Vehicle control device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11279333-B2
Application number	US-201916554876-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 29, 2019
Priority date	Mar 3, 2017
Publication date	Mar 22, 2022
Grant date	Mar 22, 2022

Abstract

The vehicle control device includes a speed calculation unit, a speed estimation unit, a motion feedback calculation unit, and a slip estimator. The speed calculation unit calculates a speed in a predetermined direction of a vehicle on the basis of a feature quantity. The speed estimation unit estimates a speed in the predetermined direction on the basis of a speed or acceleration detected by a motion detector. The motion feedback calculation unit performs feedback calculation in which a value obtained, through a proportional gain, from a deviation between a calculation speed calculated by the speed calculation unit and an estimation speed estimated by the speed estimation unit, is added to the feature quantity. The slip estimator compares the calculation speed with the estimation speed, and estimates that the vehicle is in a slip state in the predetermined direction, when the estimation speed exceeds the calculation speed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle control device for controlling a vehicle drive device in a vehicle including a vehicle operation device configured to perform an operation for at least one of a first force in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle and a second force in a turning direction of the vehicle, and a motion detector configured to detect at least one of a speed or acceleration in a predetermined direction of the vehicle, the vehicle drive device being configured to generate at least one of the first force and the second force of the vehicle based on an operation input value with respect to the vehicle operation device, the vehicle control device comprising:
a speed calculation unit configured to calculate a calculation speed by calculating a speed in the predetermined direction of the vehicle based on a feature quantity represented by at least one of the operation input value with respect to the vehicle operation device and a driving force of the vehicle drive device;
a speed estimation unit configured to estimate an estimation speed by estimating a speed in the predetermined direction of the vehicle based on the at least one of the speed or the acceleration detected by the motion detector;
a motion feedback calculation unit configured to perform a feedback calculation in which a value is added to the feature quantity, the value obtained, through a proportional gain, from a deviation between the calculation speed calculated by the speed calculation unit and the estimation speed estimated by the speed estimation unit; and
a slip estimator configured to compare the calculation speed calculated by the speed calculation unit with the estimation speed estimated by the speed estimation unit, and to estimate that the vehicle is in a slip state in the predetermined direction of the vehicle, when the estimation speed exceeds the calculation speed.

2. The vehicle control device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein
the speed calculation unit is configured to correct the calculation speed calculated by the speed calculation unit based on the feedback calculation only if a correction amount determined by the motion feedback calculation unit would not result in a decrease to the calculation speed calculated by the speed calculation unit.

3. The vehicle control device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein
the speed calculation unit is configured to add, to the feature quantity, a determined bias value for driving the vehicle if the determined bias value added to the feature quantity would result in an increase to the calculation speed calculated by the speed calculation unit,
the determined bias value is set to zero if the determined bias value for driving the vehicle added to the feature quantity would result in a decrease to the calculation speed calculated by the speed calculation unit, and
the feature quantity is represented by at least one of the operation input value with respect to the vehicle operation device and the driving force of the vehicle drive device.

4. The vehicle control device as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a vehicle motion estimator,
wherein
the vehicle drive device is a wheel drive device configured to provide a rotary torque to a wheel of the vehicle,
the speed calculation unit is configured to calculate an angular speed of the wheel that is synchronous with a longitudinal speed of the vehicle based on a calculation including at least one of the rotary torque of the wheel, the feature quantity, and a weight of the vehicle,
the vehicle motion estimator is configured to estimate an angular speed of the wheel based on a detection value of a motion detector configured to detect at least one of an angular acceleration, an angular speed, and an angle of the wheel, and
the slip estimator is configured to estimate a slip rate of the wheel based on a comparison between the angular speed of the wheel estimated by the vehicle motion estimator and the angular speed of the wheel calculated by the speed calculation unit.

5. The vehicle control device as claimed in claim 4 , wherein
the vehicle drive device includes a plurality of wheel drive devices configured to be independently controlled,
the slip estimator is configured to perform a determination as to a slip state for each wheel driven by the plurality of wheel drive devices, and
the motion feedback calculation unit is configured to perform the feedback calculation only with respect to wheels that are determined to not be in the slip state by the slip estimator.

6. The vehicle control device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein
the vehicle operation device includes a brake operation device,
the vehicle drive device includes a brake device, and
the speed calculation unit is configured to calculate the speed in the predetermined direction of the vehicle based on at least one of an operation input value by the brake operation device and a driving force of the brake device.

Assignees

• Ntn Toyo Bearing Co Ltd

Inventors

• Masuda Yui

Classifications

• B60T7/12

  for automatic initiation; for initiation not subject to will of driver or passenger {(limiting speed of vehicles other than rail vehicles B60K31/00)} · CPC title

• B60W2050/0024

  Variable gains · CPC title

• B60T2250/04

  Vehicle reference speed; Vehicle body speed · CPC title

• B60T13/741

  acting on an ultimate actuator · CPC title

• B60K31/00

  Vehicle fittings, acting on a single sub-unit only, for automatically controlling vehicle speed, i.e. preventing speed from exceeding an arbitrarily established velocity or maintaining speed at a particular velocity, as selected by the vehicle operator · CPC title