JP4321441B2 - Acceleration / deceleration controller - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an acceleration / deceleration control device that includes both an accelerator pedal and a brake pedal and can realize both acceleration control and deceleration control by operating the accelerator pedal.

Conventionally, in a system that controls acceleration / deceleration according to the amount of operation of the accelerator pedal, the characteristic pattern of the target acceleration / deceleration with respect to the amount of operation of the accelerator pedal can be made variable. Is known to be able to accelerate from the start of accelerator depression (see, for example, Patent Document 1). According to this prior art, the acceleration performance at the time of vehicle start is improved.
JP 2000-205015 A

  By the way, in this type of system that controls acceleration / deceleration according to the amount of accelerator pedal operation, a deceleration region is formed on the low operation region side of the accelerator pedal (that is, the side where the amount of depression is small). In order to accelerate the vehicle again, it is necessary to step into the acceleration region through the deceleration region of the accelerator pedal. As a result, in such a system, there is a problem that it is possible to accelerate only after decelerating although it is desired to reaccelerate after operating the brake pedal.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an acceleration / deceleration control device that can improve the reacceleration performance when an accelerator pedal is operated after a brake pedal is operated while the vehicle is running.

In order to solve the above-described problem, according to one aspect of the present invention, an operation amount detection unit that detects an operation amount of an accelerator pedal is provided, and a reference operation region in which an acceleration / deceleration is 0 is included in an operation stroke of the accelerator pedal. An acceleration / deceleration control device that performs deceleration control in the first operation region where the accelerator pedal operation amount is smaller than the reference operation region, and performs acceleration control in the second operation region where the accelerator pedal operation amount is larger than the reference operation region. There,
Brake operation detecting means for detecting the operation of a brake pedal provided only for the deceleration operation,
When the brake operation of the brake pedal is detected while the vehicle is traveling, the reference operation area is shifted to the first operation area side, so that the acceleration operation by the accelerator pedal after the brake operation during the vehicle travel is facilitated. An acceleration / deceleration control device is provided.

  In this aspect, the shift amount of the reference operation region toward the first operation region may be changed according to the deceleration generated by the brake operation of the brake pedal. The shift amount of the reference operation region toward the first operation region may be changed according to the operation amount of the brake pedal.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the acceleration / deceleration control apparatus which improves the re-acceleration property at the time of the accelerator pedal operation after the brake pedal operation during vehicle travel can be obtained.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an acceleration / deceleration control apparatus according to the present invention. The acceleration / deceleration control device 10 according to the present embodiment is configured around a target acceleration / deceleration calculation device 20 that determines a target acceleration / deceleration in accordance with the opening of an accelerator pedal.

  Various electronic components in the vehicle (various sensors such as a vehicle speed sensor and various ECUs such as a navigation ECU) are connected to the target acceleration / deceleration calculation device 20 via an appropriate bus such as a CAN (controller area network). Is done. These various electronic components include an accelerator opening sensor 12 for detecting the operation amount of the accelerator pedal, a brake operation detecting means 14 for detecting the operation of the brake pedal, a driving force generator (for example, an engine), and a braking force generator. Each includes a drive torque manager 40 and a brake manager 50 that collectively control the device (eg, brake). In the case of an electric vehicle or a hybrid vehicle, the driving force generator includes an electric motor for driving wheels.

  The accelerator opening sensor 12 is disposed in the vicinity of the accelerator pedal. The accelerator opening sensor 12 outputs an electrical signal corresponding to the accelerator pedal depression stroke amount (hereinafter referred to as “accelerator opening”) to the target acceleration / deceleration calculation device 20. Although the accelerator pedal of this embodiment will be described in detail below, it differs from a normal accelerator pedal having substantially only an acceleration region in that it has not only an acceleration region but also a deceleration region.

  The brake operation detection means 14 may be a sensor that detects the operation amount (operation stroke) of the brake pedal, but based on a sensor that detects the brake depression force, a sensor that detects the master cylinder pressure, and the like, May be detected. The brake pedal of the present embodiment is a normal brake pedal having only a deceleration region, and may be operated to generate a deceleration greater than the maximum deceleration possible in the deceleration region of the accelerator pedal, for example.

  The target acceleration / deceleration calculation device 20 determines the target acceleration / deceleration to be generated in the vehicle based on the operation amount of the accelerator pedal, that is, the accelerator opening from the accelerator opening sensor 12, as will be described in detail below.

  FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating an example of the target acceleration / deceleration calculation device 20. The target acceleration / deceleration calculation device 20 is configured as a microcomputer including a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like connected to each other via a bus (not shown). The ROM stores a program executed by the target acceleration / deceleration calculation device 20 and various data necessary for the program (for example, various AC-G maps described later).

As shown in FIG. 2, the target acceleration / deceleration calculation device 20 is a map (hereinafter referred to as “AC-G map”) in which the AC-G map processing unit 22 defines the relationship between the accelerator opening and the target acceleration / deceleration. According to FIG. 5, the target acceleration / deceleration [m / s ² ] corresponding to the accelerator opening [%] is determined.

The target acceleration / deceleration [m / s ² ] is converted into output shaft torque [N · m] in the subsequent output shaft torque converter 23. This output shaft torque is added to the travel resistance torque calculated by the travel resistance torque calculation unit 24 and input to the braking / driving distribution unit 26 as the final target output shaft torque.

  The braking / driving distribution unit 26 distributes the target output shaft torque to the drive output shaft torque and the braking output shaft torque, and determines the target drive output shaft torque and the target braking output shaft torque that realize the target output shaft torque. The target drive output shaft torque thus obtained is input to the drive torque manager 40.

  The target braking output shaft torque is converted into wheel shaft torque by the wheel shaft torque converting unit 28 and input to the brake manager 50 through the braking torque adjusting unit 36. The braking torque arbitration unit 36 arbitrates between the above-described wheel shaft torque (the wheel shaft torque in the deceleration region of the accelerator pedal) and the required braking torque by operating the brake pedal to determine the final target braking torque. . The target braking torque obtained in this way is input to the brake manager 50. The required braking torque is obtained by converting the required braking deceleration obtained from the map processing unit 32 into braking torque by the braking torque converting unit 34. The required braking deceleration is determined by the map processing unit 32 according to a map that defines the relationship between the brake pedal operation amount and the required braking deceleration.

  FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram illustrating an example of the drive torque manager 40. The drive torque manager 40 is configured as a microcomputer including a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like connected to each other via a bus (not shown).

  In the drive torque manager 40, as shown in FIG. 3, a gear ratio according to the target drive torque is determined by the gear ratio determination unit 42, and the gear ratio of the transmission is changed by the gear shift execution unit 44 as necessary. At the same time, the target engine torque calculation unit 46 determines the target engine torque, and various engine controls such as electronic throttle control, ignition advance / retard angle control, and fuel cut control are executed based on the target engine torque.

  FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram illustrating an example of the brake manager 50. The brake manager 50 is configured as a microcomputer including a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like connected to each other via a bus (not shown).

  In the brake manager 50, as shown in FIG. 4, a target braking pressure according to the target braking torque is calculated in the target wheel braking pressure calculation unit 52, and brake braking pressure control is executed via the braking pressure control block 54. .

  FIG. 5 shows some examples of the AC-G map described above. In the AC-G map shown in FIG. 5A, a deceleration region (target acceleration / deceleration <0) is provided in the range of 0 ≦ accelerator opening <AC1, and an acceleration region (target acceleration / deceleration in the range of AC2 ≦ accelerator opening. Speed> 0) is provided. Further, a reference operation region in which the target acceleration / deceleration is 0 is provided in the range of AC1 ≦ accelerator opening <AC2.

  In the deceleration region and the acceleration region, as shown in FIG. 5, the change gradient of the target acceleration / deceleration with respect to the accelerator opening is set to a predetermined value sufficiently larger than zero (however, it does not have to be a constant gradient and may be a variable value). Is done. On the other hand, in the reference operation region, the change gradient of the target acceleration / deceleration is set to zero.

  The reference operation area may be an area having a certain width (AC1 to AC2) as shown in FIG. 5A, but is not an area having a width as shown in FIG. There may be. In the latter case, as shown in FIG. 5B, the AC-G map has a linear pattern, and a deceleration region and an acceleration region are formed before and after the reference operation region AC3 where acceleration / deceleration is zero. become. Further, in this case, the change gradient of the target acceleration / deceleration before and after the reference operation region AC3 may have a gentler gradient than the deceleration region and the acceleration region, as shown in FIG. In the following, for the sake of convenience, the description will be continued using the AC-G map shown in FIG. 5A as an example.

  As described above, in this embodiment, not only the acceleration of the vehicle but also the deceleration is realized by the operation on the accelerator pedal. Therefore, compared to a general configuration in which a change from the accelerator pedal to the brake pedal is required during the braking operation. , It is possible to increase the safety of the vehicle by reducing the idling distance.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5A, when the change gradient of the target acceleration / deceleration is set to zero in the reference operation region, the range of AC1 ≦ accelerator opening <AC2 even if the accelerator pedal is operated to some extent. If it is within the range, the acceleration / deceleration of the vehicle does not substantially change, and the accelerator pedal operation for steady running (running at a constant speed for a relatively long time) becomes easy.

  In the running resistance torque calculator 24, the running resistance torque is calculated based on the road surface μ (friction force between the tire and the road) and / or the road gradient (road surface gradient of the road). In this case, the road surface μ may be detected by any appropriate method, and may be estimated using a technique disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-133390. Further, the road surface μ may be estimated based on a predetermined vibration component of the wheel speed obtained based on the output signal of the wheel speed sensor, as described in JP-A-11-78843. Further, as described in JP-A-11-91539, the road surface μ may be obtained based on the attenuation characteristic of the response component of the wheel speed when the braking force changes stepwise. A millimeter wave or the like may be irradiated in front of the road surface and estimated based on the backscattered wave. Further, when detecting the road surface μ, if appropriate, weather information such as rain and snow that may affect the road surface μ may be taken into consideration. Further, the road gradient may be detected by any appropriate method, for example, it may be detected using road gradient information that can be included in the map data of the navigation device, or from an external information providing center. It may be detected using the provided road gradient information.

  Next, a characteristic configuration of the acceleration / deceleration control apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the main processing realized by the target acceleration / deceleration calculation device 20 of this embodiment.

  First, at step 100, when the accelerator pedal is depressed and vehicle travel (vehicle speed> zero) is detected, the target acceleration / deceleration calculation device 20 at step 110, as described above, determines the accelerator opening according to the AC-G map. The target acceleration / deceleration according to the acceleration / deceleration is determined, and based on this, acceleration / deceleration control by the drive torque manager 40 and / or the brake manager 50 is executed.

  The target acceleration / deceleration calculation device 20 monitors whether or not the brake pedal is operated as step 120 while the vehicle is traveling. When there is no operation of the brake pedal, the processing of step 110 is executed as usual.

  When operation of the brake pedal is detected, the target acceleration / deceleration calculation device 20 monitors the vehicle speed transition mode based on the detected value of the vehicle speed sensor together with the operation mode of the brake pedal as step 130, and the operation of the brake pedal is detected. It is determined whether the vehicle speed at the time of release is greater than zero. If the vehicle speed at the time when the operation of the brake pedal is released is zero, that is, if the vehicle is stopped by the operation of the brake pedal detected in step 120, the process returns to step 100. In this case, when the driver operates the accelerator pedal after operating the brake pedal, the vehicle restarts after the vehicle stops in the normal acceleration / deceleration mode.

  On the other hand, when the vehicle speed at the time when the brake pedal operation is released is greater than zero, the target acceleration / deceleration calculation device 20 sets the reference operation area in the AC-G map to the deceleration area side (left side in the figure) as shown in FIG. ). Hereinafter, the AC-G map in which the reference operation area is shifted to the deceleration area side is referred to as “AC-G map for reacceleration”, and the AC-G map in which the reference operation area is not shifted to the deceleration area side. This is called “normal AC-G map”.

  Thereafter, the target acceleration / deceleration calculation device 20 maintains the AC-G map for reacceleration for a predetermined time, and when the accelerator pedal is depressed during that time (step 140), the target acceleration / deceleration calculation device 20 Based on the -G map, a target acceleration / deceleration according to the accelerator opening is determined (step 150), and based on this, acceleration / deceleration control by the drive torque manager 40 and / or the brake manager 50 is executed.

  Here, in the re-acceleration AC-G map, as described above, the reference operation area is shifted to the deceleration area side, so that the accelerator opening (accelerator) is smaller than that in the normal AC-G map. The acceleration region starts from the pedal operation amount. That is, when the driver operates the accelerator pedal after operating the brake pedal, acceleration can be started by operating the accelerator pedal less than usual. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the reacceleration is good when the accelerator pedal is operated after the brake pedal is operated while the vehicle is traveling.

  FIG. 8 shows various variations of the re-acceleration AC-G map.

  In the re-acceleration AC-G map shown in FIG. 8A, the reference operation area is shifted to the deceleration area side until the deceleration area is completely eliminated. In this case, when the operation of the accelerator pedal is started after the brake pedal is operated while the vehicle is running, the acceleration control is started immediately (that is, without going through the deceleration region). In this example, when it is necessary to generate acceleration from the start of operation of the accelerator pedal, the target acceleration / deceleration corresponding to zero accelerator opening is greater than zero until there is no reference operation area. Up to the left).

  From the same viewpoint, as shown in FIG. 8B, the reference operation area may be shifted to an extent having a certain width (AC1 to AC2). Also in this case, if the accelerator pedal is operated by a predetermined amount or more (AC2) after operating the brake pedal while the vehicle is running, the acceleration control is started without going through the deceleration region.

  As described above, by changing the shift amount of the reference operation region, it is possible to adjust the acceleration performance by the accelerator pedal operation after the brake pedal operation while the vehicle is traveling.

  As a preferred embodiment in this regard, the target acceleration / deceleration calculation device 20 determines the reference operation area in accordance with the magnitude (maximum value, average value, etc.) of deceleration generated in the vehicle by the brake operation detected in step 120. The shift amount may be changed. Alternatively, the target acceleration / deceleration calculation device 20 changes the shift amount of the reference operation region according to the operation amount at the time of the brake operation detected in step 120 and the magnitude of the pedal depression force (maximum value, average value, etc.). May be.

  Thus, for example, when there is a large deceleration due to the brake operation detected in step 120, the shift amount of the reference operation area is increased, and reacceleration at the time of the accelerator pedal operation after the brake pedal operation during vehicle traveling The sex can be further enhanced.

  FIG. 9 shows various other variations of the re-acceleration AC-G map.

In the re-acceleration AC-G map shown in FIG. 9, the reference operation area is similarly shifted to the deceleration area side, and the change gradient of the target acceleration / deceleration in the deceleration area is increased. That is, in the re-acceleration AC-G map shown in FIG. 9, the entire characteristic pattern is not shifted as in the re-acceleration AC-G map shown in FIG. The reference operation area is shifted to the deceleration area side while maintaining the speed (= target acceleration / deceleration at the start of the deceleration area). (The overall width of the deceleration area is reduced by the amount of shift of the reference operation area.)
In this case as well, since the reference operation area is shifted to the deceleration area side, the acceleration area starts from a smaller accelerator opening (accelerator pedal operation amount) than in the normal AC-G map. In addition, the reacceleration performance when the accelerator pedal is operated after the brake pedal is operated while the vehicle is running can be improved.

  As another example regarding this, the target acceleration / deceleration calculation device 20 continues to monitor the deceleration of the vehicle during the operation of the brake pedal in step 120 and until the subsequent operation of the accelerator pedal is detected. In the acceleration AC-G map, the change gradient of the target acceleration / deceleration in the deceleration region may be changed so that the target acceleration / deceleration corresponding to zero accelerator opening always coincides with the current deceleration. In this case, when the accelerator pedal operation is started after the brake pedal operation while the vehicle is running, the target acceleration / deceleration that substantially matches the current deceleration is initially realized, so that a large change in the deceleration at the start of re-acceleration is achieved. (Sudden fluctuation of deceleration due to the start of accelerator pedal operation) can be mitigated, and since the acceleration region is started after a short deceleration region, the reacceleration performance when the accelerator pedal is operated after the brake pedal is operated while the vehicle is running is improved. be able to.

  The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications and substitutions can be made to the above-described embodiments without departing from the scope of the present invention. Can be added.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the acceleration / deceleration of the vehicle is adopted as a physical quantity representing the movement in the front-rear direction of the vehicle, but other physical quantities corresponding to the acceleration / deceleration of the vehicle on a one-to-one basis or other physical quantities related thereto are Alternatively, the acceleration / deceleration of the vehicle may be used in combination with other physical quantities.

In the above-described embodiment, the braking force generator and / or the driving force generator is controlled in an open loop by adding the running resistance torque to the target acceleration / deceleration determined by the target acceleration / deceleration calculation device 20. However, the present invention does not exclude performing feedback control based on vehicle speed information obtained from a vehicle speed sensor. In particular, during steady running, it may be useful to perform feedback control based on vehicle speed information so that the target acceleration / deceleration is realized.

In the embodiment described above, the operation member is a pedal operated by the driver's foot, but may be of a type operated by the driver's hand.

1 is a system configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an acceleration / deceleration control apparatus according to the present invention. 3 is a functional block diagram illustrating an example of a target acceleration / deceleration calculation device 20. FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram illustrating an example of a drive torque manager 40. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating an example of a brake manager 50. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of an AC-G map (AC-G map for normal times). It is a flowchart which shows the main processes implement | achieved by the target acceleration / deceleration calculating apparatus 20 of a present Example. It is a figure which shows the shift aspect (the relationship between the AC-G map for normal times, and the AC-G map for reacceleration) of a reference | standard operation area | region. It is a figure which shows another example of the AC-G map for re-acceleration. It is a figure which shows another example of the AC-G map for re-acceleration.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Acceleration / deceleration control device 12 Accelerator opening sensor 20 Target acceleration / deceleration calculation device 40 Drive torque manager 50 Brake manager

Claims (3)

An operation amount detecting means for detecting an operation amount of the accelerator pedal is provided, and a first operation having a reference operation region in which acceleration / deceleration is 0 in the operation stroke of the accelerator pedal and having an accelerator pedal operation amount smaller than the reference operation region. An acceleration / deceleration control device that performs acceleration control in a second operation region in which a deceleration control is performed in the region, while an accelerator pedal operation amount is larger than the reference operation region,
Brake operation detecting means for detecting the operation of a brake pedal provided only for the deceleration operation,
When the brake operation of the brake pedal is detected while the vehicle is traveling, the reference operation area is shifted to the first operation area side, so that the acceleration operation by the accelerator pedal after the brake operation during the vehicle travel is facilitated. An acceleration / deceleration control device.   The acceleration / deceleration control device according to claim 1, wherein a shift amount of the reference operation area toward the first operation area is changed according to a deceleration generated by a brake operation of a brake pedal.   The acceleration / deceleration control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a shift amount of the reference operation region toward the first operation region is changed according to an operation amount of a brake pedal.

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