Apparatus for the computer-assisted control of vibration dampers of a vehicular suspension system as a function of the roadway
First Claim
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1. A suspension system for a vehicle, said vehicle including a vehicle body and a vehicle wheel, said suspension system comprising:
- adjustable vibrational damping means for applying a vibrational damping action between said vehicle body and said vehicle wheel and for varying at least one characteristic of said applied vibrational damping action in response to a vibrational damping control signal;
vehicle body accelerometer means for sensing an acceleration representative of the vehicle body and for generating at least one signal representative thereof;
vehicle wheel accelerometer means for sensing an acceleration representative of the vehicle wheel and for generating at least one signal representative thereof;
signal processing means for processing said at least one signal representative of said vehicle body acceleration and said at least one signal representative of said vehicle wheel acceleration and for generating therefrom said vibrational damping control signal;
said signal processing means comprising means for determining the velocity and direction of travel of said vehicle wheel based on said vehicle wheel acceleration;
means for determining the velocity and direction of travel of said vehicle body based on said vehicle body acceleration;
testing means for testing if the following two conditions are fulfilled;
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">|V.sub.wheel |≧
|V.sub.body |?; and
(a)
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">E.sub.body =E.sub.wheel ?;
(b)|Vwheel |and |Vbody |being the absolute values representative of the velocities of said vehicle wheel and said vehicle body, respectively, and Ebody and Ewheel signals representative of the direction of travel of said vehicle body and said vehicle wheel, respectively;
and means for generating said vibration damping control signal based on the results of the test.
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Abstract
Apparatus for the computer-assisted control, as a function of the roadway, of vibration dampers of a vehicle suspension system. The control uses the accelerations of the vehicle body and the vehicle wheels to dynamically adjust the damping force of the vibration dampers, whereby as little energy as possible is transmitted to the vehicle body the wheel axle. The damping force should be very low when the body and the axle move in the same direction, and when the amount of the velocity of the wheel axle is greater than the amount of the velocity of the vehicle body.
41 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A suspension system for a vehicle, said vehicle including a vehicle body and a vehicle wheel, said suspension system comprising:
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adjustable vibrational damping means for applying a vibrational damping action between said vehicle body and said vehicle wheel and for varying at least one characteristic of said applied vibrational damping action in response to a vibrational damping control signal; vehicle body accelerometer means for sensing an acceleration representative of the vehicle body and for generating at least one signal representative thereof; vehicle wheel accelerometer means for sensing an acceleration representative of the vehicle wheel and for generating at least one signal representative thereof; signal processing means for processing said at least one signal representative of said vehicle body acceleration and said at least one signal representative of said vehicle wheel acceleration and for generating therefrom said vibrational damping control signal; said signal processing means comprising means for determining the velocity and direction of travel of said vehicle wheel based on said vehicle wheel acceleration;
means for determining the velocity and direction of travel of said vehicle body based on said vehicle body acceleration;
testing means for testing if the following two conditions are fulfilled;
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">|V.sub.wheel |≧
|V.sub.body |?; and
(a)
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">E.sub.body =E.sub.wheel ?;
(b)|Vwheel |and |Vbody |being the absolute values representative of the velocities of said vehicle wheel and said vehicle body, respectively, and Ebody and Ewheel signals representative of the direction of travel of said vehicle body and said vehicle wheel, respectively; and means for generating said vibration damping control signal based on the results of the test. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A suspension system for a vehicle, said vehicle including a vehicle body and a vehicle wheel, said suspension system comprising:
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adjustable vibrational damping means for applying a vibrational damping action between said vehicle body and said vehicle wheel and for varying at least one characteristic of said applied vibrational damping action in response to a vibrational damping control signal; vehicle body accelerometer means for sensing an acceleration representative of the vehicle body and for generating at least one signal representative thereof; vehicle wheel accelerometer means for sensing an acceleration representative of the vehicle wheel and for generating at least one signal representative thereof; signal processing means for processing said at least one signal representative of said vehicle body acceleration and said at least one signal representative of said vehicle wheel acceleration and for generating therefrom said vibrational damping control signal; said signal processing means comprising differentiating means for generating a differentiation signal representative of the rate of change with respect to time of at least one of said at least one signal representative of said vehicle body acceleration and said at least one signal representative of said vehicle wheel acceleration; said signal processing means still further comprising means for generating a signal I1 proportional to a product of at least three intermediate signals U0, U1 and U2 which are representative of the absolute values of said differentiation signal, said vehicle body acceleration and said wheel acceleration, respectively; said signal processing means still further comprising means for generating a signal I2 indicative of said absolute value of said wheel acceleration and means for altering said vibrational damping control signal by an amount corresponding to said indicative signal I2 ; and wherein said signal processing means additionally comprises means for generating a reference signal I0, and for producing said vibrational damping control signal by altering said reference signal I0 by amounts corresponding to said proportional signal I1 and to said indicative signal I2.
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10. A suspension system for a vehicle, said vehicle including a vehicle body and a vehicle wheel, said suspension system comprising:
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adjustable vibrational damping means for applying a vibrational damping action between said vehicle body and said vehicle wheel and for varying at least one characteristic of said applied vibrational damping action in response to a vibrational damping control signal; vehicle body accelerometer means for sensing an acceleration representative of the vehicle body and for generating at least one signal representative thereof; vehicle wheel accelerometer means for sensing an acceleration representative of the vehicle wheel and for generating at least one signal representative thereof; signal processing means for processing said at least one signal representative of said vehicle body acceleration and said at least one signal representative of said vehicle wheel acceleration and for generating therefrom said vibrational damping control signal; said signal processing means comprising differentiating means for generating a differentiation signal representative of the rate of change with respect to time of at least one of said at least one signal representative of said vehicle body acceleration and said at least one signal representative of said vehicle wheel acceleration; said signal processing means further comprising means for determining the velocity and direction of travel of said vehicle wheel based on said vehicle wheel acceleration;
means for determining the velocity and direction of travel of said vehicle body based on said vehicle body acceleration;
testing means for testing if the following two conditions are fulfilled;
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">|V.sub.wheel |≧
|V.sub.body |?; and
(a)
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">E.sub.body =E.sub.wheel ?;
(b)|Vwheel |and |Vbody |being the absolute values representative of the velocities of said vehicle wheel and said vehicle body, respectively, and wherein Ebody and Ewheel are the direction of travel of said vehicle body and said vehicle wheel, respectively; said signal processing means still further comprising means for generating a signal I1 proportional to a product of at least three intermediate signals U0, U1 and U2 which are representative of the absolute values of said differentiation signal, said vehicle body acceleration and said wheel acceleration, respectively; said signal processing means still further comprising means for generating a signal I2 indicative of said absolute value of said wheel acceleration and means for altering said vibrational damping control signal by an amount corresponding to said indicative signal I2 ; and wherein said signal processing means further comprises means for generating a reference signal I0 such that; said reference signal I0 is reduced by an amount corresponding to said indicative signal I2 and; if, and only if, either of said conditions (a) and (b) is negative, said reference signal I0 is further reduced by an amount corresponding to said proportional signal I1. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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Specification