VEHICLE CRUISE CONTROL DEVICE

• US 20150298691A1
• Filed: 10/31/2012
• Published: 10/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Kodaira, Takahiro, Kojo, Takahiro
• Granted Patent: US 9,533,681 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 17/0162 mainly during a motion involving steering operation, e.g. cornering, overtaking B60G17/0164 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 17/0195 characterised by the regulation being combined with other vehicle control systems conjoint control of vehicle sub-units including control of suspension systems B60W10/22
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 21/0555 including an actuator inducing vehicle roll
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2202/135 Stabiliser bar and/or tube
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2202/42 Electric actuator
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2400/0511 Roll angle
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2400/0516 Angular position of a suspension element
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2400/0521 Roll rate
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2400/0523 Yaw rate
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2400/104 lateral or transversal with regard to vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2400/204 Vehicle speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2400/252 vertical
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2400/412 of steering wheel or column
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2400/42 Steering torque
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2500/40 Steering
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2800/012 Rolling condition
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/20 including control of steering systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/22 including control of suspension systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/15 Road slope, i.e. the inclination of a road segment in the longitudinal direction
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2710/207 Steering angle of wheels
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2720/18 : Roll
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/025 : related to comfort of drivers or passengers
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/10 : Path keeping cruise control for automatically following a preceding vehicle B60W30/165
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/076 : Slope angle of the road
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/112 : Roll movement
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/025 : Active steering aids, e.g. helping the driver by actively influencing the steering system after environment evaluation B62D1/28 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 6/04 : responsive only to forces disturbing the intended course of the vehicle, e.g. forces acting transversely to the direction of vehicle travel

Abstract

Provided is a vehicle cruise control device 10 that performs trajectory control for causing a vehicle to travel along a traveling road by steering vehicle wheels. The vehicle cruise control device includes: a roll control device (active stabilizers 56 and 58, etc.) configured to control a lateral-direction inclination angle of a vehicle body; and an inclination angle estimation device (a roll rate sensor 72, a stroke sensor 74i, etc.) configured to determine a lateral-direction inclination of a traveling road. When the trajectory control is executed in a situation in which the vehicle travels on a laterally inclined traveling road (S150, S250, S300, S500), the lateral-direction inclination angle of the vehicle body is controlled by the roll control device so that the lateral-direction inclination angle of the vehicle body is greater than 0 and smaller than the lateral-direction inclination angle of the traveling road (S450).

Claims

1. A vehicle cruise control device that performs trajectory control for causing a vehicle to travel along a traveling road by steering a wheel, the vehicle cruise control device comprising:

a roll control device configured to control a lateral-direction inclination angle of a vehicle body; and

an inclination determination device configured to determine a lateral-direction inclination of a traveling road,

wherein, when the trajectory control is executed in a situation in which the vehicle travels on a laterally inclined traveling road, the lateral-direction inclination angle of the vehicle body is controlled by the roll control device so that the lateral-direction inclination angle of the vehicle body is greater than 0 and smaller than the lateral-direction inclination angle of the traveling road.

2. The vehicle cruise control device, according to claim 1, wherein:

when starting the trajectory control in the situation in which the vehicle travels on the laterally inclined traveling road, the cruise control device starts the control of the lateral-direction inclination angle of the vehicle body by the roll control device as well at the same time, and gradually increases a control quantity for the lateral-direction inclination angle of the vehicle body.

3. The vehicle cruise control device according to claim 1, wherein:

when ending the trajectory control in the situation in which the vehicle travels on the laterally inclined traveling road, the cruise control device starts the ending of the control of the lateral-direction inclination angle of the vehicle body by the roll control device as well at the same time, and gradually decreases a control quantity for the lateral-direction inclination angle of the vehicle body.

4. The vehicle cruise control device according to claim 1, wherein:

when starting the trajectory control in the situation in which the vehicle travels on the laterally inclined traveling road, the cruise control device starts the control of the lateral-direction inclination angle of the vehicle body by the roll control device in advance to the starting of the trajectory control, and gradually increases a control quantity for the lateral-direction inclination angle of the vehicle body.

5. The vehicle cruise control device according to claim 1, wherein:

when ending the trajectory control in the situation in which the vehicle travels on the laterally inclined traveling road, the cruise control device starts the ending of the control of the lateral-direction inclination angle of the vehicle body by the roll control device in advance to the ending of the trajectory control, and gradually decreases a control quantity for the lateral-direction inclination angle of the vehicle body.

6. The vehicle cruise control device according to claim 1, wherein:

the inclination determination device estimates the lateral-direction inclination angle of the traveling road, and

the cruise control device calculates a target inclination angle of the vehicle body that is greater than 0 and smaller than the lateral-direction inclination angle of the traveling road, and controls the lateral-direction inclination angle of the vehicle body so that the lateral-direction inclination angle of the vehicle body coincides with the target inclination angle.

7. The vehicle cruise control device according to claim 6, wherein:

the inclination determination device estimates a lateral-direction inclination angle of the vehicle body in an absolute space as an absolute roll angle, estimates a lateral-direction inclination angle of the vehicle body with respect to the traveling road as a relative roll angle, and estimates the lateral-direction inclination angle of the traveling road based on a difference between the absolute roll angle and the relative roll angle.

8. The vehicle cruise control device according to claim 1, wherein:

the roll control device generates an anti-roll moment based on a lateral force working on the vehicle body, thereby to control the lateral-direction inclination angle of the vehicle body, and

when executing the trajectory control in the situation in which the vehicle travels on the laterally inclined traveling road, the cruise control device increases a ratio of the anti-roll moment to the lateral force working on the vehicle body, as compared with a situation that is not the situation in which the vehicle travels on the laterally inclined traveling road, thereby to control the lateral-direction inclination angle of the vehicle body so that the lateral-direction inclination angle of the vehicle body is greater than 0 and smaller than the lateral-direction inclination angle of the traveling road.

9. The vehicle cruise control device according to claim 1, wherein:

the cruise control device controls the lateral-direction inclination angle of the vehicle body so that the lateral-direction inclination angle of the vehicle body is equal to or more than 0.2 times the lateral-direction inclination angle of the traveling road, and equal to or less than 0.8 times the lateral-direction inclination angle of the traveling road.