Rollover Judging Device

• US 20090118892A1
• Filed: 02/22/2007
• Published: 05/07/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nexgen Control Systems LLC
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Inventors: Tokunaga, Takashi, Yamashita, Toshiyuki, Harase, Shinichi, Inoue, Satoru, Furui, Takashi
• Granted Patent: US 7,925,395 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/29
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/0018 Roll-over
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/01327 Angular velocity or angular acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/0132 responsive to vehicle motion parameters , e.g. to vehicle longitudinal or transversal deceleration or speed value
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/0133 by integrating the amplitude of the input signal
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/01332 by frequency or waveform analysis
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/15 Road slope, i.e. the inclination of a road segment in the longitudinal direction
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/04 related to roll-over prevention

Abstract

A rollover judging device adjusts the magnitude of an angular velocity component ω of a vehicle in a direction of a rollover, which is measured by an angular velocity sensor 1, by using an ω adjusting unit 3c on the basis of an acceleration component of the vehicle in its rightward or leftward direction or in its upward or downward direction, which is measured by an acceleration sensor 2, calculates an angle component θo by integrating with respect to time this adjusted angular velocity component ωo by using an integrator 3d, carries out predetermined multiplication and addition processes by using a judging means 4 on the basis of this angle component θo and the measured angular velocity component ω, and, when the result of this addition process exceeds a preset threshold Th, outputs a signal indicating judgment of occurrence of a rollover to an air bag control device 5.

Claims

1. A rollover judging device comprising:

an angular velocity sensor for measuring an angular velocity component of a vehicle in a direction of a rollover of the vehicle;

an acceleration sensor for measuring either of at least an acceleration component of the vehicle in a rightward or leftward direction and an acceleration component of the vehicle in an upward or downward direction;

an integration processing means for adjusting a magnitude of the angular velocity component measured by said angular velocity sensor on a basis of the acceleration component measured by said acceleration sensor, and for calculating an angle component by integrating with respect to time said adjusted angular velocity component; and

a judging means for multiplying the angular velocity component measured by said angular velocity sensor and the angle component calculated by said integration processing means by preset weighting factors, respectively, and for outputting a signal indicating judgment of occurrence of a rollover when an absolute value of a sum of said components multiplied by the preset weighting factors, respectively, exceeds a preset threshold.

2. The rollover judging device according to claim 1, characterized in that a filter for extracting an acceleration component in a preset specific oscillation region from the acceleration component measured by the acceleration sensor is disposed in the integration processing means, and, when the acceleration component extracted by said filter is larger than a preset threshold, said integration processing means adjusts the angular velocity component to be smaller according to a magnitude of said extracted acceleration component.

3. The rollover judging device according to claim 1, characterized in that when the acceleration component measured by the acceleration sensor is larger than a preset threshold, the integration processing means adjusts the angular velocity component to be larger according to a magnitude of said measured acceleration component.

4. The rollover judging device according to claim 1, characterized in that a velocity component calculating unit for calculating a velocity component by integrating with respect to time the acceleration component measured by the acceleration sensor is disposed in the integration processing means, and, when the velocity component calculated by the velocity component calculating unit is larger than a preset threshold, said integration processing means adjusts the angular velocity component to be larger according to a magnitude of said calculated velocity component.

5. The rollover judging device according to claim 2, characterized in that a timer unit for measuring a preset fixed time interval is disposed in the integration processing means, and, when the acceleration component extracted by the filter is larger than the preset threshold, said integration processing means continues a state in which it adjusts the angular velocity component to be smaller for said fixed time interval after said acceleration component becomes smaller than said threshold.

6. The rollover judging device according to claim 3, characterized in that a timer unit for measuring a preset fixed time interval is disposed in the integration processing means, and, when the acceleration component measured by the acceleration sensor is larger than the preset threshold, said integration processing means continues a state in which it adjusts the angular velocity component to be larger for said fixed time interval after said acceleration component becomes smaller than said threshold.

7. The rollover judging device according to claim 1, characterized in that a timer unit for measuring a preset fixed time interval is disposed in the integration processing means, and, when the velocity component calculated by the velocity component calculating unit is larger than the preset threshold, said integration processing means continues a state in which it adjusts the angular velocity component to be larger for said fixed time interval after said velocity component becomes smaller than said threshold.

8. A rollover judging device comprising:

an angular velocity sensor for measuring an angular velocity component of a vehicle in a direction of a rollover of the vehicle;

an acceleration sensor for measuring either of at least an acceleration component of the vehicle in a rightward or leftward direction and an acceleration component of the vehicle in an upward or downward direction;

an integration processing means for adjusting an amount of return used for integral value return-to-zero processing on a basis of the acceleration component measured by said acceleration sensor, for calculating an angle component by integrating with respect to time the angular velocity component measured by said angular velocity sensor, and for carrying out a process of returning an integral value obtained through said time integration to zero using said adjusted amount of return after a lapse of a fixed time interval after the calculation; and

a judging means for multiplying the angular velocity component measured by said angular velocity sensor and the angle component calculated by said integration processing means by preset weighting factors, respectively, and for outputting a signal indicating judgment of occurrence of a rollover when an absolute value of a sum of said components multiplied by the preset weighting factors, respectively, exceeds a preset threshold.

9. The rollover judging device according to claim 8, characterized in that when performing the process of returning the integral value obtained through said time integration to zero, the integration processing means subtracts the adjusted amount of return from said integral value when said integral value is positive, whereas when said integral value is negative, the integration processing means adds the adjusted amount of return to said integral value.

10. The rollover judging device according to claim 8, characterized in that a filter for extracting an acceleration component in a preset specific oscillation region from the acceleration component measured by the acceleration sensor is disposed in the integration processing means, and, when the acceleration component extracted by said filter is larger than a preset threshold, said integration processing means adjusts the amount of return to be larger according to a magnitude of said extracted acceleration component.

11. The rollover judging device according to claim 8, characterized in that when the acceleration component measured by the acceleration sensor is larger than a preset threshold, the integration processing means adjusts the amount of return to be smaller according to a magnitude of said measured acceleration component.

12. The rollover judging device according to claim 8, characterized in that a velocity component calculating unit for calculating a velocity component by integrating with respect to time the acceleration component measured by the acceleration sensor is disposed in the integration processing means, and, when the velocity component calculated by the velocity component calculating unit is larger than a preset threshold, said integration processing means adjusts the amount of return to be smaller according to a magnitude of said calculated velocity component.

13. The rollover judging device according to claim 10, characterized in that a timer unit for measuring a preset fixed time interval is disposed in the integration processing means, and, when the acceleration component extracted by the filter is larger than the preset threshold, said integration processing means continues a state in which it adjusts the amount of return to be larger for said fixed time interval after said acceleration component becomes smaller than said threshold.

14. The rollover judging device according to claim 11, characterized in that a timer unit for measuring a preset fixed time interval is disposed in the integration processing means, and, when the acceleration component measured by the acceleration sensor is larger than the preset threshold, said integration processing means continues a state in which it adjusts the amount of return to be smaller for said fixed time interval after said acceleration component becomes smaller than said threshold.

15. The rollover judging device according to claim 12, characterized in that a timer unit for measuring a preset fixed time interval is disposed in the integration processing means, and, when the velocity component calculated by the velocity component calculating unit is larger than the preset threshold, said integration processing means continues a state in which it adjusts the amount of return to be smaller for said fixed time interval after said velocity component becomes smaller than said threshold.

16. A rollover judging device comprising:

an angular velocity sensor for measuring an angular velocity component of a vehicle in a direction of a rollover of the vehicle;

an acceleration sensor for measuring either of at least an acceleration component of the vehicle in a rightward or leftward direction and an acceleration component of the vehicle in an upward or downward direction;

an integration processing means for calculating an angle component by integrating with respect to time the angular velocity component measured by said acceleration sensor, and for adjusting a magnitude of said calculated angle component on a basis of the acceleration component measured by said acceleration sensor, and for outputting said adjusted angle component; and

a judging means for multiplying the angular velocity component measured by said angular velocity sensor and the angle component calculated by said integration processing means by preset weighting factors, respectively, and for outputting a signal indicating judgment of occurrence of a rollover when an absolute value of a sum of said components multiplied by the preset weighting factors, respectively, exceeds a preset threshold.

17. The rollover judging device according to claim 16, characterized in that a filter for extracting an acceleration component in a preset specific oscillation region from the acceleration component measured by the acceleration sensor is disposed in the integration processing means, and, when the acceleration component extracted by said filter is larger than a preset threshold, said integration processing means adjusts the angle component to be smaller according to a magnitude of said extracted acceleration component.

18. The rollover judging device according to claim 16, characterized in that when the acceleration component measured by the acceleration sensor is larger than a preset threshold, the integration processing means adjusts the angle component to be larger according to a magnitude of said measured acceleration component.

19. The rollover judging device according to claim 16, characterized in that a velocity component calculating unit for calculating a velocity component by integrating with respect to time the acceleration component measured by the acceleration sensor is disposed in the integration processing means, and, when the velocity component calculated by the velocity component calculating unit is larger than a preset threshold, said integration processing means adjusts the angle component to be larger according to a magnitude of said calculated velocity component.

20. The rollover judging device according to claim 17, characterized in that a timer unit for measuring a preset fixed time interval is disposed in the integration processing means, and, when the acceleration component extracted by the filter is larger than the preset threshold, said integration processing means continues a state in which it adjusts the angle component to be smaller for said fixed time interval after said acceleration component becomes smaller than said threshold.

21. The rollover judging device according to claim 18, characterized in that a timer unit for measuring a preset fixed time interval is disposed in the integration processing means, and, when the acceleration component measured by the acceleration sensor is larger than the preset threshold, said integration processing means continues a state in which it adjusts the angle component to be larger for said fixed time interval after said acceleration component becomes smaller than said threshold.

22. The rollover judging device according to claim 19, characterized in that a timer unit for measuring a preset fixed time interval is disposed in the integration processing means, and, when the velocity component calculated by the velocity component calculating unit is larger than the preset threshold, said integration processing means continues a state in which it adjusts the angle component to be larger for said fixed time interval after said velocity component becomes smaller than said threshold.