Vehicle suspension system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10457110-B2
Application number	US-201715595269-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 15, 2017
Priority date	Mar 16, 2016
Publication date	Oct 29, 2019
Grant date	Oct 29, 2019

Abstract

A vehicle suspension system ( 3 ) is provided that allows attention eliciting information such as rumble strips, bumps and road markers to be conveyed to the vehicle operator substantially without detracting from the performance of the vehicle suspension system. A control unit ( 10 ) determines if a prescribed warning condition exists according to vehicle information and/or road surface information acquired by an information acquiring unit, and performs a warning control including an extending and retracting movement of the actuator interposed between an sprung member ( 8 ) and an unsprung member ( 9 ) of the vehicle at a prescribed frequency when the warning condition is determined.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vehicle suspension system, comprising;
an actuator interposed between a sprung member and an unsprung member of a vehicle and applying a drive force to cause a relative displacement between the sprung member and the unsprung member by an extending and retracting movement;
a sensor acquiring the extending and retracting movement of the actuator;
an onboard camera acquiring road surface image information; and
a control unit configured to perform a control including the extending and retracting movement of the actuator, wherein the control unit is configured to:
compute an unsprung member demand load to reduce vibration of the unsprung member,
compute a sprung member demand load to suppress vibration of the sprung member,
determine an existence of a first warning condition when a wheel of the vehicle is passing road surface irregularities including rumble strips and/or bumps provided on the road surface based on the extending and retracting movement of the actuator,
compute a first warning demand load to perform a first warning control including the extending and retracting movement of the actuator at a first frequency when first the warning condition is determined,
determine an existence of a second warning condition when the road surface image information indicates that the wheel of the vehicle is traveling near or on a road line provided on the road surface,
compute a second warning demand load to perform a second warning control including the extending and retracting movement of the actuator at a second frequency when the second warning condition is determined, and
compute a target load of the actuator based on at least the unsprung member demand load, the sprung member demand load, the first warning demand load, and the second warning demand load.

2. The vehicle suspension system according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit is further configured to increase an amplitude and a frequency of a vibration pattern assigned to the second warning demand load with a decrease in a distance between the wheel and the road line.

3. A vehicle suspension system, comprising:
a plurality of actuators interposed between a sprung member and an unsprung member of a vehicle and corresponding to each of a plurality of wheels of the vehicle, and applying a drive force to cause a relative displacement between the sprung member and the unsprung member by an extending and retracting movement;
a plurality of spring members interposed between the sprung member and the unsprung member and corresponding to each of the plurality of wheels, and urging the sprung member and the unsprung member away from each other;
a plurality of sensors provided to each of the plurality of actuators, and acquiring the extending and retracting movement of each of the actuators; and
a control unit configured to perform a control including the extending and retracting movement of the plurality of actuators, wherein the control unit is configured to change the extending and retracting movement of the actuators i) when a sum of retraction strokes of the plurality of actuators is equal to or greater than a sum determination value, and ii) when the sum of retraction strokes of the plurality of actuators is less than the sum determination value and a retraction stroke of at least one of the plurality of actuators is equal to or greater than a predetermined value.

4. A vehicle suspension system, comprising:
a plurality of actuators interposed between a sprung member and an unsprung member of a vehicle and corresponding to each of a plurality of wheels of the vehicle, and applying a drive force to cause a relative displacement between the sprung member and the unsprung member by an extending and retracting movement;
a plurality of spring members interposed between the sprung member and the unsprung member and corresponding to each of the wheels, and urging the sprung member and the unsprung member away from each other;
a plurality of sensors provided to each of the plurality of actuators, and acquiring the extending and retracting movement of each of the plurality of actuators; and
a control unit configured to perform a control including the extending and retracting movement of the plurality of actuators, wherein the control unit is configured to:
determine an existence of a third warning condition when a retraction stroke of each of the plurality of actuators is greater than a first value,
perform a third warning control on one or more actuators of the plurality of actuators corresponding to one or more wheels for which the third warning condition is detected,
determine an existence of a fourth warning condition when a sum of retraction strokes of the plurality of actuators is greater than a second value, and
perform a fourth warning control on the plurality of actuators.

Assignees

• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Toyohira Tomoya
• Kato Takafumi
• Yoneda Atsuhiko

Classifications

• B60G17/02 Primary

  Spring characteristics {, e.g. mechanical springs and mechanical adjusting means}(B60G17/005, B60G17/015 take precedence) · CPC title

• B60G2202/413

  Hydraulic actuator · CPC title

• B60G15/02

  having mechanical spring · CPC title

• B60G2202/416

  using a pump, e.g. in the line connecting the lower chamber to the upper chamber of the actuator · CPC title

• B60G15/065

  characterised by the use of a combination of springs · CPC title