JPH0579556B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

A. Object of the Invention (1) Industrial Field of Application The present invention relates to an attitude adjustment device for a motorcycle, which allows the attitude of the vehicle body to be appropriately adjusted by controlling a suspension means having a vehicle height adjustment function. (2) Prior Art Motorcycles that can automatically adjust the vehicle height regardless of the weight of passengers, luggage, etc. are disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 132922/1983. It is conventionally known. (3) Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in the conventionally known method described above, the vehicle height is constantly adjusted both when the vehicle is stopped and while the vehicle is running, so there are the following problems specific to motorcycles. In other words, when a motorcycle is stopped, the operator generally keeps the motorcycle in an upright position with his or her feet on the ground, so the load carried when the motorcycle is stopped is the same as when the rider is running with both feet on the steps. It is smaller than the loaded load, so if the vehicle height is adjusted both when the vehicle is stopped and when the vehicle is running, the vehicle height adjustment means will operate each time the vehicle starts and stops, consuming more energy than necessary. It is. This problem can be solved by adjusting the vehicle height only when the vehicle is stopped, but in this case,
Due to the fact that the load mounted on a motorcycle changes greatly between when the motorcycle is stopped and when the motorcycle is running as described above, there are other problems as follows. In other words, even if the height of the motorcycle is properly adjusted when the motorcycle is stopped, when the motorcycle moves to the running state, the vehicle height will drop below the appropriate value due to changes in the mounted load, making it impossible to obtain an appropriate riding posture. be. The present invention has been proposed in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a posture adjustment device for a motorcycle that can solve the above-mentioned problems of conventional devices. B. Structure of the Invention (1) Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides front suspension means for supporting the front wheels at the front of the vehicle body, and rear suspension means for supporting the rear wheels at the rear of the vehicle body. and a vehicle height adjustment means for adjusting the height of the vehicle body, wherein the vehicle height adjustment means adjusts the effective length of the front suspension means to the load mounted on the front portion of the vehicle body. It consists of a front vehicle height adjustment means that can adjust the effective length of the rear suspension means to an appropriate value regardless of the load mounted at the rear of the vehicle body, and a rear vehicle height adjustment means that can adjust the effective length of the rear suspension means to an appropriate value regardless of the load mounted at the rear of the vehicle body. There is a front attitude change detector in the rear of the vehicle that detects when the vehicle height at the front deviates from the specified range, and a rear attitude change detector at the rear of the vehicle that detects when the vehicle height at the rear deviates from the specified range. Attitude change detectors are provided respectively, and a control means is connected to the front and rear attitude change detectors for individually controlling the operation of the front and rear vehicle height adjustment means based on the detection signals of both of the attitude detectors. The control means is configured to be able to control the operation of the front and rear vehicle height adjustment means only when receiving a detection signal from a running state detector that detects that the motorcycle is in a running state. shall be. (2) Effect According to the above configuration, the front and rear vehicle height adjustment means are in a state in which operation control of the front and rear vehicle height adjustment means is possible only when the motorcycle is running, when the loaded load is at its maximum, and in this state. The front and rear vehicle heights can be automatically adjusted individually.
For this reason, there is no risk of causing problems peculiar to motorcycles, such as when the vehicle height is adjusted only when the vehicle is stopped, and the vehicle height drops below the appropriate value when the motorcycle is moved to a running state after completing the adjustment. Even when the load applied is biased toward the rear vehicle body side due to people riding, etc., the overall running posture of the vehicle body is maintained in a well-balanced manner. Furthermore, when the vehicle is stopped and vehicle height adjustment is not required, both the front and rear vehicle height adjustment means are held inactive, so there is no risk that each vehicle height adjustment means will be activated each time the vehicle stops or starts. do not have. (3) Embodiment Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, a front wheel 4 and a rear wheel 5 are mounted on a body 1 of a motorcycle M via front and rear suspension means 2 and 3, respectively. Supported. The front and rear suspension means 2 and 3 each include a pair of left and right front and rear air cylinders 6l, 6r; 7 whose effective lengths can be adjusted.
It is equipped with 1, 7r. An electric air pump P is installed at a suitable location on the vehicle body 1, and a conduit 8 extending from the discharge part of the air pump P is connected to each front air cylinder 6l, 6 from the middle thereof.
It branches into a first connecting pipe 9 ₁ connected to the rear air cylinder 9 1 and a second connecting pipe 9 ₂ connected to the rear air cylinders 7 l and 7 r. A normally-closed first pressure air supply valve 11 1 that opens when the solenoid 10 ₁ is energized is interposed in the middle of the first connection pipe 9 ₁ , and a first pressure air supply valve 11 ₁ on the downstream side of the supply valve 11 ₁ is installed. An air exhaust passage 12 ₁ is connected to the 1 connection pipe 9 ₁ , and a valve is opened at the atmosphere opening port of the air exhaust passage 12 ₁ by energization of a solenoid 13 ₁ to open the inside of the passage 12 ₁ to the atmosphere. can,
A normally closed first pressure air discharge valve 14 ₁ is provided.
On the other hand, the second connecting pipe 9 ₂ is also provided with a second pressure air supply valve 11 ₂ and a discharge valve 14 ₂ having the same configuration as the first pressure air supply valve 11 ₁ and discharge valve 14 ₁ . The air pump P, the first pressure air supply valve 11 ₁ and the first pressure air discharge valve 14 ₁ cooperate with each other to adjust the effective length of the front suspension means 2 to an appropriate value regardless of the load on the vehicle body. The front vehicle height adjustment means Af of the present invention is controlled by the output signal of the control means 25 mounted at an appropriate position on the vehicle body 1, and the air pump P and the second pressure air supply valve 11 ₂ and the second pressure air discharge valve 14 ₂ constitute the rear vehicle height adjusting means Ar of the present invention, which can cooperate with each other to adjust the effective length of the rear suspension means 3 to an appropriate value regardless of the load mounted on the vehicle body. The operation is controlled by the output signal of the control means 25. The control means 25 is capable of individually controlling the front and rear vehicle height adjustment means Af and Ar based on the respective output signals of the running state detector 26 and the front and rear attitude change detectors 27' and 27. There is. Reference numeral 28 indicates a power source thereof, and reference numeral 29 indicates a main switch. An example of the installation position of these on the motorcycle M is shown in FIG. Next, the configuration of each detector is set to 3A, B and 4A, B.
This will be explained in detail with reference to the drawings. First, as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the running state detector 26 is composed of a rotary plate 31 that rotates in conjunction with the pointer shaft of a vehicle speed meter 30, and a photoelectric means 32 provided near the periphery of the rotary plate 31. configured. Rotating plate 3
A notch 33 is provided on the periphery of the frame 1 over a rotation angle range corresponding to a vehicle speed of a predetermined value (for example, 16 km/h) or higher.
is formed, while the photoelectric means 32 is connected to the light projector 32
a and a light receiver 32b, and a light emitter 32a
When the vehicle speed is less than a predetermined value, the light emitted from the rotary plate 31 is blocked and does not reach the light receiver 32b, and when the vehicle speed exceeds the predetermined value, the light passes through the notch 33 as the rotary plate 31 rotates. and reaches the light receiver 32b. As soon as the light emitted by the light projector 32a reaches the light receiver 32b, the photoelectric means 32 produces a high level output signal indicating that the vehicle speed has exceeded a predetermined value, that is, the motorcycle is substantially in a running state. This photoelectric means 32, that is, the running state detection means 26
The following table shows the output level in response to changes in vehicle speed.

[Table] Next, the rear attitude change detector 27 is
As shown in the figure, an elevating plate 3 is connected to the rear part of the vehicle body 1 of a motorcycle M and moves up and down according to changes in the vehicle height.
4, and first and second photoelectric means 35, 36 connected to the rear fork 3a, which is a component of the rear suspension means 3, and arranged around the elevating plate 34. Each has a light projector 35a, 36a and a light receiver 35b, 36b. The elevating plate 34 has first and second slits 37 and 38 extending in the vertical direction, and has a certain lower area of the first slit 37 and a second slit 38.
Both slits 37, 38 are offset in the vertical direction so that certain upper areas of the slits 37, 38 are horizontally adjacent to each other;
The first slit 37 has the following cooperative relationship with the first photoelectric means 35, and the second slit 38 has the following cooperative relationship with the second photoelectric means 36. That is, when the vehicle height at the rear of the vehicle body is within the specified value range, the light emitted from each of the projectors 35a and 36a passes through the slits 37 and 38, and reaches the receiver 35.
b, 36b, and when the vehicle height decreases below the specified value range, the light emitted from the projector 35a passes through the slit 37 and reaches the receiver 35b.
The light emitted from the light emitter 26a is blocked by the elevating plate 34 and does not reach the light receiver 36b, and when the vehicle height increases beyond the specified value range, the light emitted from the light receiver 36a is blocked by the elevating plate 34.
5b does not receive light, and the light receiver 36b receives light. Both photoelectric means 35, 36 produce high level output signals when their photoreceptors receive light. Here, the output levels of the first and second photoelectric means 35 and 36 are shown in the following table in response to changes in the vehicle height at the rear of the vehicle body.

[Table] Note that the front attitude change detector 27', which detects whether the height of the front part of the vehicle body is within the specified value range, is connected to the vehicle body 1.
Although it is arranged in the front fork part of , the explanation of its structure will be omitted. The output signals of the running state detector 26 and the front and rear attitude change detectors 27' and 27 are transmitted to the control means 25.
is sent to the input section of Next, to explain the operation of this embodiment, first, the main switch 29 is closed. When the vehicle height is less than a predetermined value, the output of the driving state detector 26 is at a low level, so the control means 25 controls the air flow regardless of the output signals of the attitude change detectors 27' and 27. Pump P, 1st, 2nd
Both the pressure air supply valves 11 ₁ , 11 ₂ and the first and second pressure air discharge valves 14 ₁ , 14 ₂ are maintained in an inoperative state, so that each valve 11 ₁ , 11 ₂ , 14 ₁ , 14 ₂ is The valve is kept closed and the air pump P remains stopped. When the vehicle height exceeds a predetermined value and the motorcycle is substantially in a running state, and the vehicle height at the rear of the vehicle body decreases below a specified value range, the running state detector 26 and the rear attitude change detector 27, the control means 25 operates the air pump P and the second pressurized air supply valve 11 ₂ , so that the pressurized air from the pump P passes through the valve 11 ₂ which is in the open state and is delivered to the rear suspension means. 3 left and right air cylinders 7l, 7r
The vehicle height at the rear of the vehicle body increases due to their extension. If the vehicle height at the rear of the vehicle body returns to within the specified value range due to this increase in vehicle height, and the vehicle height is still greater than the specified value and the motorcycle is substantially in a running state,
Since the output signal of the rear attitude change detector 27 returns to its original state, the second pressure air supply valve 11 ₂ returns to the closed state and the air pump P becomes inactive again. When the vehicle speed is above a predetermined value, the motorcycle is substantially in a running state, and the vehicle height at the rear of the vehicle body has increased beyond a specified value range, the running state detector 26 and the rear attitude change detector 27 are activated. In response to each output signal, the control means 25 controls the second pressure air discharge valve 14 ₂
Since only the air cylinders 7l and 7r of the rear suspension means 3 are opened to the atmosphere through the air exhaust passage ₁₂₂ , the height of the rear portion of the vehicle body is reduced by contraction of the cylinders. When the vehicle height returns to within the specified value range, the second pressure air discharge valve 14 ₂ returns to the closed state. Further, when the vehicle height at the front of the vehicle changes, the front attitude change detector 27' detects the state of the change and sends an output signal to the control means 25.
In this case, the supply and discharge of pressurized air to each of the air cylinders 6l and 6r of the front suspension means 2 is controlled in the same manner as in the case of changing the height of the rear part of the vehicle body, so that the height of the front part of the vehicle body is always accurately adjusted. can do. FIG. 5 shows a modification of the running state detector 26, in which the position of the notch 33 of the rotating plate 31 is determined so that the light receiver of the photoelectric means 32 receives light when the vehicle speed is less than a predetermined value. . Further, FIG. 6 shows a modification of the rear attitude change detector 27, which is as follows:
The positions of the first and second photoelectric means 35 and 36 are 4A.
The exchange is opposite to the case shown in the figure. 7A and 7B show another modification of the rear attitude change detector 27, which includes a rotary plate 52 rotatably supported on the vehicle body 1 and a first and second rotary plate 52 disposed close to the outer circumference of the rotary plate 52. It is composed of two photoelectric means 35 and 36, and the rotary plate 52 has an operating lever 53 and a connecting rod 5.
4 to the rear fork 3a, and is configured to rotate in conjunction with the vertical swing of the rear fork 3a. Further, the rotating plate 52 is connected to the photoelectric means 35, 3.
6, and when the vehicle height is within a specified value range, only the light from the projector 35a of the first photoelectric means 35 passes through the shallow notch 5.
5, and when the vehicle height is below the specified value range, the light from the projectors 35a and 36a of both photoelectric means 35 and 36 is blocked by the rotary plate 52, and when the vehicle height is above the specified value range. In this case, the light from the projectors 35a and 36a of both photoelectric means 35 and 36 passes through the deep notch 56 and reaches the respective receivers 35.
b, 36b. In this case, a turnbuckle 57 is attached to the connecting rod 54.
The turnbuckle 57 is operated to adjust the length of the connecting rod 54 to change the phase of the notches 55 and 56 of the rotary plate 52, thereby adjusting the vehicle height. Further, the attitude change detector 27 may directly detect the distance between the vehicle body 1 and the road surface, or may directly detect the swing angle of the rear fork 3a. C. Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, the vehicle height adjustment means can be placed in an operable state only when the vehicle is running, when the mounted load is at its maximum, and the running posture of the vehicle body can be automatically adjusted. Therefore, there is no risk of causing problems peculiar to motorcycles, such as when the vehicle height is adjusted only when the vehicle is stopped, and the vehicle height drops below the appropriate value when the vehicle is in a running state after completing the adjustment. The front and rear vehicle height adjustment means can be operated and controlled individually based on the detection signals of the front and rear attitude change detectors, and the vehicle heights of the front and rear parts of the vehicle body can be adjusted individually, so it is possible to adjust the vehicle height of the front and rear parts of the vehicle individually. Even if the load is biased toward the rear of the vehicle due to this, the front and rear vehicle heights can be maintained as a whole in a well-balanced manner. Since the running posture of the vehicle body as a whole can always be maintained properly regardless of the situation, it can greatly contribute to improving the running performance of the motorcycle. Furthermore, both the front and rear height adjustment means can be kept inactive when the vehicle is stopped, where adjustment of the vehicle height is not originally required. This can contribute to the reduction of operating energy.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is an overall side view of a motorcycle equipped with the means of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the means of the present invention, and FIG. 3A is a front view of the running state detector. Figure 3B is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of the main part, Figure 4A is a front view of the rear attitude change detector,
Figure 4B is a cross-sectional view of the main part thereof, Figure 5 is a front view of a modification of the running state detector, Figure 6 is a front view of a modification of the rear attitude change detector, and Figure 7A is a rear attitude change detector. FIG. 7B is a rear side view of a motorcycle showing another modified example of the detector, and FIG.
Figure C is an enlarged perspective view of the main part. Af...Front vehicle height adjustment means, Ar...Rear vehicle height adjustment means, 1...Vehicle body, 2...Front suspension means, 3...
... Rear suspension means, 4 ... Front wheel, 5 ... Rear wheel, 25
...control means, 26...driving state detector, 27...
... Rear attitude change detector, 27'... Front attitude change detector.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Front suspension means 2 for supporting the front wheels 4 at the front of the vehicle body 1, rear suspension means 3 for supporting the rear wheels 5 at the rear of the vehicle body 1, and vehicle height adjustment means Af, Ar for adjusting the vehicle height of the vehicle body. In the attitude control device for a motorcycle, the vehicle height adjustment means is a front vehicle height adjustment device capable of adjusting the effective length of the front suspension means 2 to an appropriate value regardless of the load mounted on the front portion of the vehicle body 1. Means Af;
It consists of a rear vehicle height adjusting means Ar that can adjust the effective length of the rear suspension means 3 to an appropriate value regardless of the load loaded on the rear part of the vehicle body 1, and the vehicle height of the front part of the vehicle body 1 is specified. A front attitude change detector 27' is provided at the rear of the vehicle body 1 to detect when the vehicle height deviates from the specified range, and a rear attitude change detector 27 is provided at the rear of the vehicle body 1 to detect when the rear vehicle height deviates from the specified range. , front and rear attitude change detectors 27',
27 is connected to a control means 25 that individually controls the operation of the front and rear vehicle height adjustment means Af and Ar based on the detection signals of the two attitude detectors 27' and 27, and the control means 25 controls the operation of the motorcycle M. The front and rear vehicle height adjustment means Af,
1. An attitude adjustment device for a motorcycle, characterized in that it is configured to be able to control operation against Ar.