JPH09329433A - Non-contact alignment measuring device for vehicle wheel - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a non-contact type measuring device for vehicle wheel alignment. which does not involve secular deterioration, enables maintaining the initial accuracy, and allows solving the complication of the installing surface and in handling, by furnishing a laser or ultrasonic sensing element capable of sliding to the left and right and also plumb sliding on the horizontal surface and a plumb surface perpendicular thereto. SOLUTION: A fore-and-aft sliding frame 18 is installed which slides parallel with the horizontal axis Y of a vehicle wheel passing the wheel center O and perpendicular to the vehicle axis, and an up-and-down sliding frame 15b and a left-right sliding frame 15a in the left-right horizontal direction are installed on movable linear bearings of the frame 18. Horizontal displacement sensors 13, 14 are mounted on movable linear bearings of the left-right frame 15a, and a plumb displacement sensor 12 is mounted on the up-and-down sliding frame 15b.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle wheel alignment measurement, and more particularly to a vehicle wheel alignment measurement apparatus capable of performing alignment measurement without physical contact when measuring the wheel alignment of a four-wheel vehicle. Regarding

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to measure alignment of a vehicle wheel, a detection roller is generally used as a contactor, and the detection roller is brought into contact with the tire of the wheel, and an encoder or a linear scale is used for measurement. In these conventional cases, the position of each detection roller is manually adjusted depending on the size of the wheel diameter, which is troublesome and requires skill, and there is a problem that an excessive measurement time is required. .

Therefore, recently, a proposal concerning an alignment detecting roller device in consideration of the above problems has been proposed.
However, according to this proposal, as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, a wheel including a mounting roller 19 on which the tire 11 of the vehicle wheel is mounted, and a detection roller provided at the tip of the advancing / retreating means provided for the wheel and abutting on the peripheral portion of the tire 11. In the alignment apparatus, a tiltable support plate 51 provided at the tip of the advancing / retreating means is provided, and a rack 53 fixed to the support plate and a rack 53 that meshes with a pinion 52 that meshes with the rack rail move in parallel. A vertical detection roller 54 is attached to the tip of the attached moving member 53a.
And support arms 55 and 56 which are pivotally supported by the pinion 52 and move up and down and tilt forward and backward, and two other detection rollers 57 and 58 provided at the tip of the support arm. In use, if the detection roller 54 that contacts the tire in the vertical direction is manually adjusted up and down,
The pinion 52 rotates to move up and down by ½ of the moving amount, and the supporting arms 55 and 56 also interlock with each other so that the other detection rollers 57 and 58 come into contact with the tire 11 as well. The alignment is measured by.

The method of contacting the detection roller with the tire of the wheel to measure the alignment has the following problems. a. Rubber debris or the like may be accumulated on the detection roller and the measured data may be inaccurate if it is continuously used for a long time. b. Moving the vehicle during measurement causes a problem of damage to the measuring device.

Therefore, the advent of non-contact type wheel alignment is strongly desired, and the inventors of the present invention propose the following in the specification attached to Japanese Patent Application No. 8-113072, which is not known. As shown in FIG. 6, the proposal proposes laser light sources 65a, 65 having projection positions outside the front edge of the tire 11 of the front wheels.
The cross slit light is formed by arranging b and slit light forming the inclined flat laser beam surface 70 passing through the center of the front wheel and parallel to the vehicle axis, and slit light forming the vertical flat laser beam surface 69. It is configured to do so. Further, CCD cameras 66 and 67 are provided to face the horizontal bright line patterns 70a and 70b formed on the left and right outer sides of the tire 11 by the slit light formed by the inclined flat laser beam surface 70. 69
The CCD camera 68 is provided to face the vertical bright line pattern 69a formed on the upper side surface of the tire 62 by the slit light, and an electronic image including a horizontal / vertical bright line image is obtained, and the wheel is analyzed by image analysis of the electronic image. Alignment is calculated.

In the above proposal, it is necessary to establish the accuracy of the setting positions and the setting directions of the three CCD cameras 66, 67 and 68. In this case, the setting is made precisely and precisely according to the vehicle type and model and the tire condition. It is difficult and complicated.

[0007]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, it is possible in advance to slide horizontally and vertically on a horizontal plane and a vertical plane orthogonal thereto, or to slide in a radial direction symmetrically with respect to a vertical direction including a vertical direction. A possible laser or ultrasonic detecting element is provided to solve the complexity of the mounting surface. Therefore, according to the first and second aspects of the present invention, three displacement detection sensors, which are positioned in the radial direction on the tire surface necessary for wheel alignment detection, are provided slidably in the radial direction. It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle wheel non-contact alignment measuring device that is easy to install and handle and that can be processed accurately.

In addition to the object of the invention as set forth in claim 2, the invention as set forth in claim 3 further simplifies the non-contact alignment measuring device for a vehicle wheel in terms of the sliding mechanism of the left and right displacement detection sensors. The purpose is to provide.

The invention according to claim 4 is the same as claim 1,
In addition to the object of the invention described in claim 2, it is an object of the invention to provide a non-contact alignment measuring device for a vehicle wheel in which a displacement detection sensor is specified.

[0010]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
In a vehicle wheel alignment measuring device, a first displacement detection sensor that is slidable in the vertical direction past the center of the wheel and two pairs of second displacement sensors that are slidable in the radial direction symmetrical to a vertical center line passing through the center. It is characterized by comprising a displacement detection sensor.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in a vehicle wheel alignment measuring apparatus, a first displacement detection sensor is slidable in the vertical direction through the center of the wheel, and a horizontal displacement is possible through the center. It is characterized by comprising two sets of left and right second displacement detection sensors.

The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that the two left and right second displacement detection sensors according to claim 2 are made slidable at the same time through the same sliding element. is there.

The invention according to claim 4 is the same as claim 1,
It is characterized in that the first and second displacement detection sensors described in claim 2 are constituted by a laser or an ultrasonic sensor.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described.
This will be described together with the illustrated example. However, unless otherwise specified, the dimensions, shapes, relative positions, and the like of the components described in this embodiment are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, but are merely illustrative examples. Absent. FIG.
2 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a vehicle wheel non-contact alignment measuring apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a view showing an operating state of the vertical displacement sensor element of FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the alignment calculation situation based on the result, and FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an efficient measurement situation by the measuring device shown in FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle wheel non-contact alignment apparatus 1 according to the present invention has a center O of the measured wheel.
A front and rear sliding mount 18 that slides in the Y direction in the front-rear direction is provided parallel to the wheel center horizontal axis Y that is perpendicular to the vehicle axis passing through the vehicle. The left and right sliding mounts 15a that operate in the X direction and the up and down sliding mounts 15b that slide in the vertical Z direction are provided. On the movable linear bearing of the left and right sliding base 15a, a horizontal displacement detection sensor (second displacement detection) capable of projecting and reflecting substantially parallel to the Y direction to the cuts 11b and 11a with respect to the tire side surface by the horizontal plane passing through the center O of the wheel. Sensors 13 and 14 are provided so that the cuts 11a and 11b on the side surface of the tire can be reciprocally scanned left and right via an actuator 17. Further, on the movable linear bearing of the vertical sliding base 15b, a vertical displacement detection sensor (first displacement detection) capable of projecting and reflecting substantially parallel to the Y direction to the cut 11c with respect to the tire surface by the vertical plane passing through the center O of the wheel. A sensor 12 is provided so that reciprocal scanning can be performed through the actuator 16 between the upper and lower sides 11c of the tire side surface. As the first and second displacement detection sensors, ultrasonic sensors without laser light are used, and the vertical and horizontal displacement sensors 12 and 1, which are reference planes, are used.
The condition of the entrances and exits of the cuts 11a, 11b, 11c on the tire side surface corresponding to the Y direction from the mounting positions of 3, 14 is measured. With the above-described configuration, the displacement sensor 12 and the actuator 16 are used for detecting the canvas can.
The toe-in detection is made possible by operating the displacement sensors 13 and 14 via the actuator 17.

Next, the detection results showing the condition of the tire sidewall, which is the surface to be detected, going in and out of the reference surface will be described below with reference to FIG. That is, the wheel center O of the tire 11
A vertical slide base 15b provided with a vertical displacement sensor 12 so that a displacement detection projection line parallel to the Y direction can move up and down on a vertical plane perpendicular to the wheel center horizontal axis Y passing through.
The displacement sensor 12 is slid in the vertical Z direction as shown in FIG. The detection result is as shown in FIG. 3A, and the amount of displacement is represented by the change in the output voltage with respect to the sliding position where the sliding position of the sensor descends from the upper part. That is, when the displacement sensor 12 is slid downward from above and the laser beam or the ultrasonic wave is operated, an output graph showing the most traveled convex portion of the sidewall at the point P and the maximum value portion at the point Q is obtained. be able to. The wheel alignment is detected using the maximum value shown in the graph.

For example, the displacement sensors 12, 13 and 14 shown in FIG.
FIG. 3B shows a view of the cut 11a from a cut surface including the tire cut cuts 11a and 11b on a horizontal plane having the wheel center horizontal axis Y. Sensors 12, 1
The projection positions of 3 and 14 are on the vertical reference plane set at an appropriate position from the center O at a right angle to the wheel center horizontal axis Y passing through the wheel center O, and a, b and c, e and f are given by the following values. Use the corresponding value. a, b, e; distances of the maximum protruding positions of the left and right tire cutouts 11a, 11b, 11c obtained by scanning of the sensors 13, 14 with respect to the reference plane c; X of the maximum protruding position of the cutouts 11a, 11b Interval f in the direction f; the cuts 11a with respect to the reference plane, 1
The distance between the line connecting the maximum protruding positions of 1b and the intersection of the Y-axis: Toe-in angle = Arctan (ab) / c Camber angle = Arctan (fe) × 2 / c

As can be seen from the toe-in detection, the positions of the simultaneous detection points by the toe-in detection sensors 13 and 14 need to be always symmetrical with respect to the vertical plane passing through the Y-axis, and the camber detection sensor 12 has a position. The scanning position must be on the vertical plane passing through the Y-axis, and the displacement sensors 12, 13,
The scanning position on the tire sidewall of No. 14 is limited to the position shown in FIG. 1, and is shown in FIG. 3 (C) (a), (b),
Even in case (c), it is acceptable.

When the contact alignment measuring device for a vehicle wheel according to the present invention is used, as shown in FIG. 4A, the tire 11 to be detected is placed on the driving roller 19 and the vertical displacement sensor as described above. 12 and horizontal displacement sensor 1
The scanning line positions on the stopped tire wall 3 and 14 are set as shown by the thick solid line. Then, it is rotated in the direction of the arrow at the required appropriate rotation speed. In this case, each sensor scans the locus indicated by the two-dot chain line (1) to (12) on the tire sidewall surface to obtain the detection result shown in FIG.
Each of the peak values of (1) to (12) is held, and the alignment can be calculated from the average value of the maximum protrusion values.

[0020]

With the above construction, the installation is simpler than the conventional non-contact type, the equipment cost is low, there is little deterioration over time in use, there are few failures, and the initial accuracy can be maintained. Has the effect of.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a vehicle wheel non-contact alignment measuring apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a detection situation in which undulations of a tire sidewall surface with respect to a parallel vertical plane of an axle are detected by the measuring device of FIG.

3A and 3B are diagrams showing a measurement result obtained by the detection operation of FIG. 2 and calculating toe-in and camber based on the measurement result. (A); Output graph showing measurement results; (B); Toe-in and camber calculation diagram; (C); Diagram showing scanning positions on the tire sidewall surface for detection by the detection sensor.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a situation in which the measuring apparatus of FIG. 1 is actually used, (A); a diagram showing a measuring situation, and (B); a diagram showing measured data by the above-mentioned measurement.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing an outline of a conventional contact type alignment measuring device.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a non-contact alignment measuring device described in the specification of Japanese Patent Application No. 8-1132072, which is not known.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Non-contact Alignment Device 10 Wheels 11 Tires 11a, 11b, 11c Cut Edges 12, 13, 14 Displacement Sensors 15a Left and Right Sliding Mounts 15b Vertical Sliding Mounts 18 Front and Back Sliding Mounts 19 Drive Rollers

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] July 26, 1996

[Procedure amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Drawing

[Correction target item name] All figures

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

FIG.

[Figure 5]

[Fig. 2]

[Figure 3]

FIG. 4

FIG. 6

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An alignment measuring device for a vehicle wheel, comprising: a first displacement detection sensor that is slidable in a vertical direction passing through a center of the wheel, and a first displacement detection sensor that is slidable in a radial direction symmetrical to a vertical centerline passing through the center. A non-contact alignment measuring device for a vehicle wheel, characterized by comprising a pair of second displacement detection sensors. 2. An alignment measuring device for a vehicle wheel, comprising: a first displacement detection sensor slidable in a vertical direction passing through a center of the wheel; and two sets of left and right second displacements slidable in a horizontal direction passing through the center. A non-contact alignment measuring device for a vehicle wheel, characterized by comprising a detection sensor. 3. The non-contact alignment measuring device for a vehicle wheel according to claim 2, wherein the two sets of left and right second displacement detection sensors are made slidable at the same time through the same sliding element. 4. The non-contact alignment measurement device for a vehicle wheel according to claim 1, wherein the first and second displacement detection sensors are lasers or ultrasonic sensors.