US 12,434,529 B2
Vehicle control apparatus and suspension system
Masatoshi Yamahata, Hitachinaka (JP); Ryusuke Hirao, Hitachinaka (JP); and Yuki Yoshida, Hitachinaka (JP)
Assigned to HITACHI ASTEMO, LTD., Ibaraki (JP)
Appl. No. 18/014,253
Filed by Hitachi Astemo, Ltd., Hitachinaka (JP)
PCT Filed Jul. 6, 2021, PCT No. PCT/JP2021/025422
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jan. 3, 2023,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/009869, PCT Pub. Date Jan. 13, 2022.
Claims priority of application No. 2020-117710 (JP), filed on Jul. 8, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0271471 A1, Aug. 31, 2023
Int. Cl. B60G 17/00 (2006.01); B60G 17/0165 (2006.01); B60G 17/018 (2006.01)
CPC B60G 17/0182 (2013.01) [B60G 17/0165 (2013.01); B60G 2400/0511 (2013.01); B60G 2400/0512 (2013.01); B60G 2400/102 (2013.01); B60G 2400/208 (2013.01); B60G 2400/252 (2013.01); B60G 2400/821 (2013.01); B60G 2401/28 (2013.01); B60G 2500/10 (2013.01); B60G 2600/60 (2013.01)] 13 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A vehicle control apparatus, wherein the vehicle control apparatus estimates a state of a vehicle based on a wheel speed sensor mounted on the vehicle using a Kalman filter and outputs a control signal to a damping force variable shock absorber provided between a wheel and a vehicle body according to the estimated state of the vehicle, and
wherein the vehicle control apparatus uses information of a sensor of an in-vehicle apparatus other than an apparatus dedicated to the damping force variable shock absorber to estimate the state of the vehicle as an observed value of the Kalman filter,
wherein the information of the sensor of the in-vehicle apparatus is gyro information of a gyro sensor mounted on the in-vehicle apparatus,
wherein the vehicle control apparatus identifies at least one of a rotational angular speed in a roll direction or a rotational angular speed in a pitch direction of the vehicle based on the information of the gyro sensor as a rotational motion of the vehicle, and further identifies a sprung vertical acceleration of the vehicle based on an acceleration sensor mounted on the in-vehicle apparatus other than the apparatus dedicated to the damping force variable shock absorber, and
wherein the vehicle control apparatus estimates the state of the vehicle based on the rotational motion of the vehicle, the spring vertical acceleration, and the running state information of the vehicle.
 
12. A suspension system comprising:
a damping force variable shock absorber provided between a wheel and a vehicle body of a vehicle;
a vehicle control apparatus configured to output a control signal to the damping force variable shock absorber; and
a wheel speed sensor mounted on the vehicle,
wherein the suspension system estimates a state of the vehicle based on wheel speed information of the wheel speed sensor using a Kalman filter and controls a damping force of the damping force variable shock absorber according to the estimated state of the vehicle, and
wherein the suspension system uses sensor information of an in-vehicle system other than a system for controlling the vehicle to control the damping force variable shock absorber as an observed value of the Kalman filter,
wherein the vehicle control apparatus includes a mobile apparatus detection portion configured to detect a mobile apparatus brought in the vehicle,
wherein, in a case where the mobile apparatus is detected by the mobile apparatus detection portion, the vehicle control apparatus identifies at least one of a rotational angular speed in a roll direction or a rotational angular speed in a pitch direction of the vehicle based on information of a gyro sensor of the mobile apparatus as a rotational motion of the vehicle, and outputs the control signal to the damping force variable shock absorber according to the estimated state of the vehicle and the rotational motion of the vehicle, and
wherein, in a case where the mobile apparatus is not detected by the mobile apparatus detection portion, the vehicle control apparatus outputs the control signal to the damping force variable shock absorber according to the estimated state of the vehicle.