JPH0214539Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to a control device for power steering in a vehicle, and more particularly to a control device equipped with a hydraulic reaction force loading mechanism for controlling the steering reaction force in the steering system according to the speed of the vehicle. .

In general, in the steering system of an automobile, for safe driving, it is necessary to make the steering wheel heavier as the vehicle speed increases.

Therefore, in the conventional power steering control device, as shown in FIG. ing.

This hydraulic pump 7 supplies its discharged oil to a hydraulic reaction force load mechanism 8, and the hydraulic reaction force load mechanism 8 receives the discharged oil from the pump 7 and controls the power steering as a steering system. It is designed to increase or decrease the reaction force.

In this manner, the conventional steering system includes a power steering gear box 9 connected to a hydraulic reaction force loading mechanism 8, a steering wheel 10, and a hydraulic pump 11 that amplifies the steering force from the steering wheel 10.

Note that hydraulic oil is supplied to each pump 7, 11 from a reservoir 12, and oil is returned to the reservoir 12 after operation from the hydraulic reaction force load mechanism 8 and the power steering gear box 9. It's becoming like that.

By the way, in the conventional power steering control device as described above, since the rotation of the pump 7 is determined by the rotation of the meter cable 3, there is a problem that it is difficult to finely control the steering reaction force according to the vehicle speed. be.

The present invention is intended to solve these problems, and aims to provide a power steering control device that can appropriately control steering reaction force depending on vehicle speed.

Therefore, the power steering control device of the present invention is a power steering device that is equipped with a hydraulic reaction force loading mechanism that controls the steering reaction force in the steering system according to the speed of the vehicle, and a pump that supplies oil to the mechanism. A drive motor for the pump is provided with a handle angle sensor that generates a corresponding signal, and a controller that receives the signal from the handle angle sensor, and a drive motor for the pump to control the hydraulic reaction load mechanism in accordance with the control signal from the controller. The motor is characterized in that it is provided with wiring for sending control signals from the controller to the motor.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings. Figures 2 and 3 show a power steering control device as a first embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is an overall configuration diagram thereof, and Figure 3 is a 4 and 5 are electrical circuit diagrams of the main parts thereof, and FIGS. 4 and 5 show a power steering control device as a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a sensor for detecting the rotation angle, FIG. 5 is an electric circuit diagram of the main part thereof, and FIG. 6 is an electric circuit diagram of the main part of a power steering control device as a third embodiment of the present invention.

First, the first embodiment of the present invention will be explained.
As shown in FIG. 2, this device includes a pulse generator 4.
is provided, and the rotation of the engine 1 is transferred to the transmission 2.
and a speedometer cable 3 to generate an electrical pulse signal. This pulse signal is supplied to the controller 5 via the wiring 13.

The controller 5, as shown in FIG.
The F exchanger 18 converts this pulse signal into a voltage value, and this converted voltage value is supplied to the positive end of a comparator circuit 19.

The output of the V-F exchanger 18 increases when the vehicle speed is high, and decreases when the vehicle speed is low.

Further, a triangular wave generation circuit 20 is provided,
A triangular wave having a constant maximum value is supplied from this circuit 20 to the minus end of the comparator circuit 19 at a constant cycle.

The comparison circuit 19 compares the voltage corresponding to the vehicle speed with the triangular wave, and when the voltage corresponding to the vehicle speed is greater than the voltage of the triangular wave, the output becomes high level, and this high level output is used to drive the motor. The circuit 21 is driven to drive the drive motor 6.

This motor 6 drives a pump 7 to control the steering reaction force.

Note that a control wiring 14 is provided from the motor drive circuit 21 to the motor 6, and the symbol V _D in FIG. 4 indicates the operating voltage of each electric circuit.

Since the power steering control device of the present invention is configured as described above, it is possible to perform duty control using an electric control circuit so as to obtain a steering reaction force that corresponds to the vehicle speed.

When the vehicle speed is low, the steering reaction force is controlled to be small and the power steering is activated with sufficient driving force, and when the vehicle speed is high, the
By controlling the steering reaction force to be large, the straight-line stability of the vehicle is increased.

In the second embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, a handle angle sensor 16 is provided, and the handle angle sensor 16 sends an electric signal corresponding to the rotation of the handle 10 to the handle angle. The signal is sent to the detection circuit 22.

As shown in FIG. 5, the handle angle sensor 16 is configured to detect the reflected light from a reflector 10a provided on the back surface of the handle 10 at a handle neutral position (straight ahead position).
receives and reflects detection light from a light emitter (not shown) when the handle is in a neutral position.

When this reflected light is input, the output of the sensor 16 becomes low level, and this output signal is sent to the steering wheel angle detection circuit 22.

The steering wheel angle detection circuit 22 sets its output signal to a high level when the electrical signal from the steering wheel angle sensor 16 is at a low level, and also sets its output signal to a low level when the electrical signal from the steering wheel angle sensor 16 is at a high level. This output signal is sent to one input terminal of an AND circuit 23 as a suppression circuit.

This device is further provided with a controller characteristic selection switch 15, so that the output from the V-F exchanger 18 according to the vehicle speed is controlled to be reduced in pressure and is supplied to the positive end of the comparison circuit 19. There is.

The output of the comparison circuit 19 is supplied to the other input terminal of an AND circuit 23, and the output of this AND circuit 23 is supplied to the motor drive circuit 21.

In the device of this second embodiment, due to the above-described configuration, when the steering wheel assumes a position other than the neutral position as a result of steering wheel operation, the steering reaction force becomes zero and the power steering is activated, and the steering wheel is not operated. Sometimes, when the steering wheel is in the neutral position, a steering reaction force acts to maintain straight-line stability at high speeds.

In addition, this second embodiment has the advantage that the steering reaction force can be controlled in stages, and the steering force can be set hard or soft depending on the driving situation or the driver's preference. There is.

In the third embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 6, an acceleration sensor 17 is provided, and is configured to be able to detect the lateral acceleration (acceleration in a direction perpendicular to the straight-ahead direction) of the vehicle. ing.

The lateral acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor 17 is supplied to the acceleration signal circuit 25, converted into an appropriate voltage value, and sent to the positive end of the comparison circuit 19'.

In this comparison circuit 19', the triangle generation circuit 20
When the voltage value obtained by converting the acceleration by receiving the triangular wave from the negative end is larger than the voltage value of the triangular wave,
The output is set to high level.

The outputs of the comparison circuits 19 and 19' are OR
The output of the OR circuit 24 is supplied to the motor drive circuit 21.

Since the device according to the third embodiment of the present invention is configured as described above, it is possible to control the steering reaction force according to the lateral acceleration when the automobile turns.
When turning at low speed, the steering reaction force becomes small, and when turning at high speed, the steering reaction force becomes appropriately large, thereby preventing excessive steering.

It is also possible to combine the second and third embodiments of the present invention as appropriate, and in a device based on this combination, the acceleration sensor 17, acceleration signal circuit 25, and comparison circuit 1 of the third embodiment are added to the device of the second embodiment.
Just add 9'.

That is, an OR circuit is interposed between the AND circuit 23 and the motor drive circuit 21 in the electric circuit diagram shown in FIG. 4, and one input terminal of this OR circuit is connected to the output terminal of the AND circuit 23. , the output end of the OR circuit is connected to the motor drive circuit 21, and the other input end of the OR circuit is connected to the output end of the comparison circuit 19'.

In this way, the effects of the second and third embodiments described above can be obtained in combination.

As described above in detail, the power steering control device of the present invention provides the following effects and advantages.

(1) The pump for supplying oil to the hydraulic reaction force load mechanism that controls the steering reaction force is driven by the drive motor and is controlled by the electric signal, making it possible to variable control the steering reaction force. , and the setting range of the control can be widened.

(2) Regarding the control mode, since the drive motor is controlled via the electrical control signal, there is an advantage that the control mode can be arbitrarily selected based on the input signal of the controller.

(3) Since the steering reaction force control signal is once converted into an electrical signal, the position of the pump that supplies oil to the hydraulic reaction force load mechanism can be freely selected, which is advantageous in terms of layout.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional power steering control device, and FIGS. 2 and 3 show a power steering control device as a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. Figure 3 is the electrical circuit diagram of the main part, and Figures 4 and 5 are the second part of the present invention.
Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a sensor for detecting the rotation angle, Fig. 5 is an electric circuit diagram of the main part, and Fig. 6 is a power steering control device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is an electric circuit diagram of a main part of a power steering control device as a third embodiment. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Engine, 2... Transmission, 3... Speed meter cable, 4... Pulse generator, 5... Controller, 6... Drive motor, 7... Hydraulic pump, 8... Hydraulic reaction load mechanism , 9...power steering box, 10...handle, 10a...
... Reflector plate, 11 ... Hydraulic pump, 12 ... Reservoir, 13, 14 ... Wiring, 15 ... Controller characteristic selection switch, 16 ... Handle angle sensor, 17 ... Acceleration sensor, 18 ... V-F conversion 19, 19'... Comparison circuit, 20... Triangular wave generation circuit, 21... Motor drive circuit, 22... Steering wheel angle detection circuit, 23... AND circuit, 24...
...OR circuit, 25...acceleration signal circuit.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] In a power steering system that includes a hydraulic reaction force loading mechanism that controls the steering reaction force in the steering system according to the speed of the vehicle and a pump that supplies oil to the same mechanism, a steering wheel angle sensor that generates a signal corresponding to the steering and a A drive motor for the pump is provided in order to control the hydraulic reaction force load mechanism in accordance with the control signal from the controller, and a controller that receives a signal from the handle angle sensor. A power steering control device characterized by being provided with wiring for sending signals.