JP2007253883A - Vehicular seat posture control device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicular seat posture control device for easily making the posture control of a seat with respect to the pitching behavior. <P>SOLUTION: The vehicular seat posture control device comprises: a vehicular state detection means for detecting the vehicular state; a posture changing means for changing the posture of a vehicular seat; and a control means for controlling the posture changing means based on the vehicular state detected by the vehicular state detection means. The posture changing means changes the posture of the vehicular seat in the pitching direction of a vehicle. The control means performs the forecasting calculation of the pitching angle at each predetermined time as a pitching behavior when changing the vehicular speed based on the detection signal of the vehicular state detection means, and controls the posture changing means so as to cancel the pitching behavior. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus for controlling the attitude of a vehicle seat with respect to the pitching behavior of the vehicle.

  During sudden braking and acceleration of the vehicle, the load movement of the vehicle body occurs in response to the force generated by the deceleration or acceleration of the vehicle, and at the time of sudden deceleration accompanying this load movement, the front of the vehicle body sinks and the rear lifts, During sudden acceleration, a so-called pitching behavior occurs in which the front of the vehicle body rises and the rear sinks. In accordance with this pitching behavior, for example, when the brake is applied, the upper body of the occupant is leaned forward by a force generated in the forward direction, and the occupant has to stride to overcome the forward force. This pitching behavior occurs when the brake pedal is depressed and braking force is applied to the vehicle due to expansion and contraction of the vehicle suspension.

  As a technique for preventing such a pitching behavior of a vehicle, for example, one disclosed in Patent Document 1 is known. As shown in FIG. 1 of Patent Document 1, the first and third pressure-increasing control valves 31 are provided between the first and third wheel cylinders 41 and 40 of the front wheels that actuate the brake from the pump 36 that sends the brake fluid. , 21 and the first and third pressure reduction control valves 33, 23, and the second and fourth pressure increase control valves 32, 22 and the second pressure cylinders 42, 43 between the rear wheels. 2 and the 4th pressure reduction control valves 34 and 24 are provided, respectively, and ECU100 which controls these control valves and others is provided. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 of the same document, the brake fluid pressure applied to the wheel cylinders 40 and 41 on the front wheel side immediately before the vehicle is stopped and until the vehicle is stopped (time of FIG. 3C). The pressure increase is limited to be equal to or decreased compared to the pressure increase gradient immediately before the vehicle stop (time of FIG. 3B), and during the period from immediately before the vehicle stop to the vehicle stop (the same figure). 3 (c)), the brake fluid pressure applied to the wheel cylinders 42, 43 on the rear wheel side is increased, and compared with the pressure increase gradient immediately before the vehicle stops (time (b) in FIG. 3). As a result, the pressure increasing gradient is increased. As described above, the brake fluid pressure increasing gradient applied to the wheel braking force generating means for generating the wheel braking force on the wheels on the rear wheel side from immediately before stopping the vehicle during vehicle braking to before stopping the vehicle, The pitching behavior generated in the vehicle body is suppressed by making the pressure increase gradient larger than the above.

In addition, what is shown in Patent Document 2 is known. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 of Patent Document 2, the seat seat drive unit 20A on the right front, the seat posture drive unit 20B on the right rear, the seat posture drive unit 20C on the left front, and the left A rear seat posture drive unit 20D and a control device 40 for controlling these seat posture drive units are provided, and the seat seat posture is controlled from numerical values obtained by the steering sensor 62 and the speed sensor 64, and the displacement of the suspension is detected. The seat seat posture control amount obtained by the speed sensor 64 or the like is corrected from the numerical values obtained by the stroke sensors 66A to 66D.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-70874 (pages 15 and 16, FIGS. 1 and 2) Japanese Patent No. 0870253 (page 13, page 14, FIGS. 2 to 5)

  In the apparatus according to Patent Document 1, since the response to the pitching behavior is performed by controlling the brakes acting on the front and rear wheels of the vehicle, the apparatus becomes large and complicated. In the device according to Patent Document 2, the seat seat posture is controlled in the front-rear and left-right directions by calculating from the vehicle turning state and acceleration / deceleration states obtained by the vehicle travel state amount detection means (speed sensor, steering sensor, etc.). Therefore, complicated mechanisms and devices are still necessary.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the conventional problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle seat posture control device that can easily control the seat seat posture with respect to pitching behavior.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the structural features of the invention according to claim 1 are vehicle state detection means for detecting a vehicle state, posture change means for changing the posture of a vehicle seat, and the vehicle state detection. Control means for controlling the posture changing means based on the vehicle state detected by the means, wherein the posture changing means changes the posture of the vehicle seat in the pitching direction of the vehicle. The control unit is configured to predict and calculate a pitching angle for each predetermined time when changing the speed of the vehicle as a pitching behavior based on a detection signal of the vehicle state detection unit, and cancel the pitching behavior. Thus, the posture changing means is controlled.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the vehicle state detecting means includes an acceleration sensor provided above the suspension of the vehicle, a speed sensor for detecting the vehicle speed from the rotational speed of the wheel, and the vehicle. Including at least one vehicle height sensor for detecting a relative displacement between the vehicle body and the wheel of the vehicle, wherein the posture changing means rotates at least in the pitching direction about an axis parallel to the left-right direction of the vehicle. A pivot mechanism for pivotally supporting the vehicle seat is possible, and the control means corrects the pitching angle obtained by the prediction calculation by a detection signal of the vehicle state detection means at a predicted time. That is.

  A structural feature of the invention according to claim 3 is that, in claim 1 or 2, the control means is a control device that does not change the attitude of the vehicle seat when the pitching behavior of the vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined value. It is that.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a structural feature of the vehicle seat according to the first or second aspect, wherein the control means cancels the pitching behavior due to the swing back from the time when the deceleration of the vehicle becomes zero. That is, it is a control device that controls the attitude of the camera.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the pitching angle is predicted and calculated as the pitching behavior based on the detection signal of the vehicle state detection means, and the pitching behavior of the vehicle is controlled to cancel the predicted pitching behavior. The attitude control of the vehicle seat can be surely and easily performed in advance so as to cancel out the above.

  According to the invention according to claim 2, each pitching angle for each time of the vehicle is calculated in advance based on the detection signal from at least one of the detection signals of the acceleration sensor, the speed sensor, and the vehicle height sensor, The posture change of the vehicle seat is controlled every predetermined time so as to cancel the calculated pitching angle. Since the calculated pitching angle is calculated while being corrected by the detection signal of the vehicle state detection means at the predicted time point, the pitching angle can be accurately predicted and calculated. Further, the posture of the vehicle seat can be changed by the posture changing means having a simple structure that turns in the pitching direction, and the ride comfort of the passenger sitting on the seat can be improved.

  According to the invention of claim 3, since the posture of the vehicle seat is not changed until the pitching behavior exceeds a predetermined value, an area where the occupant feels the natural movement of the vehicle can be left, and the ride comfort of the occupant of the vehicle is improved. can do.

  According to the fourth aspect of the invention, the vehicle seat swing behavior from the time point when the deceleration becomes 0 is changed so that the posture of the vehicle seat is changed so as to cancel the swing back pitching behavior. The ride comfort of the passenger can be improved.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of a vehicle occupant attitude control device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing a positional relationship between a seat in a vehicle and a posture control device for a vehicle seat, and FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing a configuration of the posture control device for a vehicle seat attached to the seat.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle seat 2 includes a seat cushion 4 on which an occupant (driver) sits, a seat back 6 that indicates the back of the occupant, and a reclining that adjusts the inclination of the seat back 6 with respect to the seat cushion 4. A device 8 is provided. Below the seat cushion 4, posture changing means 10 for changing the posture of the entire seat is provided.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the posture changing means 10 includes a seat posture driving device 14 provided between the floor 12 of the vehicle 1 and the seat cushion 4, a rotating shaft support member 16 as a rotating mechanism, and a spring member 18. Consists of. The seat posture driving device 14 includes a servo motor 20, a rotation support shaft 22 having a vertical axis on a rotation shaft of the servo motor 20 via a reduction gear (not shown), a helical gear, and the like, and an upper end of the rotation support shaft 22. And a seat lower support portion 26 that is screwed to the portion by a ball screw portion 24. The rotation support shaft 22 is supported by a lower end bearing portion 28 that is supported on the floor 12 of the vehicle 1 so as to be swingable within a predetermined range, and the rotation support shaft 22 swings following the movement of the vehicle seat 2 in the pitching direction. It is configured to be movable. The lower seat support portion 26 is assembled to the lower surface of the rear portion of the seat cushion 4 with a screw (not shown) and the like, and the rear portion of the vehicle seat 2 is driven up and down as the rotation support shaft 22 rotates.

  The pivot shaft support member 16 has a lower support member 30 whose lower end is erected on the floor 12 of the vehicle 1, and an upper support whose upper end is assembled to the lower surface of the center portion of the seat cushion 4 with screws or the like not shown. It consists of the member 32. A lower end portion of the upper support member 32 is pivotally supported on the upper end portion of the lower support member 30 by a rotation shaft 34 having an axis in the left-right direction of the vehicle 1.

  The lower end of the spring member 18 is fixed to the floor 12 of the vehicle 1, and the upper end of the spring member 18 is assembled to the lower surface of the front portion of the seat cushion 4. This spring member 18 relieves an impact force transmitted from the vehicle 1 to the vehicle seat 2.

  Next, the electrical connection of the vehicle seat attitude control device will be described with reference to the block diagram shown in FIG. A wheel speed sensor 52 as a vehicle speed sensor, a G sensor 54, and a stroke sensor 56 as a vehicle height sensor are connected to the control device 50 as a control means, and detection signals detected by the sensors 52, 54, 56 are input. Is done.

  The wheel speed sensor 52 detects the vehicle speed from the rotational speed of the wheel, the G sensor 54 detects so-called spring acceleration accompanying acceleration / braking of the vehicle, and the stroke sensor 52 determines the vehicle height from the relative displacement between the wheel and the vehicle body. To detect. In addition, the servo motor 20 of the seat posture driving device 14 is connected to the control device 50. The control device 50 outputs a control signal to the servo motor 20 and inputs a position signal for feedback by an encoder or the like provided in the servo motor 20.

  A posture change procedure in the vehicle seat posture control apparatus having the above-described configuration will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG. 4 when a brake is applied to the vehicle.

  First, for example, the vehicle state at time tj is detected from the wheel speed sensor 52 and the stroke sensor 56 (step S101). Then, necessary information is input from the signals detected by these sensors 52 and 56 to the control device 50.

  The control device 50 calculates the braking force at time tj based on the detection value (detection signal) of the wheel speed sensor 52. Then, for example, when a braking force of F2 is obtained, the pitching angle of the vehicle at the time point tj + 1 that is delayed after Δt can be predicted by a map prepared in advance as shown in FIG. It should be noted that the displacement amount of the suspension is taken into consideration as a spring constant characteristic from the detection value of the stroke sensor 56. Here, since the so-called pitching behavior of the vehicle is predicted from the unsprung wheel speed, the following correction is performed.

  First, the acceleration Gj at the time point tj is actually measured from the G sensor 54, and a map created in advance for the relationship between the acceleration G and the pitching angle θ as shown in FIG. 5 is programmed to obtain the pitching angle θj at the time point tj. Then, a pitching angle after Δt time is obtained by adding the change amount Δθ after Δt shown in FIG. 6 to this θj (step S102). As described above, the pitching angle θj actually measured for correction at the time point tj is not used as a value for controlling the attitude of the vehicle seat 2 at the time point tj, but is used to predict and calculate the pitching angle after Δt. Used when. Thereafter, the pitching angle after Δt is predicted and calculated while correcting each time. Since the prediction calculation is performed while correcting each time in this way, the pitching angle can be accurately predicted.

  In the present embodiment, the maps as shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 are used, and the pitching angle is corrected by the acceleration by the G sensor. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The detection signal may be corrected.

  Next, in the control device 50, the posture position of the vehicle seat 2 is calculated so as to cancel the predicted pitching angle for each time, and a control signal based on the predicted calculation value for each time is sent to the seat posture driving device 14. Is output to the servo motor 20 for time control. In the case of the present embodiment, a pitching angle is generated so that the vehicle 1 tilts forward by braking. Therefore, the servo motor 20 is rotated so that the rotation support shaft 22 is retracted and the vehicle seat 2 is tilted backward. Change (step S103). In this way, control is performed every time so as to cancel the pitching behavior of the vehicle 1 that has been predicted and calculated, so that the posture of the vehicle seat 2 can be changed reliably and easily in advance. You can feel better. By limiting to the posture control in the pitching direction, a very effective effect can be obtained by simple posture changing means and easy control means.

  As for the so-called vehicle swingback that occurs when the deceleration becomes zero, as shown in FIG. 7, a pre-prepared swingback characteristic map is programmed, and pitching when the vehicle speed is zero is performed. From the angle, for example, phase data S for controlling the attitude of the vehicle seat that cancels the phase of the swing-back behavior Y can be input to the control device 50, and the attitude of the vehicle seat 2 can be changed. .

  Note that a threshold value may be provided for the pitching angle at which the posture change of the vehicle seat 2 is started, and the posture change may not be executed unless a predetermined pitching angle is set in advance. As a result, an area where the occupant feels the natural movement of the vehicle can be left, and the ride comfort of the occupant of the vehicle can be improved.

  In addition, the vehicle body is pitched in comparison with the case where the occupant is a single driver, such as when the vehicle body is tilted backward due to the load of a load or a passenger in the rear seat, or when it is tilted forward due to the passenger in the passenger seat. When the tilt angles are different, the tilt angle may be detected by a stroke sensor provided between the front and rear wheels and the vehicle body, and the tilt angle may be added as an initial value to the predicted pitching angle. .

  Further, for example, even when the entire vehicle is tilted forward, such as when traveling down a slope, the angle of the tilt may be added as an initial value to the pitching angle that is predicted and calculated.

  In the present embodiment, an acceleration sensor, a wheel speed sensor, and a stroke sensor are used as the vehicle state detection means. However, the present invention is not limited to these, for example, an inclination angle sensor that directly detects the inclination of the vehicle body, Various sensors such as a ground vehicle speed sensor that measures the relative speed between the ground and the vehicle body can be used.

The conceptual diagram which shows the positional relationship of the passenger | crew attitude | position control apparatus for vehicles which concerns on this invention, and the seat in a vehicle. The block diagram of the attitude | position control apparatus of a vehicle seat. The electrical connection figure of the attitude | position control apparatus of a vehicle seat. The flowchart which shows an attitude | position change procedure. The map which shows pitching angle (theta) with respect to acceleration G. FIG. The map which shows the time-sequential change of pitching angle (theta) in a predetermined braking force. A map showing the characteristics of the swing-back behavior.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Vehicle, 2 ... Vehicle seat, 10 ... Posture changing means, 14 ... Posture changing means (seat posture driving device), 16 ... Posture changing means / rotating mechanism (rotating shaft support member), 18 ... Posture changing means (Spring member), 34... Rotating shaft, 50... Control means (control device), 52... Vehicle speed sensor (wheel speed sensor), 54.

Claims (4)

Vehicle state detection means for detecting the vehicle state;
Attitude changing means for changing the attitude of the vehicle seat;
An attitude control device for a vehicle seat, comprising: a control means for controlling the attitude changing means based on a vehicle state detected by the vehicle condition detecting means;
The posture changing means is a device that changes the posture of the vehicle seat in the pitching direction of the vehicle,
The control means predicts and calculates a pitching angle per predetermined time when the speed of the vehicle is changed as a pitching behavior based on a detection signal of the vehicle state detection means, and the posture changing means so as to cancel the pitching behavior. The vehicle seat attitude control apparatus characterized by controlling the vehicle. 2. The vehicle state detecting means according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle state detecting means includes an acceleration sensor provided above the suspension of the vehicle, a speed sensor for detecting the vehicle speed from the rotational speed of the wheel, and a vehicle height for detecting a relative displacement between the vehicle body and the wheel of the vehicle. Including at least one of the sensors,
The posture changing means has a turning mechanism for pivotally supporting the vehicle seat so as to be rotatable at least in a pitching direction around an axis parallel to the left-right direction of the vehicle,
The vehicle seat posture control apparatus, wherein the control means corrects the pitching angle obtained by the prediction calculation based on a detection signal of the vehicle state detection means at a predicted time.   3. The vehicle seat attitude control device according to claim 1, wherein the control means is a control device that does not change the attitude of the vehicle seat when the pitching behavior of the vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined value.   3. The control device according to claim 1, wherein the control means is a control device that controls the posture of the vehicle seat so as to cancel the pitching behavior due to the swing back from the time when the deceleration of the vehicle becomes zero. An attitude control device for a vehicle seat.

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