Vehicle body inclination controller and failure determination device for vehicle body inclination controller

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10829132-B2
Application number	US-201716079864-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 24, 2017
Priority date	Feb 24, 2016
Publication date	Nov 10, 2020
Grant date	Nov 10, 2020

Abstract

A vehicle body inclination controller includes an air spring, an air reservoir, valve devices, an acquisition section, and a determination section. The determination section compares, with a predetermined threshold, at least one of a value of a ratio between supply control information of a supply valve and exhaust control information of an exhaust valve in the same valve device among the valve devices, a value of a ratio between pieces of the supply control information of the supply valves of different valve devices among the valve devices, or a value of a ratio between pieces of the exhaust control information of the exhaust valves of different valve devices among the valve devices, and determines that a failure occurs in the same valve device or at least one of the different valve devices when the value of the ratio exceeds the predetermined threshold.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle body inclination controller comprising:
an air spring configured to support a vehicle body;
an air reservoir configured to supply high-pressure air to the air spring to support the vehicle body, the high-pressure air being stored at a pressure higher than the pressure of the air stored in the air spring;
a plurality of valve devices, each of which includes a supply valve that controls supply of the high-pressure air from the air reservoir to the air spring and an exhaust valve that controls exhaust of the air stored in the air spring from the air spring to an outside, the plurality of valve devices being arranged in parallel and connected with a path for supplying the high-pressure air from the air reservoir to the air spring and with a path for exhausting the stored air from the air spring to the outside;
a valve driver that configured to output a first signal to the supply valve of each of the valve devices for controlling the supply of the high-pressure air and a second signal to the exhaust valve of each of the valve devices for controlling the exhaust of the stored air;
an acquisition section configured to acquire supply control information including information relating to supply control of the high-pressure air with the supply valve of at least one of the plurality of the valve devices and exhaust control information including information relating to exhaust control of the stored air with the exhaust valve of at least one of the plurality of valve devices; and
a determination section that configured to at least one of:
compare a first ratio between the supply control information of the supply valve of one of the plurality of valve devices and the exhaust control information of the exhaust valve of the one of the plurality of valve devices with a first predetermined threshold,
compare a second ratio between the supply control information of one of the supply valves of a first pair of the plurality of valve devices and the supply control information of the other one of the supply valves of the first pair of the the plurality of valve devices with a second predetermined threshold, or
compare a third ratio between the exhaust control information of one of the exhaust valves of a second pair of the plurality of valve devices and the exhaust control information of the other one of the exhaust valves of the second pair of the plurlality of valve devices with a third predetermined threshold, the first pair of the plurality of valve devices being the same as or different from the second pair of the plurality of valve devices,

wherein the determination section is configured to at least one of:
determine that a failure has occured in the one of the plurality of valve devices when the first ratio exceeds the first predetermined threshold,
determine that a failure has occurred in at least one of the first pair of the plurality of valve devices when the second ratio exceeds the second predetermined threshold, or
determine that a failure has occurred in at least one of the second pair of the plurality of valve devices when the third ratio exceeds the third predetermined threshold.

2. The vehicle body inclination controller according to claim 1 , wherein
at least one of the plurality of valve devices has a valve capacity different from a valve capacity of another valve device among the plurality of valve devices, wherein the valve capacity is a flow rate of the high-pressure air passing through the supply valve in a predetermined time and a flow rate of the stored air passing through the exhaust valve in the predetermined time.

3. The vehicle body inclination controller according to claim 2 , wherein the plurality of valve devices include:
a first valve device having a first valve capacity;
a second valve device having a second valve capacity with a larger flow rate of air passing through the second valve device in the predetermined time than the first valve capacity; and
a third valve device having a third valve capacity with a larger flow rate of air passing through the third valve device in the predetermined time than the second valve capacity, wherein
the first ratio is a ratio between the supply control information and the exhaust control information of the first, second or third valve device,
the second ratio is at least one of a ratio between the supply control information of the first valve device and the supply control information of the second valve device, or a ratio between the supply control information of the second valve device and the supply control information of the third valve device, and
the third ratio is at least one of a ratio between the exhaust control information of the first valve device and the exhaust control information of the second valve device, or a ratio between the exhaust control information of the second valve device and the exhaust control information of the third valve device.

4. The vehicle body inclination controller according to claim 2 , wherein,
the valve capacities of the first pair of the plurality of valve devices are adjacent to each other among the valve capacities of the plurality of valve devices, and
the valve capacities of the second pair of the plurality of valve devices are adjacent to each other among the valve capacities of the plurality of valve devices.

5. The vehicle body inclination controller according to claim 1 , further comprising
a communication section that transmits the supply control information and the exhaust control information, acquired by the acquisition section, to the determination section.

6. The vehicle body inclination controller according to claim 1 , wherein
the valve driver is configured to output a signal for controlling opening and closing of the supply valve and a signal for controlling opening and closing of the exhaust valve,
the supply control information includes a number of times the supply valve opens and closes during a predetermined period, and
the exhaust control information includes a number of times the exhaust valves opens and closes during the predetermined period.

7. The vehicle body inclination controller according to claim 1 , wherein
the supply control information is a flow rate of the high-pressure air passing through the supply valve during a predetermined, and
the exhaust control information is a flow rate of the stored air passing through the exhaust valve during the predetermined period.

8. The vehicle body inclination controller according to claim 1 , wherein
the valve driver is configured to control the degree that the supply valve opens and to control the degree that the exhaust valve opens,
the supply control information includes information related to the degree that the supply valve is opened, and
the exhaust control information includes information related to the degree that the exhaust valve is opened.

9. A failure determination device for a vehicle body inclination controller,
wherein the vehicle body inclination controller comprises:
an air spring configured to support a vehicle;
an air reservoir configured to supply high-pressure air to the air spring to support the vehicle body, the high-pressure air being stored at a pressure that is higher than the pressure of the air stored in the air spring;
a plurality of valve devices, each of which includes a supply valve that controls supply of the high-pressure air from the air reservoir to the air spring and an exhaust valve that controls exhaust of the air stored in the air spring from the air spring to an outside, the plurality of valve devices being arranged in parallel and connected with a path for supplying the high-pressure air from the air reservoir to the air spring and with a path for exhausting the s

Assignees

• Tokai Ryokaku Tetsudo Kk

Inventors

• Tanase Toshikatsu
• Hosomi Tsukasa
• Tatsuno Toru
• Terada Kota

Classifications

• B61F5/144 Primary

  comprising fluid damping devices (B61F5/146 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B61F5/10

  incorporating fluid springs · CPC title

• B61F5/245

  by active damping, i.e. with means to vary the damping characteristics in accordance with track or vehicle induced reactions, especially in high speed mode · CPC title

• B61F1/14

  Attaching or supporting vehicle body-structure · CPC title

• B60G99/00

  Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass · CPC title