Rollover judgment apparatus

• US 7,797,091 B2
• Filed: 12/27/2005
• Issued: 09/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nexgen Control Systems LLC
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Inventors: Yasui, Katsuaki, Suzuki, Ryoutarou, Tokunaga, Takashi, Inoue, Satoru
• Primary Examiner(s): Black; Thomas G
• Assistant Examiner(s): Olsen; Lin B
• Application Number:
  US11/795,580
• Publication Number:
  US 20080114509A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,722 Days
• Field of Search: 701/36, 701/38, 701/45, 701/46, 701/70, 180/282, 280/735, 340/40, 340/440
• US Class Current: 701/45
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/0233 Vehicle tilting, overturning or roll over
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/0018 Roll-over
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/01027 Safing sensors
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/01322 comprising variable thresholds, e.g. depending from other collision parameters
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/0132 responsive to vehicle motion parameters , e.g. to vehicle longitudinal or transversal deceleration or speed value

Abstract

A rollover judgment apparatus includes a threshold change functional unit 5 for changing a determination threshold on the basis of a roll angular velocity ω, a tilt angle θv of a vehicle which is acquired by integrating the roll angular velocity ω, a lateral direction acceleration Gy, and a steering wheel angle θs, an ω×θ map judging unit 6 for judging whether or not the vehicle will roll over on the basis of the determination threshold changed by the threshold change functional unit 5, and the tilt angle of the vehicle, a safing functional unit 7 for detecting a tip-up of the vehicle in relation to a motion of the vehicle, and a curtain air bag deploying unit 9 for controlling expansion of a curtain air bag on the basis of an output of the ω×θ map judging unit 6 and an output of the safing functional unit 7.

Claims

1. A rollover judgment apparatus for judging whether or not a vehicle will roll over by comparing an output of a roll angular velocity sensor with a threshold, said device comprising:

a threshold change functional unit for

judging whether or not to change the determination threshold on a basis of a roll angular velocity, a tilt angle of the vehicle which is acquired by integrating the roll angular velocity, and at least one of;

a lateral direction acceleration obtained from a lateral direction acceleration sensor, and a steering wheel angle obtained from a steering wheel angle sensor, and

changing the determination threshold in response to the judgment being made by the threshold change functional unit to change the determination threshold;

a rollover judging unit for judging whether or not the vehicle will roll over on a basis of the determination threshold, and said tilt angle of the vehicle;

a safing functional unit for detecting a tip-up of the vehicle in relation to a motion of the vehicle; and

a curtain air bag deploying unit for controlling expansion of a curtain air bag on a basis of an output of said rollover judging unit and an output of said safing functional unit,

wherein the rollover judging unit judges whether or not the vehicle will rollover by comparing the tilt angle to the unchanged determination threshold when the judgment is made by the threshold change functional unit not to change the determination threshold, and by comparing the tilt angle to the changed determination threshold when the judgment is made by the threshold change functional unit to change the determination threshold.

2. The rollover judgment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said safing functional unit, when a ratio between said lateral direction acceleration and an upward-or-downward direction acceleration exceeds a predetermined threshold, judges that a tire of the vehicle has lifted off a ground.

3. The rollover judgment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when said tilt angle of the vehicle has a direction opposite to that of said steering wheel angle, said roll angular velocity is larger than a predetermined value, and said tilt angle of the vehicle is larger than another predetermined value, said threshold change functional unit reduces the determination threshold by either a predetermined amount, or an amount based on said steering wheel angle.

4. The rollover judgment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when said roll angular velocity is larger than a predetermined value, and said lateral direction acceleration is larger than another predetermined value, said threshold change functional unit reduces the determination threshold by a predetermined amount.

5. The rollover judgment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when said roll angular velocity is larger than a predetermined value, and a product of said lateral direction acceleration and said roll angular velocity is larger than another predetermined value, said threshold change functional unit reduces the determination threshold by a predetermined amount.

6. The rollover judgment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when a product of said lateral direction acceleration and said roll angular velocity is larger than a predetermined value, said threshold change functional unit reduces the determination threshold by a predetermined amount.

7. The rollover judgment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when said roll angular velocity and said tilt angle of the vehicle are larger than a predetermined value, said threshold change functional unit reduces the determination threshold by a predetermined amount.

8. The rollover judgment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said safing functional unit monitors pressures of all tires of the vehicle which are used when the vehicle is traveling, and, when the pressure of a tire becomes below a predetermined value, performs rollover safing.

9. The rollover judgment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said safing functional unit monitors strokes of suspensions of the vehicle when the vehicle is traveling, and, when the stroke of a suspension exceeds a predetermined threshold, judges that a tire of the vehicle has lifted off a ground.

10. A rollover judgment apparatus for judging whether or not a vehicle will roll over by comparing an output of a roll angular velocity sensor with a threshold, said device comprising:

a threshold change functional unit for

judging whether or not to change the determination threshold on a basis of a roll angular velocity, a tilt angle of the vehicle which is acquired by integrating the roll angular velocity, and at least one of;

a lateral direction acceleration obtained from a lateral direction acceleration sensor, and a steering acceleration which is acquired from a steering wheel angle sensed by a steering wheel angle sensor, and

changing the determination threshold in response to a judgment being made by the threshold change functional unit to change the determination threshold;

a rollover judging unit for judging whether or not the vehicle will roll over on a basis of the determination threshold changed by said threshold change functional unit, and said tilt angle of the vehicle;

a safing functional unit for detecting a tip-up of the vehicle in relation to a motion of the vehicle; and

a curtain air bag deploying unit for controlling expansion of a curtain air bag on a basis of an output of said rollover judging unit and an output of said safing functional unit,

wherein the rollover judging unit judges whether or not the vehicle will rollover by comparing the tilt angle to the unchanged determination threshold when the judgment is made by the threshold change functional unit to change the determination threshold, and by comparing the tilt angle to the changed determination threshold when the judgment is made by the threshold change functional unit to change the determination threshold.

11. A rollover judgment method for judging whether or not a vehicle will roll over, comprising:

utilizing a roll angular velocity sensor to obtain a roll angular velocity,

utilizing at least one of a lateral direction acceleration sensor and a steering wheel angle sensor to obtain at least one of a lateral direction acceleration and a steering wheel angle;

judging whether or not to change a determination threshold on the basis of the roll angular velocity, a tilt angle of the vehicle which is acquired by integrating the roll angular velocity, and at least one of;

the lateral direction acceleration sensed by the lateral direction acceleration sensor, the steering wheel angle sensed by the steering wheel angle sensor, and a steering wheel acceleration which is acquired from the steering wheel angle;

changing the determination threshold in response to the judgment being made to change the determination threshold;

judging whether or not the vehicle will roll over on a basis of the determination threshold, and said tilt angle of the vehicle;

detecting a tip-up of the vehicle in relation to a motion of the vehicle; and

controlling expansion of a curtain air bag on a basis of the judgment of whether or not the vehicle will rollover and the detection of the tip-up of the vehicle,

wherein the judgment of whether or not the vehicle will rollover is made by comparing the tilt angle to the unchanged determination threshold when the judgment is made by the threshold change functional unit not to change the determination threshold, and by comparing the tilt angle to the changed determination threshold when the judgment is made by the threshold change functional unit to change the determination threshold.