Apparatus and method for controlling damping force characteristic of vehicular shock absorber
First Claim
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1. An apparatus for an automotive vehicle comprising:
- a) a plurality of shock absorbers, each being interposed between a given position of a vehicle body and a corresponding one of front right, front left, rear right, and rear left road wheels respectively located at the front right, front left, rear right, and rear left positions of the vehicle body and being so constructed and arranged as to enable a damping force characteristic of said each shock absorber to be varied;
b) damping force characteristic changing means, responsive to an input control signal V, for varying the damping force characteristic of each corresponding one of the respective shock absorbers;
c) at least three wheel speed sensors, which are so constructed and arranged as to detect wheel velocities of the road wheels located at the front right and front left positions of the vehicle body and as to detect at least one of wheel velocities of the road wheels located at the rear right and rear left positions of the vehicle body;
d) first determining means for determining at least one of a pitch component Vp and a roll component VR of the vehicle on the basis of detected output signals from said wheel speed sensors;
e) vertical sprung mass behavior sensor means for detecting a sprung mass vertical behavior of the vehicle body, said vertical sprung mass behavior sensor means having at least one sprung mass vertical acceleration sensor arranged for detecting a vertical sprung mass acceleration;
f) second determining means for determining a vertical sprung mass velocity as a function of the vertical sprung mass acceleration from said sprung mass vertical acceleration sensor so as to derive a bounce component VR of the vehicle; and
g) damping force characteristic controlling means for generating the control signal for each shock absorber on the basis of the calculated bounce component, the pitch component, and the roll component, either of the pitch component or the roll component being calculated on the basis of the detected output signals of said wheel speed sensors or on the basis of the determined vertical sprung mass velocity of the vertical sprung mass behavior sensor means, and outputting the control signal V to said damping force characteristic changing means associated with the corresponding one of the shock absorbers so as to vary the damping force characteristic in each corresponding one of the shock absorbers according to a value of the generated control signal.
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Abstract
In an apparatus and method for controlling damping forces of vehicular shock absorbers, at least one of pitch rate or roll rate of the vehicle is derived on the basis of output signals from at least three of wheel speed sensors located on front road wheels and located on either of rear right and left road wheels.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. An apparatus for an automotive vehicle comprising:
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a) a plurality of shock absorbers, each being interposed between a given position of a vehicle body and a corresponding one of front right, front left, rear right, and rear left road wheels respectively located at the front right, front left, rear right, and rear left positions of the vehicle body and being so constructed and arranged as to enable a damping force characteristic of said each shock absorber to be varied; b) damping force characteristic changing means, responsive to an input control signal V, for varying the damping force characteristic of each corresponding one of the respective shock absorbers; c) at least three wheel speed sensors, which are so constructed and arranged as to detect wheel velocities of the road wheels located at the front right and front left positions of the vehicle body and as to detect at least one of wheel velocities of the road wheels located at the rear right and rear left positions of the vehicle body; d) first determining means for determining at least one of a pitch component Vp and a roll component VR of the vehicle on the basis of detected output signals from said wheel speed sensors; e) vertical sprung mass behavior sensor means for detecting a sprung mass vertical behavior of the vehicle body, said vertical sprung mass behavior sensor means having at least one sprung mass vertical acceleration sensor arranged for detecting a vertical sprung mass acceleration; f) second determining means for determining a vertical sprung mass velocity as a function of the vertical sprung mass acceleration from said sprung mass vertical acceleration sensor so as to derive a bounce component VR of the vehicle; and g) damping force characteristic controlling means for generating the control signal for each shock absorber on the basis of the calculated bounce component, the pitch component, and the roll component, either of the pitch component or the roll component being calculated on the basis of the detected output signals of said wheel speed sensors or on the basis of the determined vertical sprung mass velocity of the vertical sprung mass behavior sensor means, and outputting the control signal V to said damping force characteristic changing means associated with the corresponding one of the shock absorbers so as to vary the damping force characteristic in each corresponding one of the shock absorbers according to a value of the generated control signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for controlling vehicle shock absorbers, said vehicle shock absorbers comprising:
- a plurality of shock absorbers, each being interposed between a given position of a vehicle body and a corresponding one of front right, front left, rear right, and rear left road wheels respectively located at the front right, front left, rear right, and rear left positions of the vehicle body and being so constructed and arranged as to enable a damping force characteristic of said shock absorbers to be varied, the method comprising the steps of;
a) responsive to an input control signal, varying the damping force characteristic of a corresponding one of the respective shock absorbers; b) detecting wheel velocities of the road wheels located at the front right and front left positions of the vehicle body and detecting at least one of wheel velocities of the road wheels located at the rear right and rear left positions of the vehicle body; c) calculating at least one of a pitch rate and a roll rate of the vehicle on the basis of detected output signals from said step b); d) detecting a sprung mass vertical behavior of the vehicle body and determining a bounce component on the basis of the sprung mass vertical behavior of the vehicle body; and e) generating said control signal on the basis of the calculated bounce component, the pitch component, and the roll component calculated on the basis of the detected output signals at said step b) or step d) and outputting the control signal used at said step a) according to a value of the generated control signal.
- a plurality of shock absorbers, each being interposed between a given position of a vehicle body and a corresponding one of front right, front left, rear right, and rear left road wheels respectively located at the front right, front left, rear right, and rear left positions of the vehicle body and being so constructed and arranged as to enable a damping force characteristic of said shock absorbers to be varied, the method comprising the steps of;
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17. An apparatus for an automotive vehicle, comprising:
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a) a plurality of shock absorbers, each being interposed between a given position of a vehicle body and a corresponding one of front right, front left, rear right, and rear left road wheels respectively located at the front right, front left, rear right, and rear left positions of the vehicle body and being so constructed and arranged as to enable a damping force characteristic of the shock absorbers to be varied; b) damping force characteristic changing means, responsive to an input control signal V, for varying the damping force characteristic of each corresponding one of the respective shock absorbers; c) at least three wheel speed sensors, which are constructed and arranged so as to detect wheel velocities of the road wheels located at the front right and front left positions of the vehicle body and to detect at least one of wheel velocities of the road wheels located at the rear right and rear left positions of the vehicle body; d) first determining means for determining at least one of a pitch component Vp and a roll component of the vehicle on the basis of detected output signals from said wheel speed sensors; e) vertical sprung mass behavior sensor means for detecting a sprung mass vertical behavior of the vehicle body, said vertical sprung mass behavior sensor means having at least one sprung mass vertical acceleration sensor arranged for detecting a vertical sprung mass acceleration; f) second determining means for determining a vertical sprung mass velocity as a function of the vertical sprung mass acceleration from said sprung mass vertical acceleration sensor so as to derive a bounce component of the vehicle; and g) damping force characteristic controlling means for generating the control signal for each shock absorber on the basis of the calculated bounce component, the pitch component, and the roll component, either of the pitch component or the roll component being calculated on the basis of the detected output signals of said wheel speed sensors or on the basis of the determined vertical sprung mass velocity of the vertical sprung mass behavior sensor means, and for outputting the control signal V to said damping force characteristic changing means associated with the corresponding one of the shock absorbers so as to vary the damping force characteristics in each corresponding one of the shock absorbers according to a value of the generated control signal, wherein the roll component is calculated on the basis of a difference between the front right and front left road wheel velocities detected by said wheel speed sensors located at the front right and front left road wheels, wherein the pitch component is calculated on the basis of an average value of the front and rear road wheel velocities detected by said wheel speed sensors located at either of the front left or front right road wheels and located at either of the rear left or rear right road wheels, wherein said sprung mass vertical acceleration sensor is located on a predetermined position of the vehicle body, and wherein said pitch component Vp of the vehicle is calculated as follows;
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">VP.sub.(n) =(WVP.sub.L(n) +WVF.sub.R(n) +WVR.sub.L(n)
2)/4,
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">V.sub.p =(VP.sub.(n) +VP.sub.(n-1) +-+VP.sub.(n-m))/(m+1), andwherein WVFL denotes the wheel velocity of the front left road wheel, WVFR denotes the wheel velocity of the front right road wheel, WVRL denotes the wheel velocity of the rear right road wheel, (n) denotes the data sampled at an arbitrary timing, (n-1) denotes the data before one sampling time, and (m) denotes an arbitrary integer.
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Specification