JP2022158291A - Towing state determination device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a towing state determination device capable of determining a towing state even when vehicle height adjustment control is not performed.SOLUTION: A towing state determination device 1 comprises: a vehicle pitch quantity estimation part 11 which finds a pitch quantity of a vehicle from a relation between a front-wheel damper stroke quantity and a rear-wheel dumper stroke quantity; and a towing state determination part 12 which determines that the vehicle is in a non-towing state if the vehicle pitch quantity estimated by the vehicle pitch quantity estimation part is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold when the vehicle set into a towing mode in which output torque of a power train with the same accelerator pedal opening is increased starts. The towing state determination device also comprises a warning part 13 which makes a warning display until the vehicle stops when it is determined that the vehicle is in the non-towing state.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to a towing state determination device for a vehicle.

Some vehicles have a towing mode that adjusts the shift change timing so that the engine torque increases when towing a trailer or the like. With this vehicle, if the traction mode is continued to be selected even when the vehicle is not being towed, it is predicted that the fuel consumption and electricity consumption will deteriorate.

For this reason, the vertical load of the vehicle based on the control time and stroke amount during vehicle height adjustment control performed when IG-ON (ignition ON), and the total weight of the vehicle and the towed vehicle based on the output shaft torque of the transmission and the acceleration of the vehicle body. There is a technique for determining whether or not the vehicle is being towed from the difference (for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2016-141163 A

However, since the above technique is based on the premise that the vehicle height adjustment control is performed after the ignition is turned on, it is impossible to determine the towing state if the vehicle height adjustment control is not performed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a towing state determination device capable of determining a towing state even when vehicle height adjustment control is not performed.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the traction state determination device of the present invention includes a vehicle pitch amount estimating unit that obtains the pitch amount of the vehicle from the relationship between the front wheel damper stroke amount and the rear wheel damper stroke amount, and a power Determination of towing state for determining that the vehicle is in a non-towing state when the vehicle pitch amount estimated by the vehicle pitch amount estimating unit is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold when the vehicle is set to a towing mode that increases the output torque of the train. I tried to prepare a part and.

According to the towing state determination device of the present invention, since the towing state can be determined only by the pitch amount when the vehicle starts, it is possible to determine the towing state without performing vehicle height adjustment control.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration in which a towing state determination device is realized as one of the functions of an ECU that controls a vehicle; 3 is a processing flow diagram of the traction state determination device 1. FIG. FIG. 7 is another processing flow diagram of the towing state determination device 1;

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the traction state determination device 1 of the present invention will be described in detail.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration in which a towing state determination device 1 of the embodiment is implemented as one of the functions of an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) that controls a vehicle. The configuration diagram of FIG. 1 shows only the configuration related to the traction state determination function of the ECU, and other configurations are omitted.

Specifically, the ECU is a microcomputer circuit including a CPU (Central Processing Unit), ROM (Read only memory), RAM (Random access memory), electronic components, and an interface circuit. , the microcomputer executes a program stored in the ROM.

The damper control unit 2 is a control unit that controls the damping force of the dampers of the front wheel suspension 9f and the rear wheel suspension 9r, and is a control unit that realizes a variable damping force damper system. The damper control unit 2 performs control based on the detection values of the front wheel damper stroke sensor 4f that detects the front wheel damper stroke amount of the front wheel suspension 9f and the rear wheel damper stroke sensor 4r that detects the rear wheel damper stroke amount of the rear wheel suspension 9r. I do.

The traction mode setting operation unit 8 is an operation unit for instructing the traction mode used when the driver increases the driving torque of the vehicle for towing.
The traction mode control unit 3 performs control such as delaying the shift timing of the transmission of the power train 14 according to the traction mode setting instruction of the traction mode setting operation unit 8, and the power train 14 at the same accelerator pedal opening degree. to increase the output torque of

Next, the configuration of the traction state determination device 1 will be described.
The towing state determination device 1 comprises a vehicle pitch amount estimating section 11 , a towing state determining section 12 and a warning section 13 .

The vehicle pitch amount estimator 11 estimates the amount of pitching, which is the movement of the vehicle to rotate about the left-right axis, from the front wheel damper stroke amount and the rear wheel damper stroke amount acquired from the damper controller 2 .

The traction state determination unit 12 detects the output torque of the engine of the power train 14 using the engine output torque sensor 5 and detects the vehicle speed using the vehicle speed sensor 6 . The traction state determination unit 12 determines that the vehicle has started when the engine output torque and the vehicle speed are equal to or greater than a predetermined value, and when only one of the engine output torque and the vehicle speed is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, wheelspin or descending slope is detected. It is determined that the vehicle is moving in an unusual manner, such as starting.

Further, the towing state determination unit 12 determines whether or not the pitching amount estimated by the vehicle pitch amount estimating unit 11 is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold when the towing mode is set. If the towing mode is set when the vehicle is not being towed when the vehicle starts moving, the driving torque becomes excessive, resulting in a sudden start, causing the rear to sag and the amount of pitching to increase. Become. The towing state determination unit 12 determines the occurrence of this state, and determines the non-towing state at the start.

In this way, it is determined that the pitching amount is larger than the normal state, so the determination accuracy can be improved.

When the towing state determination unit 12 determines that the vehicle is in the non-towing state, the warning unit 13 warns the driver that the towing mode is set but the vehicle is in the non-towing state until the vehicle stops. This is output to the warning output unit 10 to urge the driver to cancel the traction mode. This suppresses deterioration of the fuel consumption of the vehicle.
The alarm output unit 10 may be a meter panel, or may output an alarm sound.

Further, instead of outputting an alarm by the warning unit 13, the towing state determination unit 12 may cancel the towing mode when the towing mode is set and the non-towing state is determined at the start of the vehicle. Specifically, the traction state determination unit 12 sets the content of the operation instruction by the traction mode setting operation unit 8 to the non-traction mode, and sets the shift timing of the transmission of the power train 14 by the traction mode control unit 3 to the normal shift timing. (The control of the power train 14 by the traction mode control unit 3 is stopped). As a result, it is possible to suppress the deterioration of the fuel consumption of the vehicle without giving an operation instruction by the driver.

Next, the processing flow of the traction state determination device 1 will be described with reference to FIG.
The traction state determination device 1 executes the processing flow of FIG. 2 at a predetermined cycle.

First, in step S21, the towing state determination device 1 determines whether or not the towing mode control unit 3 is in the towing mode selection state. finish. If the traction mode is selected (Yes in S21), the process proceeds to step S22.

In step S22, the traction state determination unit 12 detects the output torque of the engine of the power train 14 by the engine output torque sensor 5 and detects the vehicle speed by the vehicle speed sensor 6, and the engine output torque and the vehicle speed are equal to or higher than a predetermined value. Start of the vehicle is detected by determining whether or not. If the output torque of the engine and the vehicle speed are not equal to or higher than the predetermined values (No in S22), the process returns to step S22 and waits for determination.

If the output torque of the engine and the vehicle speed are equal to or higher than the predetermined values in step S22 (Yes in S22), in step S23, the traction state determination unit 12 determines the front wheel damper stroke that the vehicle pitch amount estimation unit 11 has acquired from the damper control unit 2. It is determined whether or not the amount of pitching (vehicle pitch amount), which is the movement of the vehicle rotating around the left-right axis, estimated from the amount and the rear wheel damper stroke amount is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold. If it is not equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold value (No in S23), the towed state determination unit 12 determines that the towed state is present and terminates the process.

In step S23, when the towing state determination unit 12 determines that the towing state is not towed because the threshold value is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold (Yes in S23), the warning unit 13 determines in step S24 that the towing mode is set for the driver, but the non-towing mode is set to the driver. A warning notifying that the vehicle is in a towing state is output to the warning output unit 10 until the vehicle stops. Then, the process ends.

FIG. 3 is a processing flow diagram when the towing state determination device 1 determines that the vehicle is in a non-towing state when starting the vehicle set to the towing mode, and cancels the towing mode. , are the same as those in FIG.

In step S23, if the towing state determination unit 12 determines that the towing state determination unit 12 is in the non-towing state because the threshold value is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold value (Yes in S23), in step S34, the towing state determination unit 12 cancels the towing mode, and the towing mode control unit 3 ceases to control the powertrain 14; Then, the processing of the traction state determination device 1 ends.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various design changes are possible without departing from the gist of the present invention.

1 traction state determination device 11 vehicle pitch amount estimation unit 12 traction state determination unit 13 warning unit 3 traction mode control unit 4f front wheel damper stroke sensor 4r rear wheel damper stroke sensor 5 engine output torque sensor 6 vehicle speed sensor 7 front and rear wheel speeds Sensor 8 traction mode setting operation unit 9f front wheel suspension 9r rear wheel suspension 10 alarm output unit 14 power train

Claims (4)

a vehicle pitch amount estimating unit that calculates the pitch amount of the vehicle from the relationship between the front wheel damper stroke amount and the rear wheel damper stroke amount;
If the vehicle pitch amount estimated by the vehicle pitch amount estimating unit is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value when the vehicle is set to the traction mode that increases the output torque of the power train at the same accelerator pedal opening, the vehicle is stopped. a traction state determination unit that determines the traction state;
A traction state determination device comprising: In the traction state determination device according to claim 1,
The traction state determination unit
A towing state determination device that determines a start state of a vehicle from an engine output torque and a vehicle speed. The traction state determination device according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising:
A towing state determination device comprising a warning unit that displays a warning until the vehicle stops when the towing state determination unit determines that the vehicle is in a non-towing state when the vehicle is set to a towing mode and starts moving. In the traction state determination device according to claim 1 or 2,
The traction state determination unit
A towing state determination device characterized by canceling a towing mode of a vehicle when determining that the vehicle is in a non-towing state.

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