Apparatus for controlling damping coefficient of vehicular shock absorber

• US 5,398,184 A
• Filed: 10/29/1992
• Issued: 03/14/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/1991
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Atsugi Unisia Corporation
• Inventors: Takahashi, Toru, Kimura, Makoto, Yamaoka, Fumiyuki, Sasaki, Mitsuo, Kakizaki, Shinobu, Emura, Junichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Teska, Kevin J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, TAN QUANG
• Application Number:
  US07/968,496
• Time in Patent Office: 866 Days
• Field of Search: 364/424.05, 364/426.01, 364/426.02, 364/426.03, 364/426.04, 280/707, 280/703, 280/688, 280/735, 188/260
• US Class Current: 701/82
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 17/018 characterised by the use of a specific signal treatment or control method
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2400/106 longitudinal with regard to vehicle, e.g. braking
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2400/204 Vehicle speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2400/206 Body oscillation speed; Body vibration frequency
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2400/35 Position of fuel or air injector
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2400/41 Steering angle
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2400/44 Steering speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2400/60 Load
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2500/10 Damping action or damper
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2600/184 Semi-Active control means
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2600/604 low pass
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2800/012 Rolling condition
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2800/014 Pitch; Nose dive
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2800/22 Braking, stopping

Abstract

An apparatus for controlling the damping coefficient of shock absorbers which are associated with the road wheels of the vehicle, produces control signals using one or more of a bouncing rate, a pitching rate and a rolling rate value which is filtered out of a plurality of outputs provided by a plurality of acceleration sensors which are each located in proximity of a shock absorber. The control signal can be modified using the outputs of weight sensors which are used to derive the relative velocities of the road wheels with respect to the vehicle body.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a) a plurality of shock absorbers, each of said shock absorbers being interposed between a portion of a vehicle body and corresponding road wheel and each having a piston member defining a fluid upper chamber and a fluid lower chamber and damping coefficient varying means associated with the piston member, said damping coefficient varying means operatively varying the damping coefficient in either stroke direction of the piston member to a target damping coefficient;

a plurality of acceleration sensors, each associated with a shock absorber, each disposed on said vehicle body at a location proximate the associated shock absorber, and each arranged to produce an output signal indicative of a vertical acceleration;

circuit means operatively connected with each of said plurality of acceleration sensors for receiving said output signals from said acceleration sensors, said circuit means including;

sprung mass speed detecting means for filtering a sprung mass speed signal from each of said output signals;

pitching rate detecting means for filtering a pitching rate component of the vehicle body from each of said sprung mass speed signals;

rolling rate detecting means for filtering a rolling rate component of the vehicle body from each of said sprung mass speed signals; and

controlling means for deriving a control signal for each of said damping coefficient varying means on the basis of at least one of the sprung mass speed signals, pitching rate components, and rolling rate components and outputting said control signal to the respective damping coefficient varying means of the corresponding shock absorbers.

2. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said circuit means determines the pitching rate of the vehicle body from a difference between a pitching rate component for a forward end of the vehicle body with respect to a weight center of the vehicle body and a pitching rate component for a rearward end of the vehicle body with respect to the weight center of the vehicle body and wherein said circuit means determines the rolling rate of the vehicle body from a difference between a rolling rate component detected on a first of a left hand side and right hand side of the vehicle body with respect to the weight center of the vehicle body, and a rolling rate component detected on a second of the left hand side and the right hand side of the vehicle body with respect to the weight center of the vehicle body.

3. An apparatus for controlling each damping coefficient for vehicular shock absorbers as set forth in claim 1, which further includes means for detecting a relative speed between the vertical sprung mass speed and vertical unsprung mass speed, said relative speed detecting means being disposed on the portion of the vehicle body located adjacent to one of the shock absorbers, and wherein said controlling means determines whether a sign of the control signal Y is equal to that of the relative speed and outputs the control signal so that the target damping coefficient is a higher damping coefficient when both control signal V and relative speed indicate the mutually same signs and so that the target damping coefficient is set to a minimum damping coefficient when both control signal and relative speed have mutually different signs.

4. An apparatus for controlling each damping coefficient for vehicular shock absorbers as set forth in claim 3, wherein said relative speed detecting means includes a plurality of weight sensors located on the position of the vehicle body located adjacent to corresponding one of the shock absorbers.

5. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said sprung mass speed detection means includes serially connected first and second low pass filters for each acceleration sensor, the second low pass filter integrating the signal from the first low pass filter, said pitching rate detecting means includes a first band pass filter for each acceleration sensor which passes a signal from said second low pass filter whose frequency falls in a first predetermined frequency range including a pitch resonance frequency of the vehicle body, and said rolling rate detecting means includes a second band pass filter for each acceleration sensor which passes a signal component whose frequency falls in a second predetermined frequency range including a rolling resonant frequency range.

6. An apparatus for controlling each damping coefficient for vehicular shock absorbers as set forth in claim 5 wherein said controlling means derives the control signal v as follows:

For one of the shock absorbers located at a front, right tire wheel;

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.F1 =a f v.sub.1 +r.sub.f (v".sub.1 -v".sub.2)

For one of the other shock absorbers located at a front, left tire wheel;

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.F2 =a f v.sub.2 +r.sub.f (v".sub.2 -v".sub.1)

For one of the other shock absorbers located at a rear, right tire wheel;

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.R3 =B r (v'"'"'.sub.3 +v'"'"'.sub.1)+r(v".sub.3 -v".sub.4)

For one of the other shock absorbers located at a rear, left tire wheel;

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.R4 =B r (v'"'"'.sub.4 +v'"'"'.sub.2)+r r(v".sub.4 -v".sub.3)

wherein a f, B, f and r f denote respective proportional constants on spring constants of the front tire wheels, on rolling rigidities thereof and on pitching rigidities thereof, a r, B r'"'"' and r r denote the respective proportional constants on spring constants of the rear tire wheels, on pitching rigidities thereof, and on the rolling rigidities thereof v₁, v'"'"'₁ and v"₁ denote vertical sprung mass speed signal derived from the front, right tire wheel vertical G sensor, v₂, v'"'"'₂ and v"₂ denote vertical sprung mass speed signal derived from the front, left tire wheel vertical G sensor, and v₃, v'"'"'₃ and v"₃ denote vertical sprung mass speed signal derived from the rear, right tire wheel vertical G sensor, and v₄, v'"'"'₄ and v"₄ denote vertical sprung mass speed signal derived from the rear, left tire wheel vertical G sensor.

7. An apparatus as set forth in claim 5, wherein said plurality of shock absorbers includes:

a first shock absorber disposed at a front right hand portion of the vehicle body and associated with a front right hand road wheel,

a second shock absorber disposed at a front left hand portion of the vehicle body and associated with a front left hand road wheel,

a third shock absorber disposed at a rear right hand portion of the vehicle body and associated with a rear right hand road wheel, and

a fourth shock absorber disposed at a rear left hand portion of the vehicle body and associated with a rear left hand road wheel, and

wherein said controlling means derives control signals V₁, V₂, V₃, and V₄ respectively for each of said first to fourth shock absorbers as follows;

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.1 =α

.sub.f /4 (v.sub.1 +v.sub.2 +v.sub.3 +v.sub.4)+β

.sub.f (v'"'"'.sub.1 -v'"'"'.sub.3)+τ

.sub.f (v".sub.1 -v".sub.2)

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.2 =α

.sub.f /4 (v.sub.1 +v.sub.2 +v.sub.3 +v.sub.4)+β

.sub.f (v'"'"'.sub.2 -v'"'"'.sub.4)+τ

.sub.f (v".sub.2 -v".sub.1)

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.3 =α

.sub.r /4 (v.sub.1 +v.sub.2 +v.sub.3 +v.sub.4)+β

.sub.f (v'"'"'.sub.3 -v'"'"'.sub.1)+τ

.sub.r (v".sub.3 -v".sub.4)

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.4 =α

.sub.r /4 (v.sub.1 +v.sub.2 +v.sub.3 +v.sub.4)+β

.sub.r (v'"'"'.sub.4 -v'"'"'.sub.2)+τ

.sub.r (v".sub.4 -v".sub.3)

wherein;

α

_f, β

_f, and τ

_f respectively denote proportional constants which are dependent on spring constants of the front road wheels, on rolling rigidities of said front road wheels, and on pitching rigidities of said front road wheels,

α

_r, β

_r, and τ

_r denote the respective proportional constants which are dependent on spring constants of the rear road wheels, on pitching rigidities of the rear road wheels, and on the rolling rigidities of said rear road wheels,

v₁, v'"'"'₁ and v"₁ denote values which are derived from the sprung mass speed signal derived from the output signal from the acceleration sensor associated with the front, right road wheel,

v₂, v'"'"'₂ and v"₂ denote values which are derived from the sprung mass speed signal derived from output signal from the acceleration sensor associated with the front, left road wheel,

v₃, v'"'"'₃ and v"₃ denote values which are derived from the sprung mass speed signal derived from the output signal from the acceleration sensor associated with the rear, right road wheel, and

v₄, v'"'"'₄ and v"₄ denote values which are derived from the sprung mass speed signal derived from the output signal from the acceleration sensor associated with the rear, left road wheel.

8. An apparatus as set forth in claim 7, wherein each shock absorber is so constructed and arranged as to provide three controllable ranges:

a first extension stroke side hard region in which the extension stroke provides the variable damping coefficient and the compression stroke is fixed to a first predetermined low damping coefficient;

a second compression stroke side hard region in which the compression stroke provides the variable damping coefficient and extension stroke is fixed to a second predetermined low damping coefficient; and

a soft region in which both extension and compression strokes respectively provide the first and second predetermined low damping coefficients.

9. An apparatus as set forth in claim 8, wherein said controlling means determines whether each of the derived control signals (V₁, V₂, V₃, and V₄) is above a predetermined positive threshold value or negatively below a negative predetermined threshold value ±

δ

_T, or falls in a range from the positive threshold value +δ

_T to the negative threshold value -δ

_C, and wherein said controlling means outputs the control signal to said damping coefficient varying means of the corresponding shock absorber so as to provide the first extension hard region when the corresponding control signal V is above the positive predetermined threshold value +δ

_T, so as to provide the second compression hard region when the corresponding control signal V is below the negative predetermined threshold value -δ

_C, and so as to provide the soft region when the corresponding control signal V falls in the range between the positive and negative predetermined threshold values +δ

_T and -δ

_C.

10. An apparatus as set forth in claim 9, wherein when said controlling means compares each of said control signals V₁, V₂, V₃, and V₄, with said positive predetermined threshold value and said negative predetermined threshold valve, and wherein said controlling means derives the control signals V₁, V₂, V₃, and V₄ respectively for each of said first to fourth shock absorbers as follows:

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.1 =α

.sub.f V.sub.1 +β

.sub.f (v'"'"'.sub.1 -v'"'"'.sub.3)+.sub.f (v".sub.1 -v".sub.2)

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.2 =α

.sub.f V.sub.1 +β

.sub.f (v'"'"'.sub.2 -v'"'"'.sub.4)+τ

.sub.f (v".sub.2 -v".sub.1)

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.3 =α

.sub.r V.sub.1 +β

.sub.r (v'"'"'.sub.3 -v'"'"'.sub.1)+τ

.sub.r (v".sub.3 -v".sub.4)

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.4 =α

.sub.r V.sub.4 +β

.sub.r (v'"'"'.sub.4 -v'"'"'.sub.2)+τ

.sub.r (v".sub.4 -v".sub.3)

11. An apparatus as set forth in claim 10, which further includes a vehicle speed sensor for detecting a vehicle speed and wherein said controlling means includes coefficient varying means for varying said α

_f, β

_f, τ

_f, α

_r, β

_r, and τ

_r in accordance with the vehicle speed detected by said vehicle speed sensor.

12. An apparatus as set forth in claim 9, which further includes:

abrupt vehicle acceleration/deceleration detecting means for detecting one of an abrupt acceleration and an abrupt deceleration of the vehicle; and

vehicular steering condition detecting means for detecting a steering condition of the vehicle; and

wherein

said controlling means is responsive to said abrupt vehicle acceleration/deceleration detecting means and said vehicle steering condition detecting means, and includes;

pitching rate correction means for amplifying said pitching rate component when the vehicle is detected as being in the abrupt acceleration/deceleration state, and

rolling rate correction means for amplifying said rolling rate component when the vehicle is detected as being in a predetermined steering condition.

13. An apparatus as set forth in claim 12, wherein when said apparatus includes said abrupt acceleration/deceleration detecting means and said vehicle steering condition detecting means said controlling means derives the control signals as follows:

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.1 =α

.sub.f /4 (v.sub.1 +v.sub.2 +v.sub.3 +v.sub.4)+β

.sub.f ·

m.sub.f (v'"'"'.sub.1 -v'"'"'.sub.3)+τ

.sub.f K.sub.f (v".sub.1 -v".sub.2)

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.2 =α

.sub.f /4 (v.sub.1 +v.sub.2 +v.sub.3 +v.sub.4)+β

.sub.f ·

m.sub.f (v'"'"'.sub.2 -v'"'"'.sub.4)+τ

.sub.f ·

K.sub.f (v".sub.2 -v".sub.1)

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.3 =α

.sub.r /4 (v.sub.1 +v.sub.2 +v.sub.3 +v.sub.4)+β

.sub.r ·

m.sub.r (v'"'"'.sub.3 -v'"'"'.sub.1)+τ

.sub.r ·

K.sub.r (v".sub.3 -v".sub.4)

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.4 =α

.sub.r /4 (v.sub.1 +v.sub.2 +v.sub.3 +v.sub.4)+β

.sub.r ·

m.sub.r (v'"'"'.sub.4 -v'"'"'.sub.2)+τ

.sub.r ·

K.sub.r (v".sub.4 -v".sub.3)

wherein;

α

_f, β

_f respectively denote proportional constants which are dependent on spring constants of the front road wheels, on rolling rigidities of said front road wheels, and on pitching rigidities of said front road wheels,

α

_r '"'"', β

_r '"'"' and τ

_r respectively denote proportional constants which are dependent on spring constants of the rear road wheels, on pitching rigidities of said rear road wheels, and on the rolling rigidities of said rear road wheels, and

m_f (>

1.0), K_f (>

1.0) m_r (>

1.0) and K_r (>

1.0) denote amplification factors for α

_f, β

_f'"'"'f, α

_r, β

_r, τ

_r.

14. An apparatus as set forth in claim 13, wherein said abrupt acceleration/deceleration detecting means includes:

a brake sensor for detecting a vehicle brake being applied, and

a fuel injection pulsewidth sensor for detecting a pulsewidth of a drive signal supplied to a fuel injection valve of an engine associated with said vehicle body, and wherein;

said vehicular steering condition sensor means includes a steering sensor for detecting a steering angle and a steering angular velocity indicative of the rate at which the steering angle changes.

15. An apparatus as set forth in claim 14, wherein said predetermined steering condition is determined in response to both the steering angle and the steering angular velocity being above a predetermined threshold value.

16. An apparatus as set forth in claim 7, which further includes a vehicle speed sensor for detecting a vehicle speed and wherein said controlling means includes coefficient varying means for varying said α

_f, β

_f, τ

_f, α

_r, β

_r, and τ

_r in accordance with the vehicle speed detected by said vehicle speed sensor.

17. An apparatus as set forth in claim 16, wherein said controlling means further includes control signal gain varying means for varying a gain of the control signals according to the vehicle speed detected said vehicle speed sensor.

18. An apparatus as set forth in claim 17, wherein said α

_f and α

_r are varied such that when the vehicle speed falls in a first predetermined low speed range from zero to a first predetermined speed range limit, both α

_f and α

_r are set to zeroes and when the vehicle speed falls in a range above the first predetermined speed limit, α

_f >

α

_r,

said β

_f and β

_r are varied such that when the vehicle speed falls in a second predetermined low speed range from zero to a second predetermined speed range limit, both β

_f and β

_r are set to zeroes and when the vehicle speed falls in a range above the second predetermined speed limit, β

_f <

β

_r, and

said τ

_f and τ

_r are varied such that when the vehicle speed falls in a third predetermined low speed range from zero to a third predetermined speed range limit, both τ

_f and τ

_r are set to zeroes and when the vehicle speed falls in a range above the third predetermined speed limit, τ

_f <

τ

_r.

19. An apparatus as set forth in claim 18, wherein the gain of the control signals is increased as the vehicle speed is increased.

20. An apparatus as set forth in claim 5, wherein said controlling means derives the control signal V as follows:

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.F1 =α

.sub.f ·

V.sub.1 +τ

.sub.f (v".sub.1 -v".sub.2)

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.F2 =α

.sub.f ·

V.sub.2 +τ

.sub.r (v".sub.2 -v".sub.1)

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.R3 =β

.sub.r (v'"'"'.sub.3 +v'"'"'.sub.1)+τ

.sub.r (v".sub.3 -v".sub.4)

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.R4 =β

.sub.r (v'"'"'.sub.4 +v'"'"'.sub.2)+τ

.sub.r (v".sub.4 -v".sub.3)

wherein

α

_f, β

_f and τ

_f respectively denote proportional constants which are dependent on spring constants of the front road wheels, on rolling rigidities of the front road wheels, and on pitching rigidities of said front road wheels,

α

_r, β

_r and τ

_r denote the respective proportional constants which are dependent on spring constants of the rear road wheels, on pitching rigidities on the rear road wheels, and on the rolling rigidities of said rear road wheels,

v₁, v'"'"'₁, and v"₁ denote values which are derived from the sprung mass speed signal derived from the output signal from the acceleration sensor associated with the front, right road wheel,

v₂, v'"'"'₂, v"₂ denote values which are derived from the sprung mass speed signal derived from the output signal from the acceleration sensor associated with the front, left road wheel, and

v₃ v'"'"'₃ and v"₃ denote values which are derived from the sprung mass speed signal derived from the output signal from the acceleration sensor associated with the rear, right road wheel, and

v₄, v'"'"'₄, and v"₄ denote values which are derived for the sprung mass speed signal derived from the output signal from the acceleration sensor associated with the rear, left road wheel.

21. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1, which further includes a plurality of relative speed detecting means, each of said relative speed detecting means being arranged to detect a relative speed between the vehicle body and each of said road wheels, and

wherein said controlling means determines whether a sign of a control signal V which is supplied to a damping coefficient varying means is the same as that of the relative speed between said vehicle body and the road wheel which is associated with the shock absorber in which the damping coefficient varying means is disposed, and modifies the control signal so that the target damping coefficient is set to a high damping coefficient when the sign of the control signal V and the sign of the relative speed have a first predetermined relationship with one another, and so that the target damping coefficient is set to a minimum damping coefficient when the sign of the control signal and the sign of the relative speed have a second predetermined relationship with one another.

22. An apparatus as set forth in claim 21, wherein said each of said relative speed detecting means comprises a weight sensor which is located on the vehicle body adjacent to a corresponding one of the shock absorbers and which is operatively associated with a road wheel.

23. An apparatus for controlling each damping coefficient for vehicular shock absorbers comprising:

a) a plurality of shock absorbers, each interposed between a portion of a vehicular body and corresponding tire wheel and each having a piston member defining a fluid upper chamber and a fluid lower chamber and damping coefficient varying means associated with the piston member, said damping coefficient varying means operatively varying its position in response to a control signal so that the damping coefficient at either stroke side of the chambers defined by the piston member is set to a target damping coefficient;

b) vertical sprung mass speed detecting means for detecting a vertical sprung mass speed of an adjacent position of the vehicular body on which each shock absorber is placed;

c) pitching rate detecting means for detecting a pitching rate of the vehicle body;

d) rolling rate detecting means for detecting a rolling rate of the vehicle body; and

e) controlling means for deriving the control signal for each shock absorber on the basis of at least any one of the vertical sprung mass speed, pitching rate, and rolling rate determined according to a position of each shock absorber located at a corresponding tire wheel and outputting the control signal to each damping coefficient varying means of the corresponding shock absorbers so to provide the target damping coefficient therein;

wherein said pitching rate detecting means detects the pitching rate of the vehicle body from a difference between the vertical sprung mass speeds of a forward vehicle body and rearward vehicle body with a weight center of the vehicle body as a center on the basis of the detected vertical sprung mass speeds of the vertical sprung mass speed detecting means and said rolling rate detecting means detects the rolling rate of the vehicle body from a difference between the vertical sprung mass speeds of rightward vehicle body and leftward vehicle body with the weight center of the vehicle body as the center on the basis of the detected vertical sprung mass speeds of the vertical sprung mass speed detecting means;

wherein said vertical sprung mass speed detecting means includes a plurality of vertical G sensors, each located on the vehicle body adjacent to the corresponding shock absorber;

wherein said vertical sprung mass speed detecting means includes a first band pass filter for each vertical G sensor which passes a signal component whose frequency falls in a first predetermined frequency range including a sprung mass resonance frequency at one of the front and rear tire wheels, said pitching rate detecting means includes a second band pass filter for each vertical G sensor which passes a signal component whose frequency falls in a second predetermined frequency range including a pitch resonance frequency of the vehicle body, and said rolling rate detecting means includes a third band pass filter for each vertical G sensor which passes a signal component whose frequency falls in a third predetermined frequency range including a rolling resonant frequency range;

wherein said controlling means derives the control signal V as follows;

For one of the shock absorbers located at a front, right tire wheel;

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.1 =α

.sub.f /4 (v.sub.1 +v.sub.2 +v.sub.3 +v.sub.4)+β

.sub.f (v'"'"'.sub.1 -v'"'"'.sub.3)+τ

.sub.f (v".sub.1 -v".sub.2)

For one of the other shock absorbers located at a front, left tire wheel;

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.2 =α

.sub.f /4 (v.sub.1 +v.sub.2 +v.sub.3 +v.sub.4)+β

.sub.f (v'"'"'.sub.2 -v'"'"'.sub.4)+τ

.sub.f (v".sub.2 -v".sub.1)

For one of the other shock absorbers located at a rear, right tire wheel;

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.3 =α

.sub.r /4 (v.sub.1 +v.sub.2 +v.sub.3 +v.sub.4)+β

.sub.r (v'"'"'.sub.3 -v'"'"'.sub.1)+τ

.sub.r (v".sub.3 -v".sub.4)

For one of the other shock absorbers located at a rear, left tire wheel;

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.4 =α

.sub.r /4 (v.sub.1 +v.sub.2 +v.sub.3 +v.sub.4)+β

.sub.r (v'"'"'.sub.4 -v'"'"'.sub.2)+τ

.sub.r (v".sub.4 -v".sub.3)

wherein α

_f, β

_f, and τ

_f denote respective proportional constants on spring constants of the front tire wheels, on rolling rigidities thereof, and on pitching rigidities thereof, α

_r, β

_r, and τ

_r denote the respective proportional constants on spring constants of the rear tire wheels, on pitching rigidities thereof, and on the rolling rigidities thereof, v₁, v'"'"'₁ and v"₁ denote vertical sprung mass speed signal derived from the front, right tire wheel vertical G sensor, v₂, v'"'"'₂ and v"₂ denote vertical sprung mass speed signal derived from the front, left tire wheel vertical G sensor, and v₃, v'"'"'₃ and v"₃ denote vertical sprung mass speed signal derived from the rear, right tire wheel vertical G sensor, and v₄, v'"'"'₄ and v"₄ denote vertical sprung mass speed signal derived from the rear, left tire wheel vertical G sensor.

24. An apparatus for controlling each damping coefficient for vehicular shock absorbers as set forth in claim 23, wherein each shock absorber is formed with three controllable ranges:

a first extension stroke side hard region in which the extension stroke side provides the variable damping coefficient and the compression stroke side is fixed to a predetermined low damping coefficient;

a second compression stroke side hard region in which the compression stroke side provides the variable damping coefficient and extension stroke side is fixed to another predetermined low damping coefficient side; and

a soft region in which both extension and compression stroke sides provide the predetermined low damping coefficients.

25. An apparatus for controlling each damping coefficient for vehicular shock absorbers as set forth in claim 24, wherein said controlling means determines whether the derived control signal (V₁, V₂, V₃, and V₄) is above a plus predetermined threshold value δ

_T, negatively below a minus predetermined threshold value - δ

_C, or falls in a range from the plus threshold value δ

_T to the minus threshold value -δ

_C and wherein said controlling means outputs the control signal to said damping coefficient varying means of the corresponding shock absorber so as to provide the first extension hard region when the corresponding control signal V is above the plus predetermined threshold value +δ

_T, so as to provide the second compression hard region when the corresponding control signal V is below the minus predetermined threshold value -δ

_C, and so as to provide the soft region when the corresponding control signal V falls in the range between the plus and minus predetermined threshold values +δ

_T and -δ

_C.

26. An apparatus for controlling each damping coefficient for vehicular shock absorbers as set forth in claim 25, wherein said controlling means derives the control signal as follows:

For one of the shock absorbers located at a front, right tire wheel;

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.1 =a f v.sub.1 +B f(v'"'"'.sub.1 -v'"'"'.sub.3)+f(v".sub.1 -v".sub.2)

For one of the other shock absorbers located at 25 a front, left tire wheel;

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.2 =a f.sup.v.sub.2 +B f(v'"'"'.sub.2 -v'"'"'.sub.4)+r f(v".sub.2 -v".sub.1)

For one of the other shock absorbers located at a rear, right tire wheel;

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.3 =a r.sup.v.sub.3 +B r(v'"'"'.sub.3 -v'"'"'.sub.1)+r r(v".sub.3 -v".sub.4)

For one of the other shock absorbers located at a rear, left tire wheel;

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.4 =a r.sup.v.sub.4 +B r(v'"'"'.sub.4 -v'"'"'.sub.2)+r r(v".sub.4 -v".sub.3),

wherein a f, B f, and f denote respective proportional constants on spring constants of the front tire wheels, on rolling rigidities thereof, and on pitching rigidities thereof, a a r, B r, and r denote the respective proportional constants on spring constants of the rear tire wheels, on pitching rigidities thereof, and on the rolling rigidities thereof, v₁, v'"'"'₁, and v"₁ denote vertical sprung mass speed signal derived from the front, right tire wheel vertical G sensor, v₂, v'"'"'₂, v"₂ denote vertical sprung mass speed signal derived from the front, left tire wheel vertical G sensor, and v₃, v'"'"'₃, and v"₃ denote vertical sprung mass speed signal derived from the rear, right tire wheel vertical G sensor, and v₄, v'"'"'₄, and v"₄ denote vertical sprung mass speed signal derived from the rear, left tire wheel vertical G sensor.

27. An apparatus for controlling each damping coefficient for vehicular shock absorbers as set forth in claim 26, which further includes a vehicle speed sensor for detecting a vehicle speed and wherein said controlling means includes a coefficient varying block which varies said α

_f, β

_f, τ

_f, α

_r, β

_r, and τ

_r according to the vehicle speed.

28. An apparatus for controlling each damping coefficient for vehicular shock absorbers as set forth in claim 25, which further includes abrupt acceleration/deceleration detecting means for detecting an abrupt acceleration and/or deceleration of the vehicle and vehicular steering condition detecting means for detecting a steered condition of the vehicle and wherein said controlling means includes a pitching rate correction block for amplifying the pitching rate when the vehicle is in the abrupt acceleration/deceleration state and a rolling rate correction block for amplifying the rolling rate when the vehicle is in a predetermined steering condition.

29. An apparatus for controlling each damping coefficient for vehicular shock absorbers as set forth in claim 28, wherein said controlling means derives the control signal as follows:

For one of the shock absorbers located at a front, right tire wheel;

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.1 =a.sub.f /4 (v.sub.1 +v.sub.2 +v.sub.3 +v.sub.4)+B.sub.f m.sub.f (v'"'"'.sub.1 -v'"'"'.sub.3)+.sub.f.sup.K.sub.f (v".sub.1 -v".sub.2)

For one of the other shock absorbers located at a front, left tire wheel;

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.2 =a.sub.f /4 (v.sub.1 +v.sub.2 +v.sub.3 +v.sub.4)+B.sub.f m.sub.f (v'"'"'.sub.2 -v'"'"'.sub.4)+.sub.f.sup.K.sub.f (v".sub.2 -v".sub.1)

For one of the other shock absorbers located at 5 a rear, right tire wheel;

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.3 =a.sub.r /4 (v.sub.1 +v.sub.2 +v.sub.3 +v.sub.4)+B.sub.r m.sub.r (v'"'"'.sub.3 -v'"'"'.sub.1)+.sub.r.sup.K.sub.r (v".sub.3 -v".sub.4)

For one of the other shock absorbers located at a rear, left tire wheel;

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.4 =a.sub.r /4 (v.sub.1 +v.sub.2 +v.sub.3 +v.sub.4)+B.sub.r m.sub.r (v'"'"'.sub.4 -v'"'"'.sub.2)+.sub.r.sup.K.sub.r (v".sub.4 -v".sub.3)

wherein a f, B f and r f denote respective proportional constants on spring constants of the front tire wheels, on rolling rigidities thereof, and on pitching rigidities thereof, a r'"'"' B r'"'"' and r r denote the respective proportional constants on spring constants of the rear tire wheels, on pitching rigidities thereof, and on the rolling rigidities thereof, m_f (>

1.0), K_f (>

1.0) m_r (>

1.0) and K_r (>

1.0) denote amplification factors for a f, B f, f, a r, B r, rr, v₁, v'"'"'₁, and v"₁ denote vertical sprung mass speed signal derived 25 from the front, right tire wheel vertical G sensor, v₂, v'"'"'₂, v"₂ denote vertical sprung mass speed signal derived from the front, left tire wheel vertical G sensor, and v₃ v'"'"'₃ and v"₃ denote vertical sprung mass speed signal derived from the rear, right tire wheel vertical G sensor, and v'"'"'₄, and v"₄ denote vertical sprung mass speed signal derived from the rear, left tire wheel vertical G sensor.

30. An apparatus for controlling each damping coefficient for vehicular shock absorbers as set forth in claim 29, wherein said abrupt acceleration/deceleration detecting means includes a brake sensor for detecting whether a brake switch is turned on and a fuel injection pulsewidth sensor for detecting a pulsewidth of a drive signal supplied to one of fuel injection valves disposed in a vehicular engine and wherein said steering condition sensor includes a steering sensor for detecting a steering angle and steering angular velocity.

31. An apparatus for controlling each damping coefficient for vehicular shock absorbers as set forth in claim 30, wherein said predetermined steered condition is determined depending on whether both steering angle θ

and steering angular velocity ω

are above one threshold value b.

32. An apparatus for controlling each damping coefficient for vehicular shock absorbers as set forth in claim 28, wherein said controlling means derives the control signal as follows:

For one of the shock absorbers located at a front, right tire wheel;

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.1 =a.sub.f (v.sub.1 +B f.sup.m f (v'"'"'.sub.1 -v'"'"'.sub.3)+r f K.sub.f (v".sub.1 -v".sub.2)

For one of the other shock absorbers located at a front, left tire wheel;

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.2 a.sub.f v.sub.1 +B f.sup.m f (v'"'"'.sub.2 -v'"'"'.sub.4)+r f K.sub.f (v".sub.2 -v".sub.1)

For one of the other shock absorbers located at a rear, right tire wheel;

For one of the other shock absorbers located at a rear, left tire wheel;

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.4 =a r .sub.V 4+B r m r (V'"'"'.sub.4 -v'"'"'.sub.2)+r K r(v".sub.4 -v".sub.3)

wherein a f, B f and r f denote respective proportional constants on spring constants of the front tire wheels, on rolling rigidities thereof, and on pitching rigidities thereof, a r, B r'"'"' and r r denote the respective proportional constants on spring constants of the rear tire wheels, on pitching rigidities thereof, and on the rolling rigidities thereof, m_f (>

1.0), K_f (>

1.0) m_r (>

1.0) and K_r (>

1.0) denote amplification factors for a f, B f, f, a r, B r, rr, v₁, v'"'"'₁, and v"₁ denote vertical sprung mass speed signal derived from the front right tire wheel vertical G sensor, v₂, v'"'"'₂, v"₂ denote vertical sprung mass speed signal derived from the front, left tire wheel vertical G sensor and v₃, v'"'"'₃, v"₃ denote vertical sprung mass speed signal derived from the rear, right tire wheel vertical G sensor, and v₄, v'"'"'₄, v"₄ denote vertical sprung mass speed signal derived from the rear, left tire wheel vertical G sensor.

33. An apparatus for controlling each damping coefficient for vehicular shock absorbers as set forth in claim 23, which further includes a vehicle speed sensor for detecting a vehicle speed and wherein said controlling means includes a coefficient varying block which varies said α

_f, β

_f, τ

_f, α

_r, β

_r, and τ

_r according to the vehicle speed.

34. An apparatus for controlling each damping coefficient for vehicular shock absorbers as set forth in claim 33, wherein said controlling means further includes a control signal gain varying block which varies a gain of the control signal V according to the vehicle speed.

35. An apparatus for controlling each damping coefficient for vehicular shock absorbers as set forth in claim 34, wherein said α

_f and α

_r are varied such that when the vehicle speed falls in a first predetermined low speed range from zero to a first predetermined speed range limit, both α

_f and α

_r are zeroes and when the vehicle speed falls in a range above the first predetermined speed limit, α

_f >

α

_r, said β

_f and β

_r are varied such that when the vehicle speed falls in a second predetermined low speed range from zero to a second predetermined speed range limit, both β

_f and β

_r are zeroes and when the vehicle speed falls in a range above the second predetermined speed limit, β

_f <

β

_r, and said τ

_f and τ

_r are varied such that when the vehicle speed falls in a third predetermined low speed range from zero to a third predetermined speed range limit, both τ

_f and τ

_r are zeroes and when the vehicle speed falls in a range above the third predetermined speed limit, τ

_f <

τ

_r.

36. An apparatus for controlling each damping coefficient for vehicular shock absorbers as set forth in claim 35, wherein the gain of the control signal is increased as the vehicle speed is increased.

37. An apparatus comprising:

a plurality of shock absorbers, each interposed between a portion of a vehicular body and a corresponding road wheel, each of said shock absorbers having a piston member and a damping coefficient varying means associated with the piston member, said damping coefficient varying means operatively varying the damping coefficient in either stroke direction of the piston member to a target damping coefficient;

a plurality of acceleration sensors, each associated with a shock absorber, each disposed on said vehicle body at a location proximate the associated shock absorber, and each arranged to produce an output signal indicative of a vertical acceleration;

circuit means operatively connected with each of said plurality of acceleration sensors for receiving the output signals from said acceleration sensors, said circuit means including;

filter means for filtering a sprung mass speed from each of the output signals from said plurality of acceleration sensors and producing a plurality of sprung mass speed signals;

bouncing component detecting means for deriving a bouncing component from each of said plurality of sprung mass speed signals;

pitching component detecting means for deriving a pitching component from each of said plurality of sprung mass speed signals;

rolling component detecting means for deriving a rolling component for each of said plurality of sprung mass speed signals; and

e) controlling means for;

deriving and outputting a control signal to each damping coefficient varying means of the shock absorbers associated with road wheels located at a forward end of said vehicle body at least on the basis of the derived bouncing components, and

deriving and outputting a control signal to each damping coefficient varying means of the shock absorbers associated with road wheel located at a rear end of said vehicle body on the basis of at least one of the derived pitching component and rolling component

outputting the control signals to the respective damping coefficient varying means.

38. An apparatus for controlling a plurality of shock absorbers, each of said shock absorbers being interposed between a portion of a vehicular body and corresponding road wheel, comprising:

a plurality of damping coefficient varying means, each of said damping coefficient means being associated with one of said shock absorbers and responsive to a control signal, for varying a damping coefficient of the shock absorber to a target damping coefficient;

a plurality of acceleration sensors each disposed on said vehicular body at a location proximate a shock absorber, each of said acceleration sensors producing an output signal indicative of a sensed acceleration;

circuit means associated said plurality of acceleration sensors, said circuit means including filtering means for filtering each of the output signals from said plurality of acceleration sensors and for deriving a bounce signal component, a pitch signal component, and a roll signal component for each of said output signals; and

control means, responsive to said circuit means, for deriving and outputting a control signal to each of said damping coefficient varying means on the basis of at least one of said bounce signal component, pitch signal component, and roll signal component derived for each of said input signals.

39. An apparatus comprising:

a shock absorber, said shock absorber being operatively connected between a vehicle body and a vehicle road wheel;

damping coefficient varying means incorporated into said shock absorber for controlling the damping coefficient of said shock absorber during both compression and contraction modes of said shock absorber;

an acceleration sensor mounted on said vehicle body proximate location where said shock absorber is connected with said vehicle body;

first filtering means for extracting a sprung mass speed signal from the output of said acceleration sensor;

second filtering means for filtering said sprung mass speed signal so as to derive;

a bounce rate component,

a pitch rate component, and

a rolling rate component; and

control means for deriving a control signal on the basis of at least one of said bounce rate component, pitch rate component and rolling rate component.

40. An apparatus as set forth in claim 39, further comprising relative velocity determining means for determining the relative velocity between said vehicle body and said road wheel, said control means being responsive to the velocity determining means for modifying said control signal in accordance with the direction and magnitude of the detected relative velocity.

41. An apparatus as set forth in claim 39, further comprising a vehicle speed detecting means for detecting the vehicle speed, said control means being responsive to said vehicle speed detecting means for modifying said control signal in accordance with the detected vehicle speed.

42. An apparatus as set forth in claim 39, further comprising means responsive to the application of a vehicular brake for producing a signal indicative of sudden deceleration, said control means being responsive to the sudden deceleration indicative signal for modifying said control signal.

43. An apparatus as set forth in claim 39, further comprising means responsive to a demand for vehicle acceleration for producing a signal indicative of vehicle acceleration, said control means being responsive to the vehicle acceleration indicative signal for modifying said control signal.