Control apparatus for damping force varying damper and damping force varying damper system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9682602-B2
Application number	US-201514750146-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 25, 2015
Priority date	Jan 26, 2015
Publication date	Jun 20, 2017
Grant date	Jun 20, 2017

Abstract

A control apparatus for a damping force varying damper includes a target current determining section, an upper limit setting section, and a supplied current determining section. The target current determining section determines a target current supplied to a solenoid valve that controls a damping force. The upper limit setting section sets an upper limit value for a current supplied to the solenoid valve. The supplied current determining section determines a supplied current, from the target current and the upper limit value. The upper limit setting section determines a coefficient that increases or reduces the upper limit value based on an already determined supplied current and then determines the upper limit value from the coefficient. The upper limit setting section determines a coefficient that increases or reduces the upper limit value based on an already determined supplied current and then determines the upper limit value from the coefficient.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A damping force varying damper system comprising:
a damping force varying damper with a solenoid valve that adjusts a damping force; and
a control apparatus that controls the solenoid valve,
wherein the control apparatus includes:
a target current determining section that determines a target current supplied to a solenoid valve that controls a damping force of the damping force varying damper;
an upper limit setting section that sets an upper limit value for a current supplied to the solenoid valve; and
a supplied current determining section that determines a supplied current supplied to the solenoid valve, from the target current and the upper limit value,

the upper limit setting section determines a coefficient that increases or reduces the upper limit value based on an already determined supplied current and then determines the upper limit value from the coefficient, and
the upper limit setting section determines the coefficient from a moving average of the already determined supplied current over a preset time.

2. The damping force varying damper system according to claim 1 , wherein the upper limit setting section increases the upper limit value when the moving average of the already determined supplied current is smaller than a first threshold, and
the upper limit setting section reduces the upper limit value when the moving average of the already determined supplied current is larger than a second threshold set equal to or larger than the first threshold.

3. The damping force varying damper system according to claim 2 , wherein the upper limit setting section maintains the upper limit value when the moving average of the already determined supplied current is equal to or larger than the first threshold and equal to or smaller than the second threshold.

4. The damping force varying damper system according to claim 1 , wherein the damping force varying damper is provided in plurality, and the solenoid valve is provided in plurality, and
the supplied current determining section selects a smallest one of the supplied currents determined for the plurality of the solenoid valves.

5. The damping force varying damper system according to claim 1 , wherein the upper limit setting section comprises:
a first upper limit setting section that determines the upper limit value based on the already determined supplied current;
a second upper limit setting section that determines the upper limit value from a resistance value determined from an actual current and an actual voltage supplied to the solenoid valve; and
a selection section that selectively determines which of the first and second upper limit setting sections is used to determine the upper limit value.

6. The damping force varying damper system according to claim 5 , wherein the selection section selects the second upper limit setting section until a duration has elapsed from power-on of the control apparatus and selects the first upper limit setting section after the duration elapses.

7. The damping force varying damper system according to claim 5 , wherein the selection section selects the second upper limit setting section until a duration has elapsed from start of current supply to the solenoid valve and selects the first upper limit setting section after the duration elapses.

8. The damping force varying damper system according to claim 5 , wherein the damping force varying damper is provided in plurality, and the solenoid valve is provided in plurality,
the control apparatus further comprises a detection section that detects the actual current and the actual voltage actually supplied to the plurality of solenoid valves, and
the detection section does not simultaneously detect the actual current or the actual voltage for each of the plurality of solenoid valves.

9. A damping force varying damper system comprising:
a damping force varying damper with a solenoid valve that adjusts a damping force; and
a control apparatus that controls the solenoid valve,
wherein the control apparatus includes:
a target current determining section that determines a target current supplied to a solenoid valve that controls a damping force of the damping force varying damper;
an upper limit setting section that sets an upper limit value for a current supplied to the solenoid valve; and
a supplied current determining section that determines a supplied current supplied to the solenoid valve, from the target current and the upper limit value,

wherein the upper limit setting section comprises:
a first upper limit setting section that determines the upper limit value based on an already determined supplied current;
a second upper limit setting section that determines the upper limit value from a resistance value determined from an actual current and an actual voltage supplied to the solenoid valve; and
a selection section that selectively determines which of the first and second upper limit setting sections is used to determine the upper limit value.

10. The damping force varying damper system according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an upper limit value storage section that stores the upper limit value obtained at a time of last power-off of the control apparatus; and
a time measuring section that measures an elapsed time from the last power-off of the control apparatus,
wherein the upper limit setting section comprises:
a first upper limit setting section that determines upper limit value based on the already determined supplied current;
a second upper limit setting section that determines the upper limit value from the upper limit value obtained at the time of the last power-off of the control apparatus and stored in the upper limit value storage section, and the elapsed time measured by the time measuring section; and
a selection section that selectively determines which of the first and second upper limit setting sections is used to determine the upper limit value.

11. The damping force varying damper system according to claim 10 , wherein the selection section selects the second upper limit setting section until a duration has elapsed from power-on of the control apparatus and selects the first upper limit setting section after the duration elapses.

12. The damping force varying damper system according to claim 10 , wherein the selection section selects the second upper limit setting section until a duration has elapsed from start of current supply to the solenoid valve and selects the first upper limit setting section after the duration elapses.

13. A damping force varying damper system comprising:
a damping force varying damper with a solenoid valve that adjusts a damping force; and
a control apparatus that controls the solenoid valve,
wherein the control apparatus includes:
a target current determining section that determines a target current supplied to a solenoid valve that controls a damping force of the damping force varying damper;
an upper limit setting section that sets an upper limit value for a current supplied to the solenoid valve;
a supplied current determining section that determines a supplied current supplied to the solenoid valve, from the target current and the upper limit value;
an upper limit value storage section that stores the upper limit value obtained at a time of last power-off of the control apparatus; and
a time measuring section that measures an elapsed time from the last power-off of the control apparatus,

wherein the upper limit setting section comprises:
a first upper limit setting section that determines the upper limit value based on an already determined supplied current;
a second upper limit setting se

Assignees

• Showa Corp

Inventors

• Morita Takumi
• Sakuma Atsushi
• Sugimoto Masaki

Classifications

• B60G2500/10

  Damping action or damper · CPC title

• B60G17/015 Primary

  the regulating means comprising electric or electronic elements ({B60G17/002}, B60G17/005 take precedence) · CPC title

• B60G2400/208

  of wheel rotation · CPC title

• B60G2400/25

  Stroke; Height; Displacement · CPC title

• B60G17/08

  Characteristics of fluid dampers (adjusting fluid dampers in general F16F9/44 - F16F9/53) · CPC title