Vehicle safety device

The present invention relates to a vehicle safety device, and more particularly to a vehicle safety device for preventing a runaway of a vehicle.

In recent years, with the spread of automatic transmissions, a vehicle runaway accident has occurred due to the intention of depressing only the brake pedal and depressing the brake pedal and the accelerator pedal at the same time.

The positions of the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal are close to each other, and normally, the driver depresses both the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal with his right foot, which may cause the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal to be depressed at the same time. In this case, due to the characteristics of the automatic transmission, it is considered that a runaway accident of the vehicle occurs as described above because the vehicle starts only by depressing the accelerator pedal.

For example, if the driver intends to depress the brake pedal to stop and also depresses the accelerator pedal at the same time, the driver will not be able to obtain the desired braking force and the engine output will increase, so the driver will not be able to obtain the desired braking force. It is possible to panic and, as a result, step further.

In particular, when the negative pressure of the engine intake is used for the brake booster, the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal are depressed at the same time as described above, and the accelerator pedal is depressed to sufficiently supply air to the engine intake. If this happens, a sufficient brake booster cannot be obtained, and the driving force is superior to the braking force in combination with the operation of the torque converter used in the automatic transmission.

In this way, when the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal are depressed at the same time, the driving force exceeds the braking force, so the stronger the depression, the more the vehicle runs out of control.

As a prior art to prevent such vehicle runaway, at least one of the engine fuel, intake air, and ignition pulse when the accelerator pedal depression force or depression speed exceeds the detection level in a range where the gear ratio of the transmission is large. Some reduce the supply to an inoperable state (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Further, it has been proposed that the throttle valve opening of the engine is suppressed rather than the accelerator pedal depression amount when the vehicle is stopped or in a slow driving state (see, for example, Patent Document 2).<patcit num="1"><text>Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-190135 (Page 1, Fig. 3)</text></patcit><patcit num="2"><text>Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-287488 (Summary, Fig. 1)</text></patcit>

<p> According to the prior art described in Patent Document 1 above, when the depression force or depression speed of the accelerator pedal exceeds the detection level in the range where the gear ratio of the transmission is large, the engine output is reduced to a state in which the vehicle cannot drive. However, there is a problem that the engine output is limited even when the driver intentionally presses the accelerator pedal strongly to accelerate suddenly.</p><p> Further, according to the prior art described in Patent Document 2 above, the throttle valve is suppressed every time the vehicle starts or slows down, so that it is rather dangerous when making a right turn or the like when a sudden start or sudden acceleration is required. May lead to.</p><p> In order to solve such a problem, for example, it is conceivable to uniformly disable the engine output control by depressing the accelerator pedal while the brake pedal is depressed, but driving like a driving technique at the time of cornering. When a person intentionally depresses the brake pedal and the accelerator pedal at the same time using his / her left and right feet, the purpose cannot be achieved when the engine output control is disabled.</p><p> Therefore, the present invention does not prevent the driver from intentionally depressing the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal at the same time, and avoids the runaway of the vehicle caused by the driver accidentally depressing the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal at the same time. It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle safety device capable of providing a vehicle safety device.</p>

<p> In order to achieve the above object, the vehicle safety device according to the present invention includes an accelerator detection unit that detects the depression amount of the accelerator pedal, a brake detection unit that detects the depression amount of the brake pedal or the brake operating pressure, and the brake pedal. When the amount of depression or the operating pressure of the brake is equal to or greater than a predetermined value corresponding to the intentional depression of the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal at the same time, an operation to output the engine control signal that forcibly puts the engine in an idle state. It is characterized by including a unit and an engine control unit that controls the engine based on the engine control signal.</p><p> That is, if the amount of depression of the brake pedal or the brake operating pressure detected by the brake detection unit is less than a predetermined value corresponding to the intentional simultaneous depression of the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal, the calculation unit detects the accelerator as before. An engine control signal based on the amount of depression of the accelerator pedal detected by the unit is output, but when the amount of depression of the brake pedal or the operating pressure of the brake is equal to or higher than the predetermined value, the engine is based on the amount of depression of the accelerator pedal. An engine control signal that forcibly puts the engine in an idle state is output regardless of the control signal, and the engine control unit controls the engine based on the engine control signal.</p><p> Therefore, when the amount of depression of the brake pedal or the operating pressure of the brake is equal to or greater than the predetermined value, the engine is forcibly idled even if the amount of depression of the accelerator pedal is not zero.</p><p> In this way, when the amount of depression of the brake pedal or the operating pressure of the brake is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, it is considered that the driver mistakenly depresses the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal at the same time, and instructions for the brake system are given for safety. Priority is given to the engine being idle, which is caused by the driver mistakenly continuing to press the brake pedal and accelerator pedal at the same time without hindering the driver from intentionally depressing the brake pedal and accelerator pedal at the same time. It is possible to avoid the runaway of the vehicle.</p><p> Further, the vehicle safety device includes a brake control unit that controls the operation of the brake based on a brake control signal output from the calculation unit according to the depression amount of the brake pedal detected by the brake detection unit. May be good.</p><p> That is, the calculation unit outputs a brake control signal according to the amount of depression of the brake pedal detected by the brake detection unit, and the brake control unit controls the operation of the brake based on the brake control signal.</p><p> Further, in the above-mentioned vehicle safety device, the brake detection unit determines whether or not the brake operating pressure is equal to or higher than the predetermined value instead of the calculation unit, and the calculation unit outputs a signal indicating the determination result. May be given to.</p><p> That is, the calculation unit indicates that the signal indicating the determination result of whether or not the brake operating pressure given by the brake detecting unit is the predetermined value or more indicates that the brake operating pressure is the predetermined value or more. While it is in operation, it outputs an engine control signal that forcibly puts the engine in an idle state.</p>

<p> As described above, according to the vehicle safety device according to the present invention, the driver mistakenly depresses the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal at the same time without hindering the driver from intentionally depressing the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal at the same time. It becomes possible to avoid the runaway of the vehicle caused by this.</p>

An embodiment of the vehicle safety device according to the present invention will be described below separately for a vehicle equipped with an electronically controlled brake system and a vehicle not equipped with the electronically controlled brake system.

Example 1 of the vehicle safety device according to the present invention<u style="single">For vehicles equipped with Electronic Brake System (EBS)</u>As shown in FIG. 1, it is roughly composed of an accelerator pedal depression amount detection unit 1, a brake pedal depression amount detection unit 2, a calculation unit 3, an engine control unit 4, and an EBS control unit 5. There is.

The accelerator pedal depression amount detection unit 1 may use a well-known device that detects the accelerator pedal depression amount by the driver and gives it to the calculation unit 3 as an accelerator pedal depression amount signal.

The brake pedal depression amount detection unit 2 may use a well-known device that detects the brake pedal depression amount by the driver and gives it to the calculation unit 3 as a brake pedal depression amount signal.

The calculation unit 3 uses an input unit 31 that reads an accelerator pedal depression amount signal from the accelerator pedal depression amount detection unit 1 and a brake pedal depression amount signal from the brake pedal depression amount detection unit 2, and an output signal of this input unit 31. CPU32 that performs calculations and judgments, RAM33 used by CPU32 for arithmetic processing, ROM34 that stores control programs and control parameters, and target engine in engine control unit 4 according to the output data obtained by CPU32. It is composed of an output unit 35 that outputs an output instruction value and outputs a target brake instruction value to the EBS control unit 5, and a power supply unit 36 for supplying necessary power to each of these units from the vehicle power supply.

Further, the engine control unit 4 uses a well-known device that controls the amount of fuel, intake air, etc. according to the target engine output instruction value, which is the output from the output unit 35, so as to obtain a desired engine output. Just do it.

Further, the EBS control unit 5 may use a well-known device in an electronically controlled brake system (EBS) that generates a braking force according to a target brake instruction value which is an output from the output unit 35.

FIG. 2 shows the flow of the control program stored in the ROM 34 in the arithmetic unit 3 shown in FIG. 1, and the operation of the first embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG. 2. It should be noted that this flowchart is assumed to be started at predetermined time intervals, and only the part related to the control by the calculation unit 3 is described, but the initial processing at the time of starting the hardware such as the CPU is a well-known technique and is omitted. ing.

First, the CPU 32 reads the accelerator pedal depression amount signal from the accelerator pedal depression amount detection unit 1 and the brake pedal depression amount signal from the brake pedal depression amount detection unit 2 via the input unit 31 (step S1).

Next, the CPU32 compares the brake pedal depression amount signal with the predetermined value Th (S2).

In this case, the predetermined value Th is a value corresponding to the intentional simultaneous depression of the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal, that is, the brake pedal depression amount in which the driver is expected to intentionally depress the brake pedal and the accelerator pedal at the same time. This is the upper limit of the signal level, and an appropriate value shall be obtained in advance by experiments or the like and stored in the ROM 34.

If it is determined in step S2 above that the level of the brake pedal depression amount signal is less than the predetermined value Th, the instruction value corresponding to the accelerator pedal depression amount is obtained and substituted into the target engine output instruction value (S4). Furthermore, the indicated value corresponding to the amount of depression of the brake pedal is obtained and substituted into the target brake indicated value (S4).

After that, the target engine output instruction value is output to the engine control unit (S5), and the target brake instruction value is output to the EBS control unit 5 (S6).

If it is determined in step S2 above that the level of the brake pedal depression signal is equal to or higher than the predetermined value Th, the target engine output indicated value is set to idle (S7), and then steps S4 to S6 above. To carry out.

As a result, when the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal are depressed at the same time, due to a special driving technique in cornering, etc., if the driver intentionally depresses the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal at the same time, the brake pedal is in step S2. Since the depression amount signal is less than the predetermined value Th, the target engine output instruction value obtained in step S3 and the target brake instruction value obtained in step S4 are the engine control unit 4 and the EBS control unit in steps S5 and S6, respectively. Output to 5.

On the other hand, if the driver accidentally depresses the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal at the same time so strongly that there is a risk of runaway of the vehicle, the level of the brake pedal depression amount signal is equal to or higher than the predetermined value Th in step S2. Since the determination is made and the engine output instruction value is set to idle in step S7, the target engine output value output to the engine control unit in step S5 becomes idle, and the engine output can be suppressed.

In this case, since the engine is in an idle state, the engine intake negative pressure can be secured, which is sufficient for an electronically controlled brake system of an automatic speed change vehicle using a brake booster using this engine intake negative pressure as a booster. You can get a good braking force.

In the case of normal accelerator pedal depression and brake pedal depression, one of the pedals is depressed. Therefore, when only the accelerator pedal is depressed, the target engine output indicated value obtained in step S3 is step S5. Is output to the engine control unit 4. When only the brake pedal is depressed, the target brake instruction value obtained in step S4 is output to the EBS control unit 5 in step S6.

FIG. 3 shows Example 2 of the vehicle safety device according to the present invention.<u style="single">For vehicles without electronically controlled braking system</u>In the configuration shown in FIG. 1, the brake pedal depression amount detection unit 2 in the configuration of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is replaced with the brake operating pressure detection unit 6, and the EBS control unit 5 is omitted. It has become.

The configurations of the accelerator pedal depression amount detection unit 1, the calculation unit 3, and the engine control unit 4 are the same as those in FIG.

The brake operating pressure detection unit 6 outputs a switch signal when the pressure in the brake pipe exceeds a predetermined pressure, similar to the stop lamp switch provided for lighting the stop lamp in a large vehicle such as a truck. Anything that can be turned "ON" will do.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the installation position of the brake operating pressure detecting unit 6 in the brake piping. As shown, the brake pipes from the brake valves 120 and 130 connected to the brake pedal 110 are usually duplicated. The air tank 140 connected to the air compressor 150 by an air pipe is connected to the brake valve 120 and the air master 170 for controlling the brake cylinder (not shown) on the rear side by an air pipe, and the brake cylinder on the front side (not shown). It is also connected to the brake valve 130 and Air Master 160 for controlling the cylinder with an air pipe.

Further, the brake valve 120 and the air master 170 and the brake valve 130 and the air master 160 are both connected by an air pipe. Further, the Air Master 160 and the Air Master 170 are connected to the front side and rear side brake cylinders by oil pipes, respectively.

Normally, the stop lamp switches 180 and 190 are provided on the air pipe connecting the brake valve 120 and the air master 170 and the air pipe connecting the brake valve 130 and the air master 160, respectively, as shown in the drawing.

In operation, when the brake pedal 110 is depressed, the brake valves 120 and 130 apply the indicated pressures 121 and 131 to the air master 160 and the air master 170, respectively, according to the depression amount of the brake pedal 110.

The Air Master 160 and Air Master 170 change the aerodynamics of the pressure sources 143 and 144 from the air tank 140 to the oil pressures 161 and 171 so as to be proportional to the indicated pressures 121 and 131, and output them to the front and rear brake cylinders. give.

In this case, the stop lamp switches 180 and 190 detect that the indicated pressures 131 and 121 have reached the threshold value Th1 or higher for lighting the stop lamp, respectively, and set the stop lamp (not shown) to ON.

Like the stop lamp switches 180 and 190, the brake operating pressure detection unit 6 sets the threshold value Th2 or higher for determining whether or not the indicated pressures 131 and 121 are intentionally depressed at the same time as the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal, respectively. The brake operating pressure signal is set to "ON" when it is detected.

In this case, the threshold value Th2 for determining whether or not the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal are intentionally depressed at the same time corresponds to the predetermined value Th in the case of the above-mentioned first embodiment, and the driver intentionally brakes. This is the upper limit of the brake operating pressure that is expected to be depressed at the same time as the pedal and the accelerator pedal, and an appropriate value shall be set in advance in the brake operating pressure detection unit 6 by experiments or the like.

The brake operating pressure detection unit 6 may be provided separately from the stop lamp switches 180 and 190 as shown in the figure, but has a threshold value Th1 for determining whether or not to turn on the stop lamp and an intentional accelerator. When the threshold value Th2 for determining whether or not the pedal and the brake pedal are depressed at the same time is the same value, the stop lamp switches 180 and 190 themselves may be diverted to the brake operating pressure detection unit 6.

FIG. 5 shows the flow of the control program stored in the ROM 34 in the arithmetic unit 3 shown in FIG. 3, and the operation of the second embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG. As with the control program in the case of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the flowchart of FIG. 5 is started at predetermined time intervals, and the initial processing at the time of starting the hardware such as the CPU is omitted. ..

First, the CPU 32 reads the accelerator pedal depression amount signal from the accelerator pedal depression amount detection unit 1 and the brake operating pressure switch signal from the brake operating pressure detection unit 6 via the input unit 31 (step S11).

Next, the CPU32 determines whether the brake operating pressure switch signal is ON or OFF (S12).

When it is determined that the brake operating pressure switch signal is "OFF", the indicated value corresponding to the accelerator pedal depression amount is obtained and substituted into the target engine output indicated value (S13), and the target engine output indicated value is further substituted. Output to the engine control unit (S14).

If it is determined in step S12 above that the brake operating pressure switch signal is "ON", the target engine output instruction value is set to idle (S15), and then the target engine output instruction value is set to the engine control unit. Output to 4 (S14).

As a result, when the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal are depressed at the same time, the brake is activated in step S12 when the driver intentionally depresses the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal at the same time due to a special driving technique in cornering or the like. Since it is determined that the pressure switch signal is OFF, the target engine output instruction value obtained in step S13 is output to the engine control unit 4 in step S14.

On the other hand, if the driver mistakenly depresses the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal at the same time so strongly that there is a risk of vehicle runaway, the brake operating pressure switch signal is determined to be "ON" in step S2. Since the engine output instruction value is set to idle in step S15, the target engine output value output to the engine control unit 4 in step S14 becomes idle, and the engine output can be suppressed.

Since the vehicle to which the second embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 to 5 is applied is a vehicle not equipped with the electronically controlled brake system, it is not necessary to detect the amount of depression of the brake pedal for electronic control of the brake system. , The brake pedal depression amount detection unit 2 in the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is not originally provided.

However, instead of the brake operating pressure detection unit of FIG. 3, the brake pedal depression amount detection unit 2 shown in FIG. 1 is used to give the brake pedal depression amount signal to the calculation unit 3, and in step S12 of FIG. It is also possible to apply the second embodiment so as to determine whether or not the brake pedal depression amount signal has a predetermined value Th as in step S2 of FIG.

Further, the calculation unit 3 in the first and second embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 may be included in the engine control unit 4 or the EBS control unit 5.

<figref num="1">It is a block diagram which showed Example 1 of the vehicle safety device which concerns on this invention.</figref><figref num="2">It is a flowchart which showed the processing flow of the control program used for Example 1 of this invention shown in FIG.</figref><figref num="3">It is a block diagram which showed Example 2 of the vehicle safety device which concerns on this invention.</figref><figref num="4">It is a block diagram for demonstrating the installation position in the brake pipe of the brake operation pressure detection part 6 in Example 2. FIG.</figref><figref num="5">It is a flowchart which showed the processing flow of the control program used in Example 2 of this invention shown in FIG.</figref>

Code description

1 Accelerator pedal depression amount detection unit 2 Brake pedal depression amount detection unit 3 Calculation unit 4 Engine control unit 5 EBS control unit 6 Brake operating pressure detection unit 110 Brake pedal 120, 130 Brake valve 140 Air tank 150 Air compressor 160, 170 Air master 180, 190 Stop lamp switch In the figure, the same reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts.