Automatic tilting vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10427746-B2
Application number	US-201715810812-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 13, 2017
Priority date	Nov 14, 2016
Publication date	Oct 1, 2019
Grant date	Oct 1, 2019

Abstract

An automatic tilting vehicle includes left and right wheels rotatably supported by carriers, a vehicle tilting device, and a control unit. The vehicle tilting device includes a swing member swinging about a swing axis, an actuator that swings the swing member, a pair of tie rods pivotally connected to the swing member and the carriers. The control unit controls the actuator so that the tilt angle of the vehicle conforms to a target tilt angle and determines that the vehicle tilting device is abnormal when a relationship between the swing angular velocity of the swing member and the tilt angular velocity of the vehicle deviates from an allowable range.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An automatic tilting vehicle comprising:
a pair of laterally spaced wheels rotatably supported by corresponding carriers;
a vehicle tilting device including:
a swing member that swings about a swing axis extending in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle,
an actuator that swings the swing member about the swing axis, and
a pair of tie rods pivotally connected on both sides of the swing axis to the swing member and the carriers; and

a control unit configured to:
calculate a target tilt angle of the vehicle,
tilt the vehicle by controlling the actuator such that a tilt angle of the vehicle conforms to the target tilt angle,
determine a swing angular velocity of the swing member, which is a rate of change of an angle between the pair of tie rods and the swing member, and a tilt angular velocity of the vehicle, which is a rate of change of the tilt angle of the vehicle with respect to a vertical plane of the vehicle, and
determine that the vehicle tilting device is abnormal when a ratio between the swing angular velocity of the swing member and the tilt angular velocity of the vehicle deviates from a preset allowable range.

2. The automatic tilting vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to determine the ratio between the swing angular velocity of the swing member and the tilt angular velocity of the vehicle based on an index value of a difference between the swing angular velocity of the swing member and the tilt angular velocity of the vehicle.

3. The automatic tilting vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to determine the ratio between the swing angular velocity of the swing member and the tilt angular velocity of the vehicle based on an index value of the ratio between the swing angular velocity of the swing member and the tilt angular velocity of the vehicle.

4. The automatic tilting vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the tilt angular velocity of the vehicle is detected by a gyro sensor.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Yoshino Hayato
• Ishino Takahito
• Nishimura Koichi
• Kameda Yoshikazu
• Ohuchi Mitsuyuki
• Yasuike Osamu
• Kamano Hirotaka

Classifications

• B62J45/4152 Primary

  for sensing longitudinal inclination of the cycle · CPC title

• B62J45/4151

  for sensing lateral inclination of the cycle · CPC title

• B62K5/10

  with means for inwardly inclining the vehicle body on bends · CPC title

• B62K5/08

  with steering devices acting on two or more wheels · CPC title

• B62K11/007 Primary

  Automatic balancing machines with single main ground engaging wheel or coaxial wheels supporting a rider · CPC title