JP2006082787A - Braking force control device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a braking force control device enabling a driver to adjust braking force/driving force distribution by simple operation. <P>SOLUTION: Pressure sensors 25 to 28 corresponding to each wheel are arranged at four corners between a pedal upper plate 22 and a pedal lower plate 23 of a brake pedal 2 (same as a case of an accelerator pedal 3). Braking force/driving force distribution applied on each wheel is set on the basis of the operation amount (stroke amount) of the brake pedal when the driver steps the brake pedal 2 and pressure values detected by the pressure sensors 25 to 28. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a braking force or driving force control device, and more particularly to a braking / driving force control device capable of independently controlling the braking force or driving force applied to each wheel.

  There is known a vehicle including a braking force control device or a driving force control device capable of adjusting a braking force and a driving force applied to each wheel. In this type of braking / driving force control device, control is performed to automatically distribute the braking force / driving force to each wheel in order to stabilize vehicle behavior during turning and on unstable road surfaces. It is usually not expected to change that allocation.

Patent Document 1 is a technique for enabling a driver to positively change the left and right braking force distribution and exhibiting the turning performance in accordance with requirements. In this technique, it is described that the operation is not complicated by providing a pair of left and right lever-like operation switches on the steering wheel so that the left and right braking force distribution can be changed.
JP 2001-58684 A

  However, with this device, the left and right braking force distribution can be easily changed, but it is difficult to change the front and rear braking force distribution and the four-wheel driving force distribution. In addition, it is difficult to operate the lever while operating the steering for steering, and the relationship with the operation amount of the brake pedal becomes complicated, so that there is a problem that adjustment by the driver is difficult.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a braking / driving force control device that enables a driver to adjust the braking force or driving force distribution of four wheels by an easy operation.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a braking / driving force control device according to the present invention controls a braking force / driving force that can be independently controlled in a vehicle in which braking force or driving force can be independently controlled for each wheel. In this braking / driving force control device, the operation means by the driver of braking force / driving force that can be independently controlled is configured by arranging pressure sensors at four corners of the plate-like operation element. The braking force / driving force of the wheel corresponding to the pressure sensor is controlled from the operation amount and the output of each pressure sensor.

  Pressure sensors corresponding to the respective wheels are arranged at four corners of a plate-like operation element (accelerator pedal, brake pedal, etc.). Taking a brake pedal as an example, when depressing the pedal, placing the foot on a specific part of the pedal and depressing so that the force is unevenly distributed differs from the case of depressing uniformly, and depending on the position, each pressure sensor The detected pressure distribution changes depending on how to step. In this case, the distribution of braking force to each wheel is adjusted based on the output of the pressure sensor and the pedal operation amount.

  According to the present invention, a pressure sensor corresponding to each wheel is arranged on a conventional brake pedal, accelerator pedal, lever device, or the like, and the braking force or driving force distribution is adjusted according to the difference in pressure detected by the pressure sensor. The basic operation is the same as the conventional one, and the complication of the operation can be avoided. In addition, it is easy to operate while steering and other pedals and levers, etc., and the operation method is easy to understand sensuously, so the driver can control the vehicle without causing erroneous operation. Will improve.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In order to facilitate the understanding of the description, the same reference numerals are given to the same components in the drawings as much as possible, and duplicate descriptions are omitted.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a vehicle equipped with a braking / driving force control device according to the present invention. In this vehicle, dedicated in-wheel motors 61 to 64 are disposed on the wheels 71 to 74, respectively, and the operations of the in-wheel motors 61 to 64 are individually controlled to be applied to the wheels 71 to 74. The braking force / driving force can be controlled independently. Here, an embodiment in which the driver can adjust the distribution of both braking and driving forces will be described.

  Each in-wheel motor 61-64 is controlled by ECU (Electric Control Unit) 1 which is a control part. The ECU 1 is composed of a ROM, a RAM, and a CPU. However, the control of the vehicle other than the braking control / driving control may be performed together, or the braking control and driving control may be performed by a single control unit. Also good.

  The ECU 1 includes an output signal from the stroke sensor 21 and the four pressure sensors 25 to 28 disposed on the brake pedal 2, an output signal from the stroke sensor 31 and the four pressure sensors 35 to 38 disposed on the accelerator pedal 3, and a vehicle speed sensor. In addition to the output signals of 51, G sensor 52 and rudder angle sensor 53, the setting signal of setting switch 4 is input.

  A schematic configuration of the brake pedal 2 is shown in FIGS. Although not shown, the accelerator pedal 3 has the same configuration. In the brake pedal 2, a plate-like pedal lower plate 23 is fixed to the pedal link portion 20, and the pedal upper plate 22 is disposed across the four pressure sensors 25 to 28. The pressure sensors 25 to 28 correspond to the wheels 71 to 74, respectively. When the driver steps on the pedal upper plate 22 of the brake pedal 2 with his / her foot, the pedal link portion 20 moves and the movement amount (stroke amount) is detected by the stroke sensor 21. Further, when the pedal upper plate 22 is not uniform and is stepped on while concentrating the force on a specific portion, the output of the pressure sensors 25 to 28 generates a deviation corresponding to the stepping method.

  Control based on this embodiment will be described by taking braking force control as an example. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the control process. This process is repeatedly executed at a predetermined timing from when the vehicle is turned on by the ECU 1 to when it is turned off.

  First, the vehicle state quantity and the operation quantity are read from the output of each sensor (step S1). Specifically, the stroke amount from the stroke sensor 21 disposed on the brake pedal 2, the detected pressures of the pressure sensors 25 to 28, the vehicle speed signal from the vehicle speed sensor 51, the acceleration of the vehicle from the G sensor 52, and the steering from the steering angle sensor 53 The angle and the setting state of the setting switch 4 are read.

  Next, the basic braking force is set based on the stroke amount and the vehicle behavior (step S2). Next, it is determined from the setting state of the setting switch and the current behavior state of the vehicle whether or not the brake force distribution adjustment by the driver may be permitted (step S3). If the setting switch is not allowed to change so that the braking force distribution is determined from the driver's operation state only when the driver intends to actively change the braking force distribution, Do not allow distribution adjustment. In addition, when the behavior of the vehicle is more unstable than a predetermined state, it is preferable to prohibit or suppress the aggressive braking force distribution adjustment by the driver.

When the braking force distribution is permitted, the braking force distribution is determined according to the detected pressure of the pressure sensors 25 to 28 (step S4). At this time, the braking force distribution may be determined according to the vehicle behavior and adjusted according to the pressure detected by the pressure sensors 25 to 28. For example, the detected pressures of the pressure sensors 25 to 28 are P _{1 to} P ₄ , respectively, and the deviations from the average pressure Pave of P _{1 to} P ₄ are ΔP ₁ (= P ₁ −Pave) to ΔP ₄ (= P ₄ −Pave). ). The braking force applied to each of the wheels 71 to 74 is finely adjusted according to ΔP _{1 to} ΔP ₄ .

For example, when the upper side of the brake pedal 2 is depressed more strongly than the lower side, the detected pressures P ₁ and P ₂ of the pressure sensors 25 and 26 become higher than the detected pressures P ₃ and P _{4 of the} pressure sensors 27 and 28. ΔP ₁ and ΔP ₂ are larger than ΔP ₃ and ΔP ₄ . In this case, the braking force applied to the front wheels 71 and 72 is adjusted to be larger than the braking force applied to the rear wheels 73 and 74.

In addition, when the right side of the brake pedal 2 is depressed more strongly than the left side, the detected pressures P ₂ and P ₄ of the pressure sensors 26 and 28 become higher than the detected pressures P ₁ and P _{3 of the} pressure sensors 25 and 27, and therefore ΔP ₂ and ΔP ₄ are larger than ΔP ₁ and ΔP ₃ . In this case, the braking force applied to the right front wheel 72 and the right rear wheel 74 is adjusted to be larger than the braking force applied to the left front wheel 71 and the left rear wheel 73.

  In step S6, the in-wheel motors 61 to 64 are instructed to apply the braking force based on the set braking force distribution. At the time of braking, regenerative braking is performed by converting the rotational energy of the wheels 71 to 74 into electrical energy by causing the in-wheel motors 61 to 64 to function as a generator, and collecting it in a battery (not shown).

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S3 that the braking force distribution adjustment by the driver should not be permitted, the process proceeds to step S5 to determine the braking force distribution that stabilizes the vehicle based on the vehicle state. Then, the process shifts to step S6 to perform braking based on the set braking force distribution.

  Thus, in this embodiment, since the driver can freely adjust the braking force distribution to the wheels 71 to 74 depending on how the brake pedal 2 is depressed, the operation is easy and complicated. Can be avoided. Moreover, since the correspondence with each wheel 71-74 can be understood intuitively, there is little possibility of causing an erroneous operation. Furthermore, since operations other than the brake pedal 2 can be performed as usual, operations can be performed during steering and shifting operations, and the operation of the brake pedal 2 itself can be performed as usual. Maneuverability is improved.

  When a driving force operation is performed, the braking force portion in the process flowchart in FIG. 4 may be read as driving force. In that case, in step S6, the power supplied to each in-wheel motor 61-64 may be adjusted so as to apply the driving force based on the set driving force distribution. In this way, the driver can freely adjust the driving force distribution to the wheels 71 to 74 depending on how the accelerator pedal 3 is depressed. For this reason, the operation of adjusting the driving force distribution is easy and can be prevented from becoming complicated. Moreover, since the correspondence with each wheel 71-74 can be understood intuitively, there is little possibility of causing an erroneous operation. Furthermore, since operations other than the accelerator pedal 3 can be performed as usual, operations can be performed during steering and shift operations, and the operation of the accelerator pedal 3 itself can also be performed as usual. Maneuverability is improved.

  In the above description, an example in which a pedal is used as an operating means for driving force and braking force has been described. However, the present invention can also be suitably applied to, for example, a vehicle of a type that is manually input using a lever. Moreover, although the example which distributes and adjusts both braking force and driving force was demonstrated here, you may adjust only any one.

  In addition, although a vehicle using an in-wheel motor has been described here, it can be applied to a driving force distribution adjustment of a vehicle that performs a driving force distribution adjustment using a differential gear or the like, or a vehicle using a friction brake. Thus, it is also possible to apply to the braking force distribution adjustment of the vehicle in which the braking force applied to each wheel can be adjusted independently.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a vehicle equipped with a braking / driving force control device according to the present invention. It is a front view of a brake pedal. It is a side view of a brake pedal. It is a flowchart which shows the braking force control process by the braking / driving force control apparatus concerning this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... ECU, 2 ... Brake pedal, 3 ... Accelerator pedal, 4 ... Setting switch, 20 ... Pedal link part, 21, 31 ... Stroke sensor, 22 ... Pedal upper board, 23 ... Pedal lower board, 25-28, 35- 38 ... Pressure sensor, 51 ... Vehicle speed sensor, 52 ... Sensor, 53 ... Rudder angle sensor, 61-64 ... In-wheel motor, 71-74 ... Wheel.

Claims (1)

A braking / driving force control device for controlling the braking force / driving force that can be independently controlled in a vehicle capable of independently controlling braking force or driving force for each wheel,
The operation means by the driver of the braking force / driving force that can be independently controlled is configured by arranging pressure sensors at the four corners of the plate-like operation element,
A braking / driving force control device that controls a braking force / driving force of a wheel corresponding to a pressure sensor from an operation amount of the operation element and an output of each pressure sensor.

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