obtain the angular velocity of the drive wheel by differentiating the angle supplied from the tire angle detection unit 174 with time, and further obtain angular acceleration by differentiating this with time.
The main control device 161 can perform feedback control of the drive motor control device 163 by comparing the angular acceleration of the driving wheel thus obtained with the target angular acceleration.

The balancer detection unit 173 detects the rotation speed and angle of the balancer 21 and supplies this to the main controller 161.
The main control unit 161 obtains an angular velocity of the balancer 21 by differentiating the angle supplied from the balancer detector 173 time to check the direction of rotation of the balancer 21.
Then, the main controller 161 determines the balancer necessary for controlling the attitude of the riding unit 13 from the confirmed rotation direction and the rotation number of the balancer 21 supplied from the balancer detection unit 173, using the rotation number as an initial value. Calculate angular acceleration. That is, the rotation speed is increased (positive acceleration) or decreased (negative acceleration) with the rotation speed of the balancer 21 as an initial value.

Next, the control unit 16 is a procedure for attitude control will be described which performs with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
After the vehicle starts traveling, the control unit 16 measures the vehicle inclination angle {θ} from the detection value of the gyro sensor 162 (step 5).
Further, the control unit 16 measures the vehicle inclination angular acceleration from the detection value of the gyro sensor 162 (step 10).
And the control unit 16 measures a vehicle speed from the detected value of the tire angle detection part 174 (step 15).

Next, the control unit 16 reads an input (travel command) made by the driver from the control device 15 (step 20). In the travel command, the vehicle speed designated by the driver is commanded.
Next, the control unit 16 calculates a target inclination angle of the vehicle for traveling the vehicle in accordance with the travel command (step 25).
Next, the control unit 16 calculates a target value of the travel drive torque generated by the drive motor 12 to travel at the vehicle speed specified by the travel command (step 30).

Next, the control unit 16 determines whether or not the target vehicle inclination can be realized only by the reaction force of the balancer 21 (step 35).
That is, the control unit 16 calculates the torque T1 applied to the riding section 13 (occupant A) from the inclination angular acceleration {θ} of the riding section 13 measured in step 10 according to the above formula (1), and accelerates the balancer 21. The maximum reaction force Tbmax that can be generated by

When it is determined that the target vehicle inclination can be realized only by the reaction force of the balancer 21, that is, when T1 <Tbmax (step 35; Y), the control unit 16 applies the target reaction force to the balancer 21. The angular acceleration to be generated is calculated, and further, the torque generated by the balancer motor 22 in order to realize this angular acceleration, that is, the balancer torque Tb is calculated (step 40).
The balancer torque Tb is a value larger than the torque T1 calculated according to the equation (1), that is, a value that satisfies Tb> T1.

Then, according to the torque-current map held by the balancer motor control device 165, the control unit 16 outputs a current corresponding to the balancer torque Tb calculated above to the balancer motor 22 so as to output the balancer motor inverter 32. Is controlled (step 45).
Thereby, the rotation of the balancer 21 is accelerated, and the target vehicle tilt angle is realized by the reaction force at that time.

In parallel with the operation of step 45, the control unit 16 instructs the drive motor control device 163 to output the previously calculated travel drive torque to the drive motor 12 (step 50).
As a result, the vehicle can travel at the target vehicle speed.

On the other hand, when it is determined that the vehicle inclination cannot be returned even with the maximum reaction force Tbmax of the balancer 21, that is, when T1 ≧ Tbmax (step 35; N), the control unit 16 determines the maximum reaction force Tbmax of the balancer 21. Then, an inclination driving torque (= T1−maximum reaction force Tbmax) for compensating for the shortage is calculated (step 60).
Then, the control unit 16 controls the balancer motor inverter 32 so as to output a current corresponding to the maximum value Tbmax to the balancer motor 22 in accordance with the torque-current map held by the balancer motor control device 165 ( Step 65).

In parallel with the operation of step 65, the control unit 16 instructs the drive motor inverter 31 to supply the drive motor 12 with a drive torque obtained by adding the previously calculated travel drive torque and the previously calculated tilt drive torque. Output (step 70).
The target vehicle inclination angle is realized by the reaction force of the balancer and the inclination driving torque, and the vehicle can travel at the target vehicle speed by the traveling driving torque.
As described above, when the target vehicle inclination angle cannot be realized only by the balancer torque, the target value can be realized by combining the reaction force by the balancer 21 and the inclination driving torque.

  The control unit 16 returns to step 5 when the travel is continued after realizing the desired inclination angle and vehicle speed at step 50 or 70 (step 55; Y), and when the travel is not continued (step step). 55; N), stops the vehicle and ends the process.

Although the present embodiment has been described above, the following modifications are possible.
For example, the rotating shafts of the axle 25 and the balancer 21 are not necessarily on the same axis. However, the attitude control process is simplified when the rotation axis of the balancer 21 and the axle 25 are coaxial.
Further, if the rotation axis of the balancer 21 and the axle 25 are not perpendicular, the rotation axis of the balancer 21 and the axle 25 do not necessarily have to be parallel. However, the effect of the reaction force is greater when the rotation axis of the balancer 21 and the axle 25 are parallel.

The following effects can be obtained by the present embodiment described above.
(1) The stroke of the balancer can be infinite.
(2) Since the center of gravity of the balancer is on the rotation axis, the center of gravity of the vehicle is not moved as the balancer is driven, and the posture control process is facilitated.
(3) Generation of unnecessary reaction force can be prevented by freely rotating the wheel after use of the reaction force.
(4) Since the mass can be distributed around the rotation axis by using the wheel, the balancer can be made compact (downsized) and reduced in weight.
(5) Since it is not necessary to hold the balancer against gravity , energy consumption required for holding the balancer can be reduced.

1 is an external configuration diagram of a vehicle in an embodiment of the present invention. It is explanatory drawing about the principle of attitude | position control by a balancer. It is a figure explaining the principle of the attitude | position control in an inverted pendulum vehicle. It is explanatory drawing about the hardware-like structure of a vehicle. It is a flowchart showing the process of attitude | position control by a control unit. It is explanatory drawing of the attitude | position control using the conventional balancer.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Drive wheel 12 Drive motor 13 Riding part 15 Steering device 16 Control unit 17 Display / operation part 21 Balancer 22 Balancer motor 25 Axle 31 Inverter for drive motor 32 Inverter for balancer motor 161 Main controller 162 Gyro sensor 163 Drive motor controller 164 Storage unit 165 Balancer motor control device 171 Input unit 172 Display unit 173 Balancer detection unit 174 Tire angle detection unit

Claims (3)

Driving wheel driving means for driving driving wheels arranged on a single axle;
A driving operation unit that is disposed above the driving wheel and performs a driving operation of the driving wheel;
A flywheel that rotates about a rotation axis on the same axis as the axle;
Attitude control means for accelerating the rotation of the flywheel and controlling the attitude of the driving operation unit to a predetermined position by a reaction force generated at that time;
A vehicle characterized by comprising:
2. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the attitude control unit accelerates the flywheel in the same direction as a direction in which the driving operation unit is tilted around the axle from the predetermined position.
The posture control means, said Ri driving operation unit is the predetermined position near the case that does not require the reaction force, according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that for freely rotating said flywheel Vehicle.

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