JP2000346862A - Method for judging stoppage of running of railway rolling stock and damping controller using it - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make judgeable stoppage of running of a railway rolling stock only with the aceleration signal of an acceleration sensor by regarding a condition that an output value of the sensor is within a threshold continuously in a set time as railway rolling stock stopping pattern, and regarding a condition other than that as running pattern. SOLUTION: This device is provided with aceleration sensors 3, 4 and variable dampers 4, 5 at forward and reaward carriages of a railway rolling stock, respectively. A controller 6 is provided to control excitation current to solenoids of the dampers 4, 5 according to output signals of the sensor 2, 3. The controller 6 judges as stoppage of running of the rolling stock 1 based on the output signals from the sensors 2, 3. When the output signals of the sensors 2, 3 are within a threshold continuously during a specified time the stoppage of the rolling stock is judged, and the controller 6 operates to cut power or the solenoids of the dampers 5, 6.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for judging whether a vehicle is running or stopped and a method for adjusting the exciting current of a variable damper according to a stop of the running using the method. The present invention relates to a damping force adjusting device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a method for determining whether a railway vehicle has stopped or traveled, the speed of the railway vehicle has been detected to determine whether the vehicle is traveling or stopped. As a method for detecting this speed, for example, there is a method in which a traveling signal from a leading vehicle is guided to a determination device via communication means. Another method is to detect a pulse signal of a speed generator mounted on a vehicle and determine whether the vehicle is running or stopped based on the pulse signal. On the other hand, as a conventional damping force adjusting device, as shown in FIG. 5, there is a type in which the exciting current is maximized when the damping force is reduced.

[0003]

In both the method using the communication means and the method using the speed generator as described above, the wiring and the communication environment must be improved, and the cost increases accordingly. There was a problem. Further, in the conventional damping force adjusting device, when the vehicle is stopped, the exciting current must be maximized to reduce the damping force in order to reduce the damping force. However, when the vehicle is stopped, the amplitude of the vehicle is small and control for suppressing vibration, that is, almost no damping force is required.

[0004] Accordingly, the excitation current to the valve must be maximized despite the fact that little damping force is required. Maintaining the exciting current to the valve to the maximum is the same as discharging unnecessary current, and there is a problem that power is wasted. Further, since the current is constantly supplied to the valve, the valve operates even if a slight vibration that hardly affects the vehicle occurs. When such useless operations are repeated many times, the life of the valve is shortened, and there are problems such as heat generation of parts.

It is an object of the first invention to provide a method capable of judging a stop of running of a vehicle only by an acceleration signal of an acceleration sensor. An object of the second invention is to provide a damping force adjusting device for a railway vehicle in which the exciting current is reduced to zero when the vehicle stops and energy loss is small.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, when an output value from an acceleration sensor is continuously within a threshold value within a set time, a vehicle stop pattern is set as a vehicle stop pattern, and the rest is set as a travel pattern. It has features. A second invention detects an amount of change in acceleration based on a signal from an acceleration sensor, counts the number of times that the amount of change in acceleration is within a range of a threshold value, and counts the number of times that the number of times continues for a set number of times. It is characterized in that it is a vehicle stop pattern and the other is a traveling pattern.

The third invention is based on a vehicle damping force adjusting device that adjusts the damping force of a variable damper in accordance with the exciting current of a solenoid. On the premise of this damping force adjusting device, the second invention includes an acceleration sensor and a controller. When the controller recognizes the pattern of the output value from the acceleration sensor and recognizes the pattern at the time of stopping,
It is characterized in that the exciting current for the solenoid of the variable damper is made zero.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The graph of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 shows the logic for judging the stop of the running of a vehicle. As is clear from this graph, first, threshold values A1 and A2 are set. Then, it is determined whether or not the output signal f of the acceleration sensor is within the range of the thresholds A1 and A2 during the set time T.

For example, at point P1, the output signal f is
It is assumed that the threshold values A1 and A2 enter the range from outside. When this situation is reached, a timer (not shown) is set and the counting of the set time T1 is started.
If the time during which the output signal f is within the threshold values A1 and A2 continues for T1, it is determined that the vehicle is hardly subjected to acceleration, and it is determined that the vehicle is stopped. However, if the threshold value A2 is exceeded before the time T1 elapses, as at point P2 in the figure, the timer is turned off. Then, as shown at point P3 in the figure, the output value f of the acceleration sensor is again changed to the threshold values A1, A2.
When the vehicle enters the range, the timer is restarted and the set time T2 is measured.

FIG. 1 shows a situation in which the output signal f is within the threshold values A1 and A2 during the time T2 from the point P3. As shown in FIG. 1, even when it is confirmed that the output signal f is within the threshold values A1 and A2 during the time T2, it is determined that the vehicle is not subjected to acceleration, and that the vehicle is stopped. . In determining whether the vehicle is running or stopped, acceleration data in the up-down direction or acceleration data in the left-right direction may be used. In other words, depending on the purpose of the control, the mounting direction of the acceleration sensor may be vertical or horizontal with respect to the vehicle, but it is possible to determine whether to stop running regardless of the mounting direction.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of a damping force adjusting device according to the present invention. The front bogie and the rear bogie of the vehicle 1 are provided with acceleration sensors 2 and 3 and variable damping dampers 4 and 5, respectively. I have. Further, a controller 6 for adjusting an exciting current for the solenoids of the variable dampers 4 and 5 in accordance with the output signals of the acceleration sensors 2 and 3 is provided.
The method by which the controller 6 determines whether the vehicle has stopped running based on the output signals from the acceleration sensors 2 and 3 is the same as the principle shown in FIG.

If the output signals f of the acceleration sensors 2 and 3 are continuously within the threshold values A1 and A2 for a predetermined time T, it is determined that the vehicle 1 is stopped and the controller 6 operates. Then, the solenoid power supplies of the variable dampers 4 and 5 are cut off. The threshold value and the setting time vary depending on the traveling environment such as the track condition. Therefore, in practice, the threshold value and the set time are empirically determined according to the traveling environment of the vehicle.

Next, the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 will be described. While the vehicle 1 is traveling, the acceleration sensors 2 and 3 output a signal f. If the output signal f is within the threshold values A1 and A2 for the predetermined time T as described above, it is determined that the vehicle is stopped and the controller 6 operates to turn on the solenoid power supply of the variable dampers 4 and 5. Cut it.

The output signal f of the acceleration sensors 2 and 3
Exceeds the threshold values A1 and A2 within the time period T, the controller 6 determines that the vehicle is running. If it is determined that the vehicle is running, the controller 6 controls the exciting current to the solenoids of the variable dampers 4 and 5 in accordance with the output signals f of the acceleration sensors 2 and 3 so that the optimal damping force is reduced. To be obtained.

Normally, an acceleration sensor is provided on each of the front bogie and the rear bogie of the vehicle. By using the acceleration sensors, it is possible to prevent erroneous determination of running stop. That is, the acceleration of both the front bogie and the rear bogie are monitored, and when these two signals have different values, it can be determined that one of the acceleration sensors is abnormal.

The second embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 is a method for judging the running / stop of the vehicle based on the peak TO peak value of the acceleration signal within a certain time T. This method is particularly effective in the following cases. For example, when the vehicle is stopped in a state where the vehicle is tilted to the left or right, the acceleration signal may be offset in that direction due to the influence of gravity in the tilted direction (acceleration signal Drift occurs). In such a case, if an attempt is made to determine running / stopping by the method described in the first embodiment, this offset is added to the original acceleration signal. Nevertheless, the acceleration signal may exceed the threshold value, and the vehicle is erroneously determined to be traveling. This is because the method in the first embodiment determines the magnitude of the acceleration based on the zero point of the signal,
This is because the judgment is made based on this size. On the other hand, in the method of the second embodiment, the determination is made based on the magnitude of the value of the peak TO peak without using the zero point of the acceleration signal as a reference. It is possible to accurately determine traveling / stop without being affected.

The second embodiment will be described below with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, in step 1, the peak TO of the acceleration signal within a certain time T is obtained.
A peak value (hereinafter referred to as an acceleration change amount Gpp) is obtained.
The acceleration change amount Gpp is calculated as follows. Gpp = | (maximum value of acceleration signal within a range of time T) − (minimum value of acceleration signal within a range of time T)
|

Next, in step 2, Gpp is compared with a preset threshold value Gs. Note that Gs is an empirically determined magnitude of an acceleration signal that may occur when the vehicle is traveling. Therefore, Gs differs depending on the vehicle and the route. If Gpp is smaller than Gs as a result of comparing Gpp with Gs, step 3
The count is incremented one by one, and if Gpp is greater than Gs, the count is reset in step 6. In step 4, it is determined whether or not the count has reached N times. If the count has reached N times, it is determined in step 5 that the vehicle is stopped. Determines that the vehicle is running, and returns to step 1 again.

As described above, it is determined in step 2 whether or not the acceleration change amount Gpp is within the threshold value Gs. When it is determined that the acceleration change amount Gpp is within the threshold value Gs N times consecutively, the process proceeds to step 7. It shifts and judges that it is stopped. If the acceleration change amount Gpp exceeds the threshold value Gs even once before counting N consecutive times, the process proceeds to step 6 where the count is set to zero and it is determined that the vehicle is traveling.

FIG. 4 shows the above determination status in relation to time. In FIG. 4, N = 3 times for the sake of explanation. In FIG. 4, the count remains 0 since Gpp exceeds the threshold value Gs in the first stage. In the second stage, the count becomes 1 because Gpp is smaller than the threshold value Gs. However, in the third stage, the count is cleared to 0 because Gpp exceeds Gs again. Also, in the fourth stage, the count remains 0 because Gpp is larger than Gs.

That is, unless the state in which Gpp is smaller than Gs does not continue three times or more, it is not determined that the vehicle is stopped. In FIG. 4, the fifth to seventh stages correspond to this, and Gpp <Gs is continuous three times during this period. Therefore, it is determined here that the vehicle is stopped for the first time. Thus, Gpp <Gs
The reason why the vehicle is not determined to be stopped unless is continuous is that the amount of change in acceleration may be small even when the vehicle is running (for example, during straight running), and such a state is not erroneously determined to be stopped. That's why. As described above, since the amount of change in the acceleration signal is used as a criterion for determination, it is possible to accurately determine whether the vehicle is running or stopped even if an acceleration signal drift occurs.

In the second embodiment, the apparatus shown in FIG. 2 is used as described above. Therefore, the controller 6 outputs a traveling or stopping signal to control the damping force of the variable dampers 4 and 5, as in the first embodiment.

[0023]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to determine whether the vehicle has stopped traveling by using the acceleration sensor used for other control such as vibration suppression control of the vehicle. Therefore, it is not necessary to newly provide a sensor or controller for determination of traveling stop, and wiring and the like for communication become unnecessary.
There is no need to configure a complicated system, and the cost is reduced accordingly.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the criterion parameter of the traveling / stop is the peak-to-peak value of the acceleration signal, even if the midpoint of the acceleration signal is offset, the traveling / stop of the vehicle is performed. Can be accurately determined.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a graph illustrating a logic for determining a stop of traveling of a vehicle according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a damping force adjusting device.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a logic for determining whether to stop running of a vehicle according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing a logic for determining whether to stop running of a vehicle according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing a relationship between an exciting current of a variable damper and a damping force.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 vehicle 2, 3 acceleration sensor 4, 5 variable damping damper 6 controller f output signal of acceleration sensor A1, A2 threshold value T1, T2 set time Gpp acceleration change amount Gs threshold value

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A running stop determination method for a railway vehicle in which an output value from an acceleration sensor is continuously within a threshold value within a set time as a vehicle stop pattern, and the other is a travel pattern. 2. Based on a signal from an acceleration sensor,
A railway vehicle that detects an amount of change in acceleration and counts the number of times that the amount of change in acceleration is within a range of a threshold value. The method for determining travel stop. 3. A damping force adjusting device for a vehicle for adjusting a damping force of a variable damper according to an exciting current of a solenoid, comprising an acceleration sensor and a controller, wherein the controller recognizes an output value from the acceleration sensor in a pattern. And a damping force adjusting device for a railway vehicle configured to reduce the exciting current to the solenoid of the variable damper when the stop pattern is recognized.