JPS60176804A - Steering angle detecting device of car - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To select out freely a fitting position of a steering angle detector in connection with a steering mechanism, by detecting an actual steering angle through calculation of variations between information on the neutral position calculated out and the one on a current steering angle, using a calculating measure of a steering angle. CONSTITUTION:A microcomputer 16 works for both a steering-angle-detecting unit 21 and a driving-controller 22 used for shock-absorbers 7, 8 with variable damping power. The detecting unit 21 contains a measure 23 for judging steering directions on the basis of detecting signals D1, D2 from a detector 3, a calculating measure 24 for up-down-counting, depending on the results of the above judgements, an averaging measure 25 and lastly a measure 26 for calculating steering angles. While information (thetac) on a neutral position is stored in a memory device by the averaging measure 25, the variation between the information (thetac) and the steering angle (thetao) of the calculating measure 24 at the same time is calculated out by the steering angle calculating measure 26, so that the information (theta) of the steering angle detection, including information on steering directions at the time of actual operation of the steering mechanism can be obtained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a vehicle steering angle detection device that detects a steering angle in a steering mechanism of a vehicle.

[Prior art]

As a conventional vehicle steering angle detection device, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 5
There is one disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 8-30810 (title of invention: anti-roll device for vehicle).

In this device, a potentiometer is attached to the steering mechanism, and this potentiometer generates a slope voltage according to the steering angle of the steering mechanism. It is configured to output voltages that decrease over time, and to output voltages that take into account the steering direction.

However, in such conventional steering angle detection devices, a potentiometer is attached to the steering mechanism and outputs a voltage according to the steering angle. The potentiometer had to be installed with the steering position precisely determined, which resulted in a problem that required a high degree of installation accuracy. Another possibility is to attach the potentiometer to the steering mechanism and then adjust the output voltage level of the potentiometer to the neutral voltage with the steering mechanism in the neutral position, but in this case, adjusting the potentiometer level is troublesome. Therefore, there was a problem that the neutral voltage could not be easily set.

[Purpose of the invention]

This invention was made by focusing on such conventional problems, and calculates neutral position information by averaging the relative change amount of the steering angle detector that detects the steering of the steering mechanism, and calculates the neutral position information. The present invention aims to solve the above-mentioned problems by detecting the steering angle based on the difference value between the information and the current steering angle information.

[Structure of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a steering angle detector for a vehicle that detects a steering angle in a steering mechanism of a vehicle, which outputs steering angle information according to a steering angle of the steering mechanism. and averaging processing means for calculating neutral position information by averaging the detection information of the steering angle detector, and a difference value between the neutral position information of the averaging processing means and the steering angle information of the steering angle detector. It is characterized by comprising a steering angle calculating means for calculating.

[Effect]

This invention provides a steering angle detection device for a vehicle that detects a steering angle in a steering mechanism of a vehicle, in which an averaging processing means averages steering angle information from a steering angle detector to calculate neutral position information. The actual steering angle is detected by calculating the difference value between the neutral position information obtained and the current steering angle information using the steering angle calculation means, and the mounting position of the steering angle detector relative to the steering mechanism can be freely selected. This made it possible.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be explained below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 to FIG. 8 are diagrams showing one embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, 1 and 2 are the front wheels and rear wheels of the vehicle, 3 is a steering angle detector attached to a steering mechanism 4, and 5 is a vehicle speed detector attached to a transmission connected to the engine, for example. , 6 are the steering angle detector 3 and the vehicle speed detector 5
This is a control device that is supplied with detection data from. 7,8
is a variable damping force shock absorber, and these are:
Provided in the suspension device of each wheel 1.2,
The damping force is controlled by the control signal CS of the control device 6.

As shown in FIG. 3, an example of the steering angle detector 3 has a plurality of slings 1-10 bored at equal intervals on the outer periphery of the steering shaft 9 and rotated together with the steering shaft 9. It is composed of a slit disk 11 and a photointerrupter 12 facing each other with the slit disk 11 in between. Here, the photointerrupter 12 has two sets of light emitting elements 13, 14 and light receiving elements (not shown) facing each other with the slit in between, and these have a pitch A of the pitch P between the slits 10 or an integral multiple thereof. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, the detection signals DI, D whose phase is shifted by the pitch POA between the slits 10 are output from each light receiving element.
2 is output. In this case, the steering direction, that is, the rotating direction of the steering mechanism 4 can be detected based on the phase shift direction of the detection signals DI and D2. That is, when the detection signal D1 rises from "O" to "1", the detection signal D2 is θ", or the detection signal D1 rises from 1" to "1".
When the detection signal D2 is "1" at the time of falling to "0", it is determined that the right turn is being made, and in the opposite case,
It is determined that the user is left-handed.

The vehicle speed detector 5 magnetically detects the rotation speed on the output side of the transmission.
Detection is performed using optical or other rotation detection means, and for example, one pulse signal is output for each rotation. In this case, the vehicle speed detector 5 is not limited to the transmission, and may detect the rotation speed of a propulsion shaft connected to the transmission.

As shown in FIG. 2, the control device 6 is constituted by, for example, a microcomputer 16. This microcomputer 16 includes an interface circuit 17, an arithmetic processing unit 18, and a RAM.

It is configured to include a storage device 19 such as a ROM, and the interface circuit 17 includes a steering angle detector 3 and a speed detector 5.
is connected to the damping force variable damping force absorber 7.8.

Further, the arithmetic processing device 1B includes an interface circuit 17
Detection signals from the steering angle detector 3 and speed detector 5 are read through the controller 3, and arithmetic processing, which will be described later, is performed based on these signals. Furthermore, the storage device 19 stores a predetermined program necessary for the execution of arithmetic processing by the arithmetic processing unit 18, and
The calculation results of the calculation processing unit 18 are stored.

Specifically, the microcomputer 16 serves as both a steering angle detection section 21 and a drive control section 22 for the variable damping force shock absorber 7.8, as shown in FIG.

The steering angle detector 21 receives the detection signal DI of the steering angle detector 3,
Steering direction determination means 23 that determines the steering direction based on D2
, a counting means 24 for amplifying and down-counting based on the determination result of the steering direction determining means 23, and counting information of the counting means 24, that is, steering angle information θO, sampled and read every predetermined traveling distance of the vehicle, and reading the count information a predetermined sampling number. an averaging processing means 25 for calculating the neutral position information θC by averaging the neutral position information θC;
The steering angle calculation means 26 calculates the difference between the steering angle information θC and the steering angle information θC of the counting means 24 to calculate the steering angle detection information θ. In this case, the averaging processing means 25
The steering angle information θ0 of the steering mechanism 4 is sequentially averaged to calculate an average value θn, and this is stored in a predetermined storage area of the storage device 19 as neutral position information θC representing the neutral position of the steering mechanism 4 in a pseudo manner. Here, as a method for calculating the average value θn, for example, the following equation can be applied.

θn-α・θn-1+β・θn (1 digit, α+β-1.

Further, the steering angle calculation means 26 uses the neutral position information θC calculated by the averaging processing means 25 and the steering angle information θ of the counting means 24.
Since the difference value from 0 is calculated, the result of the calculation becomes steering angle detection information θ representing the actual steering state in which the steering direction of the steering mechanism 4 is taken into account.

The control unit 22 of the variable damping force shock absorber 7.8 is
Based on the steering angle detection information θ from the steering angle detection section 21 and the vehicle speed information vp from the vehicle speed detector 5, as shown in FIG. and VT or more, that is, whether the roll amount of the vehicle is greater than or equal to a predetermined amount. For example, a control signal C8 having a logic value of "1" is outputted to the drive circuit 28 via the interface circuit 17 to increase the damping force of the variable damping force shock absorber 7.8 so as to exhibit an anti-roll effect, and a predetermined period of time elapses. Later, variable damping force shock absorber7.
and a damping force control means 29 that outputs a control signal CS of logical value "O" to the drive circuit 28 to reduce the damping force of 8,
The damping force of the variable damping force shock absorber 7.8 is controlled so as to exhibit an anti-roll effect.

Next, the processing procedure of the microcomputer 16 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 7 to 10.

That is, the microcomputer 16 normally executes another main program, and when the detection signals DI and D2 of the steering angle detector 3 are input to the interface circuit 17, the main program is executed at the time of their rise, for example. The steering direction determination interrupt process shown in FIG. 7 is executed. In this interrupt process, first, in step (2), it is determined whether the detection signal D1 is "1". When the detection signal D1 is "1", the process moves to step (2) and it is determined whether the detection signal D2 is "10". If the detection signal D2 is "0", the process moves to step (3), where the counting means 24 is counted up by 11", and then the main program is returned to.

Also, the determination result in step ■ is that the detection signal D1 is "0".
If so, the process moves to step (2) and it is determined whether the detection signal D2 is "1". Detection signal D2 is "1"
If so, the process moves to step (3), counts down the counting means 24 by "1", and then returns to the main program. Furthermore, in step ■, the detection signal D2 becomes 11.
When it is determined that the detection signal D2 is rOJ, the process proceeds to step (2). Here, the processes of steps (2), (2), and (2) show a specific example of the steering direction determining means 23 in FIG.

Furthermore, when the detection signal of the vehicle speed detector 5 reaches a predetermined number and it is determined that the vehicle has traveled a predetermined distance, the steering angle calculation interrupt process shown in FIG. 8 is executed. That is, in step (2), the neutral position information θC represented by the average value which is the calculation result of the averaging processing means 25 is stored in the storage device 19.
Then, in step ■, (θC−θc/1
00) and store the calculation result as θ in the storage device 1.
9 is temporarily stored in a predetermined storage area. Next, in step (2), the count value θ0 of the counting means 24 is read, and then in step (2), (θO/100) is calculated and the result of the calculation is temporarily stored in a predetermined storage area of the storage device 19 as θn. Thereafter, the process moves to step [phase], reads out θC and θO stored in steps ① and ②, adds them, and sets the result as θC. Next, the process moves to step 0, and the calculation result of step [phase] is stored in a predetermined storage area of the storage device 19 as new neutral position information θC.

Next, proceed to step @, read out the neutral position information θC stored in step 0 and the count value θ0 of the counting means 24, calculate (θC - θ0), and use the calculation result as the steering angle detection information θ. After storing it in a predetermined storage area of the storage device 19, the program returns to the main program. Here, the processing of steps ① to 0 is a specific example of the averaging processing means 25 in FIG. 5, and the processing of step @, 61 is as follows.
Specific examples of the steering angle calculation means 26 will be shown.

Further, the variable damping force absorber control interrupt process shown in FIG. 9 is executed for the main program every predetermined period of time, for example, every 50 m5ec. That is, first, in step @, the steering angle information θ stored in the storage device 19 is read, and then in step [phase], it is determined whether the steering angle detection information θ exceeds a predetermined value of 0. If the judgment result is θ<6 and 1, return to the main program as is, and θ≧
When θT, the process moves to step [phase], reads the detection information vp of the vehicle speed detector 5, counts the number of detection signals vpO of the vehicle speed detector 5 within a predetermined time, and calculates the vehicle speed information ■
Convert to Next, the process moves to step O, and vehicle speed information V
It is determined whether or not exceeds a predetermined value of 7. When the determination result is that V>VT, the program returns to the main program, and when V≧VT, the program moves to step [phase]. In this step [phase], a control signal CS with a logical value of "1" is output to the drive circuit 28 via the interface circuit 17, and the variable damping force shock absorber 7
．． 8 damping force is increased to produce an anti-roll effect.

Next, the program moves to step [phase], sets a timer, and then returns to the main program. Here, the processing of steps ① to O shows a specific example of the roll amount determining means 27 in FIG. 5, and the processing of step [phase] shows a specific example of the damping force control means 29.

Then, when the timer entered in step [phase] expires, the timer interrupt process shown in FIG. 10 is executed. That is, first, in step [phase], it is determined whether the damping force of the variable damping force shock absorber 7.8 has decreased. In this case, since the damping force has been increased in the step [phase], the process moves to step @la and the control signal CS is set to a logic value "0" and is supplied from the drive circuit 28 to the variable damping force shock absorber 7.8. After cutting off the excitation current and lowering the damping force, the program returns to the main program.

Note that if the damping force of the variable damping force shock absorber 7.8 has been lowered by other processing in the main program, the process returns to the main program directly from step [phase]. Here, the processing of step [phase] and step [phase] a shows a specific example of the damping force control means 29 in FIG. 5.

An example of the variable damping force shock absorber 7.8 is the 11th variable shock absorber 7.8.
As shown in the figure, a cylinder 33 includes an inner cylinder 31 and an outer cylinder 32, a slidable piston rod 34 inside the cylinder 33, and a damping force generating bottom valve 35 disposed at the bottom of the cylinder 33. It is configured with The piston rod 34 is divided into an upper piston rod 36 and a lower piston rod 37 in the axial direction. The upper piston rod 36 is provided with an actuator 42 having a solenoid 40 and a plunger 41. Further, the plunger 41 is positioned so as to enter the bypass passage 39, and the solenoid 4 in the actuator 42 is
The plunger 41 is actuated depending on the energization or de-energization of 0,
Thus, the bypass passage 39 is opened and closed to directly communicate or cut off the oil chambers B and 0. Here, the solenoid 40 is connected to the lead wire 43 on the drive circuit 2.
By operating the plunger 41 in response to a control signal C8 from the control device 6, it is possible to switch and control the damping force between high and low. In addition, in FIG. 7, 44.45 and 46.47 are damping force generation orifices on the compression side and expansion side, respectively, and 48.49 is
The non-return valve 50 is a return spring.

Next, the effect will be explained. First, when the vehicle is in a stopped state, the transmission has stopped rotating, so the vehicle speed detector 5 does not output the detection signal vp. Therefore, the averaging processing means 25 does not read the steering angle information θ0 from the counting circuit 24 and maintains the neutral position information θC which is the previous average value. Therefore, in this state,
Even if the steering wheel is turned stationary, the steering direction determining means 23 and the counting means 24 are operated and the steering angle information θ0 of the counting means 24 corresponds to the steering angle and direction of the steering wheel, but the neutral position information θC teeth,
The neutral position information θC does not easily deviate from the actual neutral position of the steering wheel.

When the vehicle is started from this state and starts traveling, the vehicle speed detector 5 outputs detection information ■P in response. Therefore, every time the vehicle travels a predetermined distance of 5, the averaging processing means 25 is activated, the average value calculation interrupt process shown in FIG. The average value according to the state is stored in the storage device 19 as neutral position information θC. In this case, the neutral position information θC is changed by the steering angle information θ0 of the counting means 24 representing the steering state at that time, so it contains a negative second lag element, but in reality the vehicle is moving almost straight. This is the value returned to the neutral position of the steering mechanism 4 when traveling in this state.

In this way, while the neutral position information θC is stored in the storage device 19 by the averaging processing means 25, the steering angle calculating means 26 calculates the neutral position information θC and the steering angle information θ0 of the counting means 24 at this time. By calculating the difference value, it is possible to calculate steering angle detection information θ that takes into account the steering direction when the steering mechanism 4 is actually steered.

Note that, as in this embodiment, each time the averaging processing means 25 reads the steering angle information θ0 of the counting means 24, averaging is performed based on the formula +11. It has the advantage of requiring less capacity.

In addition, by making the sampling period of the steering angle information θ0 of the counting means 24 in the averaging processing means 25 every fixed traveling distance of the vehicle, it is possible to control the steering angle information θ0 when the vehicle is stopped.
It is possible to prevent reading of fluctuation factors of the average value due to large steering at low vehicle speeds, and there is an advantage that the error in the neutral position information θC can be suppressed to the necessary minimum.

When the steering angle information θ detected by the steering angle detection unit 21 as described above is detected, the damping force is varied at predetermined time intervals based on the steering angle information θ and the detection signal vp from the vehicle speed detector 5. The shock absorber control section 22 executes predetermined processing according to FIG.

That is, when the vehicle is running straight or in a state close to this, the steering angle detection information θ is equal to the predetermined set steering angle θT.
Since the following is true, the control section 22 outputs the control signal C8 having a logical value of "0".

Therefore, the excitation current of the drive circuit 28 is cut off,
Therefore, the solenoid 40 of the variable damping force shock absorber 7.8 is in a de-energized state, and the plunger 41 is urged by the return spring 50, so the bypass path 39 is opened and the flow between the oil chambers B and 0 is The damping force is reduced by reducing the flow resistance of the liquid.

From this state, when the steering angle detection information θ exceeds the set steering angle θT and the vehicle speed exceeds the set vehicle speed VT, the control unit 2
2 outputs a control signal C8 having a logical value of "1". Therefore, the excitation current is supplied from the drive circuit 28 to the solenoid 40 of the variable damping force shock absorber 7.8.
These are energized. In response, the plunger 41 descends against the return spring 50 and closes the bypass path 39. As a result, the liquid passage between the liquid chambers B and 0 is blocked, so that the damping force is increased, an anti-roll effect is exhibited, and the running stability of the vehicle can be ensured.

Then, when a predetermined time (timer time amplifier time) has elapsed since the damping force of the variable damping force shock absorbers 7 and 8 was increased, the timer interrupt process shown in FIG. 10 is executed.
A control signal C8 having a logical value of "0" is output from the control section 22. For this reason, the excitation current of the drive circuit 2nd is cut off,
Solenoid 40 of variable damping force shock absorber 7.8
becomes a non-Jib magnetic state, and the plunger 41 returns upward by the force of the return spring 50. As a result, the three bypass paths are opened, the flow resistance between the liquid chambers B and 0 is reduced, the damping force of the shock absorber is reduced, and the vehicle returns to its normal running state.

In the above embodiment, a case has been described in which the averaging processing means 25 is configured to perform averaging based on equation (1) every time the steering angle information θ0 of the counting means 24 is read. The steering angle information θ0 of the counting means 24 is sequentially updated by a predetermined number and stored in the storage device 19, and each steering angle information stored in the storage device 19 is simply averaged to obtain an average value. It may also be calculated.

In addition, in the above embodiment, a case has been described in which the photo ink converter 12 is applied as the steering angle detector 5; Even if the steering angle detector is a steering angle detector, its detection signal may be A/D converted and supplied to the microcomputer 16, and the digital detection data may be averaged. In this case, the steering direction determining means 23 and the counting means 24 are omitted,
The detected data may be directly read by the averaging processing means 25.

Furthermore, the averaging process by the averaging process means 25 is not limited to the case where it is performed every fixed mileage as in the above example, but may be performed every predetermined time depending on the purpose.

Furthermore, examples of application of the steering angle detection device according to the present invention are not limited to the variable damping force shock absorber 7.8 described above, but can also be applied to roll stiffness control devices such as variable torsional stiffness stabilizers. It is suitable.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, in a vehicle steering angle detection device that detects a steering angle in a steering mechanism of a vehicle 0, a steering angle detection device that outputs steering angle information according to a steering angle of the steering mechanism is provided. an averaging processing means for calculating neutral position information by averaging the steering angle information of the steering angle detector; and a difference between the neutral position information of the averaging processing means and the steering angle information of the steering angle detector. The configuration includes a difference value calculation means for calculating a value. Therefore, even if the steering angle detector is attached to an arbitrary position with respect to the steering mechanism, its neutral position can be detected, and a steering angle corresponding to the steering state of the steering mechanism can be detected. Assembling the steering angle detector can be done easily, and the assembly can improve work efficiency.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
The figure is a block diagram showing the control device, FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an example of the steering angle detector, FIG. 4 is a signal waveform diagram showing the detection signal, and FIG. 5 is a specific example of the microcomputer. Fig. 6 is a graph showing the control range of the variable damping force shock absorber, Figs. FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing an example of a shock absorber. 3... Steering angle detector, 4... Steering mechanism, 5... Vehicle speed detector, 6...
Control device, 7.8... Variable damping force shock absorber, 12... Photo ink rubber, 16.
...Microcomputer, 17...Interface circuit, 18...Arithmetic processing unit,
19... Storage device, 21... Steering angle detection section, 22... Control section, 23... Steering direction determining means, 24...・Counting means, 25...
... Averaging processing means, 26 ... Steering angle calculation means, 27 ... Roll amount determination means, 2nd ...
...Drive circuit, 29... Damping force control means. 3 1 ■

Claims (1)

[Claims] +1) A steering angle detection device for a vehicle that detects a steering angle in a steering mechanism of a vehicle, comprising: a steering angle detector that outputs steering angle information according to a steering angle of the steering mechanism; averaging processing means for calculating neutral position information by averaging steering angle information of the angle detector; and a difference value for calculating a difference value between the neutral position information of the averaging processing means and the steering angle information of the steering angle detector. A steering angle detection device for a vehicle, comprising: a value calculation means. (2) The steering angle detection device for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the averaging processing means calculates the average value when the vehicle has traveled a certain distance.