CONTROL DEVICE OF INVERTED PENDULUM TYPE VEHICLE

• US 20120173088A1
• Filed: 09/18/2009
• Published: 07/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Kobashi, Shinichiro, Akimoto, Kazushi, Murakami, Hideo, Takenaka, Toru, Gomi, Hiroshi
• Granted Patent: US 8,645,030 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/49
• CPC Class Codes: B60B 19/003 Multidirectional wheels
• CPC Class Codes: B60B 3/048 the rim being rotatably mounted to the wheel disc
• CPC Class Codes: B60Y 2200/12 Motorcycles, Trikes; Quads; Scooters
• CPC Class Codes: B62J 45/4152 for sensing longitudinal inclination of the cycle
• CPC Class Codes: B62K 1/00 Unicycles
• CPC Class Codes: B62K 11/007 Automatic balancing machines with single main ground engaging wheel or coaxial wheels supporting a rider
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0891 specially adapted for land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/72 Electric energy management in electromobility

Abstract

Provided is a controller for an inverted pendulum type vehicle capable of moving the vehicle smoothly. The inverted pendulum type vehicle 1 is provided with a grip 18 at a upper end portion of a base body 9. A grip-acting external force F acting on the grip 18 is detected by a force sensor 55. According to the detected grip-acting external force F, a required center-of-gravity velocity generator 74 determines required center-of-gravity velocities Vb_x_aim and Vb_y_aim, and on the basis thereof, a traveling motion unit controller determines a manipulated variable for control.

Claims

1. A control device of an inverted pendulum type vehicle having a traveling motion unit capable of moving on a floor surface, an actuator for driving the traveling motion unit, a base body assembled with the traveling motion unit and the actuator, and a payload supporting part for an occupant assembled to the base body, comprising:

a tilt angle measuring element configured to generate an output according to an actual tilt angle of the base body;

an external force detector configured to detect an external force acting on a holding member disposed in the base body or the payload support part; and

a travelling motion unit controller configured to determine a manipulated variable for control which is configured to define a driving power to be applied to the travelling motion unit according to the external force detected by the external force detector while performing a control process to maintain a measured value of the tilt angle of the base body at a desired tilt angle of a predefined value, and to control the travelling motion of the travelling motion unit via the actuator according to the determined manipulated variable for control.

2. The control device of the inverted pendulum type vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the travelling motion unit controller determines the manipulated variable for control so as to reduce a magnitude of a horizontal component of the external force detected by the external force detector.

3. The control device of the inverted pendulum type vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the travelling motion unit controller determines the manipulated variable for control so as to match an orientation of a horizontal component of the external force detected by the external force detector with a desired moving direction of the travelling motion unit.

4. The control device of the inverted pendulum type vehicle according to claim 1 is further provided with a representative point velocity measuring element configured to generate an output according to a representative point velocity which is an actual travelling velocity of a predefined representative point of the vehicle,

for a first direction and a second direction orthogonal to each other on the floor surface, the travelling motion unit controller determines the manipulated variable for control so as to make both a first velocity deviation component for a first direction and a second velocity deviation component for a second direction to zero, the first velocity deviation component being a deviation between a velocity component in the first direction of the representative point velocity denoted by the output of the representative point velocity measuring element and a desired velocity in the first direction determined according to a force component in the first direction of the external force detected by the external force detector, and the second velocity deviation component being a deviation between a velocity component in the second direction of the representative point velocity denoted by the output of the representative point velocity measuring element and a desired velocity in the second direction determined according to a force component in the second direction of the external force detected by the external force detector.

5. The control device of the inverted pendulum type vehicle according to claim 1 is further provided with a representative point velocity measuring element configured to generate an output according to a representative point velocity which is an actual travelling velocity of a predefined representative point of the vehicle,

for a first direction and a second direction orthogonal to each other on the floor surface, the travelling motion unit controller determines the manipulated variable for control so as to make both a first velocity deviation component for a first direction and a second velocity deviation component for a second direction to zero, the first velocity deviation component being a deviation between a velocity component in the first direction of the representative point velocity denoted by the output of the representative point velocity measuring element and a desired velocity in the first direction determined according to a force component in the first direction of the external force detected by the external force detector, and the second velocity deviation component being a deviation between a velocity component in the second direction of the representative point velocity denoted by the output of the representative point velocity measuring element and a desired velocity, which is zero, in the second direction.