KR101910827B1 - Transmission control system for autonomous vehicle and operating method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a shift control system for an autonomous vehicle and an operation method thereof.
According to the present invention, a limiter that permits a specific part of operation on the shift lever to receive a brake signal that occurs when the brake switch is operated permits a specific part of operation on the shift lever by an allowance signal instead of a brake signal.
Therefore, the operation convenience is improved because a specific part of the operation of the shift lever is automatically performed without the operation of the brake.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to a shift control system for an autonomous vehicle,

The present invention relates to a shift control system that can be applied to an autonomous vehicle (autonomous vehicle) without a driver's driving operation.

Recently, a lot of research and technological progress has led to the commercialization of self-propelled vehicles that can be operated without driver's operation.

In order for the vehicle to run autonomously, various sensing technologies and automatic steering techniques should be applied. In particular, an automatic transmission technique according to the driving situation must be applied.

Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-2016-0028657 (hereinafter referred to as 'the prior art') receives an input signal for shifting of a vehicle by a driver or an external input and inputs the input signal for parking (P), reverse (R), neutral (D) in which the vehicle is running and the state of the vehicle.

However, in general, the shift lever of the vehicle is arbitrarily limited to being operated in the forward, reverse, or neutral state in the parking state or being operated in the neutral state to the reverse state. And vehicles manufactured by some producers are also restricted from operating from neutral to forward. For this purpose, most vehicles equipped with automatic transmissions are provided with a restrictor for restricting the operation of the specific part mentioned above among various operations for the shift lever in the shift lever control system.

The limiter releases the restriction on certain operations when a brake signal is generated from the brake switch operated when the driver steps on the brake pedal.

Therefore, the autonomous vehicle equipped with the shift lever control system equipped with the limiter has a disadvantage that the driver must step on the brake pedal for a certain operation of the shift lever.

For example, if the driver wants to start a vehicle in a parked state, the driver must depress the brake pedal to command the autonomous drive mode or command the autonomous drive mode, and then press the brake pedal. However, It will be.

Thus, although the prior art refers to automatic shifting of the shift lever in the autonomous running mode, it is merely a technique which must be considered inconvenient in the above-mentioned specific operation because it is silent with respect to the limiter.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a technique that allows certain operations that are permitted only when a brake signal is generated to be allowed without the operation of a brake switch capable of generating a brake signal.

The shift control system for an autonomous vehicle according to the present invention includes: a shift lever which is manually operated by a driver to determine a running direction or a state of the vehicle in a manual running mode and automatically operated in an autonomous running mode; The movement of the shift lever is restricted in order to prohibit the operation of a specific part of the various operations on the shift lever according to the current state of the vehicle, and the operation of the specific part is enabled by the operation of the brake switch operated by the driver A limiter for allowing the shift lever to move; An actuator that fixes the operated current position of the shift lever and automatically operates the shift lever in the autonomous mode; A transmission for executing a running direction or a state of the vehicle in accordance with the current position of the operated shift lever when the shift lever is operated by an operation by a driver or an operation by the actuator; And a shift controller for controlling the limiter and the actuator; And the shift controller controls the operation of the specific part so that the operation of the specific part is possible even when the operation of the brake switch is not required when the operation of the specific part is required in the autonomous running mode.

The limiter permits movement of the shift lever to receive the brake signal generated by the operation of the brake switch or to allow the operation of the specific part when the limit signal is received from the shift controller in place of the brake signal.

The actuator includes a drive motor for generating a drive force for moving the shift lever; And one end is linked to the drive shaft of the drive motor and the other end is linked to the shift lever to transmit the drive force of the drive motor to the shift lever and the position is fixed according to the operation state by the drive motor, A transmission link for fixing the position of the lever; .

The operation of the specific part is an operation for switching to the forward, backward, or neutral state in the parking state.

The operation of the specific part is an operation for switching from a neutral state to at least one of a forward state or a backward state.

In addition, a method of operating a shift control system for an autonomous vehicle according to the present invention includes: a signal generation step for generating a permission signal in place of a brake signal by a transmission controller that receives a command from a driver requesting to run in an autonomous mode; A signal transmission step of transmitting the permission signal generated in the signal generation step to the limiter; And a movement permission step of allowing the limiter, which receives the permission signal generated by the shift controller in the signal transmission step, to move the shift lever so that a specific part of various operations on the shift lever can be operated. Wherein the operation of the specific part is permitted when the limiter receives the brake signal generated by the operation of the brake switch, and the permitting signal generated in the transmission controller is generated only in the autonomous driving mode, To allow the shifting of the shift lever so that the shift lever can be operated.

The operation of the specific part is an operation for switching to the forward, backward, or neutral state in the parking state.

The operation of the specific part is an operation for switching from a neutral state to at least one of a forward state or a backward state.

According to the present invention, since the movement to the shift lever at the position where the movement is restricted by the allowance signal in place of the brake signal in the autonomous running mode is allowed, the convenience of autonomous travel is further improved.

1 is a conceptual block diagram of a shift control system for an autonomous vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 and 3 are reference views for explaining an example limiter applicable to the shift control system for the autonomous vehicle of FIG.

Preferred embodiments according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, but for the sake of simplicity of explanation, already known or redundant descriptions are omitted or compressed as much as possible.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a shift control system 100 (hereinafter referred to as a "shift control system") for an autonomous vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The shift control system according to the present embodiment includes a shift lever 110, a limiter 120, an actuator 130, a transmission 140, and a shift controller 150.

The shift lever 110 is manually operated by a driver who intends to determine the driving direction or the state of the vehicle in the manual driving mode and is automatically operated by the driving force of the actuator 130 under the control of the transmission controller 150 in the autonomous driving mode. do. The shift lever 110 has a handle 111 so that the driver can operate the manual shift mode. The driver can move the lever 112 with the rotation axis R as a rotational center by moving the knob 111 in the forward and backward directions. Of course, the shift lever 110 rotates by a predetermined angle in accordance with the rotational movement of the lever 112 by the driver, and the parking position P, the backward position R, the neutral position N, the forward position D As shown in FIG. When the current position of the lever 112 is determined, the transmission 150 recognizes the current position of the lever 112 and performs the shift according to the current position of the lever 112.

In this embodiment, the operation of the shift lever 110 can be performed in total of 12 combinations as shown in the following Table 1. [

Position before operation Position after operation 1 Position after operation 2 Position after operation 3 P → R N D R → P N D N → D R P D → N R P

The limiter 120 limits the rotational movement of the shift lever 110 to prohibit the operation of a specific part of various operations of the shift lever depending on the current state of the vehicle. The limitation of the rotational movement of the shift lever 110 by the limiter 120 is controlled by a brake switch BS (including a sensor for detecting the brake condition) operated by pressing the brake pedal BP / S).

Referring to Table 1 above, in order to enable the operation (P → N, P → D) of shifting from P to R or passing through R during operations on a total of 12 shift levers 110, ) Is essential. In this case, the limiter 120 receives the brake signal B / S to permit the rotational movement of the shift lever 110.

Depending on the control, the operation of shifting the shift lever 110 from N to D or shifting from N to R is also permitted only when the limiter 120 receives the brake signal B / S Can be included in a specific operation.

The limiter 120 may be implemented in various manners, but the solenoid coil 121, the permanent magnet 122, the limiting protrusion 123, and the intermittent switch 124 ). ≪ / RTI >

The solenoid coil 121 becomes an electromagnet by input of a current.

The permanent magnet 122 is raised by the magnetic force generated by the solenoid coil 121 to which the current is inputted, or is lowered by gravity.

The limiting protrusion 123 is coupled to the permanent magnet 122.

When the break signal B / S is received, the intermittent switch 124 interrupts the current input to the solenoid coil 121 or the current input to the solenoid coil 121.

Correspondingly, the shift lever 110 is provided with a limiting plate 113 which is coupled to the lever 112 and moves together with the lever 112. The limiting plate 113 is formed with a first insertion hole 113a corresponding to the position of P and a second insertion hole 113b spaced apart from the first insertion hole 113a by a predetermined distance and corresponding to the position of N have.

When the limiting protrusion 123 is inserted into the first insertion hole 113a by the lowering of the permanent magnet 122, the shift lever 110 is restricted from being fixed at the position of P and the second insertion hole 113b The shift lever 110 is restricted from being moved from the N position to the fixed state. When a current is applied to the solenoid coil 121 so that the limiting protrusion 123 is removed from the first insertion hole 113a or the second insertion hole 113b, the movement restriction of the shift lever 110 is released, 110 are allowed to rotate. 2 shows a state in which the shift lever 110 can be moved from the position of P to another position by removing the stopper protrusion 123 from the first insertion hole 113a, 123 are inserted into the first insertion hole 113a, the shifting lever 110 is restricted from moving from the position of P to another position.

The actuator 130 fixes the operated current position of the shift lever 110 and automatically operates the shift lever 110 in the autonomous running mode. To this end, the actuator 130 has a drive motor 131 and a transmission link 132.

The drive motor 131 generates a driving force for moving the shift lever 110.

One end of the transmission link 132 is linked to the lower end portion of the drive shaft 131a of the drive motor 131 and the other end thereof is linked to the lower end portion of the shift lever 110. The driving force of the driving motor 131 is transmitted to the shift lever 110 when the driving shaft 131a of the driving motor 131 rotates forward and backward by a predetermined angle. When the driving shaft 131a is stopped at a predetermined position according to the operating state of the driving motor 131, the transmission link 132 is also fixed and the present position of the shift lever 110 is also fixed. Here, the position of the drive shaft 131a can be determined according to how the rotational position value of the drive shaft 131a is set by the drive motor 131. [

The transmission 140 recognizes the current position of the shift lever 110 operated manually by the driver in the manual travel mode or operated by the actuator 130 under the control of the shift controller 150 in the autonomous mode, And executes the running direction or the state of the corresponding vehicle. As a matter of course, according to the autonomous running mode, the transmission controller 150 can be directly instructed to perform the running direction or the state of the vehicle to the transmission 140. [

The transmission controller 150 basically controls the shifting of the shift lever 110 in conjunction with the operation of the limiter 120, the actuator 130 and the actuator. Particularly, in the autonomous running mode, The limiter 120 is controlled so that a certain part of the operation is possible even though the brake switch BS is not operated.

Subsequently, the shift control system 100 having the above-described configurations will be described separately for each traveling mode.

<Manual travel mode>

In the manual driving mode, the driver determines the driving direction or the state depending on the surrounding situation and manually operates the shift lever 110 manually.

The shift lever 110 is moved according to the operation of the driver and the operated current position of the shift lever 110 is transmitted to the transmission 140. [ Thus, the transmission 140 shifts and executes the running direction or the state of the vehicle in accordance with the current position of the shift lever 110. [

In this manual driving mode, when a specific operation for the above-described shift lever 110 is required, the driver depresses the brake pedal BP so that the brake signal B / S generated by the brake switch BS is transmitted to the limiter 120 Lt; / RTI &gt; That is, when the limiter 120 receives the brake signal B / S generated by the brake switch BS, the limiter 120 releases the shift restriction of the shift lever 110 whose movement is restricted at the specific position P or N, ) To be moved.

<Autonomous mode>

In the autonomous driving mode, the driver does not perform any manipulation to determine the driving direction or the state other than the driver selecting the autonomous driving mode even if the driver does not ride or the driver boarded.

Therefore, various systems provided in the vehicle including the steering system (not shown), the brake system (not shown), and the shift control system 100 are performed by an autonomous drive controller (not shown). Of course, it is preferable that the shift controller 150 mentioned in the above embodiment is implemented so as to constitute a part of the autonomous drive controller.

In this autonomous running mode, the shift controller 150 operates the limiter 120 and the shift lever 110, and the transmission 140 is operated accordingly.

The transmission controller 150 determines a current traveling direction or a state using information sensed by various sensors mounted on the vehicle, and controls the limiter and the actuator 130 to perform an instruction based on the determination. Of course, as mentioned above, the shift controller 150 may be configured to directly control the operation of the transmission 140 regardless of the operation of the shift lever 110. [

In the autonomous mode according to the present invention, the brake pedal BP is not operated by the driver. That is, in the autonomous running mode according to the present invention, the brake signal B / S is not generated by the brake switch BS. In the situation where the brake signal B / S is not generated in this manner, the transmission controller 150 needs to be able to perform a specific part of the above operation.

Accordingly, the shift controller 150 generates a permission signal A / S instead of the brake signal B / S when a certain operation is required, depending on the judgment of the situation. Of course, the shift controller 150 does not generate the permitting signal A / S in the manual driving mode but generates the permitting signal A / S only in the autonomous driving mode.

The permission signal (A / S) generated by the transmission controller 150 is transmitted to the limiter 120.

The limiter 120 receiving the allowance signal A / S recognizes that the brake pedal BP is in the same state as the brake pedal BP is depressed and permits the shift lever 110 to move so that a certain part of the operation is possible.

To facilitate understanding of how certain operations are allowed in such an autonomous mode, a specific example of switching from the parked state to the running state will be described.

The vehicle is parked and the driver selects the autonomous mode.

The shift controller 150 generates the permission signal A / S to start the parked vehicle. At this time, movement of the vehicle by the parking holder (not shown) may be disallowed.

The generated permission signal A / S is transmitted to the limiter 120.

The limiter 120 receiving the permission signal A / S inputs the direct current to the solenoid coil 121, thereby causing the limiting protrusion 123 to escape from the first insertion hole 113a. Then, the shift controller 150 controls the actuator 130 to move the shift lever 110 at the parking position P to the forward position D. Thus, the transmission 140 recognizes the current position of the shift lever 110 and executes the shift from the parking state to the forward state. When the shift is executed, the parking holder is switched to a state allowing the vehicle to move, and the vehicle is started. Of course, in place of performing the shifting after the transmission 140 recognizes the current position of the shift lever 110 in the autonomous running mode, the transmission controller 150 controls the transmission 140 and the shift lever 110, So that the transmission 140 can be implemented so as to perform the shift regardless of the recognition of the current position of the shift lever 110. [

Although the present invention has been fully described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited thereto. It is to be understood that the scope of the invention is to be construed as being limited only by the following claims and their equivalents.

100: Shift control system for autonomous vehicle
110: shift lever
120: Limiter
130: Actuator
131: drive motor 132: transfer link
140: Transmission
150:
B / S: Brake signal
A / S: Accept signal

Claims (8)

A transmission control system for an autonomous vehicle, comprising:
A shift lever that is manually operated by a driver to determine a running direction or a state of the vehicle in a manual running mode and automatically operated in an autonomous running mode;
The movement of the shift lever is restricted in order to prohibit the operation of a specific part of the various operations on the shift lever in accordance with the current state of the vehicle and the operation of the specific part is enabled by the operation of the brake switch operated by the driver A limiter for allowing the shift lever to move;
An actuator that fixes the operated current position of the shift lever and automatically operates the shift lever in the autonomous mode;
A transmission for executing a running direction or a state of the vehicle in accordance with the current position of the operated shift lever when the shift lever is operated by an operation by a driver or an operation by the actuator; And
A shift controller for controlling the limiter and the actuator; Lt; / RTI &gt;
Wherein the shift controller controls the operation of the specific part so that the operation of the specific part is possible even when the brake switch is not operated when the specific part of the operation is required in the autonomous mode,
Wherein the limiter permits movement of the shift lever so as to enable the operation of the specific part by receiving a brake signal generated by the operation of the brake switch in the manual travel mode, The shifting of the shift lever is allowed to allow the operation of the specific part,
Wherein the specific operation of at least one of the operation for switching from the parking state to the forward, backward, or neutral state, or the operation for switching from the neutral state to the forward or backward state,
Transmission control system for autonomous vehicle. delete The method according to claim 1,
The actuator includes:
A drive motor for generating a drive force for moving the shift lever; And
Wherein the one end is linked to the drive shaft of the drive motor and the other end is linked to the shift lever to transmit the drive force of the drive motor to the shift lever and the position is fixed according to the operation state by the drive motor, A transmission link for fixing the position of the transmission link; Containing
Transmission control system for autonomous vehicle. delete delete A method of operating a shift control system for an autonomous vehicle,
A signal generating step for generating a permitting signal in place of the brake signal by the transmission controller which receives the command of the driver requesting the vehicle to run in the autonomous running mode;
A signal transmission step of transmitting the permission signal generated in the signal generation step to the limiter; And
A shift permission step of allowing the limiter, which receives the permission signal generated by the shift controller in the signal transmission step, to shift the shift lever so that a specific part of various operations on the shift lever can be operated; Lt; / RTI &gt;
The operation of the specific part is permitted when the limiter receives a brake signal generated by the operation of the brake switch in the manual driving mode,
Wherein the permitting signal generated by the transmission controller is a command signal that is generated only in the autonomous running mode and permits the shifting of the shift lever so that the limiter can perform the operation of the specific part,
Wherein the specific operation of at least one of the operation for switching from the parking state to the forward, backward, or neutral state, or the operation for switching from the neutral state to the forward or backward state,
A method of operating a shift control system for an autonomous vehicle.










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