DE102019211826A1 - Control handle for controlling a vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a control handle (100) for controlling the direction and / or acceleration of an electric vehicle (200, 300), having at least one force sensor (104, 105, 106, 107) integrated in the control handle (100), the at least one force sensor (104, 105, 106, 107) is configured to sense a force applied by a user to the control handle (100); wherein the control handle is configured to generate a signal for controlling the direction and / or the acceleration of the vehicle (200, 300); and wherein the generated signal is dependent on the detected force.

Description

The present invention relates to a control handle configured to control the direction and / or acceleration of a vehicle, a human-machine interface (HMI) system, a method for controlling an electric motor of a vehicle, and a vehicle.

At present, the control of mobility systems such as cars, electric bicycles or electric wheelchairs is equipped with non-intuitive systems such as steering wheels or joysticks. In addition, there is no control method for power wheelchairs for anyone other than those in the wheelchair.

There is a desire to intuitively control the direction, speed or acceleration of an electric vehicle.

The object is achieved by the subject matter of the independent claims. Refinements result from the subclaims, the following description and the attached figures.

According to a first aspect, a control handle for controlling the direction and / or acceleration of an electric vehicle is provided, which has at least one force sensor integrated into the control handle. The at least one force sensor is configured to detect forces exerted on the control handle by a user. The control handle is set up to generate a signal for controlling the direction and / or the acceleration of the vehicle, the generated signal depending on the detected forces. In other words, the direction and / or the acceleration of the vehicle depends on the detected forces. Thus, an HMI is provided in which the interface between a person and an electrical machine is formed through the use of hand force detected by force sensors to control the machine.

This aspect enables intuitive control of a vehicle, which is explained using an exemplary embodiment in which the control handle is configured such that it can be mounted on a push handle of a vehicle, which in the following example is a wheelchair. In this electric wheelchair application, one person drives the wheelchair behind the wheelchair. In a first scenario, the person is standing behind the wheelchair with two control handles and wants to move the wheelchair forward. She holds the control handles with her left and right hand and pushes the wheelchair forward. The force sensors detect the force exerted on the control handle and send a signal that contains and / or describes the strength of the force to a controller. The controller converts the sensor signal into a control signal for a motor control circuit, which in turn drives the main electric motor to move the wheelchair forward in accordance with the force exerted on the handle.

Similarly, if the person wanted to turn the direction, e.g. to the left, they would exert a force to the right, particularly in the area of the base of the left little finger, which is on the left side of the left control in the back of the handle. A force sensor attached at this point would detect the force and send the signal to the controller, which generates a signal to control the steering of the wheels of the wheelchair so that the person can easily move the wheelchair in the desired direction.

The person can also raise the front of the wheelchair so that the wheelchair can be lifted over an obstacle, such as a step between a railroad track and a train, to get into or out of the train from the track. In a first part of this action, the front of the wheelchair must be raised. The person in charge of the wheelchair would push down on the control handle, which causes the force to be sensed by sensors on the top of the control handle and the system to respond to the front and rear wheels so that the front is raised above the step. In the second part of the action, the person would push the control handle up and forward at the same time to lift the rear wheels over the step and move the wheelchair onto the train. The second part would be supported by the sensors on the bottom and, for example, the front of the control handle.

In the event that the person wants to slow down the wheelchair, the intuitive action would be to pull the handle backwards. A sensor, for example located on the back of the handle, would detect the force and send the appropriate signal to the controller in order to reduce the speed of the wheelchair.

According to a further embodiment, the control handle is configured to be mounted on a handlebar of a vehicle. For example, the control handle can be used to control the acceleration and thus indirectly the speed of an electric scooter. A user riding the electric scooter would intuitively lean forward while pushing the handle forward. To brake, the user would lean backwards and thereby pull the handle backwards. Since steering the electric scooter is easy and does not require electrical assistance, the control handle of the electric scooter would only have one or more force sensors to detect a desired one Acceleration, ie to accelerate or slow down the electric scooter.

It is understandable for the expert reader that the speed is also indirectly controlled by controlling the acceleration. In particular, the acceleration can have a positive or negative value or be zero. Nevertheless, the speed can also be controlled directly instead of the acceleration. With regard to the steering of the wheels, a proportional relationship between the force and the steering angle can be perceived as intuitive by the person.

The number of sensors and the position at which the sensors are placed depend on the application. For example, in the wheelchair application described above, there can be one sensor in each direction for each of the three dimensions so that, for example, you get a total of six sensors. In an electric scooter application, two sensors can be integrated into one handle for accelerating and braking in one dimension. The number of sensors can be significantly reduced by using n-axis sensors that measure the drag force and the compressive force along the orthogonal axis n.

According to embodiments, the control handle comprising the HMI can also be attached to a forklift truck that can be pushed or pulled from a standing position, a lift truck, or can be mounted on the handlebar of an electric bicycle.

According to a further embodiment, the dependence of the acceleration and / or the direction on the detected force is based on a linear, piecewise linear or curvilinear relationship between the force and the direction or acceleration. For example, when driving through a narrow passage, it may be advantageous to vary the speed gradually, while at higher speeds no fine-tuning of the speed is required, but the speed range should be reached without applying excessive forces. Furthermore, the relationship between the force and the direction or acceleration can be stored selectively.

According to one aspect, a man-machine interface system for controlling the direction and / or acceleration of an electric vehicle comprises a control handle which is configured to absorb forces exerted by a user on the control handle. There is at least one force sensor integrated in the control handle, which is configured to detect the forces absorbed, and an electric motor that is configured to drive or steer the vehicle. There is also a controller configured to control the direction or acceleration of the vehicle by controlling the electric motor based on the detected forces. The control handle can be a control handle as described above, which can be attached to a handlebar, for example positioned at the front of the vehicle, or a push handle, which is positioned at the rear of the vehicle, for example. The HMI system can have two or more motors, for example two motors for driving two wheels of the vehicle and one or two other motors for steering the vehicle. In this case, the controller can provide control signals to each of the motors to control the direction and / or the acceleration of the vehicle.

The system may include a second control handle with a second HMI for receiving forces exerted on the second control handle by a user. The integrated sensors of the second control handle deliver a second sensor signal to the controller. The sensor signals from both control units are evaluated by the control system, so that, for example, a wheelchair can be intuitively rotated at one point by pressing a control handle and pulling the other control handle without moving it forward.

The controller can control the acceleration according to a linear, piecewise linear, or curvilinear relationship between the force and the direction or acceleration.

According to a further embodiment, the force-acceleration ratio can be set. In other words, different dependencies are stored in the control handle or the HMI system, which define different relationships between the detected force and the direction and / or the acceleration that should and will be achieved using the correspondingly generated signal for controlling the vehicle. For example, there can be different users of the same vehicle who have a different physical constitution. For example, it is advantageous to provide a choice of the gradient of the force-acceleration ratio, which can be steeper for a weak person than for a strong person. The selection can be individually storable for a person in a memory. It can be selected either manually or by a sensor that recognizes the person, such as a fingerprint sensor, face recognition sensor, or cell phone near field communication. The selection can then override a default setting.

The control can be integrated into the control handle. In this case, an advertisement be provided, which for example indicates the percentage of the applied force in relation to the maximum effective force that can be applied to accelerate the vehicle further, or to select the individual force-acceleration relationship and display the selection.

• Aufnehmen von Kräften, die ein Benutzer auf den Steuergriff ausübt, durch einen Steuergriff. Der Steuergriff kann ein Steuergriff wie oben beschrieben sein, der an einem Lenker des Fahrzeugs angebracht sein kann, beispielsweise einem Elektroroller, einem Elektrofahrrad, einem Gabelstapler, einem Hubwagen, einem Rollstuhl oder einem ähnlichen Fahrzeug, das konfiguriert ist, mittels eines Lenkers gesteuert werden; oder der Steuergriff kann an einem Schiebegriff des Fahrzeugs angebracht sein. Der Schiebegriff kann zum Beispiel ein Schiebegriff eines Rollstuhls, eines Hubwagens oder eines ähnlichen Fahrzeugs sein, das konfiguriert ist, um mittels eines Schiebegriffs geschoben zu werden. Weiterhin die Schritte des Erfassens der aufgenommenen Kräfte durch einen Sensor, der ein Kraftsensor sein kann und der in den Steuergriff integriert ist, und des Steuerns der Richtung und / oder Beschleunigung des Fahrzeugs basierend auf den erfassten Kräften. Die Steuerung kann durch eine Steuerung durchgeführt werden, die zum Beispiel einen oder mehrere Motoren steuern kann, um das Fahrzeug zu beschleunigen, abzubremsen oder zu lenken. Die Steuerung kann mit einem Speicher verbunden sein, um auf Konfigurationsdaten zuzugreifen, die die
• Kraft-Beschleunigung-Beziehung definieren. Die Steuerung kann ferner Statusdaten oder Konfigurationsdaten an eine mit der Steuerung verbundene Anzeige ausgeben.

According to one aspect, a method for controlling an electric motor of a vehicle is provided, comprising the following steps:

• Taking up forces that a user exerts on the control handle, by a control handle. The control handle can be a control handle as described above, which can be attached to a handlebar of the vehicle, for example an electric scooter, an electric bicycle, a forklift, a pallet truck, a wheelchair or a similar vehicle that is configured to be controlled by means of a handlebar; or the control handle can be attached to a push handle of the vehicle. The push handle can be, for example, a push handle of a wheelchair, a lift truck or a similar vehicle which is configured to be pushed by means of a push handle. Furthermore, the steps of detecting the absorbed forces by a sensor, which can be a force sensor and which is integrated into the control handle, and of controlling the direction and / or acceleration of the vehicle based on the detected forces. The control can be carried out by a controller that can, for example, control one or more motors in order to accelerate, brake or steer the vehicle. The controller can be connected to a memory to access configuration data that contains the
• Define the force-acceleration relationship. The controller can also output status data or configuration data to a display connected to the controller.

According to a further aspect, a vehicle is provided which has a human-machine interface system as described above. According to one embodiment, the vehicle can be a wheelchair, an electric scooter, an electric bicycle, a forklift or a pallet truck or another type of vehicle that can be controlled by a control handle as described above.

• 1 zeigt einen Steuergriff eines Rollstuhls gemäß einer Ausführungsform,
• 2 zeigt einen Rollstuhl gemäß einer Ausführungsform,
• 3 zeigt einen Elektroroller gemäß einer Ausführungsform,
• 4 zeigt ein Blockdiagramm eines Mensch-Maschine-Schnittstellensystems gemäß einer Ausführungsform,
• 5 zeigt ein Diagramm von Kraft-Beschleunigungs-Beziehungen gemäß einer Ausführungsform, und
• 6 zeigt ein Flussdiagramm eines Verfahrens zum Steuern eines Elektromotors eines Fahrzeugs gemäß einer Ausführungsform.

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention can be better understood with reference to the accompanying figure and description.

• 1 shows a control handle of a wheelchair according to an embodiment,
• 2 shows a wheelchair according to an embodiment,
• 3 shows an electric scooter according to an embodiment,
• 4th shows a block diagram of a man-machine interface system according to an embodiment;
• 5 FIG. 13 shows a diagram of force-acceleration relationships according to an embodiment, and FIG
• 6 FIG. 3 shows a flow diagram of a method for controlling an electric motor of a vehicle according to an embodiment.

1 shows a control handle 100 an electrically powered wheelchair according to one embodiment with a human machine interface (HMI) attached to a push handle 110 of a vehicle 200 is appropriate. The control handle 100 is comfortable for the ergonomics of the hand. When gripping and pressing the control handle 100 in a specific direction, similar to pushing, pulling, or twisting / turning the control handle 100 , the vehicle moves in the appropriate direction, for example with a proportional speed and trajectory.

The HMI has sensors for detecting the force exerted on the HMI by a user. For example, a desired forward or reverse speed is obtained by applying the force to the sensors in position 106 or 107 measured and the wheelchair is accelerated (with a corresponding positive or negative sign). Similarly, lifting the wheelchair can be done by sensing a sensor in position by the user 104 applied force, as a user would intuitively push down on the control handle to raise the front of the wheelchair. The position 105 is an example of a sensor position of a right control handle, which is suitable for detecting a left turn request. Further or different positions can be used.

As in 2 shown, the in 1 shown control handle 100 on a wheelchair 200 be attached to the an electromotive actuator 203 having. The control handle 100 can replace common handles that are typically found on the back of the wheelchair and that are provided for other people to control the wheelchair. The HMI has a handle, for example a push handle 202 , similar to an ordinary handle that it replaces. Usually a person who controls a wheelchair from behind would exert a force in any direction on the handle, as shown in 2 by the arrows 204 is indicated. When the force on the control handle 100 is exercised, the wheelchair moves 200 in an intuitive direction with, for example, a force that is directly proportional to the force acting, as in 2 by the larger arrows 205 is indicated.

For example, if the control handle 100 is pushed forward, the system pushes with the actuators 203 the wheelchair 200 with a force forward that is proportional to the force applied to the HMI. A stronger pressure causes the wheelchair 200 to move faster. When the control handle 100 is pulled back, the actuator brakes 203 the wheelchair 200 when the wheelchair is moving forward, or else move it backward.

3 shows an electric scooter 300 according to an example with handles 301 , 302 as control handles on the handlebar 305 . One of the handles 301 , 302 or both are equipped with one or two sensors that detect the force of a user to operate the electric scooter 300 by the actuator 306 speed up or slow down as indicated by the arrows 303 is indicated. The control can be in the handle 301 or 302 integrated, his or her in the display module 304 .

4th Figure 3 shows a block diagram of a man-machine interface system 400 according to an embodiment with, according to the example shown, two sensors 402 , 403 for recording forces 406 , 407 that act on the sensors. The ones from the sensors 402 , 403 data generated when the forces are recorded are sent to a controller 404 which evaluates the sensor data and converts the values into analog or digital signals depending on the circuit design. The analog or digital control signals are sent to the actuator 405 forwarded, which may have additional electronic circuitry and an electric motor. For example, the actuator 405 Logic and circuitry to get from the controller 404 Translate received digital values into an electrical voltage, the size of which is based on the digital values and a translation specification. Other designs are possible. For example, the complete logic can be in the controller, which is in the control handle together with the sensors 401 or with a display unit 408 can be located. Depending on the vehicle, the HMI system 400 for example multiple actuators 405 be present for driving and / or for deflecting one or more wheels of the vehicle.

The HMI system 400 can optionally use a user input circuit 411 include that as buttons or touchscreen of the display 409 can be realized, as well as a user identification circuit, which can be a fingerprint detector, a camera or an interface to a communication device such as a mobile phone. The interface to a communication device can also serve as a user or maintenance input interface for the controller.

5 FIG. 8 shows a diagram of force-acceleration relationships for one direction (with a positive sign) according to an embodiment. The lines 401 and 402 show a linear relationship, where the line 401 higher sensitivity than the line 402 shows. Therefore, for a physically weaker person who pushes a wheelchair, for example, the relationship would be according to line 401 more appropriate than the relationship according to line 402 . The line 404 is an example of a piece-wise linear relationship that enables fine-tuning of the speed on the one hand and rapid acceleration on the other hand without having to use too much mechanical force.

The curve 403 is an example that can be realized by a formula or a look-up table. The curve 404 for example, it can be a smoothed version of the line 403 or be an empirically found curve which is adapted to the feeling and impression of a person moving the vehicle.

In general, other or additional parameters can be controlled. For example, the force can be related to the speed, which can be proportional to the electrical power.

• - Aufnehmen 602 von Kräften, die von einem Benutzer auf den Steuergriff 100 ausgeübt werden, durch einen Steuergriff 100;
• - Erfassen 604 der aufgenommenen Kräfte durch einen in den Steuergriff 100 integrierten Sensor 104, 105, 106, 107; und
• - Steuern 606 durch eine Steuerung 404 der Richtung und / oder Beschleunigung des Fahrzeugs 100 basierend auf den erfassten Kräften.

6 shows a procedure 600 for controlling an electric motor of a vehicle according to an embodiment, comprising the steps:

• - Record, tape 602 of forces exerted by a user on the control handle 100 be exercised by a control handle 100 ;
• - To capture 604 of the forces absorbed by one in the control handle 100 integrated sensor 104 , 105 , 106 , 107 ; and
• - Taxes 606 through a controller 404 the direction and / or acceleration of the vehicle 100 based on the recorded forces.

The step 602 that by a control handle 100 Receives forces applied by a user to the control handle 100 are performed, a step for selecting a stored force-acceleration relationship can precede, wherein the selection can be based on a user input or when recognized by the HMI with an optional user identification detector.

An intuitive control of the vehicle is thus possible, in which far less force is required to generate locomotion and / or a rotary movement.

Other variations of the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art to practice the claimed invention from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. In the claims, the word “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality. A single controller or other unit can fulfill the functions of several elements or steps specified in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are listed in mutually different dependent claims does not mean that a combination of these measures cannot be used advantageously. A computer program that can be executed by the controller can be stored / distributed on a suitable medium such as an optical storage medium or solid state medium that is supplied together with or as part of other hardware, but can also be distributed on another medium , for example via the Internet or other wired or wireless telecommunication systems. Any reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope of the claims.

Claims (9)

Control handle (100) for controlling the direction and / or acceleration of an electric vehicle (200, 300), having at least one force sensor (104, 105, 106, 107) integrated into the control handle (100), wherein the at least one force sensor (104, 105, 106, 107) is configured to sense a force exerted on the control handle (100) by a user; in which the control handle is configured to generate a signal for controlling the direction and / or acceleration of the vehicle (200, 300); and wherein the generated signal is dependent on the detected force. Control handle (100) Claim 1 wherein the control handle (100) is configured to be mounted on a handlebar (305) of the vehicle (200, 300). Control handle (100) Claim 1 wherein the control handle (100) is configured to be mounted on a push handle (202) of the vehicle (200, 300). Control handle (100) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the dependence of the generated signal on the detected force on a linear (401, 402), piecewise linear (404) or curvilinear (403) relationship between the force and the direction and / or acceleration based. Control handle (100) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the dependency between force and direction and / or acceleration is selectively stored in the control handle. A man-machine interface system (400) for controlling the direction and / or acceleration of an electric vehicle (200, 300), comprising a control handle (100) configured to receive forces (406, 407) applied by a user to the control handle (100); at least one force sensor (402, 403) which is integrated in the control handle (100) and is configured to detect the forces (406, 407) absorbed; an electric motor (405) configured to propel or steer the vehicle (200, 300); and a controller (404) configured to control the direction or acceleration of the vehicle (200, 300) by controlling the electric motor (405) based on the sensed forces. Method (600) for controlling an electric motor (405) of a vehicle (200, 300), comprising the steps: Receiving (602) forces exerted by a user on the control handle (100) by a control handle (100); Detection (604) of the forces absorbed by a sensor (104, 105, 106, 107) integrated into the control handle (100); Controlling (606) the direction and / or acceleration of the vehicle (200, 300) based on the sensed forces. Vehicle (200, 300), having a man-machine interface system (400) Claim 6 . Vehicle (200, 300) Claim 8 wherein the vehicle is a wheelchair (200), an electric scooter (300), an electric bicycle, a forklift or a pallet truck.

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