JPH04337410A - Measurement of automobile toe - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve balance of wheel alignment after toe adjustment by indicating a measured value of the toe in consideration of the wheel weight of each wheel. CONSTITUTION:A measured value of toe, for which toes of each wheel 2, 3 is individually detected while the wheel weight of each wheel 2, 3 is detected, is corrected based on a correlated data preliminarily determined so as to keep an optimal relationship between a toe measured value and a wheel weight measured value, and a toe measurement corrected value is thus obtained. The toe measurement corrected value is displayed on a display board 8 along with a toe adjustment aimed value preliminarily determined proper to an automobile 1.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for measuring the toe of a motor vehicle prior to adjusting its wheel alignment.

[0002] Here, the toe of a car refers to the inclination of the wheels with respect to the direction of travel when the car is viewed from above, and toe-in is when the front end of the wheel is tilted inward of the vehicle with respect to the direction of travel; This includes both toe-out and toe-out when tilted outward.

0003

2. Description of the Related Art As a method for measuring the toe of this type of automobile, for example, as shown in FIGS. By pressing the measurement plate 7 of the measurement unit 6 against the side surface of the wheels 2 and 3, the toe of each wheel 2 and 3 is electrically detected as the inclination of the measurement plate 7, and the actual measured value of this toe is displayed on the display panel 8. There is a known device that displays the information on the meter 9 (for example, Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 57-160609). 10 is a control panel.

Here, since the tire type, size, manufacturer name, etc. are displayed in so-called embossed letters on the side surface of the tire against which the measuring plate 7 is pressed, the direction of rotation of the tire against which the measuring plate 7 is pressed Measurement errors may occur depending on the position of the embossed characters. Therefore, in the above example, after the first toe measurement, the wheel 2 is rotated by the rotational drive of the roller 5.
.

[0005] When performing toe adjustment work, since the optimal toe target value is specified in advance according to the vehicle type and tire type, the operator can check the actual toe value indicated by the pointer on the display meter 9. Toe adjustment is performed while watching the display meter 9 until the toe target value is reached.

[0006]

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the conventional toe adjustment work as described above, the toe is adjusted uniformly to a predetermined target toe value for all vehicles of the same model and tire type. Therefore, each wheel 2,
The unique alignment characteristics of each three are not sufficiently reflected.

For example, it is normal for the wheel loads (loads applied to the tires of each wheel) of each of the wheels 2 and 3 of a car to vary slightly even if the car is of the same model. Even if the wheel loads on the left and right sides are different, the conventional toe adjustment method will uniformly adjust the toe so that the same target toe value is achieved. therefore,
Even if the error in the left and right wheel loads is within the allowable range,
Depending on the degree of wheel load error, the wheel alignment balance of a particular wheel is not necessarily optimal.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and when measuring the toe of each wheel prior to toe adjustment and displaying the measured value together with the toe adjustment target value, the wheel load of each wheel is The purpose of the present invention is to provide a toe measurement method that can display values that take into consideration the following.

[0009]

[Means and effects for solving the problems] The present invention detects the toe of each wheel individually before adjusting the toe of an automobile, and also detects the wheel load of each wheel individually, and actually measures the toe. The actual toe value is corrected based on correlation data between a predetermined toe value and a wheel load value so that the value is an optimal value in relation to the actual measured wheel load value, and the corrected toe measurement correction value is is displayed on the display panel together with a predetermined vehicle-specific toe adjustment target value.

[0010] Here, the toe measurement correction value is obtained by correcting the toe measurement value based on the relationship with the wheel load value of each wheel. Since a deviation occurs between the values when driving, the correction is made in order to anticipate this deviation in advance.

[0011] Therefore, by adjusting the toe until the displayed toe measurement correction value matches the toe adjustment target value, even if the toe adjustment target value is a uniform value, the toe measurement correction value itself can be adjusted in advance. Since the correction takes the wheel load into consideration, the toe of each wheel is adjusted to the optimum value in relation to the wheel load.

0012

[Example] Figures 1 to 5 are diagrams showing an example of the present invention.
In particular, FIGS. 2 to 4 show a schematic configuration of a toe measuring device. As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, a pair of rollers 5 is provided on each table 4 corresponding to each wheel 2, 3 of the vehicle 1, as in the conventional case. Vehicle 1 to be measured by mounting each wheel 2, 3
is positioned (step S1 in FIG. 1).

A measuring unit 6 is provided on the side of each wheel 2, 3 as in the conventional case, and each measuring unit 6 measures a disc-shaped measuring plate 7 on the side of the corresponding wheel 2, 3. By pressing against the sidewall portion of each tire, the toe of each wheel 2, 3 is detected as the inclination of the measuring plate 7 by a built-in sensor (step S2 in FIG. 1).

Further, a load detector 11 such as a load cell is provided below each table 4, and at the same time as the toe of each wheel 2, 3 is detected as described above, the toe of each wheel 2, 3 is detected.
3 wheel load is detected by the load detector 11 (step S3 in FIG. 1).

Each wheel 2, 3 detected as described above
The toe actual measurement value θ and the wheel load actual measurement value W are taken into the control panel 10. The arithmetic processing unit 12 in the control panel 10 has a
As shown in the figure, the correlation data is stored and set in advance in a predetermined management table so that the relationship between the wheel load and toe value of each wheel 2 and 3 is optimal when considering the balance of wheel alignment. .

When the actual toe value θ and the actual wheel load value W of each wheel 2, 3 are input as described above, the arithmetic processing unit 12 calculates the ideal toe value according to the actual wheel load value W as described above. is called from the management table, and the ideal toe value corresponding to the actual measured value W of the wheel load is compared with the actual measured toe value θ, and correction is applied until the actual measured toe value θ matches the ideal toe value. This corrected value becomes the toe measurement correction value θb (step S4 in FIG. 1).

Furthermore, a predetermined toe adjustment target value θa for each vehicle type is stored and recorded in the arithmetic processing unit 12, and when vehicle type information is provided from the outside, the toe adjustment target value θa for the corresponding vehicle type is determined. be called. Then, the toe adjustment target value θa and the toe measurement correction value θb are compared, and the difference therebetween, that is, the amount necessary to make the toe measurement correction value θb match the toe adjustment target value θa, is determined as the toe adjustment amount θc. (Step S5 in FIG. 1).

When the toe measurement correction value θb and the toe adjustment amount θc are determined as described above, the control panel 10 outputs and displays these data together with the toe adjustment target value θa on the display panel 8 (step 1 in FIG. 1). S6). In other words, the display panel 8
An analog display meter 13 and a digital display meter 14 are provided for each wheel 2, 3, as shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, the target pointer 15 of the display meter 13 indicates the toe adjustment target value θa, and the actual measurement pointer 16 indicates the above-mentioned toe measurement correction value θb. Similarly, display meter 1
4 displays the above-mentioned toe adjustment amount (toe adjustment amount) θc, and as a result, the difference between the indications between the target pointer 15 and the actual measurement pointer 16 of the display meter 13 is the toe adjustment amount θc displayed on the display meter 14. matches the value of . The display meter 14 simultaneously displays the value of the toe adjustment amount θc as well as an instruction indicating whether the adjustment should be made toward the toe-in side or the toe-out side.

Therefore, the operator only has to adjust the toe in the indicated direction while looking at the display on the display panel 8 until the value displayed on the display meter 14 becomes "0", and as the toe adjustment progresses, the operator only needs to adjust the toe. Since the actual measurement pointer 16 of the display meter 13 moves accordingly, when the toe adjustment is completed, the target pointer 15 of the display meter 13 and the instruction of the actual measurement pointer 16 match (step S7 in FIG. 1). When the toe adjustment of each wheel 2, 3 is completed, each adjustment completion indicator lamp 17 lights up.

As a result, even if the toe adjustment target value θa is a uniform value, the toe measurement correction value θb itself has been corrected in advance in consideration of the wheel loads of the respective wheels 2 and 3. The toe of 3 will be adjusted to the optimum value in relation to the wheel load.

[0021] After this, it is checked whether the toe adjustment of all the wheels 2 and 3 has been carried out as specified (step S8 in Fig. 1), and if there is any maladjustment, readjust it (
On the other hand, if the toe adjustment of all the wheels 2 and 3 has been completed as specified, the measurement plate 7 of the measurement unit 6 is moved away from each wheel 2 and 3 and the vehicle 1 is exited (step S9 in FIG. 1). (Step S10 in FIG. 1).

[0022]

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the toe of each wheel is individually detected and the wheel load of each wheel is individually detected, so that the actual toe value is optimal in relation to the actual wheel load value. The actual toe measurement value is corrected based on predetermined correlation data so as to yield a toe measurement correction value, and this toe measurement correction value is displayed together with a predetermined vehicle-specific toe adjustment target value. As a result, when performing toe adjustment, the toe of each wheel is adjusted to a value that takes into account the respective wheel loads by simply performing an operation to match the toe measurement correction value with the displayed toe adjustment target value.

[0023] Therefore, compared to the conventional case where the toe adjustment target value is uniformly adjusted regardless of the wheel load value, the wheel alignment of each wheel is better balanced and the alignment accuracy is greatly improved. .

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a side view of a vehicle showing a schematic configuration of a toe measuring device.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the front of the vehicle showing a schematic configuration of a toe measuring device.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of a main part for one wheel of the toe measuring device shown in FIGS. 2 and 3;

FIG. 5 is a characteristic diagram showing the relationship between wheel load and ideal toe value.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a toe measurement device used for conventional toe measurement.

7 is an explanatory side view of the main part of FIG. 6. FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1...Vehicle 2, 3...wheels 6...Measuring unit 7...Measuring plate 8...Display panel 10...Control panel 11...Load detector 12... Arithmetic processing unit 13, 14...Display meter 15…Target guidelines 16…Actual measurement guideline

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Prior to adjusting the toe of an automobile, the toe of each wheel is individually detected, and the wheel load of each wheel is individually detected, and the measured value of the toe is determined in relation to the measured value of the wheel load. The actual toe measurement value is corrected based on correlation data between a predetermined toe value and a wheel load value so as to be an optimal value, and this corrected toe measurement correction value is used for a predetermined vehicle-specific toe adjustment. A toe measurement method for an automobile characterized by displaying the target value on a display panel.