JPS62289422A - Control device of four-wheel device automobile - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate manual operations on the part of a driver as well as to attempt improvement of running performance and safety of an automobile by making use of road information contained in a navigation device in advance whereby adjusting the ground clearance of the automobile automatically depending on a surrounding road condition. CONSTITUTION:In an automobile, each wheel of which is provided with a ground clearance adjusting means 46 adjusting its ground clearance, a navigation device 50 which can be equipped with a memory means such as a CD-ROM and the like storing road information, for example a division map, distinction between an express highway and an ordinary road, distinction between a straight road and a curved one and the like in advance for guiding the automobile in running, is provided. And a present position detecting means 65 consisting of a car speed sensor for detecting the present position of the automobile, a present position recognizing circuit making use of a geomagnetic sensor and a satellite and of the like, is also provided. Then, upon receiving the output from the present position detecting means 65, an adjusting means 46 is controlled by a control means 90 based on road information on the present position of the automobile from the navigation device 50.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 3. Detailed Description of the Invention (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an improvement of an automobile suspension control device that variably adjusts the ground height of an automobile.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, as a suspension system for this type of automobile, a vehicle height adjustment means for variably adjusting the ground height of the automobile has been used, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 130140/1983. , a manual switch for adjusting the vehicle height operated by the driver is provided, and when the manual switch is operated, the vehicle height adjusting means is operated to lower the vehicle height on a highway, for example, and lower the vehicle height on an unpaved road. It is known that the vehicle height can be adjusted higher.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the conventional system described above, the road conditions around the vehicle change because the driver manually operates the manual switch to activate the P height adjustment means. There is a drawback that the above-mentioned manual switch must be operated manually every time, and this operation is cumbersome.

Or, at the junction between leveled ground and rough roads, when the driver is busy with operations necessary for driving the vehicle such as operating the steering wheel, or when the driver forgets to manually operate the manual switch, The root cause of this problem is that the vehicle height cannot be changed to an appropriate height according to the road conditions, and that the education on adjusting the vehicle height cannot be sufficiently promoted.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and takes into consideration the fact that there is a navigation device for guiding the driving of a vehicle, and its purpose is to use road information stored in advance in the navigation device. By adjusting the vehicle height appropriately based on the driver's hand vJ'! The object is to automatically set the vehicle height to an appropriate height according to the surrounding road conditions without requiring any J work, and to fully utilize the mid-height adjustment fence function.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the solving means of the present invention, as shown in FIG. The assumption is that the vehicle is equipped with and,
A navigation device 50 that stores road information in advance to guide the vehicle, a current position detecting means 65 that detects the current position of the vehicle, and a current position detecting means 65 that receives the output of the current position detecting means 65 and detects the surroundings of the current position of the vehicle. The vehicle height adjusting means 46 is adjusted according to the road information from the navigation device 50. This configuration includes a control means 90 for controlling YLJ.

(Due to the above mechanism, in this Komei, when the vehicle is running, 6
In other words, the navigation device 50 informs the driver of road information related to the current location of the vehicle and the destination, thereby easily guiding the vehicle to the destination.

At this time, while traveling to the destination, the vehicle height adjusting means 46 is operated and controlled by the control hand fu90, and the vehicle height is automatically changed according to road information around the current position of the vehicle. When the road condition is a highway or leveled road, it is adjusted to a lower value, and when the road condition is unpaved or rough, it is automatically adjusted to a lower value, so there is no need for manual operation by the driver. The vehicle height will be automatically adjusted to an appropriate height depending on the road conditions around the vehicle.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described based on the drawings from FIG. 2 onwards.

Figure 2 shows the schematic structure of an automobile suspension system.
1 is the vehicle body, 2.3 is the left and right front wheels, respectively, 4, 5
are the left and right rear wheels, respectively, and each vehicle width is 2 to 5.
Pneumatic spring devices 6 to 9 are disposed between the vehicle body 1 and the vehicle body 1, respectively. Each of the above-mentioned equalization devices 6 to 9 is connected to the cylinder 1 of the hydraulic shock absorber 10, as shown in the vehicle height adjustment device A in FIG.
A diaphragm 11 is arranged between 0a and the vehicle body 1 to define a gas seedling 12, and the height of the vehicle can be adjusted by sucking gas into the gas chamber 12 and discharging it.

Next, to explain the vehicle height adjustment device @A shown in FIG. 3, 21 is a compressor that delivers compressed air, and the compressor 21 is supplied with air for both the front and rear wheels! ! The gas chambers 12 of the front wheel spring devices 6 and 7 are connected via the i path 22 and the front wheel side air supply passage 23, and the rear wheel spring device 8 is connected via the rear wheel side air supply passage 24. , 9 gas chambers 12 are connected in communication. In addition, the air supply passage 22 shared by the front and rear wheels includes an air storage passage 2.
A compressed air storage tank 26 is connected in communication via 5.

An exhaust valve 30 for discharging compressed air is connected to the air supply passage 22 shared by the rear wheels so as to be switchable between a communicating position and a blocking position. A front wheel opening/closing valve 31 having a communicating position and a blocking position is provided in the air supply passage 24 on the rear wheel side, and a rear wheel opening/closing valve 32 having a communicating position and a blocking position is interposed. At the same time, the air storage passage 25 is filled with pressure! (a) An opening/closing valve 33 is provided which has a communicating position and a blocking position for supplying air.

Therefore, when a request is made to raise the vehicle height, the exhaust valve 30 is positioned at the cutoff position and the compressed air supply opening/closing valve 3 is opened.
By locating the open/close valves 31 and 32 for the front wheels or rear wheels in communication positions, compressed air is supplied to the gas seedlings 12 of the spring devices 6 and 7 on the front or rear wheel side, and the front wheel of the vehicle body 1 is At the same time, when the vehicle height is requested to be lowered, the opening/closing valve 33 for compressed air supply is positioned at the cutoff position, and the opening/closing valve 31, 32 for the front or rear wheels and the exhaust valve 30 are opened. By locating it in the communication position, all 12 compressed gases of the spring device 6.7 on the front wheel side or the rear wheel side are discharged to the outside, and the vehicle height of the front or rear part of the vehicle body 1 is lowered. ing. The above constitutes a vehicle height adjustment means 46 that adjusts the ground height (vehicle height) of the vehicle.

Furthermore, in FIG. 3, 35 is a front vehicle height sensor that detects the vehicle height at the front of the vehicle body, 36 is a rear vehicle height sensor that detects the vehicle height at the rear of the vehicle body, 37 is a vehicle speed sensor that detects vehicle speed, and 38
is a pressure switch that detects the pressure inside the compressed 9 gas storage tank 26, and each sensor and switch 35 to 38
Each detection signal is sent to the controller 4 which has a built-in CPU, etc.
9 is entered. In FIG. 3, 50 is a motor that drives the compressor 21, 51 is a dryer containing a dehumidifier that removes moisture from the compressed air supplied to the spring devices 6 to 9, and 52 is an air supply for both front and rear wheels. This is a relief pulp that regulates the maximum pressure value of the passage 22.

As shown in FIG. 4, the controller 49 is constructed as a part of a navigation device 50 that guides the running of the 1,000-car train, and inside the four controllers there is a CPU 51 and a RAM 52, as shown in the same figure. and ROM
53 and an input/output interface 54 are built in, and an operation switch 55 for the driver to set the U target etc. is connected to the controller 49 so as to be able to send and receive signals via an encoder 56. There is.

Further, a CD player 58 loaded with a CD-ROM 57 is connected to the controller 49 so as to be able to send and receive signals via a decoder 59, and an audio device 60 for broadcasting audio into the vehicle interior is connected to the decoder 59. There is. The CD-ROM 57 contains in advance information such as vehicle maintenance instructions, additional information such as road speed limits and prohibition of parking, and information necessary for guiding the 1,000-car train, such as the one shown in FIG. Classification map 61, major place names, and schools.

The presence or absence of hospitals and road pavement, the distinction between expressways and ordinary roads, and the distinction between leveled land and rough roads are accurately stored in the coordinate system of the classification map 61, and the CD-ROM 5
The vehicle maintenance instructions No. 7 are selected by the decoder 59 and broadcast audibly into the vehicle interior by the audio device 60, while road information is input to the CPIJ 51 and stored in the RAM 52.

Furthermore, the controller 49 has a current position that detects the current position of Senryo! Current position recognition device 6 as a detection means
5 is connected to enable transmission and reception of signals, and a display device 66 such as a black tube or liquid crystal display is used for display control.
] circuit 67 and a video memory 68. The CPU 51 then operates the current position recognition device 65.
Road information between the vehicle's current position detected by the vehicle and the vehicle's destination set by the operation switch 55 is stored in the RAM 5.
2, along with the readout program, calculates and stores the vehicle's travel trajectory,
These are output to the display %+control circuit 67 and the display 6
6 these passages J'r! It has a speciation that displays one report as shown in Figure 5.

The current Iiy approval device 65, as shown in FIG.
A vehicle speed sensor 70 detects the vehicle speed, and a geomagnetic sensor 71 consisting of a magnetic compass receives detection signals from both sensors 70 and 71 to detect the traveling direction of the vehicle and the relative distance from a reference value to determine the vehicle's current position. A geomagnetic current position recognition circuit 73 consisting of a signal processing device 72 that recognizes the current location, and a sanitary current position recognition circuit 74 are provided. This satellite-based current position recognition circuit 74 utilizes the global positioning satellite system A shown in FIG. and four artificial satellites 77 each receiving radio waves from the ground antenna 75, and calculating a deterioration coefficient indicating the degree of positioning error of the radio waves by receiving the radio waves from each satellite 77. For a system including a monitor station 85 that superimposes radio waves from the antenna 75, a GPS receiver 78 that receives each radio wave from the 4R satellite 77 as shown in FIG. 6, and the GPS receiver. It is equipped with a signal processing circuit 79 that grasps the distance between the 4R satellite 77 and the vehicle based on the reception timing between each radio wave received at 78, and absolutely detects the current position of the Senryo.
It also includes a deterioration coefficient determination circuit 80 that determines the deterioration coefficient of the radio wave.

The deterioration coefficient determination circuit 80 determines whether the deterioration coefficient included in the radio waves received by the GPS receiver 78 is greater than a predetermined value, and when the strength of the radio waves is less than a predetermined value (for example, when the vehicle is running in a tunnel). This outputs a positioning error increase signal when radio waves cannot be received, etc.).

Furthermore, the current position recognition device 65 shown in FIG.
1 selects the sanitary type current position signal yi74 when the positioning error increase signal from the deterioration coefficient determination circuit 80 is not output, and selects the geomagnetic type current position recognition circuit 73 when the positioning error increase signal is output. Then, the current position signal of the selected vehicle is sent to the CPU 5 of the controller 49.
1.

Next, the controller 49 controls the operation of the exhaust valve 30 and the three opening/closing valves 31 to 33 shown in FIG.
This will be explained with reference to the flowchart in the figure. Start,
After reading the road information around the vehicle's current position from the RAM 52 in step S;, in step S2, it is determined whether the road condition at the vehicle's driving position is an expressway based on this road information, and if YES is the expressway. In this case, step S3
The exhaust valve 30 and the opening/closing valves 31 to 33 are operated and controlled to lower the vehicle height to ensure running stability of the vehicle.

On the other hand, in step S2, the driving path is not an expressway.
In the case of O, it is further determined in step S4 whether the traveling road is leveled or not, and in step S5 it is determined whether the traveling road is an unpaved road.
In this case, the process returns to step S3 to perform lowering control of the vehicle, while if the road is not equipped with 21 tires and the road is rough, the exhaust pulp 30 and the opening/closing valves 31 to 33 are changed to raise the vehicle height in step S6. The operation is controlled to ensure good running performance of the vehicle and return.

Therefore, according to the operation flow shown in FIG. 8 above, the vehicle height is lowered on expressways and leveled roads according to the road information from the navigation device 50 regarding the current position of the vehicle, while the vehicle height is raised on rough unpaved roads. A control means 90 is configured to control the operation of the opening/closing valves 31 to 33 (vehicle height adjustment means 46) of the exhaust valves 30 and 3@.

Therefore, in the above embodiment, after the destination of the vehicle is set using the operation switch 55, the map and travel trajectory around the current location of the vehicle are displayed on the cathode ray tube, etc. by the navigation device 50 during the process of traveling to this destination. This is displayed on the display 66 to easily guide the vehicle to the destination.

In this case, when the vehicle is running, the vehicle height adjustment means 46 is
It is automatically controlled by the wholesale means 90, and the vehicle height is automatically adjusted to be low when driving on a highway or on level ground to maintain good driving stability of the vehicle, and vice versa when driving on a rough unpaved road. The vehicle height is self-adjusted to a high level to ensure vehicle driving performance and safety, eliminating the need for the driver to manually adjust the vehicle height and keeping the vehicle height in line with its surroundings. Y! It is possible to automatically adjust the height to an appropriate height corresponding to the road conditions, thereby improving the running stability and safety of the vehicle.

The case where the vehicle travels while being guided to the destination by the navigation device 50 has been described above.
In addition, even if the display of the 34th route information on the display 66 is stopped, if at least the CD-ROM 57 is loaded into the CD player 58, the FB height can be similarly made to correspond to the 1st passage report, and the heights and lows can be displayed in the same way. Can be adjusted.

(Brahmaikari effect) As explained above, according to the present invention, road information pre-built in the navigation device installed in the vehicle is used to
The vehicle's ground height is automatically adjusted to match the surrounding road conditions, eliminating the need for manual operation by the driver and ensuring that the vehicle's ground height is always adjusted to the appropriate height according to the surrounding road conditions. The height can be adjusted to improve vehicle running performance and safety.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the present invention. Figure 8 Figure 2 〉 (1i′ne device) hmm Figure 5

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a vehicle equipped with a height adjustment means for adjusting the ground height of the vehicle, a navigation device that stores road information in advance to guide the vehicle, and a current position detection means that detects the current position of the vehicle. and a control means that receives the output of the current position detection means and controls the vehicle height adjustment means in accordance with road information from the navigation device regarding the vicinity of the current position of the vehicle. Device.