RIDING TYPE VEHICLE AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING RIDING TYPE VEHICLE

• US 20120283929A1
• Filed: 07/18/2012
• Published: 11/08/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/13/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Kato, Yumiko, Sakakibara, Mizuho, Inoue, Kenichi, WAKITA, Yumi
• Granted Patent: US 8,340,869 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/99
• CPC Class Codes: A61G 2203/10 characterised by specific control means, e.g. for adjustment or steering
• CPC Class Codes: A61G 2203/44 for weight
• CPC Class Codes: A61G 5/04 motor-driven A61G5/06 takes precedence; motor-operated rests A61G5/12; for vehicles with handlebars, equipped with three or more wheels B62K5/003, B62K5/023
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 15/2036 Electric differentials, e.g. for supporting steering vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2200/24 Personal mobility vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2200/26 Rail vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2200/44 Industrial trucks or floor conveyors
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/423 Torque
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/002 Seats provided with an occupancy detection means mounted therein or thereon detection means responsive to presence or absence of children B60N2/266
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/245 for handicapped persons
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/643 shape of the back-rests B60N2/66 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/646 shape of the cushion
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/75 Arm-rests
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2002/247 to support passengers in a half-standing position
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 1/02 vehicle-mounted
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/60 Electric or hybrid propulsion means for production processes
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/64 Electric machine technologies in electromobility
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/72 Electric energy management in electromobility

Abstract

A vehicle includes a contact-position-dependent type operational intention determining unit that detects a change in posture of a rider using posture sensors for a backrest disposed in areas of a backrest with which left and right shoulder blades of the rider come into contact, and thereby determines whether there is an operational intention of the rider; and a left-right amount-of-change comparison type turn intention determining unit that determines, only when it is determined that there is an operational intention, whether there is a left or right turn intention of the rider from a difference between sensor output values located left-right symmetrically.

Claims

1. A riding type vehicle comprising:

a vehicle main body;

a backrest supported above the vehicle main body and supporting a back of a rider;

a seat portion disposed above the vehicle main body and below the backrest, and supporting a gluteal region of the rider;

a plurality of drive wheels rotatably supported at a lower portion of the vehicle main body;

a driving unit disposed at the lower portion of the vehicle main body, that drives the plurality of drive wheels to allow the vehicle main body to make a forward motion, a backward motion, or a turn;

a posture sensor for the backrest disposed in a portion of the backrest with which left and right shoulder blades of the rider come into contact;

a contact-position-dependent type operational intention determining unit that determines whether there is an operational intention of the rider, by the posture sensor detecting a change in a posture of the rider;

a left-right amount-of-change comparison type turn intention determining unit that determines, only when the operational intention determining unit determines that there is an operational intention of the rider, whether a difference between pressure values of portions with which the left and right shoulder blades of the rider come into contact exceeds a seating confirmation threshold value, and determines that there is a left or right turn intention of the rider when it is determined that the difference between the pressure values exceeds the seating confirmation threshold value, the pressure values being outputted from the posture sensor for the backrest; and

a drive control unit that performs drive control of the driving unit according to the left or right turn intention of the rider determined by the turn intention determining unit.

2. The riding type vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the portion of the backrest with which the left and right shoulder blades of the rider come into contact and which has the posture sensor for the backrest disposed therein is an area with which the left and right shoulder blades of the rider come into contact.

3. The riding type vehicle according to claim 2, wherein the posture sensor for the backrest is disposed in a portion with which backrest upper left and right portions can come into contact, the backrest upper left and right portions including the left and right shoulder blades of the rider and further including back portions where back ribs are located at a width of the shoulder blades.

4. The riding type vehicle according to claim 2, further comprising a posture sensor for the seat portion disposed in a portion of the seat portion with which the gluteal region of the rider comes into contact.

5. The riding type vehicle according to claim 3, wherein the turn intention determining unit determines whether there is a turn intention of the rider, from information on a relationship between a magnitude of pressure received by the posture sensor from parts of the rider from the left and right shoulder blades thereof to the back ribs thereof, and a size of an area where the pressure is equal to or beyond a certain value.

6. The riding type vehicle according to claim 4, wherein

the operational intention determining unit determines that there is an operational intention when a magnitude of pressure of the posture sensor for the backrest exceeds a backrest pressure threshold value or a size of an area with pressure equal to or beyond a certain value exceeds a backrest area threshold value, and when a magnitude of pressure of the posture sensor for the seat portion exceeds a seat portion pressure threshold value or a size of an area with pressure equal to or beyond a certain value exceeds a seat portion area threshold value, and

the turn intention determining unit determines that there is a left or right turn intention of the rider when the operational intention determining unit determines that there is an operational intention and a difference in pressure sum total value between left and right in portions with which the left and right shoulder blades of the rider respectively come into contact exceeds the seating confirmation threshold value, the pressure sum total values being sum total values of pressure in areas where the posture sensor for the backrest indicates pressure equal or beyond a certain value.

7. The riding type vehicle according to claim 4, further comprising a posture sensor for a backrest lower central portion that can come into contact with a part of the backrest with which a back portion where lumbar vertebrae of the rider are located comes into contact, wherein

the operational intention determining unit determines that there is an operational intention when a magnitude of pressure of the posture sensor for the backrest lower central portion exceeds a backrest lower central portion pressure threshold value or a size of an area with pressure equal to or beyond a certain value exceeds a backrest lower central portion area threshold value, and when a magnitude of pressure of the posture sensor for the seat portion exceeds a seat portion pressure threshold value or a size of an area with pressure equal to or beyond a certain value exceeds a seat portion area threshold value, and

the turn intention determining unit determines that there is a left or right turn intention of the rider when the operational intention determining unit determines that there is an operational intention and a difference in pressure sum total value between left and right in the portions with which the left and right shoulder blades of the rider respectively come into contact exceeds the seating confirmation threshold value, the pressure sum total values being sum total values of pressure in areas where the posture sensor for the backrest indicates pressure equal to at beyond a certain value.

8. The riding type vehicle according to claim 5, wherein

the operational intention determining unit determines that there is an operational intention when a magnitude of sensor pressure from the posture sensor for the backrest lower central portion and the posture sensor for the seat portion exceeds a backrest lower central portion pressure threshold value or a size of an area with pressure equal to or beyond a certain value exceeds backrest lower central portion area threshold value, and

the turn intention determining unit determines that there is a left or right turn intention of the rider when the operational intention determining unit determines that there is an operational intention and a difference in pressure sum total value between left and right exceeds the seating confirmation threshold value, the pressure sum total values being sum total values of pressure in areas where the posture sensor for the backrest provided in the portions with which the left and right shoulder blades of the rider come into contact indicates pressure equal to or beyond a certain value.

9. The riding type vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising:

a riding posture determining unit that analyzes pressure distribution conditions of each posture sensor using a size of an area where the posture sensor indicates a value equal to or beyond a certain value, the pressure distribution conditions varying by riding posture of the rider; and

a weight determining unit that determines, using the distribution conditions of output values from the posture sensor analyzed by the riding posture determining unit, a weight for the output values from the posture sensor, wherein

in at least one of a determination process by the operational intention determining unit that determines whether there is an operational intention and a determination process by the turn intention determining unit that determines whether there is a left or right turn intention of the rider, as the output values from the posture sensor, output values from the posture sensor obtained by weighting the output values from the posture sensor by the weight determining unit are used.

10. The riding type vehicle according to claim 4, further comprising:

a riding posture determining unit that determines a difference in riding posture by comparing pressure sum total values, the pressure sum total values being sum total values of pressure in areas where the posture sensor for the backrest and the posture sensor for the seat portion indicate pressure equal to or beyond a certain value; and

a weight determining unit that determines, when a pressure sum total value of the posture sensor for the backrest and a pressure sum total value of the posture sensor for the seat portion are in specified ranges, a weight for each sensor using a whole pressure sum total value obtained by further summing the pressure sum total values of the respective sensors, or using a ratio of the pressure sum total value of each sensor to a maximum pressure sum total value of each sensor, the pressure sum total value of the posture sensor for the backrest being a sum total value of pressure in an area where the posture sensor for the backrest contactably disposed at the backrest upper left and right portions of the rider indicates pressure equal to or beyond a certain value, and the pressure sum total value of the posture sensor for the seat portion being a sum total value of pressure in an area where the posture sensor for the seat portion indicates pressure equal to or beyond a certain value, wherein

the turn intention determining unit is configured by a left-right amount-of-change comparison type turn intention determining unit that determines whether there is a left or right turn intention of the rider using a difference between left and right pressure sum total values the posture sensor for the backrest, the left and right pressure sum total values being weighted by the weight determined by the weight determining unit.

11. The riding type vehicle according to claim 7, further comprising:

a riding posture determining unit that determines a difference in riding posture by comparing pressure sum total values, the pressure sum total values being sum total values of pressure in areas where the posture sensor for the backrest and the posture sensor for the backrest lower central portion indicate pressure equal to or beyond a certain value; and

a weight determining unit that determines, when a pressure sum total value of the posture sensor for the backrest and a pressure sum total value of the posture sensor for the backrest lower central portion are in specified ranges, a weight for each sensor using a whole pressure sum total value obtained by further summing the pressure sum total values of the respective sensors, or using a ratio of the pressure sum total value of each sensor to a maximum pressure sum total value of each sensor, the pressure sum total value of the posture sensor for the backrest being a sum total value of pressure in an area where the posture sensor for the backrest contactably disposed at the backrest upper left and right portions of the rider indicates pressure equal to or beyond a certain value, and the pressure sum total value of the posture sensor for the backrest lower central portion being a sum total value of pressure in an area where the posture sensor for the backrest lower central portion indicates pressure equal to or beyond a certain value, wherein

the turn intention determining unit is configured by a left-right amount-of-change comparison type turn intention determining unit that determines whether there is a left or right turn intention of the rider using a difference between left and right pressure sum total values of the posture sensor for the backrest, the left and right pressure sum total values being weighted by the weight determined by the weight determining unit.

12. The vehicle according to claim 7, wherein

when output values from the posture sensor for the seat portion, the posture sensor for the backrest lower central portion, or the posture sensor for the backrest exceed a threshold value indicating an upper limit of measurement, the weight determining unit sets a weight for a corresponding sensor to a smaller value than those for other sensors or to zero, and

the turn intention determining unit determines whether there is a left or right turn intention using output values from the posture sensor for the backrest, the output values being weighted by the weight determined by the weight determining unit.

13. The vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising:

a notifying unit that issues a notification to urge the rider to ride so as to come into contact with the seat portion when, as a result of analysis by the riding posture determining unit, output values from the posture sensor for the seat portion are less than or equal to the seating confirmation threshold value.

14. The riding type vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising:

a footrest supported at a front portion of the vehicle main body and supporting soles of feet of the rider.

15. The riding type vehicle according to claim 1, wherein backrest portions that can come into contact with at least a spine or lumbar vertebrae of the rider include a fixed backrest portion fixed regardless of whether there is contact of the rider;

and movable backrest portions, portions of which each having the posture sensor for the backrest can be moved by contact of the rider.

16. The riding type vehicle according to claim 15, wherein

a front side of each of the left and right movable backrest portions is provided on substantially same plane as a front side of the fixed backrest portion, and

a main displacement direction of each of the left and right movable backrest portions is a direction perpendicular to the plane.

17. The riding type vehicle according to claim 15, wherein the drive control unit converts a displacement of each of the left and right movable backrest portions into a distance and changes a drive instruction according to an amount of change in the distance.

18. The riding type vehicle according to claim 1, wherein each of the movable backrest portions and the fixed backrest portion are coupled together by an elastic material so as to be movable with respect to the vehicle main body.

19. The riding type vehicle according to claim 1, wherein in a state as viewed from a side with respect to a movement direction of the vehicle main body which is orthogonal to a backrest surface, the backrest surface of the backrest is tilted backward, an angle of the tilt formed with a vertical plane is 10 degrees, and an angle formed by the backrest and a seat surface of a gluteal region support portion is 135 degrees.

20. The riding type vehicle according to claim 1, wherein a footrest surface of the footrest is tilted backward, an angle of the footrest surface formed with a horizontal plane is 10 degrees, and an angle formed by the backrest surface of the backrest and the footrest surface of the footrest is 90 degrees.

21. A method of controlling a riding type vehicle, wherein

the riding type vehicle includes a seat portion and backrest portions operated by a change in posture of a rider and provided such that the rider is in substantially standing position when riding in the vehicle,

the backrest portions include a fixed backrest portion disposed in a position that can come into contact with a body trunk of the rider and fixed to a standing position riding type vehicle main body;

and movable backrest portions that can be moved with respect to the riding type vehicle main body achieving the substantially standing position and that can follow a change in posture of the rider,

the method comprising;

with the movable backrest portions disposed left-right symmetrically with respect to the fixed backrest portion, detecting left and right moving displacements by a backrest posture sensor; and

by a drive control unit, calculating an amount of displacement from each of the moving displacements detected by the sensor and outputting a drive instruction based on the amounts of displacement, thereby allowing the riding type vehicle to make a turn.

22. A method of controlling a riding type vehicle that controls drive of a riding type vehicle including a vehicle main body;

a backrest supported above the vehicle main body and supporting a back of a rider;

a seat portion disposed above the vehicle main body and below the backrest, and supporting a gluteal region of the rider;

a plurality of drive wheels rotatably supported at a lower portion of the vehicle main body; and

a driving unit disposed at the lower portion of the vehicle main body and driving the plurality of drive wheels to allow the vehicle main body to make a forward motion, a backward motion, or a turn,

the method comprising;

detecting, by a posture sensor for the backrest, a change in posture of the rider, thereby determining whether there is an operational intention of the rider by a contact-position-dependent type operational intention determining unit, the posture sensor for the backrest being disposed in a portion of the backrest with which left and right shoulder blades of the rider come into contact,

only when the operational intention determining unit determines that there is an operational intention of the rider, determining, by a left-right amount-of-change comparison type turn intention determining unit, whether a difference between pressure sum total values exceeds a seating confirmation threshold value, and determining that there is a left or right turn intention of the rider when the difference between the pressure sum total values exceeds the seating confirmation threshold value, the pressure sum total values being sum total values of pressure in areas where the sensor provided in the portion with which the left and right shoulder blades of the rider come into contact indicates pressure equal to or beyond a certain value, and the sum total values being outputted from the posture sensor for the backrest, and

performing, by a drive control unit, drive control of the driving unit according to the left or right turn intention of the rider determined by the turn intention determining unit.