JP2008110635A - Informing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enhance recognition property regarding existence and approaching without giving overbearing sense and incompatible sense to a person positioned at a periphery of a vehicle traveling using an electric motor as a power source. <P>SOLUTION: The informing device is provided with a measurement means mounted on the vehicle self-traveling using the electric motor as a power source and measuring a distance with the person positioned at the periphery of the vehicle; and a control means for performing drive control of an auxiliary mechanism including at least a fuel cell part for performing power generation of drive electric power of the electric motor, a cooling part for cooling the electric motor and an air-conditioning part for performing air-conditioning of a getting-in space of the vehicle. The control means operates a plurality of parts of the auxiliary mechanism when a distance measured by the measurement means is not more than a predetermined first threshold value, and it operates the predetermined one of the auxiliary mechanism when it is not more than a second threshold value larger than the first threshold value. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for allowing a person around a vehicle such as a pedestrian to recognize the presence of the vehicle.

In recent years, with increasing interest in environmental protection, vehicles using a motor as a power source (hereinafter also referred to as “low-pollution vehicles”) such as so-called hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles, and fuel cell vehicles have started to spread. This type of vehicle has a feature that the exhaust gas has little or no influence on the environment compared to a vehicle using an internal combustion engine such as a conventional gasoline engine or diesel engine as a power source. .
By the way, unlike the internal combustion engine, the electric motor does not perform vaporization compression and explosion of the fuel, and thus has a feature that the operation noise is extremely small. For this reason, the low-pollution vehicle has a problem that the running sound is extremely low and it is difficult for a person such as a pedestrian around the vehicle to notice the approach. Therefore, various techniques for solving such problems have been proposed in the past, and examples thereof include the techniques disclosed in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-133867 discloses a technique for detecting the traveling state of a vehicle by an acceleration sensor and outputting a warning sound such as a horn or a pseudo engine sound according to the detection result, thereby notifying surrounding people of the presence of the vehicle. Is disclosed. Further, Patent Document 2 describes that when the vehicle speed becomes a certain value or less, a pseudo engine sound or the like is reproduced at a sound pressure level determined according to the rotation speed of the air conditioning compressor, and the vehicle is stopped. A technology to make people aware of this is disclosed.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-27810 JP 2005-74994 A

However, the techniques disclosed in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 have the following problems. In other words, in an aspect in which the presence of the vehicle is made known to the surrounding people by the pseudo engine sound, the engine sound can be heard from an electric vehicle or a fuel cell automatic person who should not make any engine sound at all, which gives an unnatural impression. May end up.
On the other hand, in the aspect using the horn sound, there are cases where the surrounding people are given more intimidating feeling than necessary or the surrounding people are surprised. Also, if you use a horn sound with reduced sound pressure to avoid intimidating the surrounding people more than necessary and surprise the surrounding people, they will mislead the distance to the vehicle. May cause danger. In addition, if various sounds are generated for each vehicle, there is a problem that it may cause noise pollution in a place where there is a lot of traffic such as an urban area.
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and improves the cognition of the presence and approach of a vehicle without giving a sense of intimidation or discomfort to people around the vehicle running with an electric motor as a power source. The purpose is to provide technology that makes it possible.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention performs a power generation of a driving power of the motor, and a measuring unit that measures a distance from a person that is mounted on a self-running vehicle using the electric motor as a power source and that is around the vehicle. A fuel cell unit, a cooling unit for cooling the electric motor, and a control unit that performs drive control of an auxiliary mechanism including at least an air conditioning unit that air-conditions the boarding space of the vehicle, and the control unit includes the measurement Provided is a notification device characterized in that a larger number of the auxiliary mechanisms are operated as the distance measured by the means is closer.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a travel speed of a vehicle that self-runs using an electric motor as a power source, the number of revolutions of the electric motor, and a depression amount of an operation pedal for instructing increase / decrease of the travel speed. Vehicle information acquisition means for acquiring vehicle information representing at least one of the accelerator opening from a drive control unit that performs drive control of the motor, a fuel cell unit that generates drive power of the motor, and for cooling the motor And a control unit that performs drive control of an auxiliary mechanism including at least an air conditioning unit that air-conditions the boarding space of the vehicle, and the control unit determines a travel speed or a travel speed of the vehicle based on the vehicle information. There is provided a notification device characterized in that the degree of increase / decrease is specified, and a larger number of auxiliary mechanisms are operated as the specified value is higher.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a travel speed of a vehicle that self-runs using an electric motor as a power source, the number of revolutions of the electric motor, and a depression amount of an operation pedal for instructing increase / decrease of the travel speed. Vehicle information acquisition means for acquiring vehicle information representing at least one of the accelerator opening from a drive control unit that performs drive control of the motor, a fuel cell unit that generates drive power of the motor, and for cooling the motor And a control unit that performs drive control of an auxiliary mechanism including at least an air conditioning unit that air-conditions the boarding space of the vehicle, and the control unit determines a travel speed or a travel speed of the vehicle based on the vehicle information. The degree of increase / decrease is specified, and the higher the specified value is, the larger the operation amount is set to operate the auxiliary mechanism.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to improve the cognition about the presence and approach of a vehicle without giving a sense of intimidation or discomfort to a person around the vehicle running with an electric motor as a power source. Play.

Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
(A: Configuration)
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a vehicle 1 in which a notification device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention is mounted.
The vehicle 1 is a so-called fuel cell vehicle, and is equipped with a fuel cell (not shown) and an electric motor (not shown) that is driven by power supplied from the fuel cell. The fuel cell is connected to the electric motor via an inverter (not shown), and the rotating shaft of the electric motor is connected to the axle via a transmission mechanism including a differential gear, for example.

The notification device 10 of FIG. 1 performs notification for allowing a pedestrian to recognize the presence of the vehicle 1 and its approach, and includes a pedestrian detection unit 110, a control unit 120, and an operation panel 130.
The pedestrian detection unit 110 is an ultrasonic sensor, for example, and emits an ultrasonic wave having a predetermined frequency toward the periphery of the vehicle 1 and measures the reflected wave, thereby obtaining a search area (a reflected wave having sufficient intensity is obtained). Range: In this embodiment, it is determined whether or not there is a pedestrian in a circle having a radius R1 centered on the position of the center of gravity of the vehicle 1. If it is determined that there is a pedestrian, (Hereinafter simply referred to as “distance to pedestrians”) is transferred to the control unit 120. When it is detected that there are a plurality of pedestrians in the search area, the pedestrian detection unit 110 indicates the distance for the pedestrian that is closest to the vehicle 1 among the plurality of pedestrians. Data is transferred to the control unit 120. This is because the pedestrian who is closer to the vehicle 1 needs to increase the cognition about the presence and approach of the vehicle 1. In this embodiment, the case where the pedestrian detection unit 110 is configured by an ultrasonic sensor will be described. However, the pedestrian detection unit 110 may be configured by a millimeter wave radar. In short, the distance between the pedestrian and the vehicle may be measured. Any possible means may be used.

The control unit 120 is, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), for example, a control program stored in a non-volatile memory (not shown) that stores data in a rewritable manner such as a flash memory, for example, a RAM (Random Access Memory) or the like. The notification process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 2 is executed by reading the program to a volatile memory (not shown) and executing it.
More specifically, when the control unit 120 operating according to the control program is handed over the data indicating the distance to the pedestrian from the pedestrian detection unit 110, the distance is set to a predetermined threshold value R2 (however, , R1> R2) is determined whether or not, and the operation control of each component of the auxiliary mechanism 20 is performed according to the determination result, and the presence or approach of the vehicle 1 to the pedestrian by the operation sound. Inform.

  The operation panel 130 includes a display unit (not shown) configured by a liquid crystal display, for example, and an operation unit (also not shown) having a plurality of operation elements such as a numeric keypad. The operation panel 130 has a function of providing a user interface for allowing a user (for example, the driver of the vehicle 1) to appropriately set a threshold value R2 regarding whether or not the notification by the notification device 10 can be executed and a distance from the pedestrian, for example. Is responsible.

The auxiliary mechanism 20 is a mechanism that is not directly involved in the traveling of the vehicle 1. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, a cooling system 210 that cools the electric motor including a radiator fan and its drive mechanism, An air conditioning system 220 that includes an air conditioning compressor and the like for performing air conditioning (cooling and heating) of the boarding space of the vehicle 1, and a fuel cell system 230 that includes a fuel pump and the like for supplying fuel such as hydrogen to the fuel cell and executing power generation. Contains.
These auxiliary mechanisms originally operate under the control of an operation control unit (not shown) such as an ECU (Engine Control Unit), and each of them plays a role (for example, for the cooling system 210, the role of cooling the motor). However, in the present embodiment, each operating sound also serves as a notification unit that notifies the surrounding pedestrian of the presence of the vehicle 1 and its approach. In addition, although this embodiment demonstrated the case where the control part 120 of the alerting | reporting apparatus 10 was provided separately from the said operation control part, of course, you may make it make the said operation control part bear the function of the control part 120.

In the present embodiment, when the distance R with the pedestrian measured by the pedestrian detection unit 110 is equal to or less than the threshold value R2, the air conditioning system 220 and the fuel cell system 230 are operated to notify the pedestrian. And when the distance R with the pedestrian exceeds the threshold value R2 (that is, when R2 <R ≦ R1), only the cooling system 210 is operated to notify the pedestrian. Is determined in advance, and data indicating that is stored in the nonvolatile memory. Specifically, an identifier (such as a hardware address) indicating the cooling system 210 and a threshold value R1 are stored in the nonvolatile memory in association with each other, and each of the air conditioning system 220 and the fuel cell system 230 is stored. Are stored in association with each other and a threshold value R2.
The above is the configuration example of the notification device 10.

(B: Operation)
Next, operations performed by the notification device 10 will be described with reference to the drawings.
At the start of the operation described below, as shown in FIG. 3, the vehicle 1 is traveling on the road RW at a speed V1, and the pedestrian W is traveling on the sidewalk SW along the road RW at a speed V2 (however, V2 It is assumed that the vehicle is walking in the same direction as the traveling direction of the vehicle 1 in <V1). In the state shown in FIG. 3, it is assumed that the vehicle 1 and the pedestrian W are sufficiently separated from each other, and the pedestrian W is not in the search area of the pedestrian detection unit 110. In the vehicle 1, it is assumed that none of the cooling system 210, the air conditioning system 220, and the fuel cell system 230 is operating.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a flow of notification processing executed by the control unit 120 operating according to the control program. As shown in FIG. 2, the control unit 120 first determines whether or not the distance from the pedestrian W is equal to or less than R1 (step SA100), and while the determination result is “No”, the control unit 120 determines whether or not the distance is R1. When the determination result is “Yes”, the processes after step SA110 are executed. As described above, in the present embodiment, the pedestrian detection unit 110 does not deliver the data indicating the distance to the pedestrian to the control unit 120 until the distance to the pedestrian becomes R1 or less. Performs the determination of step A100 according to whether the data has been received from the pedestrian detection unit 110 or not.

  In this operation example, since the pedestrian W is outside the detection area of the pedestrian detection unit 110 from the state shown in FIG. 3 to the state shown in FIG. 4, its presence is not detected, and the determination result of step SA100 Becomes “No”, and the process of step SA100 is repeatedly executed as shown in FIG. When the state shown in FIG. 4 is reached, since the pedestrian W is in the detection area in the state shown in FIG. 4, the distance from the pedestrian W is measured by the pedestrian detection unit 110, and the measurement is performed. Data indicating the result is delivered to the control unit 120. As a result, the determination result in step SA100 is “Yes”, and the processes after step SA110 are executed.

Returning to FIG. 2, in step SA <b> 110 executed when the determination result in step SA <b> 100 is “Yes”, the control unit 120 determines whether the distance from the pedestrian W is equal to or less than the threshold value R <b> 2. . If the determination result in step SA110 is “No”, the control unit 120 operates a predetermined one of the auxiliary mechanisms 20 (in this embodiment, the cooling system 210) (step SA120). On the contrary, when the determination result in step SA110 is “Yes”, the control unit 120 determines two of the auxiliary mechanisms 20 in advance (in the present embodiment, the air conditioning system 220 and the fuel cell system 230). Is operated (step SA130).
Thereafter, in step SA140 following step SA120 or step SA130, control unit 120 determines whether or not the electric motor that is the power source of vehicle 1 is stopped (that is, whether or not vehicle 1 is stopped). When the determination result is “No”, the processes after step SA100 are repeated, and when the determination result is “Yes”, the notification process is terminated.

In this operation example, since the distance between the vehicle 1 and the pedestrian W exceeds the threshold value R2 from the state shown in FIG. 4 to the state shown in FIG. 5, the determination result in step SA110 is “No”. The control unit 120 operates only the cooling system 210. As a result, the pedestrian W listens to the operating sound of the cooling system 210 from the state shown in FIG. 4 to the state shown in FIG.
On the other hand, after the state shown in FIG. 5, since the distance between the vehicle 1 and the pedestrian W is equal to or less than the threshold value R2, the determination result in step SA110 is “Yes”. And the fuel cell system 230 are operated. As a result, after the state shown in FIG. 5, the pedestrian W listens to the operating sounds of the air conditioning system 220 and the fuel cell system 230.

  Thus, in this operation example, the sound heard by the pedestrian W as the vehicle 1 approaches changes from “operation sound of the cooling system 210” to “operation sound of the air conditioning system 220 and the fuel cell system 230”. Therefore, the pedestrian W recognizes the presence and approach of the vehicle 1 by the change in the listening sound. Since the vehicle 1 moves away from the pedestrian W as time passes after the state shown in FIG. 5, the control unit 120 restarts the operation of only the cooling system 210 when the distance between the two exceeds R2. When the switching is further performed and the distance between the two exceeds R1, the operation of the cooling system 210 is stopped. For this reason, the pedestrian W can also recognize that the vehicle 1 gradually moves away by the change of the listening sound.

As described above, in the present embodiment, since the pedestrian recognizes the presence and approach of the vehicle 1 that is a fuel cell vehicle by the operation sound of the auxiliary mechanism that the vehicle 1 originally has, the pseudo engine sound It is possible to make the pedestrian feel uncomfortable as in the case of using the pedestrian or to give the pedestrian a feeling of intimidation as in the case of using a horn sound, and to improve the cognition. There are effects such as.
Further, by using the fuel cell system 230 as the notification means, it is possible to charge the battery with the electric power generated by the notification operation, and an accompanying effect such as less waste is expected. In addition, although this embodiment demonstrated the case where the notification target of the presence and approach of the vehicle 1 by the notification device 10 is a pedestrian around the vehicle 1, the notification target is parallel to or opposite to the vehicle 1. Of course, it may be a driver of other automobiles, motorcycles, bicycles and the like.

(C: deformation)
Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, it is needless to say that the embodiment may be modified as described below.
(1) In the above-described embodiment, when the distance from the pedestrian is equal to or less than the first threshold value (R1 in the above-described embodiment) and exceeds the second threshold value that is smaller than the first threshold value. A predetermined one of the plurality of auxiliary mechanisms is operated, and when the distance is equal to or smaller than the second threshold, two predetermined ones of the plurality of auxiliary mechanisms are operated. Explained the case.
However, when the distance to the pedestrian is less than or equal to the first threshold value and greater than the second threshold value, two predetermined mechanisms out of a plurality of auxiliary mechanisms are operated, and the distance is Of course, if it is less than or equal to the second threshold, three predetermined ones of the plurality of auxiliary mechanisms may be operated. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the distance between the vehicle and the pedestrian is divided by two types of thresholds has been described, but of course, it may be divided by three or more types of thresholds. In short, any mode that activates a large number of auxiliary mechanisms as the distance from the pedestrian becomes shorter is sufficient.
In addition, when all the auxiliary mechanisms are operating in a situation where the distance from the pedestrian is equal to or less than the first threshold value and exceeds the second threshold value, some of the auxiliary mechanisms are temporarily It is also possible to cause the control to stop automatically.

(2) In the above-described embodiment, one or more of the auxiliary mechanisms are operated according to the distance from the pedestrian detected by the pedestrian detection unit 110, and the operation sound causes the vehicle to approach the pedestrian. The case of making it recognize was explained. However, the degree of increase / decrease in the traveling speed of the vehicle may be specified, and the greater the degree of increase / decrease, the more auxiliary mechanisms may be operated so that the surrounding people can recognize that fact.

FIG. 6 is a notification that allows one or more of the auxiliary mechanisms to operate depending on whether the vehicle is accelerating or decelerating, and to allow pedestrians to recognize that effect. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a device 30. FIG. As apparent from a comparison between FIG. 6 and FIG. 1, the notification device 30 is different from the notification device 10 only in that a vehicle information acquisition unit 310 is provided instead of the pedestrian detection unit 110. The vehicle information acquisition unit 310 is an accelerator opening sensor that detects a depression amount (that is, an accelerator opening) with respect to an accelerator pedal for instructing an increase / decrease in the traveling speed of the vehicle, and data indicating the detection result is transmitted to the control unit. Deliver to 120.
And the control part 120 of the alerting | reporting apparatus 30 is a some auxiliary | assistant, when the increase / decrease degree of driving speed is more than a 1st threshold value and less than a 2nd threshold value larger than this 1st threshold value. If a predetermined one of the mechanisms is activated and the degree exceeds the second threshold, two predetermined ones of the plurality of auxiliary mechanisms are activated. In this way, the larger the accelerator opening, the greater the number of auxiliary mechanisms to be operated, so that the sound that serves as an indicator for letting the surrounding people know whether the vehicle is accelerating or decelerating It becomes possible to provide. In addition, although this modification demonstrated the case where the vehicle information acquisition part 310 for acquiring the vehicle information showing whether the vehicle is speeding up or decelerating is comprised with an accelerator opening sensor. Of course, it may be constituted by a rotational speed sensor for measuring the rotational speed of the electric motor, or may be constituted by a vehicle speed sensor for measuring the traveling speed of the vehicle.

(3) In the above-described embodiment, the case where the notification device according to the present invention is mounted on a fuel cell vehicle has been described. However, the provision target of the notification device is not limited to the fuel cell vehicle. It may be a hybrid vehicle. These electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles are not different from fuel cell vehicles in terms of self-running using an electric motor, and because the running noise is quiet, the above-mentioned problems are the same.
In the above-described embodiment, the case where a cooling system, an air conditioning system, and a fuel cell system are used as notification means for notifying the presence or approach of a vehicle has been described. For example, a hybrid vehicle or an electric vehicle uses a fuel cell. Since the system is not always provided, an auxiliary mechanism included in a vehicle on which the notification device according to the present invention is mounted may be appropriately used as the notification unit.

(4) In the embodiment described above, by operating the number of auxiliary mechanisms corresponding to the distance to the pedestrian detected by the pedestrian detection unit 110, the presence and approach of the vehicle to the pedestrian is notified. explained. However, by operating each auxiliary mechanism with an operation amount corresponding to the distance to the pedestrian detected by the pedestrian detection unit 110 (for example, an operation amount that increases as the distance decreases), the presence of the vehicle on the pedestrian and The approach may be notified, and each auxiliary mechanism is operated with an operation amount corresponding to the traveling speed of the vehicle or the degree of increase / decrease thereof (that is, the greater the travel amount or the greater the increase / decrease of the traveling speed). You may make it operate.
For example, in a mode in which a radiator fan is operated at a rotational speed corresponding to the traveling speed of the vehicle and the traveling speed of the vehicle is notified to surrounding people by the operating sound, the rotational speed R of the radiator fan is set to the traveling speed V of the vehicle. (That is, R = a × V: a is a positive constant). In addition, when the traveling speed of the vehicle exceeds a predetermined upper limit speed (for example, 40 kilometers per hour), the rotation speed of the radiator fan may reach a peak at a value corresponding to the upper limit speed, When the traveling speed of the vehicle is lower than a predetermined lower limit speed (for example, every 5 kilometers), the rotation speed of the radiator fan may hit the bottom with a value corresponding to the lower limit speed. In particular, in a mode in which the number of revolutions of the radiator fan hits the bottom with a value corresponding to the lower limit speed, even when the vehicle is stopped (that is, the traveling speed is “0”), the radiator fan Since it operates at the number of revolutions corresponding to the lower limit speed, it is possible to appeal the presence of the vehicle to the surrounding people.

It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the alerting | reporting apparatus 10 which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the alerting | reporting process which the control part 120 of the alerting | reporting apparatus 10 performs. 4 is a diagram for explaining an operation example of the notification device 10. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining an operation example of the notification device 10. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining an operation example of the notification device 10. FIG. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the alerting | reporting apparatus 30 which concerns on a modification (2).

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Vehicle, 10, 30 ... Notification apparatus, 110 ... Pedestrian detection part, 120 ... Control part, 130 ... Operation panel, 20 ... Auxiliary mechanism, 210 ... Cooling system, 220 ... Air conditioning system, 230 ... Fuel cell system.

Claims (3)

A measuring means mounted on a vehicle that is self-propelled using an electric motor as a power source, and that measures a distance from a person around the vehicle;
A control means for performing drive control of an auxiliary mechanism including at least a fuel cell unit for generating driving power of the electric motor, a cooling unit for cooling the electric motor, and an air conditioning unit for air-conditioning the boarding space of the vehicle;
With
The control means includes
A number of auxiliary mechanisms are operated as the distance measured by the measuring means is closer. Vehicle information representing at least one of a traveling speed of a vehicle that self-runs using the electric motor as a power source, a rotation speed of the electric motor, and an accelerator opening that is a depression amount of an operation pedal for instructing an increase or decrease in the traveling speed is stored in the electric motor. Vehicle information acquisition means for acquiring from a drive control unit for performing the drive control,
A control means for performing drive control of an auxiliary mechanism including at least a fuel cell unit for generating driving power of the electric motor, a cooling unit for cooling the electric motor, and an air conditioning unit for air-conditioning the boarding space of the vehicle;
With
The control means includes
A notification device characterized by specifying a travel speed of the vehicle or a degree of increase / decrease of the travel speed from the vehicle information, and operating a larger number of auxiliary mechanisms as the identified value is higher. Vehicle information representing at least one of a traveling speed of a vehicle that self-runs using the electric motor as a power source, a rotation speed of the electric motor, and an accelerator opening that is a depression amount of an operation pedal for instructing an increase or decrease in the traveling speed is stored in the electric motor. Vehicle information acquisition means for acquiring from a drive control unit for performing the drive control,
A control means for performing drive control of an auxiliary mechanism including at least a fuel cell unit for generating driving power of the electric motor, a cooling unit for cooling the electric motor, and an air conditioning unit for air-conditioning the boarding space of the vehicle;
With
The control means includes
A notification device characterized by specifying a travel speed of the vehicle or a degree of increase / decrease of the travel speed from the vehicle information, and operating the auxiliary mechanism by increasing an operation amount as the specified value is higher.

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