JP2007238033A - Vehicle height adjusting system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicle height adjusting system capable of avoiding that a vehicle height cannot be adjusted due to erroneous information. <P>SOLUTION: Opening/closing states of six opening/closing bodies such as four entrance doors are detected by opening/closing state detection switches, respectively. After a command for starting the adjustment of the vehicle height is given, if any opening/closing body is in an open state, it is determined whether or not a vehicle is traveling based on a vehicle speed, a lateral G, an accelerator opening, and road information (S2-4). If both the vehicle speed and the accelerator opening are not lower than thresholds, or the lateral G is not smaller than a threshold, and a road is curved, it is determined that the vehicle is in travel; and if the state is continued for a preset time, it is determined that opening/closing information is wrong, and the opening/closing body with its open state detected is stored as an opening/closing body excluding determination for the prohibition of the adjustment of the vehicle height (S6). When the presence/absence of any opening/closing body in an open state is determined before executing the adjustment of the vehicle height, the opening/closing information of the opening/closing body excluding determination for the prohibition of the adjustment of the vehicle height is excluded to avoid that the adjustment of the vehicle height is prohibited when the opening/closing information wrongly indicates the open state. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle height adjustment system, and more particularly to a system in which vehicle height adjustment is prohibited when an opening / closing body such as a passenger door is opened.

  A vehicle height changing actuator that is disposed between the vehicle body and the wheel and changes the vehicle height defined by the relative position in the vertical direction of the vehicle, and a vehicle height adjustment control device that adjusts the vehicle height by controlling the actuator; The vehicle height adjustment system including is already widely known. The vehicle height adjustment control device includes a manual adjustment control unit that adjusts the vehicle height in accordance with an instruction given by an operation of the manual operation device, and various states such as a vehicle running state, an occupant getting on and off, and an opening and closing door. It includes at least one of an automatic adjustment control unit that automatically adjusts the vehicle height based on information acquired by an information acquisition unit that acquires information.

In this type of vehicle height adjustment system, the vehicle height adjustment is performed when the opening / closing body that opens or closes the interior of the vehicle, such as a passenger door, luggage door, or engine hood, is opened or closed. It is desirable not to break. While it is normal for passengers to get on and off and to load and unload luggage while the open / close body is in the open state, if vehicle height adjustment is performed in this state, the vehicle weight will be reduced by getting on and off and loading and unloading. This is because the vehicle height changes every time the vehicle changes, and the vehicle height is adjusted, which is often wasted. It is desirable to avoid wasteful electrical energy consumption, especially when battery electrical energy is used to operate the vehicle height adjustment system. Alternatively, if the vehicle height adjustment is performed in a state where the passenger door is opened, the passenger door may interfere with surrounding objects and may be damaged, so it is desirable that the vehicle height adjustment is not performed. Therefore, Patent Document 1 described below describes that vehicle height adjustment is not performed in the open state of the opening and closing body.
Japanese Patent No. 2946529

However, in the vehicle height adjustment system, it has been found that there is a case where the vehicle height adjustment is not performed because the open / close body is erroneously opened even though the open / close body is closed. Information on the open / close state of the open / close body is acquired by an open / close detection switch that is arranged in the vicinity of the open / close body and outputs different electrical signals between the open state and the closed state. The information may be acquired from a control device other than the vehicle height adjustment control device to be controlled, but this information may be incorrect. Incorrect information acquisition is performed due to an open / fixed state in which the open / close detection switch is fixed in a state of detecting the open state, an error in determination in the other device, an error in information transmission, etc. Vehicle height adjustment may be prohibited based on incorrect information.
An object of the present invention is to solve the problem that vehicle height adjustment becomes impossible due to this incorrect information.

The above-mentioned problem is a vehicle height change actuator that is disposed between the vehicle body and the wheel and changes the vehicle height defined by the relative position between the two in the vertical direction, and controls the vehicle height change actuator to increase the vehicle height. A vehicle height adjustment control device of a vehicle height adjustment system including a vehicle height adjustment control device including a vehicle height adjustment unit to be adjusted; (a) an opening / closing state of an opening / closing body that opens and closes the inside of the vehicle toward the outside A vehicle height adjustment prohibiting unit that prohibits vehicle height adjustment by the vehicle height adjusting unit, and (b) a traveling detection unit that detects that the vehicle is traveling, (C) When the travel detection unit detects that the vehicle is traveling, the vehicle height adjustment prohibition unit prohibits the vehicle height adjustment even when the opening / closing information indicates the open state of the opening / closing body. It is solved by including the prohibition release unit to be solved.
When the vehicle has a plurality of opening / closing bodies, the opening / closing information is preferably acquired for each of all the opening / closing bodies. The plurality of opening / closing bodies are individually opened / closed, and the opening / closing states are usually different from each other, and the vehicle height adjustment can be appropriately prohibited and cancelled based on the opening / closing states of all the opening / closing bodies. However, the opening / closing information may be acquired for some opening / closing bodies. For example, when the vehicle height adjustment is not hindered when some of the opening / closing bodies are open, it is detected that the vehicle is open with respect to a specific opening / closing body among the plurality of opening / closing bodies. Configured so that the vehicle cannot be run in a state where it is running, or a plurality of opening / closing bodies that are part of the plurality of opening / closing bodies are opened and closed in conjunction with each other, and the opening / closing state is the same In such a case, it is not essential to obtain opening / closing information for some opening / closing bodies. Further, when there are a plurality of opening / closing bodies from which the opening / closing information is to be acquired, it is not essential that the opening / closing information is individually acquired for each of the opening / closing bodies, and the opening / closing information may be acquired collectively. For example, information that at least one of the plurality of opening / closing bodies is open may be acquired. If it is clear that at least one of the opening / closing bodies that should not be adjusted if it is open is open, it is sufficient that the vehicle height adjustment is prohibited by the vehicle height adjustment prohibition unit. This is because it is not indispensable until the opening / closing body is specified.

The open / close body should never be open while the vehicle is running. Therefore, even if the opening / closing information indicates the open state of the opening / closing body when it is detected that the vehicle is running, the opening / closing information is incorrect, and the opening / closing body is actually in the closed state, It is reasonable to lift the vehicle height adjustment prohibition so that the vehicle height adjustment is performed. As described above, the error of the opening / closing information of the opening / closing body is caused by various causes. However, in the vehicle height adjustment system according to the present invention, even if the opening / closing information is incorrect, the vehicle height adjustment can be performed while the vehicle is running. It can be performed.
However, if the travel detection unit detects that the vehicle is traveling and the opening / closing information indicates the open state of the opening / closing body, the prohibition of vehicle height adjustment must be canceled without fail or immediately. That doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Further, the prohibition cancellation may be performed when an additional condition is satisfied, and the mode of the item (12) described below is an example.

Aspects of the Invention

  In the following, the invention that is claimed to be claimable in the present application (hereinafter referred to as “claimable invention”. The claimable invention is at least the “present invention” to the invention described in the claims. Some aspects of the present invention, including subordinate concept inventions of the present invention, superordinate concepts of the present invention, or inventions of different concepts) will be illustrated and described. As with the claims, each aspect is divided into sections, each section is numbered, and is described in a form that cites the numbers of other sections as necessary. This is for the purpose of facilitating the understanding of the claimable invention, and is not intended to limit the combinations of the constituent elements constituting the claimable invention to those described in the following sections. In other words, the claimable invention should be construed in consideration of the description accompanying each section, the description of the embodiments, etc., and as long as the interpretation is followed, another aspect is added to the form of each section. In addition, an aspect in which constituent elements are deleted from the aspect of each item can be an aspect of the claimable invention.

  In each of the following terms, (1) corresponds to claim 1, (5) corresponds to claim 2, (6) corresponds to claim 3, (7) corresponds to claim 4, (8) corresponds to claim 5, (11) corresponds to claim 6, (12) corresponds to claim 7, and (13) corresponds to claim 8.

(1) A vehicle height changing actuator that is disposed between the vehicle body and the wheel and changes the vehicle height defined by the relative position between the two in the vertical direction, and controls the vehicle height changing actuator to adjust the vehicle height. A vehicle height adjustment system including a vehicle height adjustment control device including a vehicle height adjustment unit,
The vehicle height adjustment control device,
A vehicle height adjustment prohibition unit that prohibits vehicle height adjustment by the vehicle height adjustment unit when the opening / closing information that is information on the open / close state of the opening / closing body that opens or closes the inside of the vehicle toward the outside indicates an open state. When,
A travel detection unit for detecting that the vehicle is traveling;
When the travel detection unit detects that the vehicle is traveling, even if the opening / closing information indicates an open state of the opening / closing body, the prohibition canceling unit that releases the vehicle height adjustment prohibition by the vehicle height adjustment prohibiting unit And vehicle height adjustment system.
(2) The prohibition canceling unit is (a) an information operation unit that indicates that the opening / closing information indicates a closed state regardless of the actual state of the opening / closing body, and (b) a vehicle height adjustment prohibiting unit adjusts the vehicle height. A condition excluding unit that excludes opening / closing information from the prohibiting condition that is a condition for determining whether or not to prohibit the vehicle, and (c) preventing the vehicle height adjusting prohibiting information from being supplied to the vehicle height adjusting unit The vehicle height adjustment system according to item (1), including at least one of a prohibition information blocking unit and (d) a prohibition information ignore command unit that causes the vehicle height adjustment unit to ignore the vehicle height adjustment prohibition information.
(3) The vehicle height adjustment system according to (1) or (2), including an open / close sensor that generates different signals depending on whether the open / close body is open or closed.
The open / close sensor may be a contact type sensor provided with a contactor that contacts an opening / closing body or an operation member that operates in accordance with opening / closing of the open / close body, or a non-contact type sensor that detects opening / closing without contact, such as a photoelectric switch.
For example, if the open / close sensor is a switch that outputs an ON signal when the open / close body is open and outputs an OFF signal when the open / close body is closed to detect the open / close of the open / close body, Even when the vehicle is in the closed state, the output signal is an ON signal and the open / close information indicates the open state, but if the vehicle is running, the vehicle height adjustment prohibition is canceled and the vehicle height can be adjusted.
(4) The vehicle height adjustment according to any one of (1) to (3), further including an information receiving unit that receives the opening / closing information from another control device that controls an operating device different from the vehicle height changing actuator. system.
In another operating device and another control device, for example, a device for notifying a driver that the boarding door is in an open state, a door lock device for automatically locking the boarding door, or a door lock device is controlled. There are a control device, an automatic opening / closing device that automatically opens and closes an opening / closing body, or a control device that controls the automatic opening / closing device.
Even if there is an error in the opening / closing information acquired and supplied by a device other than the vehicle height adjustment system, the vehicle height adjustment can be executed while the vehicle is running.
It is not necessary to provide an open / close sensor in the vehicle height adjustment system, and the device cost can be reduced.
(5) The travel detection unit detects (i) a vehicle speed detection unit that detects the travel speed of the vehicle, and (ii) an acceleration operation detection unit that detects an operation state of an acceleration operation member operated to accelerate the vehicle. (Iii) a steering operation detection unit that detects a steering state that is an operation state of the steering device, (iv) a lateral G detection unit that detects lateral acceleration of the vehicle, and (v) a longitudinal direction of the vehicle. The vehicle includes at least one of a front-rear G detection unit that detects acceleration, and (vi) a rotation number detection unit that detects a rotation number of a traveling drive source of the vehicle, and the vehicle is based on information from at least one The vehicle height adjustment system according to any one of items (1) to (4), which detects that the vehicle is running.
Since a traveling speed is generated while the vehicle is traveling, it can be determined whether the vehicle is traveling by detecting the traveling speed and comparing it with the threshold vehicle speed. The threshold vehicle speed may be zero, but may be set to a value larger than zero. For example, in an automatic transmission vehicle with a torque converter, the vehicle may move due to a creep phenomenon, but since it is low speed and the opening / closing body may be open, if creep movement is reliably excluded from running, The threshold vehicle speed is set relatively large.
If the threshold vehicle speed is set to a higher value, it is possible to more reliably determine “running”. However, if the vehicle speed is about 5 km or 10 km / h, it is better to use the vehicle if the vehicle height can be adjusted. There are many. In such a case, it is desirable to set the threshold vehicle speed low, detect that there is an error in the opening / closing information of the opening / closing body even during low-speed traveling, and enable vehicle height adjustment.
Examples of the acceleration operation member include an accelerator pedal and an accelerator lever, which are operated by the driver anyway. The acceleration operation member is operated during many times while the vehicle is traveling, and whether or not the driver intends to travel the vehicle is confirmed by detecting the operation state, and it can be determined whether or not the vehicle is traveling. As the operation state of the acceleration operation member, for example, presence / absence of an acceleration operation and an operation amount are detected. A member whose operation amount changes in response to the operation of the acceleration operation member, for example, an opening of a throttle valve may be detected, and an operation state of the acceleration operation member may be detected based on the detected opening.
The steering device includes, for example, a steering device that steers a wheel based on an operation of the steering operation member as well as a steering operation member operated by a driver. The steering device is actuated most of the time when the vehicle is running. Based on the detection of the steering state, it is confirmed whether or not the driver has an intention to run and whether or not the vehicle is running is detected. be able to. As the steering state of the steering device, for example, the presence or absence of operation of the steering operation member, the operation amount, and the operation amount of the members constituting the steering device are detected.
The side G is generated and the front and rear G are generated while the vehicle is traveling. Based on the detection of the lateral G or the front and rear G, it can be detected whether or not the vehicle is traveling.
The travel drive source includes, for example, a gasoline engine that is an internal combustion engine, a diesel engine, and an electric rotary motor. When the vehicle is traveling, the traveling drive source is operated at a considerable number of revolutions, so it is possible to detect whether or not the vehicle is traveling based on whether or not the number of revolutions is greater than or equal to the threshold number of revolutions.
(6) The travel detection unit includes a plurality of the vehicle speed detection unit, the acceleration operation detection unit, the steering operation detection unit, the lateral G detection unit, the front / rear G detection unit, and the rotation speed detection unit, and A plurality of information-based determination units that determine that the vehicle is traveling when a detection result of a predetermined number or more of the plurality of detection units indicates that the vehicle is traveling. Vehicle height adjustment system.
The travel detection unit may include any one of the six detection units described above, and may determine whether the vehicle is traveling based on the detection result. However, for example, even if the detection unit malfunctions or malfunctions, even if the detection unit is normal, the detected information may not be transmitted correctly, so the vehicle is running based only on the detection result of one detection unit. When determining whether or not there is, the reliability is low. Even if the detection result of each detection unit indicates that the vehicle is running, the vehicle may not actually be running. For example, when the vehicle is stationary, the steering state detected by the steering operation detection unit indicates that the vehicle is running, but the vehicle is stopped or the shift lever is positioned at the neutral position. If the acceleration operation member is operated, the operation state of the acceleration operation member detected by the acceleration operation detection unit becomes a state indicating that the vehicle is running, but the vehicle is stopped. On the other hand, despite the fact that all of the plurality of detection units fail at the same time or the vehicle is stopped, it is rare that the detection result indicates that the vehicle is running. According to the system, it can be detected with high reliability that the vehicle is running, and it is avoided that the prohibition of vehicle height adjustment is canceled even when the opening / closing body is in the open state.
(7) The travel detection unit includes the steering operation detection unit and the lateral G detection unit, and the steering state detected by the steering operation detection unit and the lateral G detected by the lateral G detection unit are mutually The vehicle height adjustment system according to item (5) or (6), including a turning information consistency dependency detection unit that detects that the vehicle is running when matching.
For example, a steering operation may be performed while the vehicle is stopped as in the above-described stationary operation. The lateral G is not generated unless the steering operation is performed during turning of the vehicle, that is, during traveling of the vehicle, but may be detected even when the detection unit is broken and not turning. Therefore, even if it is determined that the vehicle is running based only on the detection result of one of the steering operation detection unit and the lateral G detection unit, the vehicle may actually stop and the reliability may be low. By looking at the consistency between the operation and the lateral G, it can be detected with high reliability that the vehicle is running. It is extremely rare that the stationary stop and the failure of the lateral G detection unit occur at the same time. The steering state and the lateral G are generated, the steering state obtained by the steering operation, and the lateral state generated by the steering operation. If G and each other match each other, it can be determined that the vehicle is traveling, and it can be detected more reliably that the vehicle is traveling.
(8) The travel detection unit is
A plurality of information acquisition units for acquiring a plurality of information indicating that the vehicle is running;
A plurality of combinations of a plurality of information acquired by the plurality of information acquisition units, a combination storage unit storing a combination to be determined that the vehicle is running, and the plurality of information When the combination of the plurality of information acquired by the acquisition unit matches the combination stored in the combination storage unit, it is detected that the vehicle is traveling (1) to ( 7. The vehicle height adjustment system according to any one of items 7).
The combination to be determined to be traveling includes, for example, the steering state and lateral G, at least one of the operating state of the acceleration operating member and the traveling drive source rotational speed, lateral G, the operating state of the acceleration operating member, and traveling At least one of the drive source rotation speed and the vehicle speed, the lateral G, the operation state and the vehicle speed of the acceleration operation member, the operation state of the acceleration operation member and the travel drive source rotation speed, the vehicle longitudinal acceleration and the vehicle speed There is at least one. Note that even one piece of information is considered as a kind of combination.
Based on the plurality of information acquired by the plurality of information acquisition units and the stored combination, it can be reliably and promptly determined whether or not the vehicle is traveling.
(9) The vehicle height adjustment system according to any one of (1) to (8), wherein the travel detection unit includes a road information use unit that uses information on a road on which the vehicle is actually traveling.
The road information includes, for example, the type of road on which the vehicle is traveling, for example, whether it is a highway, a general road, a mountain road, or the shape of the road, for example, a straight road or a curved road. And road conditions, for example, whether it is congested or frozen. For example, if the road information is acquired by a navigation system, information on whether the vehicle is stopped or traveling can also be acquired as road information. In this case, the road information includes information indicating that the vehicle is traveling.
By using the road information, it can be surely avoided that “in-vehicle running” is erroneously detected. For example, when the road obtained from the road information is a curved road, if the lateral G is not detected, there is a high possibility that the lateral G detection unit is not normal, and it is detected that the vehicle is running based on the detection result. It turns out that it is not valid. Even if a vehicle speed greater than the set speed is detected, if the road obtained from the road information is a climbing mountain road, there is a high possibility that the vehicle speed detection unit is not normal. It can be seen that there is a risk of detection.
Depending on the content of the road information, it may be detected that the vehicle is traveling only by the road information.
(10) The travel detection unit is
A traveling state information acquisition unit that acquires one or more pieces of information indicating the traveling state of the vehicle;
A road information acquisition unit that acquires information on a road on which the vehicle is actually traveling, and the traveling state information and the road information acquired by the traveling state information acquisition unit and the road information acquisition unit match each other. Further, the vehicle height adjustment system according to any one of items (1) to (8), which detects that the vehicle is running.
Even if the information indicating the traveling state of the vehicle acquired by the traveling state information acquisition unit is incorrect, it is avoided that the vehicle is erroneously detected as traveling, and the detection reliability is improved.
(11) The travel detection unit is
A vehicle speed detection unit for detecting a traveling speed of the vehicle;
A turning detection unit including at least one of a steering operation detection unit that detects a steering state of the steering device and a lateral G detection unit that detects lateral acceleration of the vehicle, and a travel speed detected by the vehicle speed detection unit, When any one of the turning states detected by the turning detection unit indicates that the vehicle is running, the vehicle detects that the vehicle is running (1) to (10) The vehicle height adjustment system according to any one of the items.
In the vehicle height adjustment system described in this section, it is possible to reliably detect that the vehicle is traveling by setting the threshold vehicle speed to be high, and at the time of traveling at a low speed of about 5 km / h or 10 km / h. Based on detection of turning of the vehicle by the turning detection unit, it can be detected that the vehicle is traveling, and prohibition of vehicle height adjustment can be canceled even during low-speed traveling to enable vehicle height adjustment.
(12) When the prohibition canceling unit detects that the travel detection unit detects that the vehicle is traveling, and the state where the opening / closing information indicates the open state of the opening / closing body continues for a set time or more Further, the vehicle height adjustment system according to any one of (1) to (11), wherein the vehicle height adjustment prohibition by the vehicle height adjustment prohibition unit is solved.
An element of time (duration) is incorporated in the determination of the prohibition release, and the prohibition of the vehicle height adjustment is released with high reliability.
In the vehicle height adjustment system described in this section, even when the entry / exit door is in a half-door state while the vehicle is running, the prohibition of vehicle height adjustment is avoided. It is rare for a passenger to overlook a half-door condition for a long time. In particular, when a warning is issued by an indicator, a speaker, a buzzer, etc., it is rarely left overlooked, and the entrance door is reclosed based on the warning and the half-door state is eliminated. By setting the set time to a time slightly longer than the time required for reclosing the vehicle, it is possible to prevent the vehicle height adjustment prohibition from being erroneously canceled in the half-door state.
The set time may be set based on the type of information detected by various detection units or a combination thereof to detect that the vehicle is traveling. For example, it is desirable that the set time for avoiding accidental release of the vehicle height adjustment prohibition in the half-door state is relatively long as described above, while the steering state is determined by the steering operation detection unit, It is detected when the vehicle travels on a curved road or changes direction, etc., but the steering state is usually not long, and if the set time is too long, the set time Since the steering is finished before the vehicle has elapsed and it is not determined that the vehicle is traveling, the set time is set to a relatively short time.
(13) The vehicle includes a plurality of the opening / closing bodies, and the vehicle height adjustment system includes an individual opening / closing information acquisition unit that acquires opening / closing information that is information related to an opening / closing state for each of the plurality of opening / closing bodies, The prohibition release unit uses a part of the plurality of opening / closing information acquired by the individual opening / closing information acquisition unit by the vehicle height adjustment prohibition unit, but does not use another part of the information. Thus, the vehicle according to any one of the items (1) to (12) is used to lift the vehicle height adjustment prohibition by the vehicle height adjustment prohibition unit with respect to the opening / closing body corresponding to the other part. High adjustment system.
By not using incorrect opening / closing information, the prohibition of vehicle height adjustment based on incorrect opening / closing information is lifted, but normal opening / closing information is used for prohibiting vehicle height adjustment. Done properly.
(14) Each time the prohibition canceling unit is instructed to start the vehicle height adjustment to the vehicle height adjusting unit, the prohibition canceling unit determines whether or not the vehicle height adjustment prohibition canceling condition is satisfied. The vehicle height adjustment system according to any one of (1) to (13), wherein the vehicle prohibits adjustment.
The vehicle height adjustment prohibition release condition is that the vehicle is traveling, but the condition is not always satisfied when the start of vehicle height adjustment is instructed. Therefore, whenever it is determined whether the vehicle height adjustment prohibition release condition is satisfied every time the vehicle height adjustment unit is instructed to start vehicle height adjustment, the vehicle height can be canceled in a state where the prohibition can actually be canceled. The prohibition of adjustment can be lifted. Even if the prohibition of vehicle height adjustment is canceled for some reason, it is desirable that the vehicle height adjustment is prohibited if the prohibition release becomes inappropriate. According to the aspect of this section, the request is met. obtain.
(15) After the vehicle height adjustment prohibition is once canceled, the prohibition release unit maintains the vehicle height adjustment prohibition release state until a condition for returning to the non-release state is satisfied. The vehicle height adjustment system according to any one of items 13).
The conditions for returning to the non-released state are, for example, that when the ignition switch is turned off, or when the opening / closing information of the opening / closing body is erroneous due to the occurrence of the open / closed detection switch being fixed, the opening / closing body is repaired and opened. Information indicating that the fixing failure has been corrected is input.
In the vehicle height adjustment system described in this section, once vehicle height adjustment prohibition is canceled, if vehicle height adjustment is instructed until the conditions for returning to the non-released state are met, The vehicle height adjustment is performed in a state where the prohibition of high adjustment is released. Each time the start of vehicle height adjustment is commanded, it is not necessary to determine whether or not the vehicle height adjustment prohibition release condition is satisfied. However, when there are a plurality of sets of opening / closing bodies and opening / closing information acquisition units, even if the vehicle height adjustment prohibition is released for one set, the acquisition of opening / closing information and the vehicle height adjustment prohibition release condition are satisfied for the other sets. It is desirable that the determination of whether or not to be performed without change.

  Several embodiments of the claimable invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In addition to the following examples, the claimable invention can be practiced in various modifications based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art, including the aspects described in the above [Aspect of the Invention] section. .

  FIG. 1 shows a vehicle height adjustment system as one embodiment. In this vehicle height adjustment system, as shown in FIG. 1, a vehicle height changing actuator is provided between a wheel holding device 20 that holds the front, rear, left, and right wheels 10, 12, 14, 16 of the vehicle and the vehicle body 22. The suspension cylinder 24 is provided together with a suspension spring (not shown). Each suspension cylinder 24 has the same structure and includes a housing 30, a piston 32 fitted to the housing 30 so as to be movable in the axial direction, and a piston rod 34. The housing 30 is connected to the apparatus 20 and the vehicle body 22 so as not to move relative to each other in the vertical direction. The piston 32 is provided with a communication path 40 that communicates the two oil chambers 36 and 38 partitioned by the piston 32, and the communication path 40 is provided with a throttle. The throttle generates a damping force corresponding to the relative moving speed of the piston 32 with respect to the housing 30 (the flow velocity of the hydraulic oil flowing through the throttle). The suspension cylinder 24 functions as a shock absorber.

  Individual passages 50, 52, 54, and 56 are connected to the oil chambers 36 of the suspension cylinders 24, respectively. An accumulator 60 and an accumulator 62 are connected to each of the individual passages 50, 52, 54 and 56 in parallel with each other, corresponding to each of the suspension cylinders 24. These accumulators 60 and 62 both function as springs and have different spring constants. A spring constant switching valve 64 is provided between the suspension cylinder 24 and the accumulator 62.

  A variable throttle 70 is provided in each of the individual passages 50, 52, 54, and 56. The hydraulic oil flows in and out in the oil chamber 36 by the vertical movement of the wheel holding device 20 relative to the vehicle body 22, and in this case, the flow area of the individual passages 50, 52, 54, and 56 is reduced by the variable throttle 70. By being controlled, the damping force generated in the suspension cylinder 24 is controlled.

  This vehicle height adjustment system includes a hydraulic fluid supply / discharge device 74 as a hydraulic fluid supply / discharge device. The hydraulic oil supply / discharge device 74 includes a pump device 79 including a pump 76 and a pump motor 78, a pressure accumulator 80, a reservoir 82, a vehicle height adjusting valve device 84, and the like. The pump 76, the accumulator 80, and the reservoir 82 are provided in a control passage 90 in which the individual passages 50, 52, 54, and 56 are connected in parallel to each other.

  The accumulator 80 is connected to the control passage 90 via a pressure accumulation control valve 102 which is a normally closed electromagnetic on-off valve. The hydraulic oil in the reservoir 82 is pumped up and discharged by the pump 76, and the accumulator 80 is pressurized. Stored. A hydraulic pressure source pressure sensor 104 is provided in the control passage 90. According to the hydraulic pressure source pressure sensor 104, the discharge pressure of the pump 76 and the accumulator pressure of the accumulator 80 can be detected. A check valve 106 and a sound accumulator 108 are provided on the discharge side of the pump 76 in the control passage 90. In addition, an outflow passage 110 that connects the high pressure side and the low pressure side of the pump 76 is provided, and an outflow control valve 112 that is a normally closed electromagnetic on-off valve is provided in the outflow passage 110.

  The vehicle height adjusting valve device 84 includes the outflow control valve 112 and individual control valves 120, 122, 124, 126 provided in the individual passages 50, 52, 54, 56, respectively. These individual control valves 120, 122, 124, 126 are normally closed electromagnetic on-off valves, and control the outflow control valve 112 and control the individual control valves 120, 122, 124, 126 individually. In each of the wheels 10, 12, 14, and 16, hydraulic oil is supplied to the suspension cylinder 24, allowing the hydraulic oil in the suspension cylinder 24 to flow into the reservoir 82, and the wheels 10, 12, 14, and 16, and the vehicle body 22. The vehicle height defined by the relative position in the vertical direction with the portion corresponding to each wheel (the portion to which the suspension cylinder 24 is connected) can be controlled independently, and can be made higher or lower.

  Furthermore, although not shown in the drawings, the vehicle including the vehicle height adjustment system is provided with an indicator lamp that is a kind of notification device that notifies whether the opening / closing body is in an open state or a closed state. The indicator lamp is configured to display which of the six opening / closing bodies of the vehicle is in an open state or a half door state. When the opening / closing body is in the half-door state, the indicator lamp notifies the same as in the open state. Therefore, the occupant can see that the open / close body is in an open state even when the vehicle is running by observing the indicator lamp display, or perform an operation to close the open / close body while the vehicle is stopped. However, when it is displayed that the opening / closing body is in the open state, it is known that the opening / closing body is in the half-door state, and the opening / closing body can be quickly closed again. The six opening / closing bodies will be described later.

  The vehicle height adjustment system includes a vehicle height adjustment ECU (electronic control unit) 160 as a vehicle height adjustment control device mainly composed of a computer. The vehicle height adjustment ECU 160 includes an execution unit 162, a storage unit 164, an input / output unit 166, and the like. The input / output unit 166 includes a coil of the spring constant switching valve 64 and the variable throttle 70, a pressure accumulation control valve 102, and an individual control valve 120. , 122, 124, 126, the coils of the outflow control valve 112, the pump motor 78, and the like are connected via a drive circuit (not shown). The input / output unit 166 also includes a hydraulic pressure sensor 104, a vehicle height sensor 168 provided for each of the front, rear, left, and right wheels to detect the vehicle height, and the wheel speeds of the four wheels. A wheel speed sensor 170 is connected to each other, and a vehicle height level selection switch 176, a door opening / closing detection switch 180 serving as an opening / closing sensor, an engine hood opening / closing detection switch 182, a luggage door opening / closing detection switch 184, a skid control computer 190, and an engine control computer 192. , Navigation system computer 194 and the like are connected to each other.

  The vehicle height level selection switch 176 is switched by a driver's manual operation to select the vehicle height from a plurality of levels, for example, standard, high, and low. In this vehicle height adjustment system, the selected vehicle height is set as the target vehicle height, and the vehicle height is adjusted so that the actual vehicle height becomes the target vehicle height. Therefore, for example, even if the loading conditions such as the number of passengers and the amount of luggage change, the vehicle height is always maintained at the selected height. In the present vehicle height adjustment system, a vehicle height adjustment function is also provided, and the vehicle height is automatically adjusted according to the vehicle speed at each vehicle height. For example, when the vehicle speed becomes equal to or higher than the set speed in the state where the standard mode is selected, the vehicle height is automatically controlled to be lower than the standard vehicle height. In addition, if the vehicle speed exceeds the set speed when the high mode is selected, the vehicle height is automatically returned to the standard vehicle height, and after that, even if the vehicle speed becomes lower than the set speed, the vehicle remains at the standard vehicle height. Is done.

  The vehicle includes a plurality of, for example, four entrance / exit doors 200, one engine hood 202, and one luggage door 204. The passenger door 200, the engine hood 202, and the luggage door 204 are open / close bodies, which respectively open and close the vehicle interior, engine room, and luggage room inside the vehicle. When describing all of the six opening / closing bodies, such as the doors 200 for getting on and off, or one of the opening / closing bodies, it is described as an opening / closing body when one of them is not specified. The door opening / closing detection switch 180 is provided for each of the four entry / exit doors 200 (FIG. 1 representatively shows one entry / exit door 200 and one door opening / closing detection switch 180). The open / close state of each door 200 is detected individually. Further, the engine hood 202 and the luggage door 204 are provided with the engine hood opening / closing detection switch 182 and the luggage door opening / closing detection switch 184, respectively, to detect the open / closed state. In this vehicle, each of the switches 180, 182, and 184 is configured by a limit switch that is a contact type sensor that is a kind of open / close sensor, and outputs an ON signal when the open / close body is open, and outputs an OFF signal when the open / close body is closed. It is configured to output.

  The skid control computer 190 is provided in a brake control system, and performs anti-skid control, acceleration slip control, vehicle stability control, and the like. The left-right direction of the vehicle detected by the lateral G sensor 208 from the skid control computer 190 Lateral G which is the acceleration of is input. The engine control computer 192 is provided in the engine control system and performs fuel injection control, ignition timing control, throttle control, and the like. The engine control computer 192 detects the depression angle of the accelerator pedal 212 detected by the accelerator position sensor 210 from the engine control computer 192. A certain accelerator opening γ is input. The accelerator pedal 212 is an acceleration operation member, and the accelerator opening γ represents the operation state of the accelerator pedal 212. Further, road information is supplied from the navigation system computer 194. The navigation system is configured using a GPS (Global Positioning System), acquires the position of the vehicle, and displays the position of the vehicle on the display screen. The road information will be described later.

  The storage unit 164 stores a vehicle height adjustment program including various routines such as an opening / closing body opening / closing determination routine and a vehicle height adjustment routine, which are represented by flowcharts in FIGS. 2 and 3, respectively. Vehicle heights corresponding to the four wheels 10, 12, 14, 16 are controlled by a vehicle height adjusting device including the suspension cylinder 24 and the hydraulic oil supply / discharge device 74.

For example, when the vehicle height of the left front wheel 10 is increased, the pressure accumulation control valve 102 is opened and the individual control valve 120 is opened, so that hydraulic oil is supplied from the accumulator 80 to the suspension cylinder 24. Is done. When the actual vehicle height reaches the target value, the individual control valve 120 is closed and the pressure accumulation control valve 102 is closed. In addition, the pump device 79 is operated, and the hydraulic oil discharged from the pump 76 can be supplied to the suspension cylinder 24 together with the hydraulic oil supplied from the accumulator 80. If the hydraulic pressure of the accumulator 80 decreases beyond the set range due to the supply of the hydraulic oil to the suspension cylinder 24, the pump device 79 is operated, the hydraulic oil is supplied to the accumulator 80, and the accumulated pressure is increased.
When lowering the vehicle height, for example, the individual control valve 120 is opened and the outflow control valve 112 is opened for the left front wheel 10, and hydraulic oil is allowed to flow from the suspension cylinder 24 to the reservoir 82. Is done. When the actual vehicle height reaches the target value, the individual control valve 120 is closed, and then the outflow control valve 112 is closed.

  The target vehicle height is common to the four wheels 10 to 16, and the vehicle height is adjusted for all the wheels 10 to 16. At this time, all of the individual control valves 120 to 126 may be controlled to be opened / closed at the same time. However, the individual control valves 120 to 126 are divided into the front wheel side and the rear wheel side (individual control valves 120 and 122 and individual control valves 124, In many cases, it is made to be opened and closed (divided into 126) or individually opened and closed, and it is determined whether or not the target vehicle height has been reached for each. In addition, the final target vehicle height may be reached by opening / closing control of the individual control valves 120 to 126 once, but the final target vehicle height is reached by opening / closing control multiple times. It is normal to be done. When the vehicle height adjustment is performed separately for the front wheel side and the rear wheel side, for example, the opening control of the individual control valves 120 and 122 for the two front wheels and the individual control valves 124 and 126 for the two rear wheels are used. The open control is alternately performed for each set amount, for example, for each set time, and the individual control valve is closed on the side where the open control is not performed. In this vehicle height adjustment system, the vehicle height adjustment is normally performed separately for the front wheel side and the rear wheel side.

  In this vehicle, the vehicle height adjustment is performed in a state where all of the six opening / closing bodies are closed, and is not performed if any one is opened. While the opening / closing body is in the open state, for example, it is normal for passengers to get on and off, and to load and unload luggage. This is because every time the weight changes, the vehicle height changes, vehicle height adjustment is performed, and problems such as being wasted often occur.

  Whether the open / close body is open or closed is detected by the open / close detection switches 180 to 184. However, for example, even if the open / close detection switch is broken or the switch is normal, if the switch detection signal is not correctly input to the vehicle height adjustment ECU 160, the open / close body is actually closed. Therefore, it is determined that the vehicle is in the open state, and the vehicle height adjustment is not performed. Each of the open / close detection switches 180 to 184 is configured by a limit switch. For example, if the contact that contacts the open / close body is not fixed when the switch outputs an ON signal, the open / close body is Although it is in the closed state, it is assumed to be in the open state, and the open / close state is not correctly detected. Therefore, in this vehicle height adjustment system, each time the start of vehicle height adjustment is commanded, it is determined whether or not each of the six opening / closing bodies is in the open state, and it is determined that the vehicle is in the open state. It is determined whether or not the vehicle is actually in a closed state. If it is detected that the vehicle is in the closed state, the prohibition of the vehicle height adjustment is canceled. If it is not detected that the vehicle is in the closed state, the vehicle height adjustment is performed. Is to be banned.

  This determination detects whether or not the vehicle is running, and if it is detected that the vehicle is running, the open / close information indicating the open state of the open / close body obtained by detection of the open / close detection switch is incorrect, The opening / closing body is assumed to be in a closed state. This is because the opening / closing body should be closed while the vehicle is running. On the other hand, if it is not detected that the vehicle is running, the opening / closing body is said to be opened. Although the opening / closing body may actually be in the closed state, it cannot be confirmed, so it is said to be in the open state. The open / close information is information regarding the open / close state of the open / close body, and is open information or close information. It can be considered that the abnormality detection of the opening / closing body opening / closing detection device is performed, and if it is detected that the vehicle is traveling, the abnormality of the opening / closing detection switch may be notified by the notification device. The notification device includes, for example, a display device such as an indicator lamp and a sound notification device such as a buzzer.

  Prior to the execution of the vehicle height adjustment, it is determined whether or not all of the opening / closing bodies have an open / closed body that is open. The vehicle height adjustment that is not performed or is once started is interrupted, and the vehicle height adjustment is prohibited. The open / closed state indicated by the open / close information is open, but if there is an open / closed body that is actually closed by detecting that the vehicle is running, the open / closed body is excluded. Thus, it is determined whether or not there is an open / close body in the open state. Accordingly, if all the remaining opening / closing bodies are in the closed state, the vehicle height adjustment is performed. The opening / closing information indicates the open state of the opening / closing body, but if the vehicle is running, the opening / closing information about the opening / closing body can be excluded from the opening / closing determination of the opening / closing body prior to vehicle height adjustment. is there. Hereinafter, the opening / closing determination of the opening / closing body and the vehicle height adjustment will be described based on the flowcharts shown in FIGS. The open / close body opening / closing determination routine shown in FIG. 2 is provided and executed for each of the six open / close bodies. Here, the determination of the open / closed state of one of the six opening / closing bodies, for example, one of the four entrance / exit doors 200 will be described.

  In step 1 of the opening / closing body opening / closing determination routine (hereinafter abbreviated as S1; the same applies to other steps), it is determined whether or not the start of vehicle height adjustment is instructed. The vehicle height adjustment start command is issued by executing a vehicle height adjustment routine, which will be described later. If the start of the vehicle height adjustment is not instructed, the determination result in S1 is NO, S9 is executed, the opening / closing body open / close state memory is cleared, and the execution of the routine ends. The opening / closing body opening / closing state memory is provided in the storage unit 164 and is provided for each of the six opening / closing bodies.

  If the start of the vehicle height adjustment is instructed, the determination result in S1 is YES, S2 is executed, and it is determined whether or not the output signal of the door opening / closing detection switch 180 is an ON signal. If the entry / exit door 200 is closed and the output signal of the door open / close detection switch 180 is an OFF signal, the determination result in S2 is NO, S7 is executed, and the entry / exit door 200 is in a closed state. The routine is terminated after being stored in the opening / closing body opening / closing state memory.

  If the start of the vehicle height adjustment is instructed and the output signal of the door opening / closing detection switch 180 is an ON signal, the determination result of S2 is YES and S3 is executed, and the vehicle speed Vso, lateral G, accelerator opening γ And road information is read. In the vehicle height adjustment ECU 160, the vehicle speed, which is the traveling speed of the vehicle, is calculated based on the wheel speed detected by the wheel speed sensor 170, and the calculated vehicle speed is read. Further, the lateral G and the accelerator opening γ are read from the skid control computer 190 and the engine control computer 192, respectively, and the road information is read from the navigation system computer 194. The road information includes, for example, information on whether the road on which the vehicle is traveling is an expressway, a general road, a mountain road, a straight road, or a curved road. The road information includes information indicating whether the vehicle is traveling or stopped, and is information indicating that the vehicle is traveling.

  Next, S4 is executed, and it is determined whether or not the vehicle is traveling based on the four types of information read in S3. In this system, two of the four types of information are combined, and two types of combinations to be determined that the vehicle is traveling are created and stored in the storage unit 164. The determination is made based on whether one of the two types of combinations matches the combination stored in the storage unit 164 and indicates that the vehicle is running. Each of the two types of combinations is determined that the vehicle is traveling when both of the two types of information included therein indicate that the vehicle is traveling. In this system, if vehicle speed Vso and accelerator opening γ, lateral G and road information are combined, vehicle speed Vso is greater than or equal to threshold vehicle speed Vth, and accelerator opening γ is greater than or equal to threshold opening γth. If the vehicle is traveling, the lateral G is equal to or greater than the threshold lateral Gth, and the road is a curved road, the vehicle is traveling.

  If the vehicle is traveling, a vehicle speed Vso and an accelerator opening γ are generated, and if the vehicle is turned during traveling, a lateral G is generated. Therefore, it is possible to determine whether or not the vehicle is traveling alone by comparing the vehicle speed Vso, the lateral G, and the accelerator opening γ with threshold values. However, for example, if the wheel speed sensor 170, the lateral G sensor 208, or the accelerator position sensor 210 fails or malfunctions, it cannot be accurately detected whether or not the vehicle is running. The same applies to the navigation system. By providing information on whether the vehicle is running or stopped, the road information can be used alone to determine whether the vehicle is running, but failure may occur. If not, road information cannot be obtained accurately. Further, if the accelerator pedal 212 is depressed in a state where the shift lever is positioned at the neutral position, the accelerator opening γ may become greater than or equal to the threshold value even though the vehicle is stopped. Thus, it is unreliable to determine whether or not the vehicle is running based on only one type of information, but two sensors fail at the same time, or the sensor and the navigation system fail at the same time. In addition, it is rare that the accelerator opening γ exceeds the threshold value and the sensor failure occurs at the same time even though the vehicle is stopped. If it represents that the vehicle is traveling, it can be determined that the vehicle is traveling with high reliability.

  The two types of information combined to reliably determine whether or not the vehicle is traveling in this way is information indicating that the vehicle is traveling together if the sensor is not broken and the vehicle is traveling. Or, if there is no failure in the sensor or system, the information is considered to be consistent. Therefore, even if the sensor is broken or only one of the two types of information indicates that the vehicle is traveling, it is well avoided that the vehicle is erroneously traveling.

  If one of these two types of combinations indicates that the vehicle is traveling, the vehicle is traveling, and the determination result in S4 is YES. That is, when the vehicle speed Vso is greater than or equal to the threshold vehicle speed Vth and the accelerator opening γ is greater than or equal to the threshold opening γth, or the lateral G is greater than or equal to the threshold lateral Gth and the road information is a curved road. If the information indicates that the vehicle is running, it is determined that the vehicle is traveling. As a result, even if one of the two combinations cannot be detected while the vehicle is running, the other can be detected while the vehicle is running. If neither of the two combinations indicates that the vehicle is running, the determination result in S4 is NO, S8 is executed, and the opening / closing body opening / closing state memory indicates that the entry / exit door 200 is open. Remembered.

  If one of the two types of combinations indicates that the vehicle is running, the determination result in S4 is YES, S5 is executed, and it is determined whether the set time has elapsed. After the start of the vehicle height adjustment is instructed, it is determined whether or not the state in which it is determined that the vehicle is traveling has continued for a set time. Thereby, for example, when the entrance / exit door 200 is in a half-door state, the door opening / closing detection switch 180 detects that the door is in the open state, but this detects that the vehicle is running and prohibits vehicle height adjustment. Is prevented from being released.

  When the entry / exit door 200 is in a half-door state, the output signal of the door open / close detection switch 180 is an ON signal, and an indicator lamp indicates that the entry / exit door 200 is in an open state. Therefore, even if the occupant is traveling or stopped, the occupant knows that the entry / exit door 200 is in a half-door state by looking at the indicator lamp after the closing operation of the entry / exit door 200 and closes again. The half-door state usually does not last long, and by waiting for the entrance / exit door 200 to be closed again, the opening / closing body in the half-door state is set as an opening / closing body excluding the vehicle height adjustment prohibition determination. It is avoided that the prohibition of high adjustment is released. Therefore, the set time is set to a length sufficient to eliminate the half-door state, and is set in minutes, for example. It may be set in seconds. The determination result in S5 is NO until the set time elapses, and the execution of the routine ends. If the entry / exit door 200 is closed again before the set time elapses at the time of half-door, the determination result in S2 is NO and S7 is executed.

  If it is detected that the entry / exit door 200 is in the open state and the state in which the vehicle is running continues for a set time, the determination result in S5 is YES and S6 is executed. The opening / closing body opening / closing state memory stores that the door 200 is a vehicle height adjustment prohibition determination exclusion opening / closing body. As will be described later, it is determined whether at least one of the six opening / closing bodies is open prior to the vehicle height adjustment, and if there is an open / closed body, the vehicle height adjustment is performed. Is not performed and is not performed, but is stored as an opening / closing body in which it is not determined whether or not it is in the open state. In S6, the timer for measuring the passage of time is reset to 0 in S5. The timer is also reset in S7 to S9. When the determination result of S1, S2, or S4 is NO and the determination result of S4 is YES and S5 is executed, the timer may be reset and time measurement may be started.

The vehicle height adjustment routine shown in FIG. 3 will be described.
In S11 of the vehicle height adjustment routine, it is determined whether or not the flag F is set to 1. The flag F is set to 1 to store that opening / closing state information has been obtained for all six opening / closing bodies. The open / close state information includes information on whether the open / close body is in an open state, a closed state, or a vehicle height adjustment prohibition determination exclusion open / close body. The flag F is reset to 0 in the initial setting or the like of a main routine (not shown), and when S11 is executed for the first time, the determination result is NO and S12 is executed, and whether vehicle height adjustment is necessary or not. Is determined. If the target vehicle height matches the actual vehicle height detected by the vehicle height sensor 168, vehicle height adjustment is unnecessary, the determination result in S12 is NO, and the execution of the routine ends.

  If the target vehicle height does not match the actual vehicle height and the vehicle height adjustment is necessary, the determination result in S12 is YES and S13 is executed to start the vehicle height adjustment. For example, the vehicle height adjustment start flag provided in the storage unit 164 is set to ON. Thereby, the determination result of S1 of the opening / closing body opening / closing routine is YES. And S14 is performed and it is determined whether the opening / closing state information was acquired about all the six opening / closing bodies. This determination is made based on the data stored in the open / close body open / close state memory. If the open / close state information is not stored for all the open / close bodies, the determination result in S14 is NO and the execution of the routine is not performed. finish.

  If the open / close state information is acquired and stored for all the open / close bodies, the determination result in S14 is YES, S15 is executed, and the flag F is set to 1. Next, S16 is executed, and it is determined whether or not there is a vehicle height adjustment prohibition determination exclusion opening / closing body among the six opening / closing bodies. This determination is made based on the data stored in the opening / closing body opening / closing state memory. If there is no vehicle height adjustment prohibition determination exclusion opening / closing body, the determination result of S16 is NO and S18 is executed, and the six opening / closing bodies are executed. Whether or not there is an open / close body in an open state is determined based on each open / close information. If all of the six opening / closing bodies are in the closed state, the determination result in S18 is NO and S19 is executed to adjust the vehicle height. The hydraulic oil is supplied to the suspension cylinder 24 so that the actual vehicle height coincides with the target vehicle height, or the hydraulic oil is allowed to flow out to the reservoir 82. On the other hand, if at least one of the six open / close bodies is in an open state, the determination result in S18 is YES, S20 is executed, and if the vehicle height adjustment is started, the vehicle height adjustment is performed. Is interrupted. For example, since the individual control valves 120 to 126 are returned to the normal state and closed, the supply of the hydraulic oil to the suspension cylinder 24 is stopped, or the outflow of the hydraulic oil from the suspension cylinder 24 to the reservoir 82 is stopped. is there. If vehicle height adjustment has not yet started, nothing is performed in S20, and vehicle height adjustment is not performed.

  If there is a vehicle height adjustment prohibition determination exclusion opening / closing body among the six opening / closing bodies, the determination result of S16 is YES and S17 is executed, and each opening / closing of the remaining opening / closing bodies excluding the vehicle height adjustment prohibition determination exclusion opening / closing body is performed. Based on the information, it is determined whether there is an open / close body in the open state. Vehicle height adjustment prohibition determination exclusion Open / close information indicating the open state of the open / close body is excluded from the determination of the presence / absence of the open / closed open body, and is a condition for determining whether or not the vehicle height adjustment should be prohibited It is excluded from the condition and is not used for the judgment. If all of the remaining opening / closing bodies except for the vehicle height adjustment prohibition determination exclusion opening / closing body are in the closed state, the determination result in S17 is NO and S19 is executed to adjust the vehicle height. If there is an open / closed body in the open state among the remaining open / close bodies, the determination result in S17 is YES and S21 is executed. If the vehicle height adjustment is started, the vehicle height adjustment is interrupted. . If the vehicle height adjustment has not yet started, nothing is performed in S21, and the vehicle height adjustment is not performed.

  Thus, in this vehicle height adjustment system, if any one of the six opening / closing bodies is open, the vehicle height adjustment is not performed and the vehicle height adjustment is prohibited. Even when the opening / closing information of the opening / closing body indicates an open state, when the vehicle is traveling and the opening / closing body should be closed, the opening / closing body is subject to opening / closing determination at the time of vehicle height adjustment. Accordingly, the vehicle height adjustment can be executed even if the opening / closing information is incorrect due to a sensor failure or the like, and the prohibition of the vehicle height adjustment is released.

  After the flag F is set, the determination result in S11 is YES, S12 to S15 are skipped, and S16 is executed. The flag F is reset in S19 when the actual vehicle height is adjusted to the target vehicle height. If the actual vehicle height is adjusted to the target vehicle height in S19, the vehicle height adjustment start flag is reset and the vehicle height adjustment start command is canceled. Once the start of vehicle height adjustment is commanded, execution of vehicle height adjustment is commanded until the actual vehicle height reaches the target vehicle height. Therefore, even after the vehicle height adjustment is started, the determination result of S1 of the opening / closing body opening / closing determination routine is YES, and the steps after S2 are executed. Accordingly, for example, there is no vehicle height adjustment prohibition determination exclusion opening / closing body, all of the six opening / closing bodies are vehicle height adjustment prohibition determination target opening / closing bodies, and it is determined that all are closed, and vehicle height adjustment starts. Or there is a vehicle height adjustment prohibition determination exclusion open / close body, and all the open / close bodies (vehicle height adjustment prohibition determination open / close bodies) except for the vehicle height adjustment prohibition determination open / close body are determined to be closed. After the height adjustment is started, if any vehicle height adjustment prohibition determination target opening / closing body is not opened, the vehicle height adjustment is performed continuously, but if any vehicle height adjustment prohibition determination opening / closing body is opened, Vehicle height adjustment is prohibited and vehicle height adjustment is interrupted.

  The opening / closing body is opened when the vehicle is stopped, and even if there is an opening / closing body whose opening / closing information is in the open state, it is not usually determined that the vehicle is running. Therefore, the determination result of S4 is NO for the opened opening / closing body, and it is stored that the opening / closing body is in an opened state by executing S8. As a result, the determination result in S17 or S18 is YES, S21 or S20 is executed, the vehicle height adjustment is interrupted, and it is avoided that the vehicle height adjustment is performed with the opening / closing body opened. . The opening / closing body that was the vehicle height adjustment prohibition determination exclusion opening / closing body while the vehicle is running is also an opening / closing body whose opening / closing information is open when the vehicle is stopped. When there is an open / close body that is a vehicle height adjustment prohibition determination exclusion open / close body while the vehicle is running, the determination result of S4 is NO for all the vehicle height adjustment prohibition determination exclusion open / close bodies, and S8 is executed. Is stored in the opening / closing body opening / closing state memory, the determination result in S16 is NO and S18 is executed.

  After that, all the open / close bodies are closed, there is no vehicle height adjustment prohibition determination open / close body, and the open / close information is closed for all the open / close bodies, or the vehicle is running and is open when the vehicle is stopped. If the open / close body that has been determined to be the vehicle height adjustment prohibition determination exclusion open / close body again, the determination result in S17 or S18 is NO, S19 is executed, and vehicle height adjustment is resumed. When the actual vehicle height is adjusted to the target vehicle height, the vehicle height adjustment start command is canceled, so that the determination result of S1 is YES, S9 is executed, and the opening / closing body opening / closing state memory is cleared. The opening / closing body opening / closing state memory may be cleared at the end of the vehicle height adjustment.

  After the vehicle height adjustment is completed and the vehicle height adjustment command is canceled, if the vehicle height adjustment is required again and the vehicle height adjustment command is issued, the determination result of S1 becomes YES and the vehicle is running. For example, even if there is an open / closed open body, if the vehicle running state continues for a set time, it is excluded from the open / close body open / close determination target at the time of vehicle height adjustment, and the remaining open / close bodies are open. It is determined whether or not there is an opening / closing body, and the vehicle height is adjusted. Every time the start of the vehicle height adjustment is instructed, it is determined whether or not the conditions for canceling the vehicle height adjustment prohibition are satisfied, and if the vehicle height adjustment prohibition is satisfied, the vehicle height adjustment prohibition is released.

  As is apparent from the above description, in the present system, the portion of the vehicle height adjustment ECU 160 that executes S17 and S18 constitutes the vehicle height adjustment prohibition portion, and the portion that executes S2 constitutes the individual opening / closing information acquisition portion. ing. In addition, the storage unit 164 constitutes a combination storage unit, and the part that executes S3 of the vehicle height adjustment ECU 160 includes a vehicle speed detection unit, an acceleration operation detection unit, a lateral G detection unit, a traveling state information acquisition unit, a road information acquisition unit, and The part which comprises a multiple information acquisition part and performs S4 comprises the multiple information dependence determination part and the road information utilization part, and these comprise the driving | running | working detection part. Furthermore, the part that executes S6 constitutes a condition excluding part, the prohibition releasing part is constituted together with the part that executes S5, and the part that executes S19 constitutes a vehicle height adjusting part. It can also be considered that the part of the vehicle height adjustment ECU 160 that executes S2 to S5 constitutes an opening / closing body opening / closing sensor abnormality detection device.

  The detection that the vehicle is running may be performed, for example, by the steering state of the steering device, for example, the steering angle θ of the steering wheel that is a steering operation member or the combination of the steering torque and the lateral G. Good. The lateral G is generated when the vehicle is turning (which is of course traveling), and the steering angle and steering torque, which are the operation amounts of the steering wheel, are generated when the steering wheel is operated to change the direction of the vehicle. Detected by a steering sensor of the electric power steering system. For example, the steering sensor may detect a rotation angle of the steering wheel, or may detect a steering torque generated by a rotation operation of the steering wheel. For example, a computer of an electric power steering system is connected to a vehicle height adjustment ECU, and a steering angle and steering torque of a steering wheel detected by a steering sensor are input.

  If the steering angle θ is equal to or greater than the threshold value and the lateral G is equal to or greater than the threshold value, it can be determined that the vehicle is traveling. For example, if a stationary run is performed, the steering angle becomes greater than the threshold angle, or the lateral G sensor exceeds the threshold lateral G even if the lateral G sensor fails and the vehicle is not actually turned. Therefore, with only one of the steering angle and the lateral G, it is not reliable to determine that the vehicle is traveling, but both the stationary and lateral G sensor failures may occur simultaneously. It is rare. Therefore, when the steering angle θ and the lateral G are both equal to or greater than the threshold value, and the steering angle θ detected by the steering angle sensor and the lateral G detected by the lateral G sensor match each other, the steering angle is Being greater than or equal to the threshold value ensures that the lateral G sensor is not at fault, and if the lateral G is greater than or equal to the threshold value, it is guaranteed that the steering operation is not a stationary operation but a vehicle traveling. The vehicle can be running.

  Detection during traveling of the vehicle using the steering angle θ and the lateral G is performed by a routine similar to the opening / closing body opening / closing determination routine, the steering angle θ and the lateral G are read in S3, and the steering angle θ and the lateral G are read in S4. It is determined whether or not the vehicle is traveling based on the consistency with. A combination of the steering angle and the lateral G may be added to the two types of combinations including the vehicle speed, etc., and it may be determined that the vehicle is traveling when any of the three types of combinations is established. . In this aspect, the part that executes S3 of the vehicle height adjustment ECU 160 constitutes a steering operation detection part and a lateral G detection part, and the part that executes S4 constitutes a turning information consistency dependency detection part.

  The fact that the vehicle is traveling may be detected by indicating that the vehicle is traveling while at least one of the traveling speed of the vehicle and at least one of the steering angle and the lateral G of the steering wheel. The detection that the vehicle using the vehicle speed, the steering angle, and the lateral G is running is performed by, for example, a routine similar to the opening / closing body opening / closing determination routine. In S3, the vehicle speed, the steering angle, and the lateral G are read. It is. In S4, it is determined whether each of the vehicle speed, the steering angle of the steering wheel, and the lateral G is greater than or equal to a threshold value. It is determined that the vehicle is running. In this aspect, the part that executes S3 of the vehicle height adjustment ECU 160 constitutes a vehicle speed detection part, constitutes a turning detection part that includes a steering operation detection part and a lateral G detection part, and a traveling detection part together with the part that executes S4 Configure. The turning detection unit may detect a turning state of the vehicle indicating that the vehicle is running when both the steering angle of the steering wheel and the lateral G are equal to or greater than a threshold value. The turning detection unit may also include one of a steering operation detection unit and a lateral G detection unit.

The detection that the vehicle is traveling may be further performed based on the engine speed instead of the accelerator opening. The engine speed is detected by an engine control computer and supplied to a vehicle height adjustment ECU. For example, in S4 of the opening / closing body opening / closing determination routine, it is detected that the vehicle is running using the engine speed instead of the accelerator opening.
The longitudinal acceleration and the accelerator opening may be combined, and the vehicle may be traveling when the longitudinal acceleration is equal to or greater than the threshold value and the accelerator opening is equal to or greater than the threshold value. The engine speed may be combined with the longitudinal acceleration instead of the accelerator opening.

  It is not indispensable to use the road information for detection while the vehicle is running, and it may be detected based on only the running information such as the vehicle speed without using it.

Further, the vehicle height changing actuator may include a hydraulic cylinder and an air spring.
Further, the vehicle height changing actuator may adjust the vehicle height with air in addition to the vehicle height adjustment with the liquid as the fluid. For example, the vehicle height changing actuator includes an air chamber and adjusts the vehicle height by controlling the inflow and outflow of air in the air chamber. Further, it has a mechanism for changing the distance between the wheel holding device and the vehicle body by the operation of an electric motor or the like, as described in, for example, JP-A-1-233111, without depending on the fluid. The vehicle height changing actuator can be configured in various ways.

It is a circuit diagram which shows the vehicle height adjustment system which is one Example of claimable invention. It is a flowchart which shows the opening-and-closing body opening / closing determination routine memorize | stored in the memory | storage part of the vehicle height adjustment ECU of the said vehicle height adjustment system. It is a flowchart which shows the vehicle height adjustment routine memorize | stored in the said memory | storage part.

Explanation of symbols

  10, 12, 14, 16: Wheel 22: Body 24: Suspension cylinder 160: Vehicle height adjustment ECU 200: Door for getting on / off 202: Engine hood 204: Luggage door

Claims (8)

A vehicle height change actuator that is disposed between the vehicle body and the wheel and changes the vehicle height defined by the relative position in the vertical direction of the both, and a vehicle height adjustment that controls the vehicle height change actuator to adjust the vehicle height A vehicle height adjustment system including a vehicle height adjustment control device,
The vehicle height adjustment control device,
A vehicle height adjustment prohibition unit that prohibits vehicle height adjustment by the vehicle height adjustment unit when the opening / closing information that is information on the open / close state of the opening / closing body that opens or closes the inside of the vehicle toward the outside indicates an open state. When,
A travel detection unit for detecting that the vehicle is traveling;
When the travel detection unit detects that the vehicle is traveling, even if the opening / closing information indicates an open state of the opening / closing body, the prohibition canceling unit that releases the vehicle height adjustment prohibition by the vehicle height adjustment prohibiting unit A vehicle height adjustment system characterized by including and.   The travel detection unit is (i) a vehicle speed detection unit that detects a travel speed of the vehicle, and (ii) an acceleration operation detection unit that detects an operation state of an acceleration operation member operated to accelerate the vehicle, iii) a steering operation detection unit that detects a steering state that is an operation state of the steering device, (iv) a lateral G detection unit that detects a lateral acceleration of the vehicle, and (v) a longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle. A front / rear G detecting unit for detecting, and (vi) a rotational speed detecting unit for detecting a rotational speed of a travel drive source of the vehicle, and the vehicle is traveling based on information from at least one The vehicle height adjustment system according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle height adjustment system is detected.   The travel detection unit includes a plurality of the vehicle speed detection unit, the acceleration operation detection unit, the steering operation detection unit, the lateral G detection unit, the front / rear G detection unit, and the rotation speed detection unit, and a plurality of detections thereof. 3. A multiple information dependence determination unit that determines that the vehicle is traveling when a detection result of a predetermined number of units or more indicates that the vehicle is traveling. Car height adjustment system.   The travel detection unit includes the steering operation detection unit and the lateral G detection unit, and the steering state detected by the steering operation detection unit and the lateral G detected by the lateral G detection unit match each other. The vehicle height adjustment system according to claim 2, further comprising a turning information consistency dependency detection unit that detects that the vehicle is traveling. The travel detection unit is
A plurality of information acquisition units for acquiring a plurality of information indicating that the vehicle is running;
A plurality of combinations of a plurality of information acquired by the plurality of information acquisition units, a combination storage unit storing a combination to be determined that the vehicle is running, and the plurality of information The combination of a plurality of information acquired by the acquisition unit detects that the vehicle is running when the combination matches the combination stored in the combination storage unit. Item 5. The vehicle height adjustment system according to any one of Items 1 to 4. The travel detection unit is
A vehicle speed detection unit for detecting a traveling speed of the vehicle;
A turning detection unit including at least one of a steering operation detection unit that detects a steering state of the steering device and a lateral G detection unit that detects lateral acceleration of the vehicle, and a travel speed detected by the vehicle speed detection unit, 2. The vehicle is detected when one of the turning states detected by the turning detection unit indicates that the vehicle is running. Vehicle height adjustment system in any one of 5 thru | or 5.   When the state where the travel detection unit detects that the vehicle is traveling and the state where the opening / closing information indicates the open state of the opening / closing body continues for a set time or more, The vehicle height adjustment system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the vehicle height adjustment prohibition unit is configured to solve the vehicle height adjustment prohibition.   The vehicle includes a plurality of the opening / closing bodies, and the vehicle height adjustment system includes an individual opening / closing information acquisition unit that individually acquires opening / closing information that is information on an opening / closing state for each of the plurality of opening / closing bodies, and the prohibition releasing unit. However, a part of the plurality of opening / closing information acquired by the individual opening / closing information acquiring unit is used by the vehicle height adjustment prohibiting unit, but another part of the information is not used. The vehicle height adjustment according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein an opening / closing body corresponding to another part of the opening / closing body is adapted to release the vehicle height adjustment prohibition by the vehicle height adjustment prohibition unit. system.

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