Attitude controlling system for a steering wheel

• US 4,661,752 A
• Filed: 09/10/1985
• Issued: 04/28/1987
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/1984
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd. (Aisin Corp.), Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd. (Aisin Corp.), Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Nishikawa, Masumi, Nakashima, Hiroshi, Ishikawa, Masanobu
• Primary Examiner(s): Shoop, Jr., William M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ro, Bentsu
• Application Number:
  US06/774,497
• Time in Patent Office: 595 Days
• Field of Search: 318/434, 318/466, 318/467, 318/468, 318/469, 307/10 R, 364/424, 364/425, 364/434, 180/79, 180/141, 180/142, 180/143, 180/146, 180/147, 180/148, 180/151, 180/79.1, 180/6.4, 180/6.44, 180/6.48, 180/6.5
• US Class Current: 318/434
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 1/181 with power actuated adjustment, e.g. with position memory

Abstract

A safety system in an apparatus for adjusting attitudes of a tilt mechanism and a telescopic mechanism of a steering wheel by means of an electric motor. A change speed of attitude is monitored and, when the monitored result becomes less than a predetermined value, this is judged as the presence of overload, whereupon the direction of driving of the electric motor is reversed. When a time of the reverse operation or the number of strokes during the reverse operation reaches a predetermined value, the electric motor is set to stop. Attitude information is sampled with intervals of a predetermined time and, when a change amount of the attitude information is less than a predetermined value, this is judged as the presence of overload.

Claims

1. An attitude controlling system for a steering wheel comprising:

a vehicle-loaded attitude controlling mechanism for adjusting an attitude of said steering wheel;

an electric drive source for driving said vehicle-loaded attitude controlling mechanism;

attitude detection means for detecting an attitude of said steering wheel;

at least one switch means for setting an adjustment of the attitude of said steering wheel; and

electronic control means including means for energizing said electric drive source to adjust the attitude of said steering wheel, when said switch means outputs a predetermined electric signal, means for supervising a status of an output of said attitude detection means, and means for detecting the presence or absence of overload in accordance with the status of the output of said attitude detection means to stop energization of said electric drive source upon detection of overload.

2. An attitude controlling system for a steering wheel according to claim 1, wherein said electronic control means reverses the direction of adjustment of attitude upon detection of overload, and inhibits energization of said electric drive source when the attitude detected by said attitude detection means reaches a predetermined state.

3. An attitude controlling system for a steering wheel according to claim 1, wherein said electronic control means reverses the direction of adjustment of attitude upon detection of overload, counts a period of time during the reverse operation, and inhibits energization of said electric drive source when the counted time reaches a predetermined value.

4. An attitude controlling system for a steering wheel according to claim 1, wherein said electronic control means monitors the attitude detected by said attitude detection means during energization of said electric drive source, and detects the presence of overload when a rate of change of the detected attitude is lower than a predetermined value.

5. An attitude controllying system for a steering wheel according to claim 4, wherein said electronic control means samples an output fromsaid attitude detection means with intervals of a predetermined time, and detects the presence of overload when an amount of change of the sampled attitude information is less than a predetermined value.

6. An attitude controlling system for a steering wheel comprising:

a vehicle-loaded attitude controlling mechanism for adjusting an attitude of said steering wheel;

an electric drive source for driving said vehicle-loaded attitude controlling mechanism;

attitude detection means for detecting an attitude of said steering wheel;

at least one switch means for setting adjustment of an attitude of said steering wheel; and

electronic control means including means for energizing said electric drive source to adjust an attitude of said steering wheel, when said switch means outputs a predetermined electric signal, means for detecting the presence or absence of overload to reverse the direction of adjustment of attitude upon detection of overload, and means for monitoring at least one of the group consisting of a time duration of reverse operation and an amount of change in the attitude during the reverse operation, wherein energization of said electric drive source is stopped when the monitored result exceeds a predetermined value.

7. An attitude controlling system for a steering wheel according to claim 6, wherein said electronic control means monitors the attitude detected by said attitude detection means during energization of said electric drive soruce, and detects the presence of overload when a rate of change of the detected attitude is lower than a predetermined value.

8. An attitude controlling system for a steering wheel according to claim 7, wherein said electronic control means samples an output from said attitude detection means with intervals of a predetermined time, and detects the presence of overload when an amount of change of the sampled attitude information is less than a predetermined value.

9. An attitude controlling system for a steering wheel comprising:

a vehicle-loaded attitude controlling mechanism for adjusting an attitude of said steering wheel;

an electric drive source for driving said vehicle-loaded attitude controlling mechanism;

attitude detection means for detecting an attitude of said steering wheel;

at least one switch means for setting adjustment of an attitude of said steering wheel; and

electronic control means including means for energizing said electric drive source to adjust an attitude of said steering wheel, when said switch means outputs a predetermined electric signal, means for sampling an output from said attitude detection means with intervals of a predetermined time to detect the presence of overload and reverse the direction of adjustment of attitude, when an amount of change of the sampled attitude information is less than a predetermined value, and means for monitoring at least one of the group consisting of a time duration of reverse operation and an amount of change in the attitude during the reverse operation, wherein energization of said electric drive source is stopped when the monitored result exceeds a predetermined value.