JPH043909Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] <Industrial application field> The invention tilts the steering wheel and steering shaft of a vehicle, and is equipped with an electric tilt steering mechanism using a motor to perform tilt operations when getting on and off the vehicle. This invention relates to an automated electric tilt steering control device.

<Problems to be solved by conventional techniques and inventions> The steering wheel of a vehicle is positioned with various ergonomic considerations in mind so that the driver can easily get on and off the vehicle and can easily drive the vehicle. However, since drivers vary in height and body shape, if the position of the steering wheel can be adjusted to suit each driver, it will be possible to receive smooth, safe, and attentive service when driving, getting in and out of a vehicle, and so on.

Traditionally, adjusting the steering wheel position was done by
Since steering wheels equipped with a position adjustment mechanism, that is, a tilt mechanism, have become available, the driver has had to manually raise and lower the steering wheel and steering shaft.

However, this manual tilting is quite troublesome. A recent trend is to electrify and even automate steering wheel tilt operations.

In view of the above-mentioned trends, the present invention aims to provide an electric tilt steering control device that is not only electric but also automates the tilt operation when getting on and off the vehicle.

<Means for solving the problem> The present invention that achieves the above purpose includes a tilt motor that tilts the steering wheel up and down,
A drive circuit that rotates the tilt motor forward and reverse, a vehicle speed sensor that detects the vehicle speed, a parking brake switch that detects whether the parking brake is applied, and a switch that is operated to tilt the steering wheel up to the upper limit position. Upon receiving the detection outputs of the provided one-touch switch, the vehicle speed sensor, the parking brake switch, and the one-touch switch, it is detected that the one-touch switch is operated when the vehicle speed is zero and the parking brake is pulled. The present invention is characterized by comprising a control device that outputs a control signal to the drive circuit to tilt up the steering wheel to an upper limit position.

<Example> Here, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the figure, the circuit roughly consists of a microcomputer 1, an interface 2 connected to sensors and switches, a tilt motor 3, a clamp motor 4, a buzzer 5, and an alarm lamp 6, which are controlled by the microcomputer 1.

Among these, the tilt motor 3 is a steering column (not shown) equipped with a steering wheel.
is driven to tilt via a worm gear, and is connected to the microcomputer 1 via two drive units 7 and 8 for forward rotation and reverse rotation. These driving units 7 and 8 are connected to a bias resistor 7 in a microcomputer 1.
Transistors 7b, 8b whose bases are connected via a, 8a, protective diodes 7c, 8c connected in opposite directions to the collectors of the transistors 7b, 8b, and excitation coils 7d, 8d for contact closing.
and switches 7e and 8e which are grounded by the excitation of the excitation coils 7d and 8d and connected to the power supply +B by de-excitation. The common terminals of switches 7e and 8e are connected to two terminals of tilt motor 3, so when transistor 7b is turned on and switch 7e is grounded, tilt motor 3 rotates forward and transistor 8b is turned on. When the switch 8e is grounded, the tilt motor 3 rotates in the reverse direction.

In addition, the clamp motor 4 is a power transmission mechanism from the tilt motor 3 to the steering column, specifically, a tightening motor for mainly eliminating looseness caused by buckling of the worm gear. It moves in such a way that it causes backlash during driving or eliminates backlash after driving.
On the circuit, it is connected to the microcomputer 1 via drive units 9 and 10, and when the transistor 9b of the drive unit 9 is turned on, the switch 9e is grounded and the clamp motor 4 is
When the transistor 10b of the drive unit 10 is turned on, the switch 10e is grounded via the overcurrent detection circuit 11, and the switch 10e rotates in the normal direction. The forward rotation of the clamp motor 4 is performed by turning on the transistor 10b to tighten the worm gear so as to eliminate play. In this case, after the worm gear is tightened, overcurrent due to overload of the clamp motor 4 is detected, and this detection signal is sent to the microcomputer 1 to turn off the transistor 10b and stop the motor 4. .

The reversal of the clamp motor 4 is to cause play in the worm gear, and is accomplished by turning on the transistor 9b. At the time when this backlash occurs, the microcomputer 1 issues a command to turn off the transistor 9b in order to turn on the clamp unlock switch, which will be described later.

Further, a buzzer 5 is connected to the microcomputer 1 to notify the start of tilting and an abnormal stop, and an alarm lamp 6 for warning is also connected.

On the other hand, the sensors and switches connected to the interface 2 include an ignition switch 12 (IGSW 12) having OFF, ACC, and ON contacts;
A vehicle speed sensor 13 for inputting the vehicle speed to the microcomputer 1 in pulse numbers; a parking brake switch 14 that is turned on when the parking brake is activated;
(PKSW14), manual switch 15 (MSW1) that has UP and DOWN terminals and manually drives the tilt motor 3.
5), One touch switch 16 (OTSW16),
Limit switch 17 (UPSW 17) that detects when the tilt is up to the upper limit, limit switch 18 that detects when the tilt is down to the lower limit
(DOWNSW18), a tilt position sensor 19 (PG19) for inputting the amount of tilt by the tilt motor 3 to the microcomputer 1 in the number of pulses, and a clamp that turns on when the clamp motor 4 causes backlash, that is, in the unlocked state. There is an unlock switch 20 (UNLOCK20).

In the figure, 21 is a power stabilizing circuit for the microcomputer 1 and the interface 2, 9a and 10a are bias resistors, 9c and 10c are inductance-based protection diodes, and 9d and 10d are excitation coils.

The configuration was explained above based on the diagram, but
Here, the functions of the microcomputer 1 and the tilt operation will be explained. First, manual operation will be explained. In manual operation, when the IGSW 12 is in the ACC or ON state, the tilt motor 3 rotates forward or reverse by turning on the UP contact or the DOWN contact of the manual switch (MSW) 15. In other words, microcomputer 1
By turning on the ACC or ON of the IGSW 12 and turning on any of the contacts of the MSW 15, the clamp motor 4 is first reversed to enable power transmission, then the tilt motor 3 is rotated forward or reverse to tilt up or down, and then , the clamp motor 4 is rotated in the normal direction and stopped when an overcurrent is detected, thereby eliminating backlash. In this case, MSW15 and
If both OTSW16 and OTSW16 are input,
Prioritize manual operation when IGSW12 is in ACC or ON state.

A case will be explained in which it is desired to automate tilt-up and tilt-down when the driver gets on and off the vehicle. To tilt up, the OTSW 16 may be turned on while the VPG 13 detects that the vehicle speed is zero and the PKSW 14 is turned on.
When the above conditions are met, the clamp motor 4 is rotated in reverse, the tilt motor 3 is rotated in the normal direction to tilt up, and the clamp motor 4 is rotated in the normal direction. Also, to stop the tilt-up operation,
This is performed when the UPSW 17 is turned on or when the above-described tilt-up conditions are no longer satisfied, and the microcomputer 1 outputs a command to stop the tilt motor 3 to the drive section 7.

The case of performing tilt down in auto mode will be explained. To tilt down, VPG13 detects that the vehicle speed is zero and PKSW14
It is sufficient to open the OTSW 16 while the switch is turned on. When the above conditions are met, the clamp motor 4 is rotated in reverse, the tilt motor 3 is tilted down by reverse rotation, and the clamp motor 4 is rotated in the normal direction.
In this case, when tilting down, the seat is usually not lowered to the lower limit, but is tilted down to an appropriate position for the driver's seat, that is, a tilt position adjusted by manual operation. The detection of this tilt position is carried out by, for example, the tilt motor position sensor 19.
This is performed when the detected value of (PG19) matches the detected value of PG19 corresponding to the tilt position stored and adjusted in the microcomputer 1. The tilt-down operation is stopped when the DOWNSW18 is turned on (when the tilt-down reaches the lower limit) and when the above-mentioned tilt-down conditions are no longer satisfied, and the microcomputer 1 issues a command to stop the tilt motor 3 to the drive unit 8. The clamp motor 4 performs a lock to eliminate backlash.

When the manual switch 15 is operated during the above-mentioned auto mode, the auto mode is canceled and manual operation is performed by turning the IGSW 12 ACC or ON.

Since the above-mentioned tilt operation is driven by a motor, it is preferable to add other functions to the microcomputer 1 to ensure safety.

After driving the clamp motor 4 in the direction that causes backlash, the clamp motor 4 is rotated for a certain period of time (for example, 1±
If UNLOCK20 does not turn on within 0.1sec).

When the motor rotation pulse is not input from the PG19 for a certain period of time (for example, 300±10 msec) after the tilt motor 3 is driven at a position other than the upper end or lower end position, and something is caught in the steering wheel, etc.

A certain period of time after the tilt motor 3 stops (1±
If the clamp motor 4 does not stop within 0.1sec).

In the above case, stop the motor drive and
Turn on the alarm indicator 6 with ACC or ON of IGSW 12. Moreover, when the manual switch 14 is operated, the buzzer 5 issues an alarm during the operation.

Also, if the battery is removed from the vehicle,
Tilt-down in auto mode is not performed until manual switch 15 is operated.

If safety is ensured by detecting the above and conditions, the degree of danger caused by electric tilting will be significantly reduced.

In addition, in the above example, a case was explained in which two motors, the tilt motor 3 and the clamp motor 4, were used, but the present invention can also be applied to a system in which the tilt operation and the clamp operation are performed by one motor. . In this case, it is sufficient to perform clamping and unclamping by slightly reversing the rotation before and after tilt-up, and slightly forward rotation before and after tilt-down.

<Effects of the invention> As explained above in the embodiments, the present invention is provided with a one-touch switch so that tilt-up to the upper limit position can be performed with a simple operation when getting off the vehicle. By tilting up the steering wheel to the upper limit position, the tilt-up operation is performed semi-automatically according to the driver's will.

Therefore, in the present invention, when it is detected that the one-touch switch is operated when the vehicle speed is zero and the parking brake is applied, a control signal is output to the drive circuit to tilt the steering wheel up to the upper limit position. There is. This allows the steering wheel to be tilted up to the upper limit position in conjunction with the one-touch switch operation only when a safe stopping condition is detected, making it convenient even when exiting the vehicle with the engine running while ensuring sufficient safety. This makes it possible to tilt up the camera.

In particular, since it allows control according to one-touch switch operation on the condition that the vehicle speed is zero and the parking brake is applied, it is possible to reliably detect a safe stopped state, which has the advantage of excellent safety. There is.

Further, since there is no need to detect whether the ignition key is turned off or the like, the tilt-up operation can be easily performed even when the vehicle is exited with the engine running, thereby improving the ease of getting in and out of the vehicle.

Furthermore, since it is activated by the driver's operation of a one-touch switch, it has the advantage that it does not activate when it is not necessary and does not give the driver a sense of discomfort.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The figure is a circuit configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a microcomputer, 3 is a tilt motor, 4 is a clamp motor, 5 is a buzzer, 6 is an alarm lamp, 7, 8, 9, and 10 are drive units, 11 is an overcurrent detection circuit, and 12 is an ignition switch. (IGSW), 13 is a vehicle speed detection sensor, 14 is a parking brake switch (PKSW), 15 is a manual switch (MSW), 16 is a one-touch switch (OTSW), 17 is a tilt upper limit switch (UPSW), 18 is a tilt lower limit switch (DOWNSW), 19 is a tilt motor position sensor (PG), and 20 is a clamp unlock switch (UNLOCK).

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A tilt motor that tilts the steering wheel up and down, a drive circuit that rotates the tilt motor forward and reverse, a vehicle speed sensor that detects vehicle speed, a parking brake switch that detects that the parking brake is applied, and the above-mentioned steering wheel. A one-touch switch is provided to be operated when tilting up the wheel to the upper limit position, and the one-touch switch is operated when the vehicle speed is zero and the parking brake is pulled. An electric tilt steering control device comprising: a control device that outputs a control signal to the drive circuit to tilt up the steering wheel to an upper limit position when detecting that a touch switch is operated.