CN112955336A

CN112955336A - Adjustable suspension and control method and control device thereof

Info

Publication number: CN112955336A
Application number: CN202180000220.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王兴; 柴本本; 刘峰宇
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-02-02
Filing date: 2021-02-02
Publication date: 2021-06-11
Anticipated expiration: 2041-02-02
Also published as: CN112955336B; WO2022165618A1

Abstract

The application provides an adjustable suspension and a control method and a control device thereof, which are suitable for various vehicles such as traditional automobiles, new energy automobiles and intelligent automobiles. The scheme integrates the advantages that the mechanical adjusting mechanism is high in adjusting speed and the hydraulic locking mechanism can lock the vehicle body at any height within an adjustable range, so that the height can be adjusted quickly and nonpolarity is realized, and the riding comfort is improved.

Description

Adjustable suspension and control method and control device thereof

Technical Field

The application relates to the field of vehicles, in particular to an adjustable suspension and a control method and a control device thereof.

Background

With the increasing popularity of automatic driving systems, the passenger's requirements for riding experience are also increasing. The suspension for automobile is a device with elasticity for connecting frame and axle, connecting wheel and body (automobile body), and is mainly formed from mechanical components of elastic element, guide mechanism and vibration damper, etc. and is mainly aimed at regulating height of automobile body to buffer impact transferred from uneven road surface to frame so as to raise riding comfort.

The first height adjusting scheme of the existing suspension is that the height adjusting function is adjusted through an air spring, the scheme is that high-pressure air is injected into an air bag, the air bag is expanded, the overall height of the suspension is adjusted, the scheme is slow in speed, the reliability of the air bag is low, and the problem of short service life exists. The second height control scheme is through pure hydraulic pressure height-adjusting, pours into high-pressure liquid into through the hydraulic pump into, realizes the regulation of height, and this scheme need arrange one or more hydraulic pumps and be used for the pressure boost, has the noise big, the slow problem of elevating speed. The other scheme is that a motor is used for driving a mechanical part to move to achieve height adjustment of the suspension, meanwhile, clamping grooves of the mechanical part are used for locking the height of the suspension, the adjustment range of the scheme is limited, only a plurality of fixed height positions can be adjusted, the distribution of the clamping grooves determines the heights of the height positions and the number of the height positions, secondly, the scheme is not flexible enough in adjustment and slow in adjustment speed, and the adjustment process needs to be adjusted in sequence and cannot be adjusted across the height positions.

Therefore, how to better adjust the height of the vehicle body to improve the riding comfort is an urgent technical problem to be solved.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides an adjustable suspension, a control method and a control device thereof, which can better adjust the height of a vehicle body, thereby improving the riding comfort.

In a first aspect, an adjustable suspension is provided that includes a mechanical adjustment mechanism for adjusting the height of a vehicle body to a first height, which is any height within an adjustable range, and a hydraulic locking mechanism for locking the vehicle body at the first height.

In the technical scheme, the advantages that the mechanical adjusting mechanism is high in adjusting speed and the hydraulic locking mechanism can lock the vehicle body at any height within an adjustable range are integrated, so that the height can be adjusted quickly and nonpolarity is achieved, and the riding comfort is improved.

It should be noted that the mechanical adjusting mechanism may be used to adjust the height of the vehicle body to a desired height, for example, to adjust the height of the vehicle body to the first height, and the first height may be any height within an adjustable range. This adjustable range is understood to mean a range of values of the vehicle height that can be adjusted using the suspension arrangement, which can be expressed, for example, as m, n, m and n being real numbers.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the mechanical adjustment mechanism converts the rotary motion into a linear motion to drive the vehicle body to ascend or descend, so as to adjust the height of the vehicle body. That is, the mechanical adjustment mechanism may include a structure capable of converting a rotary motion into a linear motion, and the structure capable of converting a rotary motion into a linear motion may be, for example, a ball screw, a worm gear, a nut screw, a rack and pinion, or the like.

Optionally, the mechanical adjustment mechanism and hydraulic locking mechanism may also be protected by introducing a load sharing strategy, thereby extending the life of the adjustable suspension. The load on the mechanical actuating mechanism during the actuating phase is transferred to the hydraulic locking mechanism after the locking phase.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, when adjusting the height of the vehicle body to a first height, the mechanical adjustment mechanism rotates in a forward direction, a load of the mechanical adjustment mechanism is loaded to a first load, and the first load is a load borne by the suspension; after the first height is locked, the mechanical adjustment mechanism is rotated in a reverse direction so that the load of the mechanical adjustment mechanism is transferred to the hydraulic locking mechanism, and the load of the hydraulic locking mechanism is loaded to the first load. . The advantage of transferring the load of the mechanical adjustment mechanism to the hydraulic locking mechanism is that firstly the mechanical adjustment mechanism is protected so that it does not deform or break under long-term load, secondly the hydraulic pressure has incompressibility, which if the adjustable suspension is subjected to an impact, will counteract it to a certain extent, and it can be a part of the high frequency impact that can be filtered so that the vehicle is more stable.

The load is distributed to the hydraulic locking mechanism, so that the effects of resisting impact and protecting the mechanical adjusting mechanism and the vehicle more stably are achieved. On the basis, the load bearing capacity of the hydraulic locking mechanism can be further considered, and the hydraulic locking mechanism is also protected to a certain extent, which is described below.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, when the first load is greater than a load threshold of the hydraulic locking mechanism, after the first elevation lock, the hydraulic locking mechanism bears a first portion of the first load, the first portion being less than or equal to the load threshold of the hydraulic locking mechanism; the mechanical adjustment mechanism takes up the portion of the first load other than the first portion.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the hydraulic locking mechanism is connected with a fluid replacement device for detecting an amount of leakage of the supporting fluid of the hydraulic locking mechanism, and for replacing the supporting fluid according to the amount of leakage.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, an amount of air bubbles in the supporting fluid of the hydraulic lock mechanism may also be detected, and the exhausting and the filling of the supporting fluid may be performed according to the amount of air bubbles.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the hydraulic locking mechanism includes a first chamber and a second chamber, at least one first normally-closed solenoid valve is disposed between the first chamber and the second chamber, and when the at least one first normally-closed solenoid valve is opened, the first chamber communicates with the second chamber.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the first chamber and the second chamber are both connected to the reservoir via a second normally-closed solenoid valve; when the second normally closed solenoid valve is opened, the supporting fluid flowing out of the first cavity flows back to the second cavity through the fluid storage device, or the supporting fluid flowing out of the second cavity flows back to the first cavity through the fluid storage device.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the adjustable suspension may further include a damping mechanism for achieving active damping through damping adjustment.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the first height may be obtained according to at least one of the following requirements of the vehicle: attitude requirements, driving requirements, entertainment requirements, or safety requirements.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the driving requirement may include a requirement of at least one of the following driving environments: cross country, cross pit, obstacle avoidance or wade.

In a second aspect, there is provided a control method of an adjustable suspension provided between a vehicle body and a wheel of a vehicle, the adjustable suspension including a mechanical adjustment mechanism and a hydraulic lock mechanism, the control method comprising:

controlling the motor to operate so as to drive the mechanical adjusting mechanism to adjust the height of the vehicle body to a first height, wherein the first height is any height within an adjustable range; a valve of the hydraulic locking mechanism is controlled such that the hydraulic locking mechanism locks the vehicle body at the first height.

In the technical scheme, the advantages that the mechanical adjusting mechanism is high in adjusting speed and the hydraulic locking mechanism can lock the vehicle body at any height within an adjustable range are integrated, so that the height can be adjusted quickly and nonpolarity is achieved, and the riding comfort is improved. The mechanical adjusting mechanism is controlled by controlling the operation of the motor, and the hydraulic locking mechanism is controlled by controlling the valve, so that the mechanical adjusting mechanism and the hydraulic locking mechanism can work quickly and stably, and the riding comfort is improved.

It should be noted that the adjustable suspension of the second aspect may be the adjustable suspension of any implementation manner of the first aspect, and therefore, the technical effects of the adjustable suspension of the first aspect are also applicable to the control method of the second aspect.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the mechanical adjustment mechanism converts the rotary motion into a linear motion to drive the vehicle body to ascend or descend, so as to adjust the height of the vehicle body. When the height of the vehicle body is adjusted to a first height, the motor is controlled to operate so as to drive the mechanical adjusting mechanism to rotate in the forward direction, the load of the mechanical adjusting mechanism is loaded to a first load, and the first load is the load born by the suspension; after the first height is locked, the motor is controlled to operate so as to drive the mechanical adjusting mechanism to rotate reversely, so that the load of the mechanical adjusting mechanism is transferred to the hydraulic locking mechanism, and the load of the hydraulic locking mechanism is loaded to the first load.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, when the first load is greater than the load threshold of the hydraulic locking mechanism, after the first elevation lock, the hydraulic locking mechanism bears a first portion of the first load, the first portion being less than or equal to the load threshold of the hydraulic locking mechanism; the mechanical adjustment mechanism takes up the portion of the first load other than the first portion.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the control method further includes detecting an amount of leakage of the supporting fluid of the hydraulic locking mechanism, and replenishing the supporting fluid according to the amount of leakage.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the control method further includes detecting an amount of air bubbles in the supporting fluid of the hydraulic lock mechanism, and performing the exhausting and the filling of the supporting fluid according to the amount of the air bubbles.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the hydraulic locking mechanism includes a first chamber and a second chamber, at least one first normally-closed solenoid valve is disposed between the first chamber and the second chamber, and when the at least one first normally-closed solenoid valve is opened, the first chamber communicates with the second chamber, and the control method further includes controlling the opening or closing of the at least one first normally-closed solenoid valve so that the first chamber communicates or does not communicate with the second chamber.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the first chamber and the second chamber are both connected to the reservoir through a second normally closed solenoid valve; when the second normally closed electromagnetic valve is opened, the supporting liquid flowing out of the first cavity flows back to the second cavity through the liquid storage device, or the supporting liquid flowing out of the second cavity flows back to the first cavity through the liquid storage device.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the adjustable suspension further includes a damping mechanism for achieving active damping through damping adjustment, and the control method further includes controlling a control valve of the damping mechanism to change the damping.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the first height is obtained according to at least one of the following requirements of the vehicle: attitude requirements, driving requirements, entertainment requirements, or safety requirements.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the driving requirement includes a requirement of at least one of the following driving environments: cross country, cross pit, obstacle avoidance or wade.

In a third aspect, a control device for an adjustable suspension is provided, comprising units enabling the implementation of the method according to the second aspect.

In a fourth aspect, a chip is provided, where the chip includes at least one processor and an interface circuit, and the at least one processor obtains instructions stored in a memory through the interface circuit, and executes the method in any one implementation manner of the second aspect.

Optionally, as an implementation manner, the chip may further include a memory, the memory stores instructions, and the processor is configured to execute the instructions stored on the memory, and when the instructions are executed, the processor is configured to execute the method in any implementation manner of the second aspect.

In a fifth aspect, a computer readable medium is provided, which stores program code for execution by a device, the program code comprising instructions for performing the method of any one of the implementations of the second aspect.

A sixth aspect provides a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of the implementations of the second aspect.

In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a suspension system comprising the adjustable suspension of any one of the implementations of the first aspect.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural view of a height adjusting device of an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 2 is a schematic structural view of a height adjusting device of an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 3 is a schematic view of a control method of the height adjusting mechanism shown in fig. 2.

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of the load power flow during the height adjustment phase of an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of the load power flow during the high lock phase of an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural view of a height adjusting device of an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 7 is a layout topological diagram of the entire vehicle of the height adjusting device according to the embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of the adjustment of the height of the vehicle body for different requirements of the embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 9 is a schematic flowchart of a control method of the height adjusting device according to the embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 10 is a schematic view of a control device of the height adjusting device according to the embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 11 is a hardware configuration diagram of a control device of the height adjusting device according to the embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The control method and/or the control device of the vehicle provided by the embodiment of the application can be applied to various vehicles. The methods and/or devices can be applied to manual driving, auxiliary driving and automatic driving. The vehicle may be a conventional vehicle, a new energy vehicle, an intelligent vehicle, and the like, where the conventional vehicle is a vehicle that provides energy by using gasoline, diesel oil, and the like, the new energy vehicle is a vehicle that provides energy by using new energy such as electric energy, gas, and the like, and the intelligent vehicle is a vehicle equipped with intelligent devices such as an intelligent control unit, and the types of the vehicles may include a car, a truck, a bus, an engineering vehicle, a bus, and the like, for example, and the embodiment of the present application is not particularly limited. The technical solution of the embodiment of the present application is described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural view of a height adjusting device of an embodiment of the present application. The height adjustment device 100 includes a mechanical mechanism 110 and a hydraulic mechanism 120 as shown in fig. 1. The height adjusting device 100 is disposed under the vehicle body of the vehicle for adjusting the height of the vehicle body, and the height adjusting device 100 may be disposed in a suspension as a part of the suspension, or may be the suspension, and when the height adjusting device is the suspension, it may be referred to as an "adjustable suspension".

The mechanical mechanism 110 is used for adjusting the height of the vehicle body to a required height, so it may be referred to as a mechanical adjusting mechanism, but for brevity, it is simply referred to as a "mechanical mechanism", that is, the "mechanical mechanism" and the "mechanical adjusting mechanism" are two equivalent nomenclature in this application. For example, the mechanical mechanism 110 is used to adjust the height of the vehicle body to a first height. The first height may be any height within an adjustable range. This adjustable range is understood to mean a range of values of the vehicle height that can be adjusted using the suspension arrangement, which can be expressed, for example, as m, n, m and n being real numbers.

Alternatively, the mechanical mechanism 110 may perform height adjustment by converting a rotary motion into a linear motion to lift or lower the vehicle body, thereby adjusting the height of the vehicle body. That is, the mechanical mechanism 110 may include a structure capable of converting a rotary motion into a linear motion, and the structure capable of converting a rotary motion into a linear motion may be, for example, a transmission form such as a ball screw, a worm gear, a nut screw, a rack and pinion, and the like.

The hydraulic mechanism 120 is used to lock the vehicle body at the height after adjustment, for example, assuming that after the mechanical mechanism 110 adjusts the vehicle body to the first height, the hydraulic mechanism 120 locks the vehicle body at the first height. The hydraulic mechanism is used for locking and therefore can be called as a hydraulic locking mechanism, but for the sake of brevity, the hydraulic mechanism is simply called as "hydraulic mechanism", that is, the hydraulic mechanism and the hydraulic locking mechanism are equivalent two naming modes in the present application.

The above-mentioned solutions differ from the prior art in that the adjustment height and the locking height are both implemented by mechanical means, i.e. by mechanical means, for example, the prior art uses a locking slot to lock the height in the above-mentioned example, which results in that the prior art is only capable of polar adjustment, i.e. only locks the vehicle at certain height values. The scheme of the embodiment of the application is the cooperation of a mechanical structure and a hydraulic structure, and the vehicle body can be locked at any height by locking through hydraulic pressure. That is, the prior art can only lock the vehicle body at certain specific heights within the adjustable range, and the solution of the embodiment of the present application can adjust and lock the vehicle body at any height within the adjustable range.

It should be noted that, although the height adjustment and locking can be realized directly by the hydraulic mechanism and the airbag mechanism in the prior art, both the hydraulic pressure and the air pressure are limited by the pressure buildup time of the hydraulic pump or the air pump, and are simultaneously limited by the valve opening and closing control, the maximum flow of the valve, the aging of the valve and the airbag, and the like, there is an adjustment delay, that is, the adjustment speed is not as fast as that of the mechanical mechanism, and the valve is easy to deform or damage after being pressed for a long time, and simultaneously the airbag elasticity will also cause inaccuracy of the height adjustment. Compared with the scheme, the mechanical mechanism and the hydraulic mechanism are fully combined, the respective advantages of the mechanical mechanism and the hydraulic mechanism are avoided, the mechanical mechanism is used for adjusting, the hydraulic mechanism is used for locking, the requirement on the valve is low, the mechanical mechanism is quick and effective, the valve is economical and easy to maintain, and the height adjustment is flexible and non-polar.

Alternatively, the mechanical mechanism 110 and the hydraulic mechanism 120 may also be protected by introducing a load sharing strategy, thereby extending the lifetime of the height adjustment device 100. The load borne by the mechanical means during the adjustment phase is transferred to the hydraulic means during the locking phase.

For example, assuming that the mechanical mechanism 110 bears a first load, which is the load borne by the height adjustment device 100, when adjusting the height of the vehicle body to a first height, the first load can be borne by the hydraulic mechanism 120 after the first height is locked.

In one implementation, assuming that the height adjustment is achieved by the conversion of rotational motion to linear motion as described above, the mechanical mechanism 110 may be rotated in a forward direction during the adjustment phase and the mechanical mechanism 110 may be rotated in a reverse direction during the locking phase. It should be understood that the forward rotation and the reverse rotation are relative concepts, and there is no limitation as long as the rotation directions of the forward rotation and the reverse rotation are opposite to each other. However, in an actual scene, for convenience, it is considered that a rotation direction in which the vehicle body height is closer to the height to be adjusted is a forward direction and a rotation direction in which the vehicle body height is farther from the height to be adjusted is a reverse direction. The above is to release the load of the mechanical mechanism 110 by reverse rotation, and the released load is also transferred to the hydraulic mechanism 120 by itself.

The advantage of transferring the load of the mechanical mechanism to the hydraulic mechanism is firstly that the mechanical mechanism is protected so that it does not deform or break under long-term load, secondly that the hydraulic pressure is incompressible and that if the height adjustment means is subjected to an impact, which will be counteracted to a certain extent, it is a part of the high frequency impact that can be filtered so that the vehicle is more stable.

The load is distributed to the hydraulic mechanism, so that the effects of resisting impact and protecting a mechanical mechanism and a vehicle more stably are achieved. On the basis, the load bearing capacity of the hydraulic mechanism can be further considered, and the hydraulic mechanism is also protected to a certain extent, which is described below.

In some implementations, the load experienced by the hydraulic machine 120 may be referenced to its load threshold such that it does not exceed its load threshold. Assuming that the maximum load that the hydraulic machine 120 can bear (load threshold) is a and the load of the mechanical machine in the regulation phase is the first load, denoted by B, it may be that the hydraulic machine 120 bears a first part of B, which is smaller than or equal to a, and the mechanical machine bears a part of (B-a), which takes 0 when B-a is negative. There are several cases in the above implementation, when B is less than or equal to a, it is equivalent to that the hydraulic mechanism 120 bears all the load of B, and the load borne by the mechanical mechanism 110 is 0; when B is greater than a, the load borne by the hydraulic mechanism 120 is equal to a, and the load borne by the mechanical mechanism 110 is equal to B-a. In short, the hydraulic mechanism bears a portion less than or equal to a, while the mechanical mechanism bears the remainder beyond this portion, which is equivalent to no remainder if B is less than or equal to a.

The hydraulic machine 120 may also be provided with a fluid replacement device, i.e. the hydraulic machine 120 may be connected to a fluid replacement device, which may be a device separate from the height adjustment device 100. The fluid replacement device can be used for detecting the leakage amount of the supporting fluid of the hydraulic mechanism 120 and supplementing the supporting fluid according to the leakage amount.

The above-described hydraulic mechanism 120 may also be provided with a means for air-bleeding control, that is, the means for air-bleeding control may be used to detect the amount of air bubbles in the supporting liquid of the hydraulic mechanism 120, and perform air-bleeding and filling of the supporting liquid in accordance with the amount of air bubbles.

In some implementations, the height adjustment device 100 can also include a shock absorbing mechanism 130, and the shock absorbing mechanism 130 is used for active shock absorption through damping adjustment.

Since the following figures have given some structural examples of the mechanical mechanism 110, the hydraulic mechanism 120, and the shock absorbing mechanism 130, specific internal structures for each mechanism will be given below and will not be described one by one.

The height adjustment device 100 may be controlled by a control device such as an Electronic Control Unit (ECU) in the vehicle, and is mainly embodied in the control of the height to be adjusted with respect to the vehicle body. That is, the height to which the vehicle is adjusted (e.g., the first height) may be based on a demand of the vehicle, which may include at least one of: attitude requirements, driving requirements, entertainment requirements, or safety requirements. The attitude requirement may be seen as what attitude the vehicle body is expected to assume, such as, for example, a certain angle of inclination, magnitude of inclination, and the like. The driving requirements are understood to mean requirements which are required to adapt to the driving environment, for example, requirements which include at least one of the following driving environments: cross country, cross pit, obstacle avoidance or wade. The entertainment requirement may be understood as a multi-modal resonance or simulation requirement, for example, the vehicle may vibrate along with the rhythm according to the rhythm of the played music, and for example, the entertainment requirement may simulate a scene such as a video recording being played to adjust the light inside the vehicle and the shake, posture, speed, and the like of the vehicle body. The safety requirement is a requirement for ensuring the safety of the vehicle and passengers.

The ECU may specifically control the mechanical mechanism 110 by controlling the operation of the motor, and may control the hydraulic mechanism 120 by controlling the opening and closing degree of the valve, which will be described below and will not be further described herein.

Fig. 2 is a schematic structural view of a height adjusting device of an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 2, the height adjusting means includes a mechanical mechanism 110, a hydraulic mechanism 120, and a damper mechanism 130, which may be exemplified as the mechanical mechanism 110, the hydraulic mechanism 120, and the damper mechanism 130 of fig. 1, respectively, and therefore, the same reference numerals are used for ease of understanding.

The mechanical mechanism 110 includes a ball screw 111, a planar support bearing 112, a bearing housing 113, and a transmission structure 114. The height of the car body can be changed by rotating the ball screw 111, and the flat support bearing 112 and the bearing housing 113 are common mating components thereof. The transmission structure 114 connects the ball screw 111 with the motor 142, so that the motor 142 can drive the ball screw 111 to rotate through the transmission structure 114 when operating. The rotation direction and rotation speed of the ball screw 111 can be controlled by controlling the operation direction and operation speed of the motor. The motor 142 may be fixed by a motor bracket 141. It can be seen that the motor and the motor support are not part of the height adjustment device, but can be independent of the height adjustment device.

Also shown in fig. 2 is a screw nut 111-1 of the ball screw 111.

A displacement sensor 115 may be further provided in the mechanical mechanism 110, and indicated by S/U in fig. 2, the displacement sensor 115 may detect a change in displacement after the rotation of the ball screw 111, thereby further calculating the current height of the vehicle body.

The hydraulic mechanism 120 includes an external cylinder 121 and two chambers: the first chamber 123 and the second chamber 122 are separated by a sealing ring 124. At least one normally closed solenoid valve (solenoid valve 127 and solenoid valve 128 are shown in fig. 2) is disposed between the first chamber 123 and the second chamber 122, and when the at least one normally closed solenoid valve is open, the first chamber communicates with the second chamber.

The communication of the first chamber with the second chamber enables the flow of the supporting liquid, that is to say, with the variation of the adjustment height, so that the flow rate of the normally closed solenoid valve affects the speed of the locking height. Compared with the situation that only one normally closed solenoid valve is arranged, the normally closed solenoid valve can improve the response speed on the one hand, can also realize redundancy backup on the other hand, improves the reliability, and can still meet the circulation requirement even if one solenoid valve cannot work.

Since the supporting liquid may leak, the two chambers can be replenished with liquid in time. As shown in fig. 2, the first chamber 123 and the second chamber 122 are both connected to the liquid storage device 151 (fig. 2 takes an oil pot as an example); the supporting fluid flowing out of the first chamber 123 can flow back to the second chamber 122 through the reservoir 151, or the supporting fluid flowing out of the second chamber 122 can flow back to the first chamber 122 through the reservoir 151. The presence of the reservoir 151 allows temporary storage and even replenishment of the support fluid, also controlled by solenoid valves, for example as shown in figure 2, the first chamber 123 being connected to the reservoir 151 by one solenoid valve 152 and the second chamber 122 being connected to the reservoir 151 by another solenoid valve 152. The fluid supply to the two chambers can be controlled by controlling the opening and closing of the solenoid valve 152 and the degree of opening.

Since bubbles may also appear in the supporting liquid in some cases, the influence of the bubbles can be eliminated and the stability and the bearing capacity of the hydraulic mechanism during locking can be improved by detecting the amount of the bubbles in the supporting liquid of the hydraulic mechanism and exhausting and filling the supporting liquid according to the amount of the bubbles.

The first chamber 123 is formed by an outer housing 136, in which the damping mechanism 130 extends into the hydraulic mechanism 120, an end seal 126, at which the mechanical mechanism 110 is connected to the hydraulic mechanism 120, and an outer cylinder 121 of the hydraulic mechanism 120, and is shown in a cross-sectional view in fig. 2 as two symmetrical, elongated, small rectangles.

The damping mechanism 130 includes a spring 131, a piston rod 132, a piston 133, a piston chamber 134, a control valve 135, an outer housing 136, and a spring support 137. One end of the spring 131 is connected to the vehicle body, and the other end is fixed to the spring support 137. The outer housing 136 extends through the interior of the ball screw 111 into the outer housing of the hydraulic machine 120, forming the two chambers described above with the hydraulic machine 120. The spring 131 and piston related components can be considered to constitute a shock absorber, and the damping mechanism 130 is primarily active under the control of the control valve 135 by the ECU. Since a common damping mechanism, such as a Continuous Damping Control (CDC) system, can be applied to the solution of the embodiment of the present application to achieve the purpose of active damping, in the embodiment of the present application, the related description will be appropriately simplified, and a person skilled in the art can set the damping mechanism 130 to meet the requirement according to actual conditions.

The shock absorbing mechanism 130 achieves the purpose of active shock absorption mainly through damping adjustment. Specifically, the ECU obtains parameters such as vehicle body acceleration and wheel acceleration, and controls the control valve 135 to change the sectional area of the communication part between the chambers of the shock absorber, thereby changing the resistance difference between the chambers, realizing the change of the shock absorber damping, and achieving the purpose of shock absorption. Generally, the size of the cross-sectional area of the communicating portion is inversely proportional to the resistance of the fluid.

It should be understood that fig. 2 is only a specific example of the height adjusting device, and there may be other cases, such as removing the shock absorbing mechanism 130, directly connecting the vehicle body with the mechanical mechanism 120, and for example, the relative position change of different mechanisms may be performed, such as shown in fig. 6, that is, the hydraulic mechanism, the mechanical mechanism, and the shock absorbing mechanism are arranged below the vehicle body in sequence.

Fig. 3 is a schematic view of a control method of the height adjusting mechanism shown in fig. 2. For simplicity, the various components are numbered off in FIG. 3, leaving only the numbers of structures that can be used to collect data and to control them.

In the height adjusting stage, the motor 142 rotates to drive the lead screw nut 111-1 to rotate through the transmission structure 114, and the lead screw nut 111-1 rotates under the limit of the plane support bearing 112 to realize loading, wherein the rotation direction is shown as an arc arrow direction from left to right in the figure. The height of the screw nut 111-1 and the spring support 137 is detected in real time by the displacement sensor 115, the load of the ball screw 111 is monitored, when the detected height reaches the recorded value of the previous time of height adjustment, the height adjusting device reaches the load state of the previous time of height adjustment, and at the moment, the ball screw 111 bears all the loads.

After the ball screw 111 bears all the loads, the ECU160 controls the solenoid valve 127 and the solenoid valve 128 to be opened, so that the first chamber 123 is communicated with the second chamber 122, since the ball screw 111 bears all the loads, the pressures in the two chambers are equal before the solenoid valve 127 and the solenoid valve 128 are opened, after the solenoid valve 127 and the solenoid valve 128 are opened, the supporting liquid filled in the two chambers keeps basically static without relative flow, the displacement sensor 115 monitors and feeds back the distance between the screw nut 111-1 and the bearing seat 113 to the ECU160 in real time, the motor 142 continues to rotate, the screw nut 111-1 is driven to rotate through the transmission structure 114, the screw nut 111-1 rotates under the limit of the plane support bearing 112, the upward movement or the downward movement of the mechanical mechanism 110 is realized, and further the height adjustment of the associated vehicle body is realized.

In the height locking stage, the lower end of the outer casing 136 of the damping mechanism 130 forms a piston, which extends into the inner part of the outer cylinder 121 and is limited by the end locking ring 125, and the upper and lower sealed chambers are formed by the sealing ring 124 and the sealing ring 126, the two chambers are filled with the supporting fluid, and the two chambers are connected through at least one normally-closed solenoid valve (such as the solenoid valve 127 and the solenoid valve 128 shown in fig. 3) and a pipeline, so as to be opened and closed.

During the height adjustment of the suspension system, the ECU160 controls the solenoid valve 127 and the solenoid valve 128 to open, so as to achieve the pressure balance between the two chambers, at this time, the supporting fluid in the two chambers can flow into the second chamber 122 from the first chamber 123 or flow into the first chamber 123 from the second chamber 122 correspondingly with the upward or downward movement of the mechanical mechanism 110, and after the height adjustment is completed, the solenoid valve 127 and the solenoid valve 128 are closed, so as to achieve the height locking.

After the height adjustment and height locking are completed, the displacement sensor 115 and the displacement sensor 139 record the distance between the lead screw nut 111-1 and the bearing seat 113 and the distance between the spring support 137 and the bearing seat 113, respectively, and transmit the distances to the ECU160 for use in the next adjustment round. At this time, the motor 142 increases the distance between the screw nut 111-1 and the bearing housing 113 by reverse rotation according to the parameters set by the ECU160, and further, gradually decreases the load of the ball screw 111 until the load of the ball screw 111 becomes 0. If the load initially borne by the ball screw 111 is greater than the load threshold of the hydraulic mechanism 120, the load is reduced until the ball screw 111 is minimized. Meanwhile, the supporting liquid of the two chambers of the hydraulic mechanism 120 gradually bears the load released by the ball screw until bearing the whole load, so that the conversion of the power load is realized. If the load initially borne by the ball screw 111 is greater than the load threshold of the hydraulic mechanism 120, the maximum load is borne (i.e., the load is the load threshold).

The displacement sensor 139 detects the distance between the spring support 137 and the bearing seat 113, and further can detect the leakage amount of the supporting liquid in the two chambers, after the leakage amount reaches a set value, the ECU160 opens the two electromagnetic valves 152 according to the leakage amount condition and the parameters of the pressure sensor 129 to realize liquid replenishment, and meanwhile, the motor 142 rotates in the forward direction to lift the height of the damping mechanism 130, and after the completion, the electromagnetic valves 152 are closed to realize the replenishment of the supporting liquid and the adjustment of the height.

Under the working condition that the hydraulic mechanism bears all loads, when the distance value recorded by the displacement sensor 139 reaches the set load threshold value of the hydraulic mechanism and is kept stable and unchanged, bubbles are considered to be generated in the hydraulic cylinder (two chambers), the first chamber 123 and the second chamber 122 are communicated with the electromagnetic valve 152 and the liquid storage device 151, and the connecting hole between the liquid storage device 151 and the electromagnetic valve 152 is designed to be positioned at the bottom of the liquid storage device 151, so that the separation of air and liquid can be realized, and the outer shell 136 is driven to discharge the air in the first chamber 123 and the second chamber 122 respectively through the up-and-down movement of the ball screw 111, so that the stability and the bearing capacity of the hydraulic mechanism during locking are improved. That is, in addition to the above-described detection and replenishment of the supporting liquid leakage amount, it is possible to further improve the stability and load capacity of the hydraulic mechanism by detecting the amount of air bubbles in the supporting liquid and performing the evacuation and filling of the supporting liquid in accordance with the amount of air bubbles.

After the height lock, during normal operation, all normal damping is achieved by the damping mechanism 130, and the damping mechanism 130 achieves the damping purpose through the control of the control valve 135 by the ECU 160.

The load carried by the various components of the height adjustment device varies during the height adjustment phase and the height locking phase, as shown, for example, in figures 4 and 5.

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of the load power flow during the height adjustment phase of an embodiment of the present application. As can be seen from fig. 4, in the height adjustment stage, the bearing force passes through the spring support 137, the ball screw 111, the screw nut 111-1, the flat support bearing 112, the support bearing housing 113, the outer cylinder 121, and the tire in this order.

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of the load power flow during the high lock phase of an embodiment of the present application. As can be seen from fig. 5, in the height lock adjustment stage, the bearing force passes through the spring seat 137, the outer housing 136, the support liquid in the first chamber 123, the support liquid in the second chamber 122, the outer cylinder 121, and the tire in this order.

With reference to fig. 4 and 5, the load transfer from the mechanical mechanism 110 to the hydraulic mechanism 120 is achieved in two stages, and since the ball screw 111 in the mechanical mechanism 110 is a precision instrument, the service life thereof is greatly reduced under the conditions of bearing high frequency, high load, complex impact, and the like. In the scheme of the embodiment of the application, the ball screw 111 only needs to bear all loads in the height adjusting process, and in the height locking stage, the hydraulic supporting liquid is involved to bear all or most of the loads of the vehicle body, and the ball screw 111 does not bear or only bears a small part of the loads, so that the service life of the vehicle is greatly prolonged.

As described above, the positional relationship between the respective mechanisms is not limited to the above-described drawings, and other cases are also possible, which will be described below with reference to fig. 6.

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural view of a height adjusting device of an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 6, the height adjusting device includes a mechanical mechanism 110 ', a hydraulic mechanism 120 ', and a shock absorbing mechanism 130 ', which may have the same structure as the above mechanisms, respectively, that is, the mechanical mechanism 110 ', the hydraulic mechanism 120 ', and the shock absorbing mechanism 130 ' may correspond to the above mechanical mechanism 110, the hydraulic mechanism 120, and the shock absorbing mechanism 130, respectively, except for the arrangement order, that is, the hydraulic mechanism 120 ', the mechanical mechanism 110 ', and the shock absorbing mechanism 130 ' in fig. 6 are arranged in the order from top to bottom, and the shock absorbing mechanism 130, the mechanical mechanism 110, and the hydraulic mechanism 120 are arranged in the order from top to bottom in the above height adjusting device 100. Corresponding numbering is used in fig. 6 as above, for example, control valve 135' corresponds to 135 above, and therefore, for the sake of brevity, the description of each component, and the function and structure of each mechanism, will not be repeated. Compared with the layout mode shown in the above, the layout mode shown in fig. 6 has the advantages that the hydraulic mechanism and the mechanical mechanism are directly connected with the vehicle body, the common lifting of the motor and the vehicle body is realized in the whole process, the stability and the connection rigidity of the motor are improved, meanwhile, the vibration of the motor is reduced, and the riding experience of passengers is improved.

The function, structure and operating principle of the single height adjustment device have been mainly described above. In an actual scene, the height adjusting device can be expanded into a whole vehicle system, namely one height adjusting device is distributed among the vehicle transporting bodies of each wheel. In the whole vehicle system, sensing equipment (such as a camera, a radar and the like) can be used for acquiring data, an ECU is used for forming control parameters, and the height adjusting device is controlled according to the control parameters to adjust the vehicle body to the required height.

Fig. 7 is a topological diagram of the overall vehicle layout of the height adjustment device according to the embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 7, one height adjustment device is respectively disposed at each of four wheels, each height adjustment device and the ECU can transmit data to each other, a plurality of sensing devices are also connected to the ECU for acquiring data of the vehicle itself or the vehicle driving environment, and the ECU can also acquire a demand signal. The ECU may acquire sensing data from the sensing device, such as obstacle information, road information, environmental information, power information of the vehicle, etc., and then generate a height setting for the height adjustment device according to the demand indicated by the demand signal, and control the height adjustment device to adjust the vehicle body to a desired height value by controlling the motor and/or the valve of the height adjustment device. That is, the ECU obtains a height value signal according to the demand signal and/or the sensing signal (information obtained by the sensing device), and then controls the height adjusting device to adjust the height according to the height value.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of the adjustment of the height of the vehicle body for different requirements of the embodiment of the present application. Fig. 8 is described below. Fig. 8 (a) is a schematic view of raising and lowering a vehicle body, by raising the vehicle body, the capabilities of the vehicle such as cross country, over pit, obstacle avoidance, wading and the like can be increased, that is, the capabilities of meeting the requirements of various driving environments; the vehicle body is lowered, so that the high-speed stability of the vehicle can be improved, the wind resistance is reduced, the wheel adhesion is improved and the like; meanwhile, the height of the vehicle body can be kept unchanged under the condition of vehicle body load variation.

Fig. 8 (b) is a schematic diagram of the vehicle body actively crossing the obstacle, and in combination with information of the sensing device and/or the vehicle networking, when a pothole road surface or an obstacle appears in the road, the height of the wheel on one side can be directly and rapidly extended or shortened, so that the pothole crossing or the obstacle avoidance can be realized.

Fig. 8 (c) shows a schematic diagram of vehicle body roll, fig. 8 (d) shows a schematic diagram of vehicle body pitch, and for the vehicle body tilt phenomenon in each direction during the inclined road surface, the turning process and the vehicle accelerating or braking process, the ECU controls and adjusts the vehicle body posture through the information of the sensing device or the vehicle network, so as to realize the vehicle body stability and improve the riding comfort; meanwhile, by adjusting the posture of the vehicle body, the turning radius can be reduced, the braking distance is shortened, the gravity center of the vehicle is adjusted, and sideslip/rollover and the like are prevented.

Fig. 8 (a) and (b) may be regarded as determining the height (e.g., the first height) to which the height adjusting device needs to be adjusted in order to meet the driving demand of the vehicle, and fig. 8 (c) and (d) may be regarded as determining the height (e.g., the first height) to which the height adjusting device needs to be adjusted in order to meet the posture demand of the vehicle.

In addition to the situation shown in fig. 8, the height to which adjustment is required may be determined according to other requirements such as entertainment requirements, security requirements, and the like. For example, the height can be controlled according to the rhythm of the played song, so that various postures of lifting, shaking, jumping, inclining and the like are realized, the simulation effect is achieved, and the entertainment activities of passengers are enriched. For another example, when collision occurs, the passenger compartment can be protected by adjusting the height, and the collision is moved down to the chassis to prevent the collision from directly occurring in the passenger compartment; meanwhile, when the vehicle body is collided and turned on side, the vehicle posture can be recovered by adjusting the height of each height adjusting device, namely, the vehicle still contacts the ground through tires after rolling, so that better conditions are provided for rescue or vehicle movement, and the like.

As described above, the height adjustment is mainly achieved by the control of the height adjustment device by the ECU, and the control method and the control device of the height adjustment device will be described below, and for the sake of brevity, these will be simply referred to as the control method and the control device. It is to be understood that the control device may be an ECU already provided in the vehicle, or may be a control device provided separately in the vehicle.

Fig. 9 is a schematic flowchart of a control method of the height adjusting device according to the embodiment of the present application. The steps of fig. 9 are described below. The height adjusting device is arranged between a vehicle body and wheels of a vehicle and comprises a mechanical mechanism and a hydraulic mechanism. The height adjustment means may be any of the height adjustment means described above.

901. The motor is controlled to operate so as to drive the mechanical mechanism to adjust the height of the vehicle body to a first height, and the first height is any height within an adjustable range.

Reference may be made to the above for a description of the first level and the mechanical mechanism etc., which will not be described in detail here.

Alternatively, a mechanical mechanism may be used to convert the swiveling motion into the linear motion, thereby adjusting the height of the vehicle body.

902. The valve of the hydraulic mechanism is controlled so that the hydraulic mechanism locks the vehicle body at the first height.

In some implementations of the above-described embodiments,

the mechanical adjusting mechanism converts the rotary motion into linear motion to drive the vehicle body to ascend or descend so as to adjust the height of the vehicle body. When the height of the vehicle body is adjusted to a first height, the motor is controlled to operate so as to drive the mechanical adjusting mechanism to rotate in the forward direction, the load of the mechanical adjusting mechanism is loaded to a first load, and the first load is the load born by the suspension; after the first height is locked, the motor is controlled to operate so as to drive the mechanical adjusting mechanism to rotate reversely, so that the load of the mechanical adjusting mechanism is transferred to the hydraulic locking mechanism, and the load of the hydraulic locking mechanism is loaded to the first load. The load transfer can effectively protect the mechanical mechanism and fully exert the advantages of the hydraulic mechanism.

In order to achieve better effect, when the load borne by the hydraulic mechanism exceeds the load threshold value, the rest of the load can be borne by the mechanical mechanism, that is, only most of the load is transferred to the hydraulic mechanism to realize the protection of the hydraulic mechanism, and the mechanical mechanism only bears a small part of the load and still protects the mechanical mechanism, so that the hydraulic mechanism and the mechanical mechanism can be protected simultaneously.

For example, the hydraulic machine bears only a first part of the first load, which is smaller than or equal to the load threshold of the hydraulic machine, and the mechanical machine bears the part of the first load other than the first part. When the first load is less than or equal to the load threshold, it corresponds to the portion other than the first portion being 0, and when the first load is greater than the load threshold, it corresponds to the portion other than the first portion being not 0.

When the height of the mechanical mechanism is adjusted by converting rotary motion into linear motion, the motor can be controlled to operate to drive the mechanical mechanism to rotate in the forward direction or the reverse direction, so that loading or releasing of a load on the mechanical mechanism is realized. For example, when the height of the vehicle body is adjusted to a first height, the motor is controlled to operate so as to drive the mechanical mechanism to rotate forwards; after the first height is locked, the motor is controlled to operate so as to drive the mechanical mechanism to rotate reversely.

Alternatively, the control method described above may further include fluid replacement control, that is, the amount of leakage of the supporting fluid of the hydraulic mechanism may be detected, and the supporting fluid may be replenished in accordance with the amount of leakage.

In some implementations, the hydraulic mechanism may include a first chamber and a second chamber with at least one first normally closed solenoid valve disposed therebetween, the first chamber being in communication with the second chamber when the first normally closed solenoid valve is open. In this case, it may be that the first chamber and the second chamber may both perform monitoring and replenishment of the leakage amount of the supporting fluid, that is, the first chamber and the second chamber may be communicated or not communicated by controlling the opening or closing of the first normally closed solenoid valve.

In other implementations, both the first chamber and the second chamber may be communicated to the reservoir through a second normally closed solenoid valve. When the second normally closed solenoid valve is opened, the supporting fluid flowing out of the first cavity flows back to the second cavity through the fluid storage device, or the supporting fluid flowing out of the second cavity flows back to the first cavity through the fluid storage device. The reservoir device serves to temporarily store the supporting fluid flowing out of any of the two chambers. In this case, the opening or closing of the second normally-closed solenoid valve may be controlled so that the first chamber and the second chamber are communicated or not communicated through the reservoir.

Alternatively, the control method described above may further include air-bleeding control, that is, may detect the amount of air bubbles in the supporting liquid of the hydraulic mechanism, and perform air-bleeding and filling of the supporting liquid in accordance with the amount of air bubbles.

In still other implementations, the height adjustment device further includes a shock absorbing mechanism for achieving active shock absorption through damping adjustment. In this case, the control valve of the shock absorbing mechanism may be controlled to change the above-described damping.

As described above, the height that needs to be adjusted may be determined by the ECU according to the requirements of the vehicle. The demand may include at least one of: attitude requirements, driving requirements, entertainment requirements, or safety requirements. The description of the requirements may be referred to above and will not be expanded. That is, the control method may include: the method includes the steps of obtaining at least one requirement of a vehicle, and setting a first height according to the at least one requirement.

The control method according to the embodiment of the present application is described above with reference to fig. 9, and the control device according to the embodiment of the present application is described below with reference to fig. 10 and 11. It is to be understood that the control device described hereinafter is capable of executing the respective processes of the control method of the embodiment of the present application, and the repetitive description will be appropriately omitted when describing the embodiment of the device.

Fig. 10 is a schematic view of a control device of the height adjusting device according to the embodiment of the present application. The apparatus 2000 comprises a first control unit 2001 and a second control unit 2002. The apparatus 2000 may be configured to perform the steps of the control method according to the embodiment of the present application. For example, the first control unit 2001 may be used to perform step 901 in the method shown in fig. 9, and the second control unit 2002 may be used to perform step 902 in the method shown in fig. 9.

The first control unit 2001 may also realize the transfer of the load between the mechanical mechanism and the hydraulic mechanism by controlling the click operation.

The first control unit 2001 may be specifically configured to control the motor to operate to drive the mechanical mechanism to rotate in the forward direction or in the reverse direction. Including controlling the rotational speed of the mechanical mechanism by controlling the operating speed of the motor and controlling the rotational direction of the mechanical mechanism by controlling the operating direction of the motor.

The second control unit 2002 may also be arranged to detect an amount of leakage of the supporting liquid of the hydraulic machine and to replenish the supporting liquid in dependence of the amount of leakage. For example, the liquid supplementing can be realized by controlling the opening and closing of the valve according to the leakage amount.

When the hydraulic mechanism includes two chambers and the at least one first normally-closed solenoid valve, the second control unit 2002 may be further configured to control opening or closing of the at least one first normally-closed solenoid valve, so that the first chamber is communicated or not communicated with the second chamber, and thus, communication control between the two chambers may be achieved.

During the liquid supplementing, the first chamber and the second chamber are assumed to be connected to a liquid storage device through a second normally closed solenoid valve; when the second normally closed solenoid valve is opened, the supporting liquid flowing out of the first chamber flows back to the second chamber through the liquid storage device, or the supporting liquid flowing out of the second chamber flows back to the first chamber through the liquid storage device, and then the second control unit 2002 is specifically used for controlling the opening or closing of the second normally closed solenoid valve during liquid supplementation, so that the first chamber and the second chamber are communicated or not communicated through the liquid storage device, and the liquid supplementation is realized.

The second control unit 2002 may also be adapted to detecting the amount of air bubbles in the supporting liquid of the hydraulic machine, and to performing the degassing and filling of the supporting liquid in dependence on the amount of air bubbles. So that the stability and the load capacity of the hydraulic machine can be improved.

When the height adjusting device further comprises a shock absorbing mechanism for the purpose of active shock absorption by damping adjustment, the control device further comprises a third control unit 2003, the third control unit 2003 being adapted to control a control valve of the shock absorbing mechanism to change the damping as described above.

The device 2000 may be an existing ECU in a vehicle, and only the connection relationship between the ECU and each component of the height adjusting device and the internal program of the ECU need to be changed, so that the ECU can execute the control method. The device 2000 may also be a stand-alone control device comprising various units capable of performing the above-described control method.

Fig. 11 is a hardware configuration diagram of a control device of the height adjusting device according to the embodiment of the present application. The apparatus 3000 may include at least one processor 3002 and a communication interface 3003.

Optionally, the apparatus 3000 may further comprise at least one of a memory 3001 and a bus 3004. Any two or all three of the memory 3001, the processor 3002 and the communication interface 3003 may be communicatively coupled to each other via a bus 3004.

Alternatively, the memory 3001 may be a Read Only Memory (ROM), a static memory device, a dynamic memory device, or a Random Access Memory (RAM). The memory 3001 may store a program, and the processor 3002 and the communication interface 3003 are used to perform the respective steps of the control method of the embodiment of the present application when the program stored in the memory 3001 is executed by the processor 3002. That is, the processor 3002 may retrieve stored instructions from the memory 3001 through the communication interface 3003 to perform the steps of the control method of the embodiments of the present application.

Alternatively, the processor 3002 may adopt a general-purpose Central Processing Unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) or one or more integrated circuits, and is configured to execute related programs to implement the functions required to be executed by the units in the control device according to the embodiment of the present application or to execute the steps of the control method according to the embodiment of the present application.

Alternatively, the processor 3002 may be an integrated circuit chip having signal processing capability. In implementation, the steps of the control method of the embodiment of the present application may be implemented by integrated logic circuits of hardware in a processor or instructions in the form of software.

Alternatively, the processor 3002 may be a general-purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an ASIC, an off-the-shelf programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, or discrete hardware component. The various methods, steps, and logic blocks disclosed in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented or performed. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like. The steps of the method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present application may be directly implemented by a hardware decoding processor, or implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module may be located in ram, flash memory, rom, prom, or eprom, registers, etc. storage media as is well known in the art. The storage medium is located in a memory, and a processor reads information in the memory, and performs, in combination with hardware thereof, functions required to be performed by units included in the control device of the embodiment of the present application, or performs the respective steps of the control method of the embodiment of the present application.

Alternatively, communication interface 3003 may enable communication between the apparatus and other devices or communication networks using transceiver means such as, but not limited to, a transceiver. The communication interface 3003 may also be an interface circuit, for example.

Bus 3004 may include a pathway to transfer information between various components of the device (e.g., memory, processor, communication interface).

Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product containing instructions, which when executed by a computer, cause the computer to implement the method in the above method embodiments.

Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this application belongs. The terminology used in the description of the present application in the present application is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the application.

Various aspects or features of the disclosure may be implemented as a method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and/or engineering techniques. The term "article of manufacture" as used herein is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device, carrier, or media. For example, computer-readable media may include, but are not limited to: magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, or magnetic tape), optical disks (e.g., Compact Disk (CD), Digital Versatile Disk (DVD), etc.), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), card, stick, or key drive, etc.).

Various storage media described herein can represent one or more devices and/or other machine-readable media for storing information. The term "machine-readable medium" can include, but is not limited to: wireless channels and various other media capable of storing, containing, and/or carrying instruction(s) and/or data.

It should be noted that when the processor is a general-purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, an FPGA or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, or a discrete hardware component, the memory (memory module) may be integrated into the processor.

It should also be noted that the memories described herein are intended to comprise, without being limited to, these and any other suitable types of memories.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the implementation. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

It is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described apparatuses and units may refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not described herein again.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the units is only one logical division, and other divisions may be realized in practice, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. Furthermore, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment.

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit.

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the present application, or portions thereof, may be embodied in the form of a computer software product stored in a storage medium, the computer software product including instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to perform all or part of the steps of the methods described in the embodiments of the present application. The foregoing storage media may include, but are not limited to: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a U disk, a removable hard disk, a ROM, a RAM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of the changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and shall be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. An adjustable suspension, comprising:

the mechanical adjusting mechanism is used for adjusting the height of the vehicle body to a first height, and the first height is any height in an adjustable range;

a hydraulic locking mechanism for locking the vehicle body at the first height.

2. The suspension according to claim 1 wherein the mechanical adjustment mechanism is used to adjust the height of the vehicle body by converting a rotary motion into a linear motion to raise or lower the vehicle body.

3. The suspension of claim 2, wherein when adjusting the height of the vehicle body to the first height, the mechanical adjustment mechanism is rotated in a forward direction such that a load of the mechanical adjustment mechanism is applied to a first load, the first load being a load borne by the suspension; after the first height is locked, the mechanical adjusting mechanism rotates reversely, so that the load of the mechanical adjusting mechanism is transferred to the hydraulic locking mechanism, and the load of the hydraulic locking mechanism is loaded to the first load.

4. The suspension of claim 3 wherein, when the first load is greater than the load threshold of the hydraulic locking mechanism, the hydraulic locking mechanism assumes a first portion of the first load after the first height lock, the first portion being less than or equal to the load threshold of the hydraulic locking mechanism; the mechanical adjustment mechanism takes up the portion of the first load other than the first portion.

5. The suspension according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the hydraulic locking mechanism is connected with a fluid replacement device for detecting an amount of leakage of the supporting fluid of the hydraulic locking mechanism and for replenishing the supporting fluid in accordance with the amount of leakage.

6. The suspension of any one of claims 1-5, wherein the hydraulic locking mechanism includes a first chamber and a second chamber, at least one first normally closed solenoid valve disposed between the first chamber and the second chamber, the first chamber communicating with the second chamber when the at least one first normally closed solenoid valve is open.

7. The suspension of claim 6 wherein the first chamber and the second chamber are each connected to a reservoir by a second normally closed solenoid valve; when the second normally closed solenoid valve is opened, the supporting fluid flowing out of the first chamber flows back to the second chamber through the liquid storage device, or the supporting fluid flowing out of the second chamber flows back to the first chamber through the liquid storage device.

8. The suspension of any one of claims 1-7, wherein the adjustable suspension further comprises:

and the damping mechanism is used for achieving the purpose of active damping through damping adjustment.

9. The suspension of any one of claims 1 to 8 wherein said first height is derived from at least one of the following requirements of said vehicle: attitude requirements, driving requirements, entertainment requirements, or safety requirements.

10. The suspension of claim 9 wherein said travel requirements include requirements for at least one of the following travel environments: cross country, cross pit, obstacle avoidance or wade.

11. A method of controlling an adjustable suspension, the adjustable suspension comprising a mechanical adjustment mechanism and a hydraulic locking mechanism,

the control method comprises the following steps:

controlling a motor to operate so as to drive the mechanical adjusting mechanism to adjust the height of the vehicle body to a first height, wherein the first height is any height within an adjustable range;

controlling a valve of the hydraulic locking mechanism such that the hydraulic locking mechanism locks the vehicle body at the first height.

12. The control method according to claim 11, wherein the mechanical adjustment mechanism adjusts the height of the vehicle body by converting a rotary motion into a linear motion to raise or lower the vehicle body, the control method further comprising:

when the height of the vehicle body is adjusted to the first height, the motor is controlled to operate to drive the mechanical adjusting mechanism to rotate in the forward direction, so that the load of the mechanical adjusting mechanism is loaded to a first load, and the first load is the load borne by the suspension;

after the first height is locked, the motor is controlled to operate so as to drive the mechanical adjusting mechanism to rotate reversely, so that the load of the mechanical adjusting mechanism is transferred to the hydraulic locking mechanism, and the load of the hydraulic locking mechanism is loaded to the first load.

13. The control method of claim 12, wherein when the first load is greater than the load threshold of the hydraulic locking mechanism, the hydraulic locking mechanism assumes a first portion of the first load after the first elevation lock, the first portion being less than or equal to the load threshold of the hydraulic locking mechanism; the mechanical adjustment mechanism takes up the portion of the first load other than the first portion.

14. The control method according to any one of claims 11 to 13, characterized by further comprising:

detecting the leakage amount of the supporting liquid of the hydraulic locking mechanism;

and supplementing the supporting liquid according to the leakage amount.

15. The control method according to any one of claims 11 to 14, characterized by further comprising:

detecting the amount of air bubbles in the supporting liquid of the hydraulic locking mechanism;

and exhausting and filling the supporting liquid according to the amount of the bubbles.

16. The control method according to any one of claims 11 to 15, wherein the hydraulic lock mechanism includes a first chamber and a second chamber, at least one first normally-closed solenoid valve is provided between the first chamber and the second chamber, and the first chamber communicates with the second chamber when the at least one first normally-closed solenoid valve is opened, the control method further comprising:

controlling the opening or closing of the at least one first normally closed solenoid valve such that the first chamber is in communication or not in communication with the second chamber.

17. The control method according to claim 16, wherein the first chamber and the second chamber are both connected to a reservoir through a second normally closed solenoid valve; when the second normally-closed solenoid valve is opened, the supporting fluid flowing out of the first chamber flows back to the second chamber through the liquid storage device, or the supporting fluid flowing out of the second chamber flows back to the first chamber through the liquid storage device, and the control method further comprises the following steps:

and controlling the second normally closed solenoid valve to be opened or closed so that the first chamber is communicated or not communicated with the second chamber through the liquid storage device.

18. The control method according to any one of claims 11 to 17, wherein the adjustable suspension further includes a shock absorbing mechanism for achieving active shock absorption through damping adjustment, the control method further comprising:

controlling a control valve of the shock absorbing mechanism to vary the damping.

19. A control method according to any one of claims 11 to 18, characterised in that the first height is obtained in accordance with at least one of the following requirements of the vehicle: attitude requirements, driving requirements, entertainment requirements, or safety requirements.

20. The control method according to claim 19, wherein the travel demand includes a demand for at least one of the following travel environments: cross country, cross pit, obstacle avoidance or wade.

21. A control device for an adjustable suspension, characterized in that the adjustable suspension comprises a mechanical adjustment mechanism and a hydraulic locking mechanism,

the control device includes:

the first control unit is used for controlling the motor to operate so as to drive the mechanical adjusting mechanism to adjust the height of the vehicle body to a first height, and the first height is any height within an adjustable range;

a second control unit for controlling a valve of the hydraulic locking mechanism so that the hydraulic locking mechanism locks the vehicle body at the first height.

22. The control device according to claim 21, wherein the mechanical adjustment mechanism is configured to drive the vehicle body to ascend or descend by converting a rotary motion into a linear motion, so as to adjust the height of the vehicle body, and when the height of the vehicle body is adjusted to the first height, the first control unit is specifically configured to drive the mechanical adjustment mechanism to rotate in a forward direction, so that a load of the mechanical adjustment mechanism is loaded to a first load, and the first load is a load borne by the suspension;

after the first height is locked, the second control unit is specifically configured to control the motor to operate so as to drive the mechanical adjustment mechanism to rotate in the reverse direction, so that a load of the mechanical adjustment mechanism is transferred to the hydraulic locking mechanism, and the load of the hydraulic locking mechanism is loaded to the first load.

23. The control apparatus of claim 22, wherein when the first load is greater than the load threshold of the hydraulic locking mechanism, the hydraulic locking mechanism assumes a first portion of the first load after the first elevation lock, the first portion being less than or equal to the load threshold of the hydraulic locking mechanism; the mechanical adjustment mechanism takes up the portion of the first load other than the first portion.

24. The control device according to any one of claims 21 to 23, characterized in that the second control unit is further configured to:

and supplementing the supporting liquid according to the leakage amount.

25. The control device according to any one of claims 21 to 24, characterized in that the second control unit is further configured to:

26. The control device according to any one of claims 21 to 25, characterized in that the hydraulic locking mechanism comprises a first chamber and a second chamber, between which at least one first normally closed solenoid valve is arranged, which first chamber communicates with the second chamber when the at least one first normally closed solenoid valve is open, the second control unit being in particular configured to,

27. The control device of claim 26, wherein the first chamber and the second chamber are each connected to a reservoir by a second normally closed solenoid valve; when the second normally-closed solenoid valve is opened, the support fluid flowing out of the first chamber flows back to the second chamber through the fluid storage device, or the support fluid flowing out of the second chamber flows back to the first chamber through the fluid storage device, and the second control unit is specifically configured to,

28. The control device according to any one of claims 21 to 27, wherein the adjustable suspension further comprises a shock absorbing mechanism for achieving active shock absorption through damping adjustment, the control device further comprising:

a third control unit for controlling a control valve of the damping mechanism to vary the damping.

29. The control device according to any one of claims 21 to 28, characterized in that the first height is obtained according to at least one of the following requirements of the vehicle: attitude requirements, driving requirements, entertainment requirements, or safety requirements.

30. The control apparatus of claim 29, wherein the travel demand comprises a demand for at least one of the following travel environments: cross country, cross pit, obstacle avoidance or wade.

31. A control apparatus, characterized in that the control apparatus comprises at least one processor for retrieving instructions stored on a memory for performing the control method according to any one of claims 11 to 20.

32. A chip, characterized in that it comprises at least one processor and interface circuitry, through which the at least one processor fetches instructions stored on a memory to execute a control method according to any one of claims 11 to 20.

33. A computer-readable storage medium characterized in that the computer-readable medium stores a program code for device execution, the program code comprising instructions for executing the control method according to any one of claims 11 to 20.

34. A suspension system comprising an adjustable suspension as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 10.