Electric drive vehicle

• US 9,315,116 B2
• Filed: 04/11/2013
• Issued: 04/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi Construction Machinery Company Limited (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Hitachi Construction Machinery Company Limited (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Inventors: Kobayashi, Hiroyuki, Kikuchi, Akira, Yasuda, Tomohiko, Sato, Takayuki, Saito, Shinjiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas G
• Assistant Examiner(s): PAIGE, TYLER D
• Application Number:
  US14/395,573
• Publication Number:
  US 20150298577A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,104 Days
• Field of Search: 701/22, 701/50
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 15/20 for control of the vehicle or its driving motor to achieve a desired performance, e.g. speed, torque, programmed variation of speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 15/2009 for braking
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 15/2072 for drive off
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2200/36 Vehicles designed to transport cargo, e.g. trucks
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2220/46 Wheel motors, i.e. motor connected to only one wheel
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/421 Speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/423 Torque
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/461 Speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/465 Slip
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2260/28 Four wheel or all wheel drive
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2270/145 Structure borne vibrations
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 3/106 for maintaining or recovering the adhesion of the drive wheels
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/64 Electric machine technologies in electromobility
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/72 Electric energy management in electromobility

Abstract

Provided is an electric drive vehicle which can control wheel speed so as to achieve an appropriate slip ratio of the wheels even when pitching vibration of the vehicle is large. This electric drive vehicle is provided with electric motors (1, 4), drive wheels (3, 6), driven wheels (7, 8), an electric motor controller (50) for controlling the electric motors, and speed detectors (9-12) for detecting the wheel speed of the drive wheels and the driven wheels. The electric motor controller is provided with: a slip ratio calculation unit (21) which calculates the slip ratio of the drive wheels from the wheel speed detected values detected by the speed detectors; a torque command calculation unit (20) which calculates torque commands for the drive wheels; a drive force calculation unit (19) which, from the wheel speed detected values of the drive wheels and the torque commands of the drive wheels, calculates the drive force generated in the drive wheels; and filters (54, 55) which reduce the pitching vibration frequency components of the vehicle included in the slip ratio and the drive force.

Claims

1. An electric drive vehicle comprising:

electric motors;

drive wheels which are driven or braked by the electric motors;

driven wheels which are driven by rotation of the drive wheels;

an electric motor controller which controls the electric motors; and

speed detectors which detect wheel speeds of the drive wheels and the driven wheels;

wherein;

the electric motor controller has;

a slip ratio calculation unit which calculates a slip ratio of the drive wheels from detected values of the wheel speeds detected by the speed detectors;

a torque command calculation unit which calculates a torque command for the drive wheels;

a drive force calculation unit which calculates a drive force to be generated in the drive wheels, from the detected value of the wheel speed of the drive wheels and the torque command for the drive wheels;

a filter which eliminates a pitching vibrational frequency spectrum of a vehicle body included in each of the slip ratio and the drive force; and

the electric motor controller controls the electric motors based on numerical values of the slip ratio and the drive force in each of which the pitching vibrational frequency spectrum of the vehicle body has been eliminated by the filter so as to control a torque of the drive wheels.

2. An electric drive vehicle according to claim 1, wherein:

the filter has a filter characteristic to eliminate the pitching vibration of the vehicle body with frequency spectrum of 1 to 3 Hz.

3. An electric drive vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising:

a weight detector which detects a load of cargo; and

a filter characteristic calculation unit which calculates the pitching vibrational frequency spectrum of the vehicle body based on a value of the load detected by the weight detector;

wherein;

the filter eliminates the pitching vibrational frequency spectrum of the vehicle body calculated by the filter characteristic calculation unit.

4. An electric drive vehicle according to claim 3, wherein:

the filter characteristic calculation unit calculates a pitching vibrational frequency of the vehicle body so that the pitching vibrational frequency of the vehicle body can decrease as the value of the load increases.

5. An electric drive vehicle according to claim 3, wherein:

a threshold for determining whether the cargo is loaded or not is set in advance; and

the filter characteristic calculation unit outputs a first pitching vibrational frequency when the value of the load detected by the weight detector is not smaller than the threshold while the filter characteristic calculation unit outputs a second pitching vibrational frequency when the value of the load detected by the weight detector is smaller than the threshold.

6. An electric drive vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising:

a drive force gradient calculation unit which calculates a gradient of the drive force relative to the slip ratio from the slip ratio and the drive force in each of which the pitching vibrational frequency spectrum of the vehicle body has been eliminated by the filter;

and a slip determination unit which makes slip determination based on the gradient of the drive force relative to the slip ratio, the gradient being calculated by the drive force gradient calculation unit.

7. An electric drive vehicle according to claim 6, wherein:

the slip determination unit determines that the drive wheels slip when the gradient of the drive force relative to the slip ratio calculated by the drive force gradient calculation unit changes from positive to negative for the first time during acceleration or deceleration running.

8. An electric drive vehicle according to claim 6, wherein:

the slip determination unit determines that the drive wheels slip when the gradient of the drive force relative to the slip ratio calculated by the drive force gradient calculation unit exceeds a predetermined threshold for the first time during acceleration or deceleration running.

9. An electric drive vehicle according to claim 6, wherein:

when the slip determination unit makes the slip determination, the torque command calculation unit adds a torque reduction command to the torque command so as to make the slip ratio equal to the slip ratio at the time of the slip determination.

10. An electric drive vehicle comprising:

electric motors;

drive wheels which are driven or braked by the electric motors;

driven wheels which are driven by rotation of the drive wheels;

an electric motor controller which controls the electric motors; and

speed detectors which detect wheel speeds of the drive wheels and the driven wheels;

wherein;

the electric motor controller has;

a filter which eliminates a pitching vibrational frequency spectrum of a vehicle body included in each of detected values of the wheel speeds detected by the speed detectors; and

a slip ratio calculation unit which calculates a slip ratio of the drive wheels from the detected values of the wheel speeds in each of which the pitching vibrational frequency spectrum of the vehicle body has been eliminated by the filter; and

the electric motor controller controls the electric motors based on a numerical value of the slip ratio of the drive wheels which has been calculated by the slip ratio calculation unit so as to control a torque of the drive wheels.

11. An electric drive vehicle according to claim 10, wherein:

the filter has a filter characteristic to eliminate the pitching vibration of the vehicle body with frequency spectrum of 1 to 3 Hz.

12. An electric drive vehicle according to claim 10, further comprising:

a weight detector which detects a load of cargo; and

a filter characteristic calculation unit which calculates the pitching vibrational frequency spectrum of the vehicle body based on a value of the load detected by the weight detector;

wherein;

the filter eliminates the pitching vibrational frequency spectrum of the vehicle body calculated by the filter characteristic calculation unit.

13. An electric drive vehicle according to claim 12, wherein:

the filter characteristic calculation unit calculates a pitching vibrational frequency of the vehicle body so that the pitching vibrational frequency of the vehicle body can decrease as the value of the load increases.

14. An electric drive vehicle according to claim 12, wherein:

a threshold for determining whether the cargo is loaded or not is set in advance; and

the filter characteristic calculation unit outputs a first pitching vibrational frequency when the value of the load detected by the weight detector is not smaller than the threshold while the filter characteristic calculation unit outputs a second pitching vibrational frequency when the value of the load detected by the weight detector is smaller than the threshold.