JPS59109465A - Overall controller for suspension and steering - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To permit the operation characteristic to be varied in a wide range and to be corresponded to the driver's demand, by varying the characteristics of a steering apparatus in accordance with the variable control for the suspension characteristic of a suspension apparatus. CONSTITUTION:When a manual switch 4 is in opened state, each solenoid 69, 74a is nonexcited, and the damping force of a shock absorber 66 and the spring constant of an air spring 68 are small, and the suspension characteristic is made soft. When the switch 4 is closed, the solenoid 69 is excited, and the plunger of the shock absorber 66 runs idle, and the diameter of an orifice is reduced, and the damping force is increased, and the solenoid 74 is excited, and the communication between the air spring 68 and a control chamber 72 is intercepted, and the spring constant is increased, and the suspension characteristic is made hard. Thus, the suspension characteristic of a suspension apparatus 60 is varied from soft to hard, and the assisting force of a power assisting apparatus 30 can be varied from small to large.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an integrated control device for a suspension device and a steering device with variable characteristics.

A vehicle's suspension system has the role of supporting the weight of the vehicle and buffering road surface irregularities, and has a significant impact not only on ride comfort but also on pitching and rolling during driving, as well as stability and responsiveness when turning. affect Therefore, by appropriately changing the characteristics of the suspension of the front and rear wheels of the vehicle, its dynamic characteristics can be varied in various ways. For example, the Jitsukai Akira No. 107 uses a steering sensor that detects changes in steering angle and a vehicle speed sensor to detect the roll speed, and reduces the shock absorbers of all wheels and increases the damping force (hardware). A device has been disclosed that uses control to prevent the roll trajectory from exceeding a predetermined value, thereby improving both maneuverability and riding comfort.

On the other hand, among steering devices for steering vehicles, tsuwara steering devices have become widely used, especially from the standpoint of ease of steering, but this steering device also improves vehicle running stability and steering response. Various improvements have been proposed in the past in order to improve the situation. For example, in the Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-010000-0S, the rotation speed of an oil pump that supplies hydraulic pressure to a hydraulically operated power steering system is controlled according to changes in vehicle speed, the axle load of the steered wheels, or steering resistance. A control device has been proposed that stabilizes steering by supplying an appropriate amount of pressure oil to a power steering device and a power steering device.

These conventional devices improve the suspension device or the steering device individually and have achieved certain effects, but there are limits to the effectiveness of devices that control the suspension device and the steering device individually. . In particular, there are individual differences in driver preferences regarding vehicle dynamic characteristics such as steering response and ride comfort, which vary widely from person to person, so these conventional methods do not necessarily meet the driver's needs. It wasn't something. For example, because of the characteristics that emphasize ride comfort? - If the driver wants to switch to a characteristic that emphasizes tee-like characteristics according to his/her preference, conventional devices are not satisfactory.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to change the steering P:fN characteristics in accordance with the variable control of the suspension characteristics of the suspension device, thereby changing the dynamic characteristics over a wide range and fully satisfying the driver's preferences. An object of the present invention is to provide a comprehensive control device for a suspension device and a steering device.

The configuration of the present invention includes a suspension device for each wheel, a /f quateering device equipped with a steering force assist mechanism, and at least one of the damping force and spring constant of the suspension device for all wheels can be simultaneously changed. a first control means that performs control to change the assist force characteristics of the power steering device; and a second control device that performs control to change the assist force characteristics of the power steering device, and increases at least one of the damping force and the spring constant of the suspension device for all wheels. The present invention is specially designed to include a controller that sends a control signal to the first control means and the first control means to increase the assist force of the power steering device in accordance with the above.

According to the present invention, it is possible to change the damping force or spring constant of the suspension device between a low state and a high state, that is, the suspension characteristics of the suspension device can be adjusted from soft to soft. Therefore, when the suspension characteristics are soft, dynamic characteristics that emphasize riding comfort can be obtained, and when at least one of the damping force or spring constant of the suspension device is increased, the assist force of the Tsukwar steering device is increased. Since it is controlled as follows, the yaw rate is large.
The result is dynamic performance that emphasizes the sharp, sporty nature of the steering wheel. That is, according to the present invention, it is possible to vary the motion characteristics over a wide range, and it is possible to respond to the driver's preferences.

- For example, a gas injection device is used as the suspension device, and a control chamber is connected to the gas chamber of this gas injection device via a solenoid valve, and the effective volume of the gas chamber is increased by opening and closing the solenoid valve. The properties of the gas can be changed by changing the . In addition, an oleo-nog having a variable diameter orifice in the piston may be used, and a gas nozzle may be used.
The means for varying the volume of the gas chamber may be combined with the means for varying the diameter of the orifice.

Further, any means may be used as long as the suspension characteristics can be varied between the node and soft suspension characteristics. As means for making the characteristics of the steering device variable, it is possible to use a known method that changes the power assist force of the lower steering device. For example, a method that changes the rotation speed of the hydraulic pump of the power steering device, or a method that changes the pressure Any method may be used, such as a method that changes the amount of oil.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the steering wheel 10 is connected to the steering pinion 1 via the steering shaft 12.
4. The binion 14 meshes with a rack 20 on the steering rack shaft 18, and the rack shaft 18 moves left and right according to the rotation of the binion 140, and the front wheel
6.Transmit steering force to 28. In order to assist this steering force, it is equipped with a hydraulically operated power assist device 3o.
This device has a control valve 31 provided on a pinion shaft 16 and a nozzle cylinder 32 on a rack shaft 18, and an oil pump connected to an engine 34 to supply hydraulic pressure to the power cylinder 32. 36 are provided. The pressure oil from the I pump 36 is transferred to the hydraulic supply passage 38.
Introduced into control valve 31, handle 1
0 is switched by the pulp 31 and guided through the hydraulic passage 40 or 42 to either the hydraulic chamber 32b or 32c partitioned by the piston 32a of the four-stroke cylinder 32, and moves the piston 32a. assists with steering force. At this time, the hydraulic passage to which pressure oil is not supplied communicates with the hydraulic return passage 44 to return the hydraulic oil in the sill 32 to the pump 36. The hydraulic pressure return passage 44 is provided with a solenoid valve 46 that adjusts the amount of oil returned to the pump 36 through the passage 44.
8 is a bypass passage 5 that communicates with the solenoid pulp 46.
0 is set. The solenoid 46a of the valve 46 is connected to the controller 50.
receives power from a power source 51, inputs signals from a vehicle speed sensor 52 and a manual switch 54, and sends a control signal to the solenoid pulp 46. The plunger 46b of the valve 46 is displaced by the amount corresponding to the current or electric power from the controller 5o, thereby changing the flow meter in the passage 38 and controlling the hydraulic pressure in the cylinder 32, that is, the assist force. .

A suspension device 6o is provided attached to the front wheels 26.28 and 56.58. This suspension device includes a shock absorber 66 consisting of a spring 62 and an oleo damper 64, and an air spring 68 surrounded by a diaphragm made of an elastic material with suitable teeth.
is formed. The orifice provided in the piston of the shock absorber 66 has a variable diameter, and in order to change the diameter, a plunger driven by a solenoid 69 is provided in the piston rod 67, and when the solenoid 69 is energized, the plunger is configured to rotate to reduce the diameter of the orifice, increase the damping force, and harden the suspension characteristics of the suspension device. Further, the air spring 68 is connected to a control air chamber 72 through an air pipe 70, and the state of communication between the air spring 68 and the control chamber 72 is controlled by the operation of a solenoid pulp 74 provided at the entrance of this chamber 72. be done. In this example, when the solenoid 74a of the solenoid pulp 74 is energized, communication is interrupted. When the communication between the air spring 68 and the control block 72 is cut off, the effective volume of the air chamber is reduced, so the spring constant of the air spring increases, and the suspension characteristics of the suspension system become harder. Thus, the suspension characteristics of suspension it can be controlled by actuating solenoids 69, 74a with signals from controller 50.

As mentioned above, the controller 50 receives the vehicle speed signal as input, and the solenoid pulp 46 is output from the controller 50.
The control signal given to the vehicle changes depending on the vehicle speed. That is, when the vehicle speed is low, the solenoid pulp 46 is controlled so that the amount of pressure oil supplied from the pump 36 to the control valve 31 becomes smaller as the vehicle speed increases. When the manual switch 54 is operated, the level of the signal given from the controller 5o to the solenoid pulp 46 is increased, the opening degree of the pulp 46 is decreased, and the assist force is strengthened as a whole. 1 controller 50 at the same time
The solenoid 69.74aK signal of the suspension system is applied to the suspension system, and the characteristics of the suspension system of the front and rear wheels become hard.

Referring to FIG. 3, 7 of the control circuit of the controller 5o
An example is shown in which the controller 5o includes an f-v converter 80. Addition circuit 82, triangular wave generation circuit 84, comparator 86
, an NPN transistor 88. A pulse signal representing the vehicle speed from the vehicle speed sensor 52 is sent to the f-v converter 8.
o, is converted into a voltage signal, and is input to the negative side of the comparator 86.

The positive side of the comparator 86 is connected to the triangular wave generating circuit 84 and one terminal of the manual switch 54, and is also grounded via a resistor R1. The sac terminal of the manual switch 54 is connected to a power terminal 90 from the power source 51. This constitutes an adder circuit 82, and when the manual switch 54 is open, the triangular wave is input to the comparator 86 at a normal level as shown by line a in FIG. 9(a), and when the manual switch 54 is closed, The voltage signal from the lightning source terminal 90 is added, and the triangular wave is translated to a higher level side by the added voltage signal, as shown by line bK, and is input to the comparator 86. The comparator 86 compares the magnitude of the triangular waves shown by lines a and b in FIG. 9(a) with the vehicle speed signal shown by line C. generates a low level /f pulse signal. In this case, when the manual switch 54 is open, the triangular wave shown by line a and the vehicle speed signal shown by line C are compared, and the output is the fourth signal.
As shown by t1k(b), i'? The pulse width is relatively small, and when the manual switch 54 is closed, the signals shown by line C and line C are compared, and the pulse width of the output is relatively large as shown in the diagram (C1). The output signal from this comparator is input to the pace of the NPN type transistor 88.The collector of the transistor 88 is connected to the power supply terminal 92, and the emitter is connected to the solenoid 46a of the control valve 46. When the signal is input, the solenoid 46a is energized. Therefore, when the manual switch 54 is open, the comparator 86
Since the pulse width of the output signal is relatively small, the amount of electric power supplied to the solenoid 46a is small, so the displacement of the plunger 46b is large, the return amount of the pressure oil is large, and the assist force of the power steering device is relatively small.

In this case, the relationship between the hydraulic pressure generated in the knocker cylinder 32 and the steering force required by the driver, that is, the steering torque, has a characteristic as shown by curve a in Fig. S, and the predetermined hydraulic pressure P
In other words, the steering torque that provides the assist force is relatively large. Further, when the manual switch 54 is closed, the 74 lux width of the output signal of the comparator 86 increases, the amount of electric power to the solenoid 46a increases, the amount of return pressure oil decreases, and the assist force increases. In this case, the characteristics are as shown by curve ib in Fig. S, and the steering wheel torque for obtaining the predetermined oil pressure P, that is, the assist force, becomes small. Furthermore, the relationship between torque and road resistance 1 is shown in FIG. That is, when the assist force is small, a relatively large turning torque is required as shown by curve %la, and when the assisting force is large, the turning torque becomes relatively small as shown by the curve. Note that line C is the case when a manual steering device is used, and in this case, as the road resistance increases, the steering torque increases in proportion to it. However, in the case of curves a and b using a sewer steering device, Even if the road resistance increases, the engine noise does not increase significantly. Referring again to FIG. 3, the manual switch 54 has a solenoid 69 that changes the damping force of the shock absorber <66 of each suspension device 60, and a solenoid 7 that changes the constant of the air pressure screw 68.
℃・ru connected to 4a.

When the manual switch 54 is open, each solenoid 69 and the solenoid 74a are de-energized, and the damping force of the shock absorber 66 and the spring constant of the air damper 68 are small.

In other words, the suspension characteristics of the suspension device are maintained soft for all wheels.

When the manual switch 54 is closed, the solenoid 69 is energized, the plunger of the shock absorber 66 rotates, the diameter of the orifice becomes smaller, the damping force increases, and the solenoid 74 is energized, causing the air spring 68 and the control chamber 72 to be energized.
Communication between the two is cut off and the spring constant increases. That is, the suspension characteristics of the suspension device 60 are node-- for all @. Therefore, by switching the manual switch 54 from open to closed, the suspension characteristics of the suspension device 60 can be changed from soft to hard, and the assist force of the power assist device 30 can be changed from small to strong according to the change. Can be done. By maintaining the vehicle speed almost constant and performing the above control, i
Interlocking characteristics as shown by a and b are obtained.

In FIG. 7, lines C and d represent the case where a manual steering device is used, line C represents the case where the suspension characteristics are set to soft, and line d represents the case where the suspension characteristics are set to the veneer. In this case, the yaw rate increases almost proportionally as the steering force increases, and a larger steering force is required when the suspension device has softer characteristics. Lines a, b, and eS f are for the case where a power steering device is used. In this case, the steering force can be suppressed to a greater extent than when a manual steering device is used for steering operations at the same yaw rate. Lines e and f indicate the case where control is performed opposite to this example, that is, when the assist force of the steering device is controlled to be reduced in response to changing the suspension characteristics of the suspension device 60 from soft to hard. This is the case.

With this kind of control, the steering force hardly changes even if the manual switch 54 is switched, but by performing control like this example, a large change appears in the steering force, and when the switch is closed, the steering force is lightly operated. It can emphasize the sadistic nature.

FIG. S shows a second embodiment, in which a motor 37 is used as the power source for the oil pump 36 instead of the engine 340. This motor 37 is connected to the controller 5
The oil pump 36 has a rotation speed according to the amount of electric power from 0.
discharges an amount of oil according to the rotation speed. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 9, the amount of electric power of the motor 37 can be controlled using the same controller that controls the solenoid 46a in the previous example, and the control valve 46 is not necessary. When the manual switch 54 is open, the amount of electric power to the motor 37 is small (as shown by curve a in FIG. 70), the discharge flow rate of the pump 36 is small, and the assist force is relatively small. When is closed, as shown in the curve, the width of the output signal of the comparator 86 increases, and the amount of electric power to the motor 37 increases, so the discharge flow rate of the pump 36 increases. As the vehicle speed increases, the level of the voltage signal of the f-v converter 8o increases and the pulse width of the output signal of the comparator 86 decreases, so the amount of electric power to the motor 37 decreases. pump 36
The discharge flow rate and assist force also decrease.

Therefore, the same results as in the previous example can be obtained in this example as well.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of a suspension device and a steering device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a control circuit diagram of the device shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is used to control the example of FIG. 1. The control circuit diagram of the controller, Figure 7 is a graph showing the relationship between voltage and time, Figure S is a graph showing the relationship between hydraulic pressure of the knocker cylinder and steering wheel torque, and Figure 6 is a graph showing the relationship between steering wheel torque and road resistance. 7 is a graph showing the relationship between steering force and yaw rate, FIG. S is a control circuit of another embodiment, FIG. 9 is a circuit diagram of a controller used in the embodiment of FIG. FIG. 70 is a graph showing the relationship between oil pump flow rate and vehicle speed. Explanation of symbols 10...Handle, 18...Rack shaft, 30...Power assist device, 36
... Oil pump, 50 ... Controller, 54 ... Manual switch, 6
0... Suspension device, 66... Shock absorber, 72... Controlled air chamber,
80...Curved gear mechanism. Patent applicant: Toyo Kogyo Co., Ltd. Figure 5 Figure 6 H 72' Shield /' y Mele 2 Figure 7 Yaw rate

Claims (1)

[Claims] A suspension device for each wheel, a power steering device equipped with a steering force assist mechanism, and a control that simultaneously changes at least one of the damping force and spring constant of the suspension device for all wheels @/ a control means, a first control means for controlling to change the assist force characteristics of the Tsukwer Steering device;
- the first control means; and the first control means; and the first control means; A comprehensive control device for a suspension device and a steering device, characterized in that it has a controller that sends data to a control means.