Vehicle height adjusting device, control device for vehicle height adjusting device, and non-transitory computer readable medium

• US 9,358,853 B2
• Filed: 09/22/2014
• Issued: 06/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi Astemo Ltd. (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Showa Corporation (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Inventors: Ishikawa, Fumiaki
• Primary Examiner(s): EL CHANTI, HUSSEIN A
• Application Number:
  US14/492,568
• Publication Number:
  US 20150273970A1
• Time in Patent Office: 624 Days
• Field of Search: 701/37
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 15/065 characterised by the use of a combination of springs
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 17/0152 characterised by the action on a particular type of suspension unit B60G17/01941 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 17/016 characterised by their responsiveness, when the vehicle is travelling, to specific motion, a specific condition, or driver input B60G17/017 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 17/0165 to an external condition, e.g. rough road surface, side wind
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 17/019 characterised by the type of sensor or the arrangement thereof B60G17/01941 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 17/0272 the mechanical spring being a coil spring
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 17/0565 Height adjusting valves
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2202/154 with an accumulator
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2300/12 Cycles; Motorcycles
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2400/0511 Roll angle
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2400/0512 Pitch angle
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2400/204 Vehicle speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2400/252 vertical
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2400/824 Travel path sensing; Track monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2500/30 Height or ground clearance
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2800/0122 Roll rigidity ratio; Warping
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2800/014 Pitch; Nose dive
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2800/912 Attitude Control; levelling control
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2800/914 Height Control System
• CPC Class Codes: B62K 2025/045 Suspensions with ride-height adjustment
• CPC Class Codes: B62K 2025/048 : with suspension manual adjustment details
• CPC Class Codes: B62K 25/00 : Axle suspensions for vehicles in general B60G

Abstract

A vehicle height adjusting device includes a front fork and a rear suspension capable of changing a relative position between a vehicle body frame and wheels (front wheel, rear wheel) of a motorcycle, and a control device for controlling the front fork and the rear suspension. The control device includes a driving scene determination unit that determines a driving scene of the motorcycle on the basis of driving information, and a control unit that controls the front fork and the rear suspension in response to the determined driving scene.

Claims

1. A vehicle height adjusting device, comprising:

a changing unit capable of changing a relative position between a vehicle body of a vehicle and wheels of the vehicle; and

a control device that controls the changing unit, said control device including;

a driving scene determination unit that determines a driving scene of the vehicle on the basis of driving information; and

a control unit that controls the relative position in response to the determined driving scene, wherein;

the vehicle height on a front wheel side and the vehicle height on a rear wheel side can be set in three stages of high, medium, and low,

the driving scene is selected from the group consisting of city street, winding road and expressway,

when city street is selected, the vehicle heights on both the front and rear wheel sides are set to be medium,

when winding road is selected, the vehicle height on the front wheel side is set to be medium and the vehicle height on the rear wheel side is set to be high, and

when expressway is selected, the vehicle height on the front wheel side is set to be high and the vehicle height on the rear wheel side is set to be medium.

2. The vehicle height adjusting device according to claim 1,

wherein the changing unit includes a front wheel side changing unit changing a front wheel side relative position, which is a relative position between the vehicle body and a front wheel, and a rear wheel side changing unit changing a rear wheel side relative position, which is a relative position between the vehicle body and a rear wheel, and

the control unit performs control of changing at least one of the front wheel side relative position and the rear wheel side relative position in response to the determined driving scene.

3. The vehicle height adjusting device according to claim 1,

wherein the driving scene determination unit determines the driving scene on the basis of a vehicle speed, which is a moving velocity of the vehicle, and an angle of inclination of the vehicle body in a horizontal direction.

4. The vehicle height adjusting device according to claim 1,

wherein the changing unit includes a solenoid valve which is provided in a fluid distribution channel and an opening of which is controlled according to a supplied power, and

the control unit controls the relative position of the changing unit by controlling the opening of the solenoid valve.

5. A control device for a vehicle height adjusting device, comprising:

a driving scene determination unit that determines a driving scene of a vehicle on the basis of driving information; and

a control unit that controls a changing unit changing a relative position between a vehicle body of the vehicle and wheels of the vehicle in response to the determined driving scene, wherein

a vehicle height on a front wheel side and a vehicle height on a rear wheel side can be set in three stages of high, medium, and low,

the driving scene is selected from the group consisting of city street, winding road and expressway,

when city street is selected, the vehicle heights on both the front and rear wheel sides are set to be medium,

when winding road is selected, the vehicle height on the front wheel side is set to be medium and the vehicle height on the rear wheel side is set to be high, and

when expressway is selected, the vehicle height on the front wheel side is set to be high and the vehicle height on the rear wheel side is set to be medium.

6. The control device for the vehicle height adjusting device according to claim 5,

wherein the control unit performs control of changing at least one of a front wheel side relative position, which is a relative position between the vehicle body and a front wheel, and a rear wheel side relative position, which is a relative position between the vehicle body and a rear wheel, on the basis of a front wheel side target moving distance and a rear wheel side target moving distance,

the front wheel side target moving distance is a target moving distance of the front wheel side relative position,

the rear wheel side target moving distance is a target moving distance of the rear wheel side relative position, and

the front wheel side target moving distance and the rear wheel side target moving distance are determined according to the driving scene.

7. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program for causing a computer used in a vehicle height adjusting device to execute a process for adjusting a vehicle height of a vehicle, the process comprising the steps of:

determining a driving scene of a vehicle on the basis of driving information, said driving scene selected from the group consisting of city street, winding road and expressway;

controlling a changing unit changing a relative position between a vehicle body of the vehicle and wheels of the vehicle in response to the determined driving scene;

setting the vehicle height on a front wheel side and the vehicle height on a rear wheel side in three stages of high, medium, and low;

setting the vehicle heights on both the front and rear wheel sides to be medium, when city street is selected;

setting the vehicle height on the front wheel side to be medium and the vehicle height on the rear wheel side to be high, when winding road is selected; and

setting the vehicle height on the front wheel side to be high and the vehicle height on the rear wheel side to be medium, when expressway is selected.