JP2008221908A - Acceleration pedal device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an acceleration pedal device capable of judging a status liable to cause a traffic accident and adjusting reaction force in accordance with the status. <P>SOLUTION: This accelerator pedal device furnished with a reaction force device (actuator) 5 to give operating reaction force to acceleration operation of a driver has a driving environment information acquisition means to acquire information concerning a driving environment in travelling and a driving environment judging means 9 to judge whether the driving environment is an accident inducing environment or not in accordance with driving environment information acquired from the driving environment information acquisition means, and the reaction force device 5 increases the operating reaction force when the driving environment judging means judges that the driving environment is the accident inducing environment. The driving environment information acquisition means includes an audio device 6, a car navigation device 7 and an on-vehicle clock 8. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an accelerator pedal device provided in a vehicle, and particularly to an accelerator pedal device capable of changing a reaction force against an accelerator operation in accordance with a driving environment.

  The driver of the vehicle controls the speed of the vehicle by adjusting the depression of the accelerator pedal. Therefore, the driver's consciousness is concentrated on the toes regardless of whether or not he / she is aware, and is sensitive to stimuli received from the toes. In particular, the driver can sensitively recognize the reaction force against the depression of the accelerator pedal, sensibly estimate the depression amount of the accelerator pedal from the magnitude of the reaction force received from the accelerator pedal, and further obtain it by the depression amount of the accelerator pedal. Driving while estimating the vehicle speed. Therefore, it is possible to effectively alert the driver by using a sensitive sensation of the toes and to reduce the amount of depression of the accelerator pedal unconsciously.

As a device using such a sense of the toes, conventionally, the distance between the preceding vehicle and the host vehicle is measured using a laser sensor or the like, and when the distance between the vehicles decreases, the reaction to the depression of the accelerator pedal is counteracted. There is an accelerator pedal device (for example, Patent Literature 1) that warns the driver by increasing the force, and a device that can adjust the reaction force against the depression of the accelerator pedal according to the road surface condition (for example, Patent Literature 2). These accelerator pedal devices have reaction force means, increase the reaction force of the accelerator pedal to avoid the dangerous state in vehicle running as detected by sensors, etc., and without making the driver aware that the vehicle is decelerating. The purpose is to push back the accelerator pedal. This is because the driver adjusts the depression based on the reaction force of the accelerator pedal in order to obtain the desired speed and torque, and makes the driver unconscious by increasing the reaction force. The accelerator pedal is depressed.
Japanese Patent No.3531640 JP-A-5-231194

  Increasing the reaction force of the accelerator pedal is an effective means for reducing the vehicle speed unconsciously by the driver, and effectively acts to prevent a traffic accident. Because traffic accidents are likely to occur in situations where visibility is poor, driving in areas with many children, situations where the driver's attention is reduced, or when there is an abnormality in the vehicle, these situations occurred. Sometimes, by increasing the reaction force of the accelerator pedal, the driver can unconsciously reduce the vehicle speed and prevent traffic accidents. For that purpose, it is necessary to adjust the reaction force of the accelerator pedal according to the external environment and the driver's condition while the vehicle is running, accurately grasping the driving environment such as the external environment and the driver's condition while driving the vehicle, It is necessary to determine whether these are environments that are prone to traffic accidents, that is, accident-induced environments.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has information acquisition means for acquiring information for determining the presence or absence of a situation in which a traffic accident is likely to occur. An object is to provide an accelerator pedal device that can be adjusted.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, claim 1 of the present invention provides an accelerator pedal device including a reaction force device (actuator 5) that applies an operation reaction force to a driver's accelerator operation. Driving environment information acquisition means for acquiring information related to the driving environment, and driving environment determination means 9 for determining whether or not the driving environment is an accident-induced environment based on the driving environment information obtained from the driving environment information acquisition means. The reaction force device 5 increases the operation reaction force when the driving environment determination means 9 determines that the driving environment is an accident-induced environment.

  The invention of claim 2 is the invention of claim 1, wherein the driving environment information acquisition means is date information acquisition means, and the judgment condition of the driving environment judgment means is dawn or dusk. It is characterized by.

  The invention of claim 3 is the invention of claim 1, wherein the driving environment information acquisition means is a car navigation device 6, and the judgment condition of the driving environment judgment means 9 is an area where an accident is a concern. It is characterized by being.

  The invention of claim 4 is the invention of claim 1, wherein the driving environment information acquisition means is the audio device 6, and the judgment condition of the driving environment judgment means 9 is based on the volume of the audio device or the audio device. It is based on the tempo of the flowing music.

  Further, the invention of claim 5 is the invention of claim 1, wherein the driving environment information acquisition means is an in-vehicle device, and the determination condition of the driving environment determination means 9 is an operation status of the in-vehicle device. It is characterized by.

  According to the invention of claim 1, since the accelerator pedal device has the driving environment information acquisition means and the driving environment determination means, the driving environment can be grasped from the driving environment information while constantly monitoring the driving environment information during traveling. . When it is determined that the driving environment is an accident-inducing environment, the pedal reaction force can be increased to reduce the driver's accelerator pedal depression amount, thereby reducing the vehicle speed. Thereby, the probability of occurrence of an accident can be reduced.

  According to the invention of claim 2, the driving environment information acquisition means is date / time information acquisition means capable of acquiring date / time information such as an in-vehicle clock, a car navigation device, an audio device, etc., and acquires the current time to determine the driving environment. The means determines whether the driving environment is dawn or evening from the current time. At dawn and evening, the brightness of the surrounding environment changes with sunrise and sunset, so the driver has poor visibility and is prone to accidents. Therefore, reducing the accelerator pedal depression amount and reducing the vehicle speed is effective in preventing accidents.

  According to the invention of claim 3, the driving environment information acquisition means is a car navigation device, acquires current driving point information, and determines whether or not the driving point is an accident occurrence risk area by the driving environment determination means. . An accident occurrence risk area is, for example, an area where a child is likely to be on the road, such as a school zone or a residential area, an area where the road is meandering and has a poor prospect, a steep curve, or the like. Therefore, in such an area, it is effective for preventing accidents to reduce the accelerator pedal depression amount and reduce the vehicle speed.

  According to the invention of claim 4, the driving environment information acquisition means is an audio device, and based on the volume of the audio device or the tempo information of the music flowing from the audio device, the driving environment determination means determines whether the volume is high or the music is fast. It is determined whether or not. The determination is made by comparing a predetermined volume value or tempo value preset for each of the driving environment determination means and the volume or tempo of music. In general, it is known that when listening to fast-paced music, the heart rate and blood pressure increase, and so-called excitement occurs. When driving in this state, there is a tendency to step on the accelerator pedal more than usual. It has been suggested that this may lead to an accident. Listening to music at high volume is equally exciting and can lead to accidents. For this reason, it is effective in preventing accidents by reducing the amount of depression of the accelerator pedal and reducing the vehicle speed when high volume or fast-tempo music is flowing from the audio device.

  According to the invention of claim 5, the driving environment information acquisition means is an in-vehicle device such as a car navigation device or an audio device, for example, acquires the presence or absence of an operation by the driver from the input signal, and the driving environment determination means Determine if you are operating an in-vehicle device. Operating an on-vehicle device during driving, that is, side-view driving, may cause a traffic accident. Further, performing such an operation during driving is a state in which the driver lacks concentration on driving and there is a high risk of an accident occurring. Therefore, when the in-vehicle device is operated by the driver, it is effective in preventing accidents by reducing the depression amount of the accelerator pedal and reducing the vehicle speed.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a side view of an accelerator pedal device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of the accelerator pedal device according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a control flow of the accelerator pedal device according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a graph showing the relationship between the depression amount and the depression reaction force of the accelerator pedal device according to the present invention.

  First, the mechanical configuration of the accelerator pedal device will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the accelerator pedal 3 is supported by a pedal support 2 provided in the vehicle body 1 so as to be tiltable in response to depression. In addition, an actuator 5 serving as a reaction force device is provided so as to connect the vehicle body 1 and the accelerator pedal 3 so as to limit the movement of the accelerator pedal 3 in the depression direction.

  The accelerator pedal 3 is provided with a tread plate 4 at one end, and an accelerator wire (not shown) that is mechanically connected to a throttle valve at the other end to adjust the throttle opening. The relationship between the accelerator pedal and the throttle valve is not limited to this embodiment. For example, a sensor that electrically detects the position of the accelerator pedal 3 instead of the accelerator wire is provided, and the amount of depression is converted into an electrical signal so that the throttle valve A drive-by-wire system may be used.

  The actuator 5 is, for example, a linear motor, receives a signal from an accelerator pedal reaction force control circuit 10 to be described later, and drives the drive unit 5b in and out of the motor body 5a fixed to the vehicle body 1 side by linear motor driving. Apply force in the direction opposite to the stepping direction.

  Next, a device configuration for performing reaction force control of the accelerator pedal 3 will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the accelerator pedal device includes an audio device 6 as a driving environment information acquisition unit, a car navigation device 7, a driving environment determination circuit 9 to which driving environment information acquired by an in-vehicle clock 8 is input, The accelerator pedal reaction force control circuit 10 receives a signal from the environment determination circuit 9 and the actuator 5 is driven and controlled by the accelerator pedal reaction force control circuit 10.

  The audio device 6 may be a general in-vehicle audio device, and inputs an electric signal of a music flowing from the audio device to the driving environment determination circuit 9. The car navigation device 7 may be a general vehicle-mounted car navigation device, and inputs the current traveling position to the driving environment determination circuit 9. The in-vehicle clock is a general in-vehicle clock that can acquire date / time information, and the current date / time is input to the driving environment determination circuit 9. When the current date and time can be input from the car navigation device 7 or the audio device 6 to the driving environment determination circuit 9, the current time information need not be acquired from the in-vehicle clock.

  The driving environment determination circuit 9 determines the tempo of the music from the electrical signal of music input from the audio device 6 and determines whether the tempo is equal to or higher than a predetermined tempo (T) or the volume of the music is predetermined. It is determined whether or not the volume is equal to or higher than the volume (V), and it is determined whether or not the driving environment is an accident-induced environment. As the predetermined tempo value and sound volume value, values experimentally obtained as values for enhancing the mental state of a person are used.

  In addition, the driving environment determination circuit 9 compares the current travel point information input from the car navigation device 7 with a preset accident occurrence risk area map, and determines whether the current travel point corresponds to the accident occurrence risk area. To determine whether the driving environment is an accident-induced environment. Accident occurrence risk area Accident occurrence risk area is an area where there is a high possibility that children such as school zones or residential areas are on the road, roads meandering, areas with poor visibility, and sharp curves etc. It is included.

  Further, the driving environment determination circuit 9 compares the current time input from the vehicle-mounted clock as the date and time information acquisition means with a preset dawn / dusk map to determine whether the current time corresponds to dawn or dusk. To determine whether the driving environment is an accident-induced environment. The dawn / dusk map shows the dawn and time zone corresponding to the date. The date / time information acquisition means may be any one of the car navigation device 7 and the audio device 6 capable of acquiring date / time information other than the in-vehicle clock 8.

  In addition, the driving environment determination circuit 9 determines whether the driver is operating the audio device 6 and the car navigation device 7 based on the presence / absence information of the operation input input from the audio device 6 and the car navigation device 7 as in-vehicle devices. It is determined whether or not the driving environment is an accident-induced environment.

  The accelerator pedal reaction force control circuit 10 drives the actuator 5 so as to change the depression reaction force according to the depression amount of the accelerator pedal, and further adds the depression reaction force based on the determination result by the driving environment determination circuit 9. The actuator 5 is driven and controlled. Conventionally, the accelerator pedal device is set so that the depression reaction force increases in a proportional relationship with the depression amount of the accelerator pedal. As shown in FIG. 4, the accelerator pedal device according to the present invention maintains a proportional relationship between the accelerator pedal depression amount and the depression reaction force, and further adds the depression reaction force when the driving environment is an environment in which an accident is likely to occur. It is controlled to increase. In this embodiment, the stepping reaction force can be additionally increased to four stages. When the reaction force of the accelerator pedal increases, the driver unconsciously operates so that the reaction force received from the toes is constant, so that the amount of depression of the accelerator pedal is returned to a position where a comparable reaction force can be obtained.

  Next, a control flow for performing reaction force control of the accelerator pedal 3 will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, the control is performed for each predetermined time difference. Step ST1 is performed by the driving environment determination circuit 9, and the current date and time, the current travel point, the tempo of the song, and the presence / absence of device operation are acquired from the audio device 6, the car navigation device 7, and the in-vehicle clock 8. The tempo of the music is determined and acquired from the electrical signal of the music input from the audio device 6. Then, it moves to step ST2.

  The process of step ST2 is performed by the driving environment determination circuit 9, and a preset dawn / dusk map is read.

  The process of step ST3 is performed by the driving environment judgment circuit 9, and the current date and time acquired in step ST1 is compared with the dawn / dusk map read in step ST2, and it is determined whether the current time corresponds to dawn or dusk. judge. If applicable, the process proceeds to step ST4. Otherwise, the process proceeds to step ST5.

  The processing of step ST4 is performed by the accelerator pedal reaction force control circuit 10. The accelerator pedal reaction force control circuit 10 controls the actuator 5 to increase the stepping reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal 3 by one step. Here, the additional step increase in the stepping reaction force represents an increase due to the addition of a predetermined amount, and corresponds to an increase in the value of the stepping reaction force intercept that is proportional to the stepping amount. In the present embodiment, the additional increase in the stepping reaction force is in four stages (see FIG. 4). Except for the present embodiment, the number of steps may be arbitrarily increased, for example, the additional increase of the stepping reaction force may be one step, and the increase amount of the stepping reaction force in one step may be an arbitrary value. Then, it progresses to step ST5.

  The process of step ST5 is performed by the driving environment judgment circuit 9, and a preset accident occurrence risk area map is read.

  The process of step ST5 is performed by the driving environment judgment circuit 9, and the current travel location acquired in step ST1 is compared with the accident occurrence risk area map read in step ST5, and the current travel position corresponds to the accident occurrence risk area. Judge whether to do. If applicable, the process proceeds to step ST7, and if not, the process proceeds to step ST8.

  The processing of step ST7 is performed by the accelerator pedal reaction force control circuit 10. The accelerator pedal reaction force control circuit 10 controls the actuator 5 to increase the stepping reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal 3 by one step. If the stepping reaction force is increased by one step in step ST4, the increase in this step results in a two-step increase from the normal state. Then, it progresses to step ST8.

  The process of step ST8 is performed by the driving environment determination circuit 9, and the music tempo acquired in step ST1 is compared with a predetermined tempo value (T) to determine whether the music tempo is equal to or higher than the predetermined tempo value (T). Whether the volume of music is equal to or higher than the predetermined volume value (V) is determined by comparing the volume of music acquired in step ST1 with a predetermined volume value (V). If either of the conditions is satisfied, the process proceeds to step ST9. If both of the conditions are not satisfied, the process proceeds to step ST10.

  The processing of step ST9 is performed by the accelerator pedal reaction force control circuit 10. The accelerator pedal reaction force control circuit 10 controls the actuator 5 to increase the stepping reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal 3 by one step. If the stepping reaction force has already been increased in step ST4 or step ST7, the increase in this step results in an increase of 2 or 3 steps from the normal state. Then, it progresses to step ST10.

  The processing in step ST10 is performed by the driving environment determination circuit 9, and it is determined whether there is a device operation from the device operation presence / absence information acquired in step ST1. That is, it is determined whether the driver of the vehicle is currently operating the audio device 6 or the car navigation device 7. If there is a device operation, the process proceeds to step ST11, and if not, the process proceeds to the end and ends.

  The processing of step ST11 is performed by the accelerator pedal reaction force control circuit 10. The accelerator pedal reaction force control circuit 10 controls the actuator 5 to increase the stepping reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal 3 by one step. If the stepping reaction force has already been increased in step ST4, step 7, or step ST9, the increase in this step results in an increase of 2 or 3 or 4 steps from the normal state. Then proceed to the end and finish.

  The accelerator pedal device of the present embodiment configured as described above is likely to cause such accidents by judging the accident occurrence risk area, the tempo of the music flowing from the in-vehicle audio, the presence or absence of operation of the in-vehicle device at dawn and dusk. The accelerator pedal depressing reaction force can be increased according to the situation, and the accelerator pedal can be pushed back unconsciously by the driver, thereby reducing the vehicle speed.

  In addition, although this embodiment demonstrated the example comprised so that reaction force might be added whenever the bad conditions in a driving environment overlap, and a 4 step | paragraph reaction force was increased at the maximum, it is not limited to this. In addition, although the reaction force increase amount of the same magnitude is set for each adverse condition, the reaction force may be set to be arbitrarily set so that the reaction force is greatly increased for those having a large influence. In addition, various combinations and changes are possible.

1 is a side view of an accelerator pedal device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an accelerator pedal device according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a control flow of the accelerator pedal apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a graph which shows the relationship between the depression amount and depression reaction force of the accelerator pedal apparatus which concerns on this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Car body 3 Accelerator pedal 5 Actuator 6 Audio device 7 Car navigation device 8 Car-mounted watch 9 Driving environment judgment circuit 10 Accelerator pedal reaction force control circuit

Claims (5)

In an accelerator pedal device including a reaction force device that applies an operation reaction force to the driver's accelerator operation,
Driving environment information acquisition means for acquiring information about the driving environment during traveling;
Driving environment determination means for determining whether or not the driving environment is an accident-induced environment based on the driving environment information obtained from the driving environment information acquisition means;
The said reaction force apparatus increases the said operation reaction force, when the said driving environment judgment means judges that the said driving environment is an accident induction environment, The accelerator pedal apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned. The driving environment information acquisition means is date information acquisition means,
The accelerator pedal device according to claim 1, wherein the judgment condition of the driving environment judgment means is dawn or dusk. The driving environment information acquisition means is a car navigation device,
The accelerator pedal device according to claim 1, wherein the determination condition of the driving environment determination means is an area where an accident is a concern. The driving environment information acquisition means is an audio device,
The accelerator pedal device according to claim 1, wherein the determination condition of the driving environment determination means is based on a volume of an audio device or a tempo of music flowing from the audio device. The operating environment information acquisition means is an in-vehicle device,
The accelerator pedal device according to claim 1, wherein the determination condition of the driving environment determination unit is an operation state of the in-vehicle device.

Images