JPH0924720A - Kneeling device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a kneeling device which can maintain a stable kneeling condition with an air consumption amount relatively small, in an air suspension vehicle. SOLUTION: A magnet valve 11 is provided in an air passage 10 communicating front air springs 2 and 3 of a bus 1, and the line is communicated from an air tank 12 to the air passage 10 through a leveling valve 6 with cylinder, and also communicated to a rear air spring 4 at getting ON/OFF entrance side through a leveling valve 7 with cylinder. While exhaust magnet valves 14 and 15 are provided in the front air spring 2 and the rear air spring 4 respectively, an exhaust magnet valve 17 is provided in the leveling valves 6 and 7, and those magnet valves are changeover controlled by a controller 24.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a kneeling device for improving the entry / exitability of an air suspension vehicle such as a bus by lowering the entrance / exit side of the vehicle body.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional kneeling device on a bus is
As illustrated in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 63-21116, by providing rear leveling valves for the rear air springs arranged on the left and right of the vehicle, and controlling the left and right rear leveling valves by cylinders, respectively. At the same time as exhausting air from the rear left air spring, air is supplied to the rear right air spring so that the vehicle body leans greatly to the left side where there is an entrance / exit. Raising the cylinder consumes a large amount of air and is wasteful.Also, when the vehicle in which the kneeling device is not running, the cylinder of the leveling valve swings as the lever of the leveling valve swings according to the unevenness of the road surface. There is a problem that the life of the kneeling device must be shortened because the expansion and contraction is forced and repeated frequently. In addition, since the left and right front air springs communicate with each other and the left and right support reaction forces by the front air springs are always equal, if the vehicle body rolls to either the left or right when the vehicle turns, the compression side As a result of the movement of air from the front air spring to the front air spring on the extension side, the rolling phenomenon described above appears significantly, and the riding comfort of the vehicle is impaired.

In the kneeling device disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2-2728, a cut valve cuts off the air path from the leveling valve to the entrance / exit opening side bellows, and the exhaust valve opens the air in the entrance / exit opening side bellows. Is discharged and the kneeling action of lowering the entry / exit side of the vehicle body is performed.At this time, the control of the leveling valve for the bellows on the entry / exit side is completely blocked by the cut valve. As a result, the vehicle height at the entrance / exit side fluctuates, and there is a fundamental drawback that a stable kneeling state cannot be maintained.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a kneeling device for an air suspension vehicle, which consumes a relatively small amount of air and can maintain a stable kneeling state.

[0005]

Therefore, a kneeling device according to the present invention is an air suspension vehicle having left and right air springs to which air is supplied from an air supply source through a leveling valve. A blocking means for blocking the supply and discharge of air to and from the other side of the entrance and exit, and at the same time blocking the communication between the other of the air springs and the leveling valve, and an exhaust valve for discharging air from the other air spring, It has a changing means for changing the neutral point of the leveling valve, and a control means for changing the neutral point of the leveling valve to a height corresponding to the kneeling vehicle height by driving the changing means.

In this case, since the supply / discharge of air to the air spring on the side opposite to the vehicle entrance / exit is shut off by the shut-off means, no extra air is needed for the air spring at the time of kneeling and the shut-off means is provided. Prevents the other air spring from communicating with the leveling valve, and the exhaust valve allows air to be expelled from the air spring as appropriate, so that the vehicle's entrance / exit side can be quickly lowered for rapid kneeling. If the control means drives the changing means, the neutral point of the leveling valve is changed to a height corresponding to the kneeling vehicle height, and the other air spring and the leveling valve are communicated with each other. The vehicle height is always kept constant by the operation of the leveling valve regardless of the increase or decrease of passengers.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The embodiments of the present invention shown in the drawings will be described below. Front air springs 2 and 3 are installed on the left and right of the front part of the vehicle as the front suspension of the bus 1, and rear air springs 4 and 5 are installed on the left and right of the rear part of the vehicle as the rear suspension of the bus 1. A well-known extendable and retractable cylinder-equipped leveling valve 6 is mounted between the left side of the front part and the chassis, and a well-known extendable and retractable leveling valve 7 with a cylinder is also installed between the left side of the rear part of the vehicle body and the chassis. At the same time, the well-known rod type leveling valve 8 is installed between the right side of the rear part of the vehicle body and the chassis.
Is attached.

The left and right front air springs 2,
A magnet valve 11 is installed in the air passage 10 communicating with the air passage 3, and the air tank 12 is sequentially connected to the air passage 10 through the magnet valve 13, the leveling valve 6 and the magnet valve 14, while the air tank 12 is sequentially connected to the magnet valve 15. , The left rear air spring 4 through the leveling valve 7 and the magnet valve 16, and the right rear air spring 5 through the leveling valve 8.
Reference numeral 2 is connected to a cylinder 6a of the leveling valve 6 and a cylinder 7a of the leveling valve 7 via a magnet valve 17.

Further, the bus 1 is provided with a door switch 20, a kneeling switch 21, a steering angle sensor 22 and a vehicle speed sensor 23, and electric signals from these are sent to a controller 24, and the controller 24 causes a magnet valve. Switching of 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 is controlled as follows.

When the door switch 20 is closed, the door (not shown) provided on the left side of the vehicle is opened, and the kneeling switch 21 is closed from the normal state shown in the figure, the controller 24 switches the magnet valve 11. At the same time the airway 10 is cut off on the way,
The controller 24 switches the magnet valves 14 and 16 to rapidly discharge a fixed amount of air or air for a fixed time from the front air spring 2 and the rear air spring 4, and the controller 24 switches the magnet valve 17. , Air tank 12
Is supplied to the cylinders 6a, 7a of the leveling valves 6, 7 and the respective rods contract to cause the neutral points of the leveling valves 6, 7 to fall to the left side of the vehicle body during kneeling when the vehicle body is tilted to the left. Is rapidly changed to.

That is, when the kneeling switch 21 is closed, a large amount of air is temporarily discharged from the left front air spring 2 and the rear air spring 4 and the entire left side of the vehicle body is rapidly lowered, while the magnet valve 11 is closed.
The air is enclosed in the right front air spring 3 as it is, and the right rear air spring 5 is kept in its normal state by the action of the leveling valve 8, so that the entire height of the right side of the vehicle body is changed. As it is not done, the body leans to the left for quick kneeling,
Thereafter, the left side of the vehicle body is finely adjusted to the kneeling vehicle height accurately by the leveling valves 6 and 7 in which the neutral point is rapidly changed to the lowered position during kneeling.

Next, when the door switch 20 or the kneeling switch 21 is opened, the magnet valve 13 is switched by the controller 24 and the air tank 12 is opened.
Directly communicates with the air passage 10 via the magnet valve 13 without passing through the leveling valve 6, and a predetermined amount of air or air is rapidly supplied to the front air spring 2 and at the same time, the controller 24 magnetizes the magnet. The valve 15 is switched to the air tank 12
Via the magnet valve 15 directly communicates with the rear air spring 4 without passing through the leveling valve 7, and a fixed amount of air or air is rapidly supplied to the rear air spring 4 for a fixed time.

Further, the magnet valve 17 is switched by the controller 24, and the leveling valves 6 and 7 are switched.
The air is discharged from the cylinders 6a and 7a of the vehicle, and the respective rods extend to return the neutral points of the leveling valves 6 and 7 to their original positions.
The magnetic valve 11 is opened by the controller 24, and the air passage 10 connects the left and right front air springs 2 and 3 with a slight delay until the air supply to the above is almost finished.

That is, when the door switch 20 or the kneeling switch 21 is opened, a large amount of air is temporarily supplied from the air tank 12 to the left front air spring 2 and the rear air spring 4, and the entire left side of the vehicle body is quickly raised. Therefore, the vehicle body that leans to the left is quickly returned to the horizontal state, and then the leveling valves 6 and 7 and the leveling valve 8 whose neutral points are returned to the original position are adjusted so that the vehicle height becomes normal. Will be adjusted.

The magnet valves 13, 14, 1
The amount of air supplied to and discharged from the front air spring 2 and the rear air spring 4 by 5, 16 is appropriately adjusted by the controller 24 according to the number of passengers and the total weight of the loaded luggage.

As described above, at the time of kneeling, air is directly discharged from the left front air spring 2 and the rear air spring 4 by the magnet valves 14 and 16, and at the time of returning from the kneeling, the air tanks are discharged by the magnet valves 13 and 15. 12 directly supplies air to the left front air spring 2 and the rear air spring 4, and in either case, the leveling valves 6, 7
Since air is supplied to and discharged from the front air spring 2 and the rear air spring 4 without passing through them, the supply and discharge operations thereof can be performed rapidly, and quick kneeling and returning can be performed, which is very convenient. Is.

In addition, during the kneeling, the magnet valve 11 is closed to enclose the air in the right front air spring 3 as it is, and the right rear air spring 5 is maintained in its normal state by the action of the leveling valve 8. Since it is leaned and does not require an extra large amount of air, the air consumption in the air suspension can be relatively small, and therefore, not only can the manufacturing cost and maintenance cost of the device be kept low, The reliability of the air supply / discharge system can be easily kept high.

Further, in the kneeling state, the left side of the vehicle body is adjusted to be always the kneeling vehicle height by the leveling valves 6 and 7 in which the neutral point is changed to the lowered position at the time of kneeling, so that the occupant and the vehicle are mounted. Even if there is a change in luggage or the like, the vehicle height at the entrance / exit side is always maintained at a constant level, and a stable kneeling action can be performed. Moreover, the leveling valves 6 and 7 for detecting the vehicle height are provided at the entrance / exit points. Since the vehicle is disproportionately arranged on the left side of the vehicle on the side, it is easy to accurately adjust the vehicle height at the entrance / exit side, and the stability of the kneeling action can be further enhanced.

Further, at the time of kneeling and at the time of returning from it, the magnet valves 11, 13, 14, 1,
5, 16 are controlled by the controller 24 for a predetermined time,
Alternatively, a predetermined amount of air is supplied to and discharged from the front air spring 2 and the rear air spring 4 by opening and closing at a predetermined timing, so that the opening / closing timing of the magnet valves 11, 13, 14, 15, 16 is detected. Since a vehicle height sensor and the like are not particularly required, there is an advantage that the entire apparatus can be easily simplified.

On the other hand, when the traveling of the bus 1 is detected by the vehicle speed sensor 23 and the steering angle detected by the steering angle sensor 22 and the vehicle speed detected by the vehicle speed sensor 23 are equal to or more than predetermined values, the controller 24 As a result, the magnet valve 11 is closed so that the air does not flow between the left and right front air springs 2 and 3 through the air passage 10. Since the air springs 2 and 3 independently support the left and right sides of the vehicle body, the roll ring phenomenon can be effectively suppressed and the riding comfort of the vehicle can be improved as compared with the conventional one. Since the controller 11 and the controller 24 can be commonly used for the kneeling control and the anti-rolling control, a relatively small number is required. The have parts it is possible to obtain a high function as a vehicle. Regarding the relationship between the steering angle and the vehicle speed, the controller 24 automatically adjusts so that the larger the steering angle is, the smaller the predetermined value of the vehicle speed is, and the larger the vehicle speed is, the smaller the predetermined value of the steering angle is. It is a thing.

[0021]

In the kneeling device according to the present invention, the air supply / discharge to / from the air spring on the side opposite to the vehicle entrance / exit of the air spring is blocked by the blocking means during the kneeling. Not only does it require a small amount, but also the shutoff means shuts off the communication between the other air spring and the leveling valve, and the exhaust valve appropriately discharges air from the other air spring, so that quick kneeling can be performed. In addition, by driving the changing means by the control means and communicating the other air spring and the leveling valve, the vehicle height at the entrance / exit side is always kept constant regardless of increase / decrease of occupants, etc., and stable kneeling is performed. be able to.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic layout diagram in an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Front air spring 3 Front air spring 4 Rear air spring 5 Rear air spring 6 Leveling valve 7 Leveling valve 11 Magnet valve 12 Air tank 13 Magnet valve 14 Magnet valve 15 Magnet valve 16 Magnet valve 17 Magnet valve 21 Kneeling switch 22 Steering angle sensor 23 Vehicle speed sensor 24 controller

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An air suspension vehicle having left and right air springs to which air is supplied from an air supply source through a leveling valve, and shuts off air supply / discharge to / from the air spring on the side opposite to the entrance / exit. At the same time, a shutoff means for shutting off communication between the other of the air springs and the leveling valve, an exhaust valve for discharging air from the other air spring, a changing means for changing the neutral point of the leveling valve, and the change And a control means for changing the neutral point of the leveling valve to a height corresponding to the height of the kneeling vehicle by driving the means. 2. The air springs according to claim 1, wherein the air springs communicate with a common leveling valve, and the shut-off means closes the communication passages of the air springs so that the air springs on the side opposite to the entrance / exit port are closed. A kneeling device configured to cut off the supply and discharge of air. 3. The kneeling device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the leveling valve communicating with the other air spring is biased toward the entrance / exit side. 4. The kneeling device according to claim 1, further comprising a control device that operates the exhaust valve for a predetermined time during kneeling. 5. The turning detection means for detecting that the vehicle is in a predetermined turning state according to any one of claims 1 to 4, and the turning detection means when the turning detection means detects the predetermined turning state. A kneeling device having a control device for interrupting communication between both air springs.