Alignment changing control device and fuel consumption management device

• US 8,050,819 B2
• Filed: 02/14/2008
• Issued: 11/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Kobayashi, Akiyoshi, Hattori, Kenji, Horiuchi, Yutaka, Suyama, Koichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Elchanti; Hussein A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Khatib; Rami
• Application Number:
  US12/031,400
• Publication Number:
  US 20080201037A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,356 Days
• Field of Search: 701/37, 701/38, 701/48, 701/65, 701/200, 280/5.5, 280/5.512, 280/5.517, 280/5.52, 280/5.521, 280/5.522
• US Class Current: 701/37
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/025 related to comfort of drivers or passengers
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/10 related to vehicle motion
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/06 Improving the dynamic response of the control system, e.g. improving the speed of regulation or avoiding hunting or overshoot
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 17/00 Means on vehicles for adjusting camber, castor, or toe-in

Abstract

A toe angle changing control ECU for controlling a toe angle of wheels of a vehicle. The toe angle changing control ECU includes: a straight traveling state judging section for judging whether or not the vehicle is in a; a memory for storing the toe angle of the wheels while the vehicle is in the straight traveling state; and a toe angle setting section for setting the wheels to the toe angle stored in the memory (44) when the straight traveling state judging section judges that the vehicle is in the straight traveling state. While in the straight traveling state, the wheels are set to a toe angle at which the wheels are substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, reducing the rolling resistance of the wheels, and improving fuel consumption.

Claims

1. An alignment changing control device for controlling an alignment of wheels of a vehicle, comprising:

a straight traveling state judging unit configured to judge whether the vehicle is in a straight traveling state based on detection results of traveling condition of the vehicle;

an alignment storage unit configured to store in advance, as data irrespective of a traveling history of the vehicle of a driver, an optimum toe angle suitable for improving fuel consumption while the vehicle is in the straight traveling state;

an alignment setting unit configured to set the wheels to the optimum toe angle stored in the alignment storage unit if the straight traveling state judging unit judges that the vehicle is in the straight traveling state when the vehicle has been running straight for a predetermined time;

a fuel consumption trial unit configured to set the toe angle of the wheels to be a trial toe angle while the vehicle is running straight, the trial toe angle being a toe angle for improving fuel consumption, and to repeatedly perform trials, by changing trial toe angles, and calculating the fuel consumption in the case where the vehicle is running at the set trial toe angle;

a fuel consumption information storage unit configured to correlate each of the trial toe angles with the fuel consumption calculated at the each of the trial toe angles, and to store, as a result of the trials, information which is related to the fuel consumptions corresponding to a plurality of the different trial toe angles together with time stamps representing times at which the trials are performed; and

a selecting unit configured to read out the information related to the fuel consumptions from the fuel consumption information storage unit and to select a toe angle at which the fuel consumption is best in the read information related to the fuel consumption, wherein the toe angle is set to be the toe angle selected by the selecting unit.

2. The alignment changing control device according to claim 1, wherein

the straight traveling state judging element is configured to estimate whether the vehicle will be in the straight traveling state ahead in the traveling direction;

and

the alignment setting unit is configured to set the wheels to the toe angle stored in the alignment storage unit if the straight traveling state judging unit estimates that the vehicle will be in the straight traveling state ahead in the traveling direction.