Automotive traction or travel condition control system with engine power and brake control
First Claim
1. A traveling control apparatus for an automotive vehicle comprising:
- control means for controlling at least one of a driving force and a braking force acting on a wheel of the vehicle;
controlled condition determining means for determining a controlled condition of the at least one of the driving force and the braking force controlled by the control means;
storage means for storing a predetermined control limit based on durability of at least one of a plurality of structural elements of the vehicle;
control capacity determining means for determining a control capacity of the control means under the controlled condition determined by the controlled condition determining means, the control capacity being an amount of capacity of the control means available until the predetermined control limit stored in said storage means is reached; and
controlled condition controlling means for controlling the controlled condition provided by said control means according to the control capacity determined by said control capacity determining means.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A traction control system for an automotive vehicle is provided which controls engine power and braking force to recover traction of wheels when wheel slippage occurs during acceleration. The traction control system has four traction control modes and four control switching modes for switching between the traction control modes smoothly without any mechanical shock. In each of the control switching modes, one of the engine power control and the braking force control is restricted gradually according to its control capacity which is, for example, determined based on a period of time left until the control is prohibited. If the control capacity is decreased undesirably, the control is modified so as to increase the control capacity.
37 Citations
32 Claims
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1. A traveling control apparatus for an automotive vehicle comprising:
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control means for controlling at least one of a driving force and a braking force acting on a wheel of the vehicle; controlled condition determining means for determining a controlled condition of the at least one of the driving force and the braking force controlled by the control means; storage means for storing a predetermined control limit based on durability of at least one of a plurality of structural elements of the vehicle; control capacity determining means for determining a control capacity of the control means under the controlled condition determined by the controlled condition determining means, the control capacity being an amount of capacity of the control means available until the predetermined control limit stored in said storage means is reached; and controlled condition controlling means for controlling the controlled condition provided by said control means according to the control capacity determined by said control capacity determining means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A traveling control apparatus for an automotive vehicle comprising:
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control means for controlling a first operation of the automotive vehicle and a second operation of the automotive vehicle, the control means comprising; first operation controlling means for controlling the first operation of the automotive vehicle to modify a given traveling condition, and second operation controlling means for controlling the second operation of the automotive vehicle to modify the given traveling condition; controlled condition determining means for determining a controlled condition of the control means; control capacity determining means for determining a control capacity of the second operation controlling means under the controlled condition determined by the controlled condition determining means, the control capacity being an amount of capacity of the second operation controlling means available until the control capacity reaches a given limit; controlled condition controlling means for controlling the controlled condition provided by the control means according to the control capacity determined by the control capacity determining means; and warning means for providing a warning signal according to the controlled condition determined by the controlled condition determining means. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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21. A traveling control apparatus for regulating a braking force applied to a wheel of a vehicle comprising:
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braking force regulating means for regulating a braking force of the wheel; traveling condition detecting means for detecting a traveling condition of the vehicle; braking controlling means for controlling the braking force regulating means to regulate the braking force based on the traveling condition detected by the traveling condition detecting means to bring the vehicle into a desired traveling condition; operation condition detecting means for detecting an operation condition of the braking force regulating means during control of the braking force by the braking force regulating means; braking control capacity determining means for determining a braking control capacity until an operation condition of the braking force regulating means reaches a control prohibiting condition where the braking force regulating means is prohibited by the braking controlling means from controlling the braking force of the wheel; and braking force control changing means for changing a degree to which the braking force of the wheel is controlled by the braking force regulating means according to the braking control capacity determined by the braking control capacity determining means. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
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25. A traveling control apparatus for a vehicle comprising:
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engine operation condition detecting means for detecting an operation condition of an engine mounted on the vehicle; first control capacity determining means for determining an engine control capacity until the operation condition of the engine detected by the engine operation condition detecting means reaches a control prohibiting condition where an output power of the engine is prohibited from being regulated; braking force regulating means for regulating a braking force applied to a wheel; braking operation condition detecting means for detecting an operation condition of the braking force regulating means; second control capacity determining means for determining a braking control capacity until the operation condition of the braking force regulating means reaches a control prohibiting condition where said braking force regulating means is prohibited from regulating the braking force applied to the wheel; traveling condition detecting means for detecting a traveling condition of the vehicle; regulation determining means for determining an amount of regulation of the output power of the engine and an amount of regulation of the braking force applied to the wheel, respectively, based on the traveling condition detected by the traveling condition detecting means so as to bring the vehicle into a desired traveling condition; and regulation correcting means for correcting the amount of regulation of the output power of the engine and the amount of regulation of the braking force based on the engine control capacity and the braking control capacity determined by the first and the second control capacity determining means, respectively, when the regulation correcting means corrects one of the amount of regulation of the output power of the engine and the amount of regulation of the braking force, the regulation correcting means correcting the other of the amount of regulation of the output power of the engine and the amount of regulation of the braking force according to a corrected amount of regulation. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A traveling control apparatus for an automotive vehicle comprising:
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control means for controlling at least one of a driving force and a braking force acting on a wheel of the vehicle; controlled condition determining means for determining a controlled condition of the at least one of the driving force and the braking force controlled by the control means; storage means for storing the controlled condition determined by the controlled condition determining means; control limit determining means for determining a control limit of the control means; control capacity determining means for determining based on the controlled condition stored in the storage means a control capacity of the control means available until the control limit is reached; and controlled condition restricting means for restricting the controlled condition provided by the control means according to the control capacity determined by the control capacity determining means. - View Dependent Claims (31)
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32. A traveling control apparatus for an automotive vehicle comprising:
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an engine control system controlling a driving force provided by an engine to a wheel; a brake control system controlling a braking force acting on the wheel; engine controlled condition determining means for determining a controlled condition by the engine control system; braking controlled condition determining means for determining a controlled condition by the braking control system; first storage means for storing therein a first predetermined control limit based on durability of at least one of components making up the engine control system; second storage means for storing therein a second predetermined control limit based on durability of at least one of components making up the braking control system; engine control capacity determining means for determining an engine control capacity of the engine control system available until the first predetermined control limit stored in the first storage means is reached; brake control capacity determining means for determining a brake control capacity of the brake control system available until the second predetermined control limit stored in the second storage means is reached; and control changing means for changing a ratio of control activity of the engine control system to control activity of the brake control system according to the engine control capacity and the brake control capacity.
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Specification