JP5141913B2 - Vehicle collision determination device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle collision determination apparatus, and more particularly to a technique for determining a collision target from a collision detection unit mounted on a vehicle.

In recent years, when a pedestrian collides with a running vehicle, a pop-up hood technology has been developed that takes the safety of the pedestrian into consideration by jumping up the hood of the vehicle.
For example, the front hood is lifted at the time of a collision with a pedestrian to secure the space in the engine room, and when the pedestrian collides with the front hood, the front hood absorbs the impact so that it does not hit the hard parts such as the engine. The technology to do is known.

A vehicle having such a pop-up hood function is provided with a collision detection means for detecting a collision with a collision object. However, when the collision detection means mounted on the vehicle detects a collision, it is difficult to distinguish whether the collision target is a pedestrian or a non-pedestrian, for example, a curb or a hole in the road surface. is there.
Therefore, a technique is known that reliably identifies that the collision target is a pedestrian and selects operation of pedestrian protection or occupant protection (Patent Document 1).

JP 2000-177514 A

In the prior art disclosed in the above publication, a collision is detected by deformation of the vehicle. Therefore, the apparatus includes a counter electrode disposed on a bumper, a dielectric is interposed between the counter electrode, and a static electricity detecting capacitance. It consists of a capacitance detection circuit.
However, in such a configuration, it is difficult to reliably determine the pedestrian because it is affected by the clothes of the pedestrian.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle collision determination device that can reliably determine a pedestrian when the vehicle detects a collision object. Is to provide.

In order to achieve the above object, a vehicle collision determination device according to claim 1 includes a collision detection means for detecting a collision between a vehicle and a collided object, and an amplitude of a bumper resonance from an output signal of the collision detection means. And a control amount calculation means for calculating a plurality of other control amounts including at least the deformation amount of the bumper, and when a collision with the colliding object is detected by the collision detection means, information from the control amount calculation means A collision target determination unit that determines a collision target based on the output signal of the collision detection unit, and a bumper collision determination map and a collision object determination map that are created in advance based on the output signal of the collision detection unit . bumper collision there between judges bumper collision-format include bumper collision with deformation of the size and the bumper of the amplitude is within a predetermined bumper impact area of the bumper collision determination map with a pedestrian Means and the other plurality of control amounts of the bumper deformation amount and any other one of the collision object determination map given the impacted object and in the pedestrian area pedestrian determining the collision object determining means look including the door, the collision object determination means, characterized in that it is executed if it is determined that there is a bumper collision by the bumper collision determining means.

In the vehicle collision determination device according to claim 2 , in claim 1 , the plurality of other control amounts further include a speed received by the bumper, and the collision object determination means includes the deformation amount of the bumper and the bumper When the received speed is within the predetermined pedestrian area, the collision object is determined to be a pedestrian.

According to the vehicle collision determination device of the first aspect, the bumper collision determination unit is configured such that when the amplitude of the bumper resonance and the deformation amount of the bumper are in a predetermined bumper collision area of the bumper collision determination map, It is determined that there is a bumper collision including a bumper collision, and if the bumper collision determination means determines that there is a bumper collision, one of the deformation amount of the bumper and the other control amount is a predetermined pedestrian in the collision object determination map. If it exists in an area | region, a to-be-collided object will be determined as a pedestrian.

Therefore, by focusing on the amplitude of the bumper resonance by the bumper collision determination means, it is based on the amplitude of the unique bumper resonance generated when the pedestrian collides with the bumper and the amount of deformation of the bumper. Te squeezed somewhat pedestrian collision object is determined that there bumper collision, Ru can be removed form not a bumper collision, for example, the road surface of the hole or the uneven road surface from the impacted object. Further, since the it is determined that there is a bumper collision by bumper collision determination means collision object determining means is executed by the collision determination based on two evaluation criteria of a collision object determining section bar damper collision determining means, It can be well determined that a pedestrian has collided.

In addition , based on the bumper collision determination map, forms that are not bumper collisions, for example, holes on the road surface and uneven road surfaces can be easily removed from the collision object, and the collision object is not a pedestrian based on the collision object determination map. In this case, for example, the curbstone or the ball can be easily removed from the colliding object, and it is possible to reliably determine that the collision target is a pedestrian .

Furthermore , it is possible to reliably determine that the collision target is a pedestrian based on the amplitude of the bumper resonance and the amount of deformation of the bumper.
According to the vehicle collision determination device of the second aspect , when the deformation amount of the bumper and the speed received by the bumper among the plurality of other control amounts are within a predetermined pedestrian area set in advance, the collision object determination means The collision object is determined to be a pedestrian.

  Therefore, it is possible to reliably determine that the collision target is a pedestrian based on the amplitude of the bumper resonance, the amount of deformation of the bumper, and the speed received by the bumper.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a vehicle including a vehicle collision determination device according to the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the pop-up hood control routine performed in pop-up hood control. It is a control block diagram in the control amount calculation shown in FIG. It is a graph which shows the relationship between the amplitude Y of the resonance in the front-back direction of a bumper, and the deformation amount X of a bumper. It is a graph which shows the relationship between the speed V which the bumper received and the deformation amount X of the bumper.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a vehicle including a vehicle collision determination device according to the present invention.
An engine room 2 is formed at the front of the vehicle body of the vehicle 1, and a front hood 3 that can be opened and closed is disposed on the upper surface of the engine room 2.
Further, hood flip-up mechanisms 20 and 22 are provided on both sides of the rear end of the front hood 3 in the vehicle width direction.

When the front hood 3 is fully closed, a striker 3a provided at the front end of the front hood 3 is fixed by a latch 12a provided at the upper portion of the front bumper 12, and when the hood is raised, the hood flip-up mechanisms 20 and 22 It is configured to move to.
Further, front fenders 4 and 6 are disposed on both side surfaces of the vehicle body front portion of the vehicle 1, respectively.

Further, a pair of headlamps 8 and 10 are disposed at both ends in the vehicle width direction at the vehicle body front end portion of the vehicle 1, and a front bumper 12 extending in the vehicle width direction is disposed below the headlamps 8 and 10. Has been.
The front bumper 12 is provided with an acceleration sensor 14 (collision detection means) for detecting a collision with a colliding object such as a pedestrian. The acceleration sensor 14 is a memory or CPU provided in the vehicle 1. Etc. (not shown) are electrically connected to the input side of an electronic control unit (hereinafter abbreviated as ECU) 16. The ECU 16 is electrically connected to various sensors such as a vehicle speed sensor (not shown) and various devices. The ECU 16 performs various control amounts based on information from the various sensors and controls various devices based on the control amounts. It has a function to do.

Further, in the ECU 16, a bumper collision determination map and a collision object determination map are preset and registered in a memory (not shown), and the bumper collision determination map and the collision determination map will be described later.
The hood flip-up mechanisms 20 and 22 are electrically connected to the output side of the ECU 16, whereby the ECU 16 can control the hood flip-up mechanisms 20 and 22 based on an input from the acceleration sensor 14.

The operation contents of the vehicle collision determination apparatus according to the present invention configured as described above will be described below.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart (a collision target determination unit) showing a pop-up hood control routine as an embodiment executed by the ECU 16, and FIG. 3 is a control block diagram (control amount calculation unit) related to control amount calculation of the pop-up hood control routine. ) Are shown respectively. Further, FIG. 4 is a graph showing the relationship between the amplitude of the resonance in the longitudinal direction of the bumper and the amount of deformation of the bumper, which is a bumper collision determination map registered in the ECU 16, and FIG. 5 is a bumper which is a collision object determination map. The graphs showing the relationship between the speed received by and the amount of deformation of the bumper are shown. Hereinafter, a description will be given with reference to FIGS.

In step S1 of FIG. 2, the acceleration sensor 14 detects a collision with a colliding object.
In step S <b> 2, each control amount is calculated from the output signal of the acceleration sensor 14.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, in block B10, the output signal detected by the acceleration sensor 14 is filtered by a high-pass filter to remove a frequency band lower than the cutoff frequency. In block B12, the output value of block B10 is further filtered with a low-pass filter to remove a frequency band higher than the cutoff frequency. Thus, when there is a light collision with the front bumper 12, a region component of a specific frequency F at which the front bumper 12 resonates is output. In block B14, the absolute value of the amplitude of the output frequency F is calculated, and in block B16, the output value of block B14 is integrated by an integrator, whereby the amplitude of the resonance in the front-rear direction in the front bumper 12 is increased. The length Y is calculated.

In block B20, the output signal of acceleration sensor 14 is integrated by an integrator, and in block B22, the output value of block B20 is further integrated to calculate deformation amount X of front bumper 12.
In block B30, the speed V received by the front bumper 12 is calculated by integrating the output signal of the acceleration sensor 14 with an integrator.

As described above, based on the information from the acceleration sensor 14, there are three control amounts: the amplitude Y of the resonance in the front-rear direction of the front bumper 12, the deformation amount X of the front bumper 12, and the speed V received by the front bumper 12. Calculated.
Returning to FIG. 2, in step S3, a bumper collision determination is performed from the amplitude Y of the front-rear direction resonance amplitude in the front bumper 12 calculated in step 2 and the deformation amount X of the front bumper 12 (bumper collision determination means). .

  Specifically, the amplitude Y of the front-rear direction resonance amplitude in the front bumper 12 and the deformation amount X of the front bumper 12 are within the bumper collision area (predetermined bumper collision area) Rb of the bumper collision determination map shown in FIG. It is determined whether or not. The bumper collision area Rb is an area excluding an area that is not a bumper collision due to a road surface condition, such as a hole on a road surface or a bumpy road surface, and a collision area that includes a pedestrian as a collision object.

Returning to FIG. 2, when the determination result of step S3 is true (Yes), the process proceeds to step S4, and when the determination result is false (No), the pop-up hood control routine is terminated.
In step S4, collision object determination is performed from the velocity V received by the front bumper 12 and the deformation amount X of the front bumper 12 calculated in step S2 (collision object determination means).

Specifically, it is determined whether the speed V received by the front bumper 12 and the deformation amount X of the front bumper 12 are within the pedestrian area (predetermined pedestrian area) Rh of the collision object determination map shown in FIG. . In addition, the said pedestrian area | region Rh is an area | region where a to-be-collised object is a pedestrian.
Returning to FIG. 2, when the determination result of step S4 is true (Yes), the process proceeds to step S5, and when the determination result is false (No), the pop-up hood control routine is terminated.

In step S5, it is determined that the collision target is a pedestrian, and the rear portion of the front hood 3 is flipped up by the hood jumping mechanisms 20 and 22.
Note that the bumper collision determination map and the collision object determination map shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 are based on values obtained through experiments, and similarly, a bumper collision area (predetermined bumper collision area) Rb and a pedestrian area (predetermined The pedestrian area Rh is a specific area obtained by experiments.

  As described above, in the vehicle collision determination device according to the present invention, when a collision with the collision object is detected based on the information from the acceleration sensor 14, the front bumper 12 in the front-rear direction calculated by the control amount calculation unit is detected. It is determined that the amplitude Y of the resonance and the deformation amount X of the front bumper 12 are within the bumper collision determination region Rb of the bumper collision determination map, and the speed V received by the front bumper 12 and the deformation amount X of the front bumper 12 Is determined to be within the pedestrian area Rh of the collision object determination map, it is determined that the collision target is a pedestrian and the rear portion of the front hood 3 is flipped up.

  Therefore, when it is determined by the bumper collision determination that the form is not a bumper collision, for example, when a road surface condition such as a hole in a road surface or a bumpy road surface is detected by the acceleration sensor 14, these are detected from the object to be collided by the bumper collision determination. Can be excluded. Then, when it is determined by the collision object determination that the collision object is other than a pedestrian, for example, when a ball or curb is detected by the acceleration sensor 14, these are excluded from the collision object by the collision object determination. Can do. Therefore, it is possible to determine the pedestrian as a collision target with good performance.

Then, the three control amounts calculated based on the output signal of the acceleration sensor 14 are subjected to a collision determination based on two evaluation criteria of a bumper collision determination map and a collision object determination map, thereby indicating that a pedestrian has collided. It can be easily and reliably determined.
At this time, since the bumper collision area Rb in the bumper collision determination map includes the case of the bumper collision with the pedestrian, it is ensured that the collision target is a pedestrian by determining together with the collision object determination map. Can be determined.

In particular, since the amplitude Y of the resonance in the front-rear direction in the front bumper 12 is one of the control amounts, a region component in a specific frequency band generated when a pedestrian collides with the front bumper 12 is extracted. Thus, a form that is not a bumper collision can be sufficiently removed from the collision object, and a pedestrian can be reliably determined as a collision target.
Further, since the amount of deformation X of the bumper in the front bumper 12 and the speed V received by the front bumper 12 are used as control amounts, it is possible to sufficiently remove a form other than the bumper collision from the collided object, and the collided object walks. A form that is not a person can be excluded, and a pedestrian can be more reliably determined as a collision target.

Although the description of the embodiment is finished as described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment.
For example, in the above embodiment, the output signal of the acceleration sensor 14 is integrated in order to calculate the amplitude Y of the resonance in the front-rear direction in the front bumper 12, but the output of the acceleration sensor 14 in a certain time width. A method of calculating the average of the signal may be used.

Further, although one acceleration sensor 14 is provided in the front bumper 12, a plurality of acceleration sensors 14 may be provided.
And in the said embodiment, although collision object determination is performed after performing bumper collision determination, if the result of the said bumper collision determination and the said collision object determination can be determined collectively, the order of determination will be limited to this. It is not something.

1 Vehicle 3 Front Hood 12 Front Bumper 14 Acceleration Sensor (Collision Detection Means)
16 ECU

Claims (2)

A collision detection means for detecting a collision between the vehicle and a colliding object;
Control amount calculation means for calculating the amplitude of the resonance of the bumper and a plurality of other control amounts including at least the deformation amount of the bumper from the output signal of the collision detection means;
When a collision with the collision object is detected by the collision detection unit, a collision target determination unit that determines a collision target based on information from the control amount calculation unit ;
A bumper collision determination map and a collision object determination map created in advance based on the output signal of the collision detection means ,
The collision target determination means includes a bumper collision including a bumper collision with a pedestrian and a bumper collision if the amplitude of the resonance of the bumper and the deformation amount of the bumper are in a predetermined bumper collision area of the bumper collision determination map. Bumper collision determination means for determining, and when the deformation amount of the bumper and any one of the other control amounts are in a predetermined pedestrian area of the collision object determination map, the collision object is determined to be a pedestrian and the collision object determination means that only contains,
The vehicle collision determination device, wherein the collision object determination unit is executed when the bumper collision determination unit determines that there is a bumper collision . The other plurality of control amounts further includes a speed received by the bumper,
The collision object determination means is characterized in that the collision object and the deformation amount and rate at which the bumper has received the bumper is in the predetermined pedestrian area is determined to pedestrians, according to claim 1 Vehicle collision determination device.

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