JP5617619B2 - Inverted motorcycle - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an inverted motorcycle.

  Conventionally, research has been conducted on an inverted motorcycle that runs while maintaining an inverted state. An inverted motorcycle dynamically secures stability by balancing in the front-rear direction, and changes the running state based on the movement of the center of gravity of the passenger.

A conventional inverted motorcycle is controlled to run while maintaining an inverted state by performing feedback control. FIG. 4 is an operation flowchart when a conventional inverted motorcycle travels.
The moving body (inverted motorcycle) 20 includes a vehicle body 210, a step unit 220, and drive wheels 230. The vehicle body 210 operates the posture angle sensor 211 that detects the posture angle of the vehicle body 210, the drive unit 214 that drives the drive wheel 230, the rotation angle sensor 215 that acquires the rotation angle of the drive unit 214, and the drive unit 214. A control unit 217 for controlling and a calculation unit 218 for calculating the vehicle speed from the attitude angle are provided. The driving means 214 is a motor below.

  The process is started (ST10). At this time, it is assumed that a person is already on the step unit 220 in the moving body 20. In addition, it is assumed that the moving body 20 has been inverted.

  The moving body 20 observes the posture angle by the posture angle sensor 211 (ST20). For example, the posture angle sensor 211 detects the tilt of the vehicle body 210 due to the movement of the center of gravity of the passenger.

  Next, the rotational speed of the motor is observed (ST30). The rotation angle sensor 215 acquires the rotation angle and rotation speed of the motor.

  Next, the required vehicle speed is calculated (ST40). Specifically, the calculation unit 218 obtains a necessary vehicle speed based on the observed movement of the center of gravity of the passenger.

Next, the control unit 217 commands the speed to the motor (ST50). That is, the control unit 217 controls the operation of the motor. As a result, the motor operates the drive wheels 230 so that the moving body 20 travels at the required vehicle speed. Thereafter, the process returns to ST10.
In this manner, in the moving body 20, the running state is controlled according to the posture of the vehicle body 210.

  Patent Document 1 describes a moving body that estimates the tilt state of a vehicle body from the torque and the number of rotations of drive means when the tilt state of the vehicle body cannot be acquired due to a sensor failure or the like. Further, the moving body can detect a sensor failure by comparing the estimated value and the value detected by the sensor.

  Patent Document 2 describes a moving body that individually identifies a passenger and performs traveling control based on the physical characteristics, proficiency, etc. of the passenger. Thereby, this moving body can acquire the stability according to the passenger.

  Patent Document 3 describes a moving body that issues a warning when the headroom determined by the difference between the maximum output and the current output falls to a specified limit. According to this, the moving body can prevent a fall when electric power is not supplied on an uneven road surface.

JP 2010-170457 A JP 2008-076774 A JP 2003-502002 A

However, in a conventional inverted motorcycle, the load on the motor may increase depending on the road surface condition and the weight of the passenger. For example, as shown in FIG. 5A, when climbing a road surface with a steep slope, the allowable posture fluctuation amount is reduced and the load on the motor is increased. As shown in FIG. 5 (b), when climbing a road surface with a gentle slope, the allowable posture fluctuation amount increases and the load on the motor decreases.
Inverted motorcycles maintain the inverted state by adjusting the motor load, but when the load on the motor increases when traveling on a road surface with a slope that is severer than expected or when a heavy person gets on board, the inverted control is performed. In some cases, the behavior of an inverted motorcycle becomes unstable due to approaching the limit of the motor load for maintaining the motor.

An inverted two-wheeled vehicle according to the present invention is provided with a pair of left and right drive means that are coaxially arranged and independently driven to rotate, and drive wheels attached to the drive means, and the posture is controlled by driving the drive wheels. The load information acquiring means for acquiring the load applied to the driving means, the attitude information acquiring means for acquiring the attitude angle information of the inverted motorcycle, and the load applied to the driving means acquired by the load acquiring means. Based on this, a calculation unit for obtaining a limit posture angle at which the inverted motorcycle can maintain an inverted state and a warning posture angle for giving a warning before the posture angle reaches the limit posture angle, and drive-controlling the drive means A control unit, and the control unit performs control to issue a warning to the user when the current posture angle acquired by the posture information acquisition unit tilts more than the warning posture angle, If the attitude angle of the resident is tilted beyond the limit posture angle performs control to decrease the output of the drive means as to warn the user.
Thereby, when a state where the inverted state cannot be maintained approaches, a warning is issued to the passenger, and when the inverted state cannot be maintained, the passenger can be stopped gently.

  Even when the motor load is high, stable operation can be performed.

1 is a block diagram of a moving body according to a first exemplary embodiment. 4 is an operation flowchart of the moving object according to the first embodiment. 1 is a schematic diagram of a moving body according to a first embodiment. It is an operation | movement flowchart of the conventional mobile body. It is the schematic which shows the traveling state of the conventional mobile body.

Embodiment 1
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the moving body 10. The moving body 10 is an inverted motorcycle. The moving body 10 includes a vehicle body 110, a step unit 120, a drive wheel 130, and a handle unit 140.

  The vehicle body 110 includes an attitude angle sensor 111, a driving unit 114, a rotation angle sensor 115, a turning sensor 116, and a control unit 117. The vehicle body 110 is supported by a pair of drive wheels 130 provided on the left and right sides of the vehicle body 110. A step portion 120 and a handle portion 140 are connected to the vehicle body 110.

  The attitude angle sensor 111 includes an angular velocity sensor 112 and an acceleration sensor 113. The posture angle sensor 111 is posture information acquisition means that detects the state of the moving body 10 using the angular velocity sensor 112 and the acceleration sensor 113.

  The angular velocity sensor 112 acquires the tilt state of the vehicle body 110. More specifically, the angular velocity sensor 112 obtains the amount of change in the tilt angle of the vehicle body 110 in the pitch direction (around the axle) caused by changing the posture of the passenger so that the center of gravity is placed forward. The angular velocity sensor 112 outputs the acquired value to the control unit 117.

  The acceleration sensor 113 is an accelerometer that acquires the acceleration of the moving body 10. For example, the acceleration sensor 113 acquires each of acceleration in the traveling direction of the moving body 10, acceleration generated by a centrifugal force applied when turning, and acceleration in the direction of the ground axis. The acceleration sensor 113 outputs the acquired value to the control unit 117.

  The driving unit 114 drives the driving wheel 130 based on the control signal supplied from the control unit 117. Typically, the driving means 114 is a motor. For example, the driving means 114 may be a plurality of motors in order to drive the driving wheels 130 provided on the left and right sides of the vehicle body 110 independently. The driving unit 114 is connected to the rotation angle sensor 115.

The rotation angle sensor 115 is an encoder connected to the driving unit 114, and the rotation angle sensor 115 detects the rotation angle and the number of rotations of a motor used as the driving unit 114 as an encoder value. To do. The rotation angle sensor 115 preferably has a function of acquiring the torque of the driving unit 114.
The rotation angle sensor 115 is a load information acquisition unit that calculates the load applied to the driving unit 114 by outputting the acquired encoder value to the calculation unit 118.

  The turning sensor 116 is a sensor for determining the turning angle of the moving body 10. For example, the turning sensor 116 acquires a turning instruction by tilting the handle portion 140 by a passenger or tilting the vehicle body 110 in the roll direction (around the front and rear axes of the moving body 10 parallel to the traveling direction). The turning sensor 116 outputs the acquired turning instruction to the control unit 117.

The control unit 117 controls the operation of each component. The control unit 117 includes a calculation unit 118 that performs a calculation.
The control unit 117 is supplied with sensor values acquired by the attitude angle sensor 111, the rotation angle sensor 115, and the turning sensor 116. Further, the control unit 117 is supplied with information based on the operation of the step unit 120 and the handle unit 140 by the passenger. The control unit 117 outputs a control signal to the driving unit 114 so that the moving body 10 travels at the vehicle speed. When the posture angle of the moving body 10 becomes a posture angle (inverted limit posture angle) that requires the driving unit 114 to be in a load state that makes it difficult to maintain the inverted state, the control unit 117 outputs the display unit 141 and the sound. The unit 142 is controlled to issue a warning, and is controlled to reduce the load on the driving unit 114. In addition, when the posture angle of the moving body 10 reaches a posture angle (warning posture angle) for giving a warning before reaching the inverted limit posture angle, the control unit 117 causes the display unit 141 and the sound output unit 142 to warn. Control to emit. The operation of the control unit 117 will be described in detail later.

The computing unit 118 performs computation based on the control of the control unit 117. For example, the calculation unit 118 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and performs calculations by operating based on a program.
For example, the calculation unit 118 calculates the inversion limit posture angle and the warning posture angle based on the sensor value supplied from the posture angle sensor 111 and the driving state of the driving unit 114. Further, the posture angle acquired by the posture angle sensor 111 is compared with the inversion limit posture angle and the warning posture angle. The operation of the calculation unit 118 will be described in detail later.

  The step unit 120 is a step plate on which a rider puts his / her foot. The step unit 120 includes a step switch 121.

  Step switch 121 detects whether or not a person has boarded step unit 120. For example, the step switch 121 is a pressure-sensitive sensor that detects the boarding of the person on the moving body 10 by detecting the load on the step part due to the boarding of the person. The step switch 121 outputs the detection result to the control unit 117.

  The driving wheels 130 are a pair of wheels that are driven by receiving a driving force from the driving means 114. The drive wheels 130 are provided coaxially on the left and right of the vehicle body 110 and rotate around an axis orthogonal to the traveling direction of the vehicle body.

  The handle portion 140 has an end connected to the vehicle body 110. Typically, the handle portion 140 is gripped and operated by a passenger. The handle unit 140 includes a display unit 141, an audio output unit 142, a get-off button 143, and a turn button 144.

  The display unit 141 is, for example, a liquid crystal panel. The display unit 141 displays a warning when the posture angle becomes a warning posture angle or an inverted limit posture angle. In addition, the display unit 141 displays whether or not the inversion control of the moving body 10 has been started, and displays that it is in the getting-off mode when the getting-off mode is set by operating the getting-off button 143.

  The audio output unit 142 is a buzzer, for example. The sound output unit 142 generates a warning sound when the posture angle becomes the warning posture angle or the inversion limit posture angle.

  The getting-off button 143 is a button for operating the moving body 10 so that the passenger can easily get off. For example, the getting-off button 143 outputs a signal for getting off to the control unit 117 based on the operation of the passenger. The control unit 117 supplied with the signal for getting off the vehicle stops the moving body 10 and tilts the moving body 10 in the direction in which the rear portion of the vehicle body 110 is installed, so that the passenger can easily get off the moving body 10. To control.

  The turning button 144 is a button for turning the moving body 10. For example, the turn button 144 outputs a signal for turning to the control unit 117 based on the operation of the passenger. Here, it is desirable that the turning button 144 can arbitrarily set the turning angle. The control unit 117 supplied with the signal for turning controls the driving unit 114 so that the moving body 10 turns and travels.

  Next, a processing flow in which the moving body 10 travels in the inverted control state, detects an attitude in which the inverted state is difficult to maintain according to the load of the driving unit 114, and warns the user or the like will be described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the operation of the moving body 10. Hereinafter, the driving unit 114 will be described as a motor.

Processing is started (ST100). At this time, the moving body 10 is in a state where a person is on board and is in an inverted control state. The control unit 117 controls the operation state of the motor based on the tilt of the vehicle body 110 due to the movement of the center of gravity of the occupant, whereby the traveling of the moving body 10 starts.
At this time, the display unit 141 displays that the moving body 10 is in the inverted control state.

  The motor load is determined (ST110). More specifically, the rotation angle sensor 115 acquires the rotation angle and the number of rotations per unit time of the motor, and outputs them to the calculation unit 118 as encoder values. The calculation unit 118 calculates the load applied to the motor based on the encoder value.

An inversion limit posture angle is obtained from the load applied to the motor (ST120). Specifically, based on the motor load calculated in ST110, calculation unit 118 calculates the attitude angle at which inversion control becomes impossible due to the load on the motor as the inverted limit attitude angle. For example, when the posture angle at which the motor load is 100% is set as the inverted limit posture angle, if the current motor load is 70%, the calculation unit 118 further applies a posture to which the motor is loaded by 30%. The angle is calculated as the inverted limit posture angle.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a state in which the moving body 10 is traveling so as to climb a hill. In FIG. 3, the vertical direction is indicated by a short broken line, and the inversion limit posture angle is indicated by a long broken line.

Next, a warning posture angle is obtained (ST130). The warning posture angle is a posture angle for issuing a warning to the user before the posture angle reaches the inversion limit posture angle. Specifically, in step ST120, calculation unit 118 calculates a warning posture angle based on the inverted limit posture angle. For example, the calculation unit 118 calculates a posture angle tilted backward by 3 ° from the inverted limit posture angle as the warning posture angle.
Note that the calculation unit 118 may obtain the warning posture angle by a method similar to the method for calculating the inverted limit posture angle. For example, when the posture angle at which the motor load is 90% is set as the warning posture angle, if the current motor load is 70%, the calculation unit 118 further applies a posture angle at which the motor is loaded by 20%. Is calculated as a warning posture angle. In FIG. 3, the warning posture angle is indicated by a one-dot chain line.
Note that the method for calculating the warning posture angle is not limited to the above method.

The attitude angle is observed (ST140). Specifically, the posture angle sensor 111 acquires the tilt and acceleration of the vehicle body 110 and acquires the current posture angle. The attitude angle sensor 111 outputs the acquired attitude angle to the control unit 117.
At this time, it is desirable that the turning sensor 116 detects a turning operation by the passenger and outputs a detection signal to the control unit 117.

  Next, the detected posture angle is compared with the inverted limit posture angle (ST150). More specifically, the operation unit 118 compares and determines whether or not the current posture angle acquired by the posture angle sensor 111 is tilted from the inverted limit posture angle calculated in ST120.

If the current posture angle is tilted more than the inverted limit posture angle (YES in ST150), it is foreseen that the motor has already been overloaded and the inversion control will fail. Therefore, the control unit 117 controls the display unit 141 and the audio output unit 142 to issue a warning. Further, the control unit 117 performs control so as to weaken the gain of the motor (ST160). Thereby, the moving body 10 performs a deceleration operation and prevents runaway after the failure of the inversion control.
Thereafter, for example, when the person getting off is confirmed by the step switch 121, the control unit 117 stops the operation of the moving body 10 (ST161).

  If the current posture angle has not reached the inversion limit posture angle (NO in ST150), the current posture angle is compared with the warning posture angle (ST170).

  If the current posture angle is tilted more than the warning posture angle (YES in ST170), control unit 117 controls display unit 141 and audio output unit 142 to issue a warning (ST180). Note that the posture angle in this case has reached the warning posture angle, but has not reached the inverted limit posture angle. Therefore, the display unit 141 and the audio output unit 142 issue a warning so that the posture angle does not become the inverted limit posture angle. Thereafter, the process proceeds to ST190.

  If the current posture angle has not reached the warning posture angle (NO in ST170), the process proceeds to ST190.

  The rotational speed of the motor is observed (ST190). Specifically, the rotation angle sensor 115 acquires the rotation of the motor. The rotation angle sensor 115 outputs the acquired encoder value to the control unit 117.

  The required vehicle speed is calculated (ST200). The posture angle sensor 111 acquires the current posture angle and outputs the posture angle value to the control unit 117. The control unit 117 calculates a necessary vehicle speed in the calculation unit 118 based on the supplied posture angle value.

The speed is commanded to the motor (ST210). That is, control unit 117 controls the operation of the motor so that moving body 10 travels at the vehicle speed calculated in ST200. Thereby, a necessary driving force is applied from the motor to the driving wheel 130, and the traveling speed of the moving body 10 is adjusted.
Thereafter, the process returns to ST110, and the process is repeated until the traveling of the moving body 10 is completed.

The mobile unit 10 issues a warning when it approaches a posture angle that makes it difficult to maintain the inverted state, and issues a warning when the posture angle becomes difficult to maintain the inverted state. Decelerates to prevent runaway. Thereby, when the state where it becomes difficult to maintain the inverted control state approaches, the mobile body 10 can avoid the failure of the inverted state in advance by issuing a warning. Moreover, even if the inverted state of the mobile body 10 becomes difficult to maintain, it can be flexibly stopped.
Therefore, the moving body 10 can perform a stable operation according to the load of the driving unit 114 without providing a sensor for measuring the slope of the road surface and the weight of the passenger.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be changed as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, although the posture angle sensor 111 is described as being provided in the vehicle body 110, the posture angle sensor 111 may be provided in a location other than the vehicle body 110, such as the handle portion 140.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Mobile body 20 Mobile body 110 Car body 111 Posture angle sensor 112 Angular velocity sensor 113 Acceleration sensor 114 Drive means 115 Rotation angle sensor 116 Turning sensor 117 Control part 118 Calculation part 120 Step part 121 Step switch 130 Drive wheel 140 Handle part 141 Display part 142 Audio output unit 143 Get-off button 144 Turn button 210 Car body 211 Attitude angle sensor 214 Drive means 215 Rotation angle sensor 217 Control unit 218 Calculation unit 220 Step unit 230 Drive wheel

Claims (1)

An inverted two-wheeled vehicle that is disposed on the same axis and includes a pair of left and right drive means that rotate and drive independently, and drive wheels attached to the drive means, and controls the posture by driving the drive wheels,
Load information acquisition means for acquiring a load applied to the drive means;
Attitude information acquisition means for acquiring information of the attitude angle of the inverted motorcycle;
Based on the load applied to the drive means acquired by the load information acquisition means, a limit posture angle at which the inverted motorcycle can maintain an inverted state, and a warning posture angle for giving a warning before the posture angle reaches the limit posture angle And an arithmetic unit for calculating and updating
A control unit for driving and controlling the driving means,
The control unit performs control to issue a warning to the user when the current posture angle acquired by the posture information acquisition unit tilts more than the warning posture angle, and the current posture angle is equal to or larger than the limit posture angle An inverted motorcycle that performs control to warn the user and lower the output of the drive means when tilted to the right.

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