JPH06141958A - Car control device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a car control device which can control the comfort in sitting in a car cabin by directly sensing the behavior of a driver or passenger. CONSTITUTION:In a seat belt 5 mounted on the body side and a seat belt buckle 4 installed on a seat back 3 and a seat bench 2 where the driver/passenger is seated, comfort sensors 6, 7 which are covered with a cloth constituting the seat belt 5 are accommodated inside the seat belt 5 in such a way as located on the seat belt 5. Accordingly car vibrations in the vertical direction and the direction fore and aft can be sensed as the sense of human being. If the condition of the comfort in sitting in the car cabin is changed on the basis of the signal given by the comfort sensors, a control to generate the comfort can be introduced where major stress is placed on the driver/passenger.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle control device for improving the riding comfort of a vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional sensor for evaluating the riding comfort of a vehicle, there is a sensor mounted on a vehicle body. For example, there is one disclosed in JP-A-60-261716.

[0003]

However, since the conventional sensors detect the behavior of the vehicle, it is necessary to control the behavior of the vehicle when the vehicle control is performed based on the output from these sensors. become. So traditionally,
There is a problem that the ride comfort suitable for the human sense is not evaluated, and the occupant-based control cannot be performed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle control device capable of directly detecting the behavior of an occupant and controlling the riding comfort of the vehicle.

(Principle of the Invention) The inventors of the present application traveled in various running conditions on various road surfaces with respect to vibration stimulation to an occupant on a running vehicle, and calculated the amount of stimulation to the occupant at that time from various evaluation values. investigated. Then, it was clarified that the vibration stimulus amount in the vicinity of the occupant influences the occupant's feeling rather than the whole vehicle and the parts related to the wheels such as the axles. Furthermore, as for the vibration stimulus amount, it was noticed that the magnitude and direction of the stimulus to the occupant's spinal column, which are closely related to the occupant's posture when the seat is seated, are the influential factors on the seat seat surface and the back surface. That is, the amount of stimulation to the occupant in a normal vehicle is investigated in detail, and the stimulation vector to the spinal column in the sitting posture is considered. From the amplitude and phase difference, we found that the relationship between the change in the amount of stimulation to the spinal column and the riding comfort was clear.

Based on this point of view, the stimulus amount of the seat seat surface and the back surface was quantitatively evaluated by the acceleration waveform vector in some cases of the irregular road surface, and as a result, as shown in FIG. It has been clarified that when the vector sum (amplitude) of the acceleration waveforms formed by the vertical longitudinal acceleration is large and the angle (phase) formed by the vectors is large, the occupant's riding comfort is significantly impaired. That is, the vibration stimulus on the seat surface means that the spinal column is pushed up and the excitation level to the internal organs of the chest is large, and the vibration stimulus on the back surface acts to push up the thoracic vertebra, and the cervical vertebrae and the head above the thoracic vertebrae. It means that the excitation level to is increased. Therefore, when the stimulus amount is large, the occupant determines that the riding comfort will be significantly deteriorated.Therefore, the threshold value of the stimulus amount is set to the vehicle level at which the current ride comfort evaluation is high, and the threshold value is used as the reference value for control. It was clarified that the vibration control that matches the ride comfort of the occupant can be performed by determining the signal output.

[0007]

Based on this point of view, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the vehicle control device of the present invention detects the vibration of the occupant in the seat belt of the vehicle in the vertical direction or the front-back direction. A ride comfort sensor, a control unit that calculates a control signal based on a signal from the ride comfort sensor, and a drive unit that inputs the control signal from the control unit and changes the ride comfort state of the vehicle. Is characterized by.

[0008]

In the above structure, since the ride comfort sensor is housed in the seat belt fitted to the upper body of the occupant, the vibration of the vehicle in the vertical direction or the front-back direction is detected as a human sense. . Therefore, if the ride comfort of the vehicle is changed based on the signal from this ride comfort sensor,
The occupant-based control can be performed.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. A first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4.

FIG. 1 is a view of an occupant wearing a seat belt as seen from the front of the vehicle. The seat bench 2 on which the occupant 1 sits, the seat belt buckle 4 mounted on the seat back 3, and the seat belt 5 mounted on the vehicle body side are covered with cloth constituting the seat belt 5 inside the seat belt 5, and Riding comfort sensors 6 and 7 are housed in a form of being positioned on the seat belt 5. An acceleration sensor is used as the riding comfort sensor.

As shown in the sectional view of the seat belt of FIG. 2, the riding comfort sensor 6 is mounted in a convex shape in a direction opposite to the occupant 1 so that the seat belt does not feel uncomfortable, and the occupant 1 vibrates in the vertical direction. Is installed so that it can be detected.
Similarly to the ride comfort sensor 6, the ride comfort sensor 7 is also mounted so as to be convex in the direction opposite to the occupant 1 and can detect the vibration of the occupant 1 in the front-rear direction.

Further, the inside of the seat bench 2 and the seat back 3
As shown in FIG. 3, drive units 9 and 10 for changing the damping force inside the seat are housed inside. The signals detected by the riding comfort sensors 6 and 7 are input to the control unit 8a that processes the detection signals as shown in FIG. 4, and the drive units 9 and 1 are driven based on the signals output from the control unit 8a.
When 0, the damping force of the seat is changed.

Next, the operation of the first embodiment constructed as described above will be explained. When vibration is applied to the vehicle, the vibration is transmitted to the occupant 1 via the seat bench 2 and the seat back 3. Although the occupant 1 is vibrated by this vibration, since the occupant 1 is fixed by the seat bench 5, the up-and-down movement of the human 1 can be detected by the ride comfort sensor 6 housed in the seat belt 5. Further, the front-back movement of the human 1 can be detected by the riding comfort sensor 7. As a result, the vertical vibration and the longitudinal vibration that are considered to contribute to the riding comfort can be detected at the position closest to the human 1.

The signals detected by the riding comfort sensors 6 and 7 are sent to the control unit 8a as described above. In the control unit 8a, fuzzy inference is performed from the signals of the riding comfort sensor 6 and the riding comfort sensor 7 so as to reduce vibration, and signals are sent to the drive units 9 and 10. In the drive units 9 and 10, based on the signal sent from the control unit 8, the seat bench 2 and the seat back 3
Change the damping force of. As a result, the motion of the human 1 can be directly detected, and thus control that fits the human feeling of riding is possible.

In the present embodiment, the drive units 9 and 10 are configured to change the damping force inside the seat bench 2 and the seat back 3. However, the seat bench 2 and the seat back 3 are accommodated with a hydraulic device and the like. However, the spring constant of the seat may be changed. Further, the same effect can be achieved by controlling by using another control target such as a shock absorber or an active suspension instead of the seat.

Next, the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.
Will be described. As shown in FIG. 5, the riding comfort sensor 1
1, 12 are mounted in the seat buckle 4 in a convex shape in the direction opposite to the seat bench 2. The ride comfort sensor 11 is attached so as to detect vertical vibrations of the seat, and the ride comfort sensor 12 is attached so as to detect front and rear vibrations of the seat. The signals detected by the riding comfort sensors 11 and 12 are input to a control unit 8b that processes the detection signals as shown in FIG. 6, and the drive units 9 and 10 attenuate the seat based on the signals output from the control unit 8b. The force is configured to change. In the control unit 8b, the skyhook control calculation described later can be performed from the signals of the ride comfort sensors 6, 7, 11, and 12. An acceleration sensor is used as the riding comfort sensors 11 and 12.

Next, the second embodiment constructed as described above will be described.
The operation will be described. The acceleration signal from the ride comfort sensor 6 is d
dX₁Then, first, the acceleration signal ddX ₁Control unit
In the vertical direction 8b, integration processing is performed and the vertical speed dX of the occupant 1 is increased.₁
Ask for. Next, the acceleration signal of the riding comfort sensor 11 is set to ddX.
₃As acceleration signal ddX₃Is integrated and
Vertical velocity of d2 dX₃Ask for. Obtained crew 1
Vertical speed dX₁And the vertical speed d of the seat bench 2
X₃8b in FIG. ₁From the index shown in
Control operation (ie dX₁> 0 and dX₁-DX ₃>
0 or dX₁<0 and dX₁-DX₃When <0, drive unit
The damping force of the knit 9 is large, and the damping force is small otherwise.
Calculation). Similarly, from the ride comfort sensor 7,
1 front-back speed dX₂, From the ride comfort sensor 12
Front-back speed dX_Four8b in FIG.₂
Skyhook control calculation (ie dX₂
> 0 and dX₂-DX_Four> 0 or dX₂<0 and dX₂
-DX _FourWhen <0, the damping force of the drive unit 9 is increased,
Otherwise, perform the calculation to reduce the damping force).

As a result, the damping force can be applied so as to damp the person 1, and the riding comfort for the person 1 can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a state in which an occupant is wearing a seat belt.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a seat belt 5 showing a stored state of ride comfort sensors 6 and 7.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a seat bench 2 and a seat back 3 showing a housed state of drive units 9 and 10.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing input / output of control signals in the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the seat buckle 4 showing a stored state of the riding comfort sensors 11 and 12.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing input / output of control signals in the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 5 Seat belts 6, 7, 11, 12 Ride comfort sensors 8a, 8b Control unit 9, 10 Drive unit

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Masayoshi Takeda, 1-1, Showa-cho, Kariya city, Aichi prefecture, Nihon Denso Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor, Takayuki Nagai, 1-1, Showa-cho, Kariya city, Aichi prefecture, Nihondenso Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Shunichi Doi 41, Nagachote, Nagakute-machi, Aichi-gun, Aichi Prefecture 1-1 Toyota Central Research Institute (72) Inventor Rikuo Ishiguro 41, Nagakute-cho, Aichi-gun, Aichi Prefecture Toyodachuo, Ltd. 1 Inside the research institute (72) Inventor Ichigo Takei 41-1 Yokomichi Nagakute, Nagakute-cho, Aichi-gun, Aichi Prefecture Toyota Central Research Institute Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A ride comfort sensor which is housed in a seat belt of a vehicle and detects vibrations of an occupant in an up-down direction or a front-back direction; a control unit which calculates a control signal based on a signal from the ride comfort sensor; A vehicle control device comprising: a drive unit that receives a control signal from the control unit and changes a riding comfort state of the vehicle.