KR20150034906A - Method of controlling suspension and brake in a vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for controlling the suspension and brake of a vehicle. The present invention detects a road surface state change in front of a vehicle by using data provided from a navigation, a front gazing camera, and a radar sensor having a data storage apparatus where a map and first road surface information are stored. The present invention calculates a travel time to a road surface state change point by using distance information to the road surface state change point and speed information of the vehicle, and controls the suspension and brake of the vehicle in accordance with the travel time to the road surface state change point. Then, the present invention calculates second road surface information by measuring the impact amount permitted to the vehicle while passing through the road surface state change point, and renews the first road surface information into second road surface information.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a method of controlling a suspension device and a brake device of a vehicle,

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a suspension device of a vehicle and a method of controlling the braking device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of detecting a front road surface state of a vehicle during driving and controlling the suspension device and the braking device according to the road surface condition.

The suspension of the vehicle is connected to an axle to prevent damage or the like to the vehicle body, passenger, and cargo by controlling the shock or vibration applied from the road surface while the vehicle is running, so as to improve ride comfort.

The suspension includes a spring for relieving an impact applied from the road surface, a shock absorber for improving the ride comfort by controlling the free vibration of the spring, and a stabilizer bar for preventing rolling of the vehicle.

Recently, an electronic control suspension system (ECS) for controlling the damping force according to the road surface condition has been developed and applied to an advanced vehicle in order to improve the ride quality of the vehicle. However, when the electronically controlled suspension device passes through the unevenness on the road Since the method of measuring the impact force applied to the vehicle and adjusting the damping force in accordance with the measured impact force is used, there is a problem that it is somewhat insufficient for sufficiently removing impact force or vibration transmitted from the road surface.

In order to solve the problem of the electronically controlled suspension device described above, Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-2012-0051553 discloses a method of detecting the road surface state ahead of the vehicle using a navigation device, a camera, and a radar sensor, A method of controlling the above-described method is disclosed.

However, although the recent navigation apparatus provides the map information and the road surface information together, it is difficult to effectively control the suspension apparatus based on the lack of information on the road surface state. In particular, in the case of a relatively small amount of traffic, information on irregularities installed on the road is not sufficient, and information on a sump or an obstacle caused by breakage of a road is not provided. Therefore, .

Embodiments of the present invention are intended to more effectively control the suspension device and the braking device by collecting and storing the road surface information that can be obtained during running of the vehicle and using the information to control the suspension device and the braking device of the vehicle .

According to embodiments of the present invention, it is possible to detect a change in the road surface state ahead of the vehicle using data provided from navigation, a front view camera, and a radar sensor including a data storage device storing a map and first road surface information, The time of arrival to the road surface state change point is calculated using the distance information to the state change point and the speed information of the vehicle and the suspension device and the braking device of the vehicle can be controlled according to the time when the road surface state change point is reached have. Next, the second road surface information may be calculated by measuring the amount of impact applied to the vehicle while passing the road surface change point, and the first road surface information may be updated to the second road surface information.

According to the embodiments of the present invention, when an obstacle larger than a preset value is detected in the process of detecting the change of the road surface state, the braking device is controlled so that the vehicle is stopped before reaching the point where the obstacle is located .

According to the embodiments of the present invention, the second road surface information can be calculated using the vehicle speed at the road surface state change point, the damping force information of the suspension, and the amount of impact applied to the vehicle, The second road surface information may be updated to the second road surface information if the difference between the first road surface information and the second road surface information is out of a predetermined error range.

According to embodiments of the present invention, the location information of the road surface change point and the updated first road surface information may be transmitted to an external server.

According to embodiments of the present invention, the first road surface information can be downloaded from the external server.

According to the embodiments of the present invention as described above, when there is a change in the road surface state in front of a vehicle under running, the road surface information stored in the navigation device, the front view camera and the radar sensor, By controlling the apparatus, it is possible to improve the ride comfort and the stability of the running.

In addition, by measuring the amount of impact actually applied to the vehicle while the vehicle passes through the road surface change point, information on the actual road surface condition is obtained, and the saved road surface information is updated using the obtained information, Can be controlled more effectively.

Particularly, it is possible to transmit road surface information collected from a plurality of vehicles to an external server to collect and process the road surface information to a plurality of vehicles, thereby making it possible to use improved road surface information in a wider area, And it is also possible to prevent an accident caused by a sudden change in road surface while driving.

1 is a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling a suspension apparatus and a braking apparatus of a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a control system for performing the method shown in FIG.
3 is a schematic diagram for explaining a method for transmitting and updating first road surface information updated to a current road surface state to an external server.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings showing embodiments of the invention. However, the present invention should not be construed as limited to the embodiments described below, but may be embodied in various other forms. The following examples are provided so that those skilled in the art can fully understand the scope of the present invention, rather than being provided so as to enable the present invention to be fully completed.

When an element is described as being placed on or connected to another element or layer, the element may be directly disposed or connected to the other element, and other elements or layers may be placed therebetween It is possible. Alternatively, if one element is described as being placed directly on or connected to another element, there can be no other element between them. The terms first, second, third, etc. may be used to describe various items such as various elements, compositions, regions, layers and / or portions, but the items are not limited by these terms .

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Furthermore, all terms including technical and scientific terms have the same meaning as will be understood by those skilled in the art having ordinary skill in the art, unless otherwise specified. These terms, such as those defined in conventional dictionaries, shall be construed to have meanings consistent with their meanings in the context of the related art and the description of the present invention, and are to be interpreted as being ideally or externally grossly intuitive It will not be interpreted.

Embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to schematic illustrations of ideal embodiments of the present invention. Thus, changes from the shapes of the illustrations, e.g., changes in manufacturing methods and / or tolerances, are those that can be reasonably expected. Accordingly, the embodiments of the present invention should not be construed as being limited to the specific shapes of the areas illustrated in the drawings, but include deviations in the shapes, the areas described in the drawings being entirely schematic and their shapes Is not intended to illustrate the exact shape of the area and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

1 is a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling a suspension apparatus and a braking apparatus of a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a control system for performing the method shown in FIG.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a method of controlling the vehicle suspension device 100 and the braking device 102 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes sensing a front road surface state in advance while the vehicle is traveling, 100 and the braking device 102 so as to improve the ride comfort of the vehicle and greatly improve the driving safety.

First, a control system for performing the control method is a data providing unit for providing input data for controlling the suspension device 100 and the braking device 102, and includes a navigation device 110 installed in the vehicle and a front view camera 114 And a radar sensor 116 for detecting an obstacle in front of the vehicle.

The navigation system 110 may include a data storage device 112 for storing map information and first road surface information, and the first road surface information may be provided from a general map information service company. In addition, the navigation unit 110 may incorporate a GPS module to provide location information of the vehicle to the driver.

The camera 114 may be a general type of camera used as a lane departure warning system and / or a black box system. However, a separate camera may be additionally provided for controlling the suspension device 100 and the braking device 102 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The navigation unit 110, the camera 114 and the radar sensor 116 may be connected to the control unit 120. The control unit 120 may provide the navigation unit 110 with the camera 114 and the radar sensor 116 So that it is possible to judge the change of the road surface condition and / or the presence of an obstacle in front of the vehicle.

In particular, the control unit 120 may include an image processing module 122, and may analyze the image information provided through the camera 114 to detect a change in the road surface state ahead.

The controller 120 may be connected to the suspension device 100, the braking device 102, the electronic stability control (ESC) 130, the engine management system 132, It is possible to control their operation.

Next, a method for automatically controlling the suspension device 100 and the braking device 102 during vehicle driving according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, in step S100, the road surface condition on the front of the vehicle is detected using the data provided from the navigation device 110, the front-view camera 114, and the radar sensor 116. [ At this time, the map information and the first road surface information may be stored in advance in the data storage device 112 of the navigation device 110. On the other hand, the initial first road surface information is available through a general route, and may be provided, for example, from a vehicle manufacturer or a general map information service provider.

In step S110, the arrival time of the road surface state change point is calculated using the distance information to the point where the road surface state changes and the speed information of the vehicle.

The control unit 120 may calculate the distance between the current position and the road surface change point using the position information provided from the navigation unit 110 when a change in the road surface condition is detected, The time to reach the road surface change point from the current position can be calculated using the information.

Then, in step S120, the suspension device 100 and the braking device 102 of the vehicle are controlled according to the time at which the road surface state change point is reached.

The control unit 120 may slightly adjust the damping force of the suspension device 100 before reaching the road surface change point and may drive the braking device 102 to reduce the speed of the vehicle to an appropriate level.

The control unit 120 determines that the road surface change is detected through the camera 114 and / or the radar sensor 116. In this case, May control the operation of the suspension device 100 and the braking device 102 in preference to signals input by the camera and / or the radar sensor.

If the road surface change is not detected through the camera 114 and / or the radar sensor 116, the control unit 120 May control the operation of the suspension device 100 and the braking device 102 in preference to the first road surface information.

As a result, even when the first road surface information is erroneous or the camera 114 or the operation of the radar sensor 116 is abnormal, the control unit 120 can stably control the suspension device 100 and the braking device 102).

However, if there is some error in the first road surface information, a selection function by the driver may be provided so as to give priority to signals input from the camera 114 and / or the radar sensor 116. [ This is to prevent the occurrence of side effects such as fuel consumption degradation or traffic flow disturbance by unnecessarily reducing the speed of the vehicle due to the error of the first road surface information.

As another example, if an obstacle larger than a preset value is detected in the step of detecting the change of the road surface state, the controller 120 controls the braking device 120 to stop the vehicle before the obstacle is located, It is possible to control the operation of the microcomputer 102. In other words, it is to prevent the accident by stopping the vehicle safely when the obstacle or the pedestrian is on the road that the vehicle can not pass.

As described above, the first road surface information, the camera 114, and the radar sensor 116 are used to detect a change in the road surface state ahead of the vehicle during traveling, and the suspension apparatus 100 and the braking apparatus 102 It is possible to greatly improve the ride comfort and driving stability of the vehicle. However, if the speed of the vehicle is excessively fast, the first road surface information available on the market is insufficient for information such as road surface condition changes, for example, irregularities, etc., and the image processing module 122 is overloaded The control of the suspension device 100 and the braking device 102 may not be performed effectively.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to more effectively control the suspension device 100 and the braking device 102 by storing the road surface state of the current driving road and reusing it later.

Specifically, in step S130, the second road surface information is calculated by measuring the amount of impact applied to the vehicle while passing through the road surface state change point. In step S140, the first road surface information is calculated using the position information of the road surface state change point And can update the road surface information with the generated second road surface information.

Specifically, in step S130, the second road surface information indicates road surface information obtained while the vehicle actually passes the road surface state change point, and the vehicle speed at the road surface state change point and the vehicle speed at the road surface state change point Damping force information and the amount of impact applied to the vehicle. The amount of the impact applied to the vehicle can be obtained through the vertical and horizontal acceleration signals output from the acceleration sensor 140 provided in the vehicle.

In step S140, if the first road surface information is compared with the second road surface information and the difference value between the first road surface information and the second road surface information is out of a predetermined error range, the first road surface information is the second road surface information Lt; / RTI > Particularly, in the case where there is no information about the puddle due to unevenness, road damage, or the like in the first road surface information, the first road surface information is updated with the second road surface information so that more accurate road surface information can be stored in the data storage device 112 have.

Also, in the case where information is provided that there is a puddle due to unevenness, road damage, or the like in the first road surface information but there is no change in the road surface in reality, the first road surface information is also updated as second road surface information, Can receive.

Meanwhile, the first road surface information updated in the current road surface state in the data storage device 112 may be transmitted to the external server 150 (see FIG. 3) along with the position information of the road surface state change point in step S150 have. This is to transfer the actual road surface information collected from a plurality of vehicles to a single data server so as to collect road surface information in a wider area and to integrate and process the road surface information so as to be available to more vehicles.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, although not shown, the step of downloading the collected road surface information data, i.e., the first road surface information, to the data storage device 112 of the vehicle may be further performed.

3 is a schematic diagram for explaining a method for transmitting and updating the first road surface information updated to the current road surface state to an external server.

Referring to FIG. 3, the step of transmitting the first road surface information to the external server 150 may be performed using the telematics function of the vehicle. The data storage device 112 of the navigation system 110 may be connected to the telematics terminal 160 of the vehicle through a vehicle internal network and may be connected to the external server 150 using the telematics terminal 160. [ The first road surface information may be transmitted.

As another example, the first road surface information may be transmitted to the external server 150 using a mobile device 170 such as a smart phone, a notebook computer, a tablet PC, or the like. Specifically, the telematics terminal 160 of the vehicle is equipped with a network interface unit 162 equipped with a chipset satisfying the WiFi standard, and the network interface unit 162 is provided between the telematics terminal 160 and the mobile device 170 A wireless network can be formed to enable data transmission.

As an example, the mobile device 170 may be operated in an access point (AP) mode and may be connected to the external server 150 in a tethering manner via the mobile device 170, 1 plane information to the external server 150 and download the same from the external server 150. [ Alternatively, the network interface unit 160 may be operated in the AP mode and may be connected to the mobile device 170 according to a DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) protocol, thereby transmitting and downloading the first road surface information have.

According to the embodiments of the present invention as described above, when there is a change in the road surface state in front of a running vehicle, the road surface information stored in the navigation system 110 and the road surface information stored in the navigation system 110, And by controlling the suspension device 100 and the braking device 102 of the vehicle, it is possible to improve the ride comfort and the stability of the running.

In addition, when the vehicle is passing through the road surface change point, information on the actual road surface state is obtained by measuring the amount of impact actually applied to the vehicle, and the stored road surface information is updated using the obtained information, And the braking device 102 can be more effectively controlled.

Particularly, the road surface information collected from a plurality of vehicles is transmitted to the external server 150 and is collected, processed and provided to a plurality of vehicles, thereby making it possible to use improved road surface information in a wider area, And the driving stability can be improved and an accident caused by a sudden change in the road surface while driving can be prevented.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims It can be understood that

100: Suspension device 102: Braking device
110: navigation 112: data storage device
114: camera 116: radar sensor
120: control unit 122: image processing module
140: acceleration sensor 150: external server
160: Telematics terminal 162: Network interface unit
170: Mobile device

Claims (5)

Detecting a change in the road surface condition ahead of the vehicle using data provided from navigation, a front view camera, and a radar sensor, the vehicle having a data storage device storing a map and first road surface information;
Calculating a time of arrival to the road surface state change point using the distance information to the road surface state change point and the speed information of the vehicle;
Controlling the suspension device and the braking device of the vehicle according to the time at which the road surface state change point is reached;
Calculating second road surface information by measuring an amount of impact applied to the vehicle while passing the road surface state change point; And
And updating the first road surface information with the second road surface information. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, in the step of detecting the road surface condition change, the braking device is controlled such that the vehicle is stopped before an obstacle larger than a preset value is detected, And a control device for controlling the suspension device and the braking device. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second road surface information is calculated using the vehicle speed at the road surface state change point, the damping force information of the suspension, and the amount of impact applied to the vehicle,
And comparing the first road surface information with the second road surface information to update the first road surface information with the second road surface information if a difference value between the first road surface information and the second road surface information is out of a predetermined error range Wherein the control means is operable to control the suspension device and the braking device of the vehicle. The method according to claim 3, further comprising transmitting position information of the road surface state change point and the updated first road surface information to an external server. The method of claim 1, further comprising downloading the first road surface information from an external server.

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