Footrest device, motor vehicle

Abstract

The invention relates to a foot pedal device (5) having an acceleration pedal (6) and a brake pedal (7), wherein each of the pedals (6, 7) is respectively equipped with a plurality of sensors (S F1 -S F4 , S B1 -S B2 ) for detecting a manipulation of the respective pedal (6, 7), and the foot pedal device has at least one controller (8) which is designed to determine a driver acceleration intention or a driver deceleration intention on the one hand depending on the detected manipulations and to monitor on the other hand whether a fault is present in the foot pedal device (5) and to set the acceleration pedal (6) for one-pedal driving in the event of a fault detected in at least one sensor (S B1 -S B2 ) assigned to the brake pedal (7). It is provided that the acceleration pedal (6) is equipped with three or more sensors (S F1 -S F4 ).

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a foot pedal device having an accelerator pedal and a brake pedal, wherein each of the pedals, namely the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal, is provided with a plurality of sensors for detecting the operation of the corresponding pedal, and the foot pedal device has at least one controller designed to determine, on the one hand, the driver's acceleration intention or deceleration intention based on the detected operation, and on the other hand, monitor whether there is a malfunction in the foot pedal device, and set the accelerator pedal for one-pedal driving when a malfunction is detected in at least one sensor associated with the brake pedal.

[0002] Furthermore, the present invention also relates to a motor vehicle having a drive system, a braking system, and the aforementioned foot pedal device, wherein the driver of the motor vehicle can operate the drive system and the braking system by means of the foot pedal device. Background Technology

[0003] Foot pedal devices of the type described at the beginning are known from the prior art. For example, publication DE 10 2022213 127 A1 discloses such a foot pedal device having a brake pedal and an accelerator pedal, each equipped with two sensors for detecting the operation of the corresponding pedal. If a malfunction is detected in one of the pedals or one of the sensors, the affected pedal is deactivated, and the function of the affected pedal is transferred to the remaining pedal. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The foot pedal device according to the invention, having the features of claim 1, has the advantage of ensuring the safe continued operation of the vehicle for the user or driver of the vehicle equipped with the foot pedal device in the event of failure of one of the foot pedals, and, despite lower safety requirements for the brake pedal, still ensuring overall improved driving safety. According to the invention, the accelerator pedal is equipped with three or more sensors. Thus, the accelerator pedal has improved fail-safety. In the context of this application, improved or enhanced fail-safety should be understood as improved or enhanced protection against failure.

[0005] This reduces the safety requirements on the brake pedal because the accelerator pedal is retained regardless, allowing the vehicle to continue operating even if one of its sensors fails. It provides the same fail-safety as in the prior art; however, overall controllability and driving comfort are improved by preserving a safe single-pedal driving backup for the driver. In the prior art, regardless of which of the two pedals fails, the corresponding other pedal is set to continue operation. This invention specifies that, in the event of a brake pedal failure, only the accelerator pedal is always used as a single-pedal driving pedal. Since drivers of electric vehicles are now accustomed to using the accelerator pedal as a single-pedal driving pedal, this has the advantage that when the backup level is activated, the driver can use the accelerator pedal more or less as habitually to continue operating the vehicle, avoiding unexpected use of the brake pedal. This also improves overall driving safety. By making more sensors available to the accelerator pedal, it remains usable, for example, even if one of its sensors fails. Thus, the overall fail-safety of the pedal system is improved. Furthermore, because the accelerator pedal is equipped with at least three sensors, the braking process, which relies solely on energy recovery, achieves greater safety.

[0006] Furthermore, it is preferably specified that the brake pedal is equipped with exactly two sensors. Therefore, the brake pedal has the minimum number of sensors required to achieve redundant operation. Even if one sensor fails, the remaining sensor values ​​can still be used to detect the driver's deceleration intention during emergency operation of the vehicle. Preferably, these sensors are used to verify the reasonableness of detected brake pedal operation. If the reasonableness verification identifies a fault in one of the sensors, the brake pedal is deactivated by the controller, for example, by ceasing to process signals from the sensors associated with the brake pedal and switching the accelerator pedal to a single-pedal operation mode. Because the brake pedal has only two sensors, the overall fail-safety of the brake pedal is reduced. However, because the accelerator pedal provides improved fail-safety, overall driving safety is improved.

[0007] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, two sensors associated with the brake pedal are designed to detect the same or different operating parameters. Therefore, these two sensors associated with the brake pedal can be designed as redundant sensors, or to detect different operating parameters, such that, for example, one sensor monitors the operating force, and the other monitors the operating displacement. In the case of detecting different operating parameters, for example, the sensor value of one sensor can also be validated or verified using the sensor value of the other sensor.

[0008] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, at least two of the sensors associated with the accelerator pedal are designed to detect the same or different operating parameters. Therefore, similar to the design of the brake pedal, the at least two sensors of the accelerator pedal can be designed as redundant sensors. Optionally, all sensors of the accelerator pedal are designed to detect the same operating parameters. Alternatively, preferably, at least one of the sensors associated with the accelerator pedal detects operating parameters different from those of the other sensors, to achieve improved fail-safety and enable plausibility testing.

[0009] Furthermore, it is preferably specified that the accelerator pedal is equipped with exactly four sensors, wherein two or all of the sensors are designed to detect the same operating parameter. This ensures that the accelerator pedal as a whole has a redundant design with two identical sensors, maximizing the accelerator pedal's fail-safe capability. Optionally, the four sensors detect a total of two different operating parameters, each of which is detected by two sensors, thus in a redundant manner.

[0010] According to a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, the brake pedal is equipped with exactly two sensors, and the accelerator pedal is equipped with exactly three or four sensors. Here, these sensors are designed in particular as described above. This results in two particularly advantageous embodiments of the foot pedal device.

[0011] The distinguishing feature of the motor vehicle according to the invention, having the features described in claim 7, is the foot pedal device according to the design of the invention. This results in the advantages already mentioned above. Attached Figure Description

[0012] Other advantages, preferred features, and combinations thereof arise, particularly from the foregoing description and claims. The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Wherein:

[0013] Figure 1 The diagram of the motor vehicle is simplified.

[0014] Figure 2 A motor vehicle foot pedal device according to a first embodiment is shown, and

[0015] Figure 3 The motor vehicle foot pedal device according to the second embodiment is shown in simplified or schematic diagrams. Detailed Implementation

[0016] Figure 1 A simplified diagram illustrates an advantageous motor vehicle 1, which has a drive system 2 and a braking system 3, the braking system having multiple wheel brakes 4 respectively assigned to the wheels of the motor vehicle.

[0017] In addition, the motor vehicle 1 has a foot pedal device 5, which has an accelerator pedal 6 and a brake pedal 7.

[0018] According to this embodiment, as in the same way Figure 2 As shown, the accelerator pedal 6 has three sensors S F1 To S F3 The brake pedal 7 has two sensors S B1 and S B2 .

[0019] Preferably, sensor S B1 and S B2 The design employs redundancy, allowing both sensors to monitor the same or identical operating parameters of the brake pedal 7, such as the actuation displacement of the brake pedal 7. According to an alternative embodiment, sensor S... B1 and S B2 Detect different operating parameters, such as the operating displacement and operating force of the brake pedal 7.

[0020] According to the first embodiment, sensor S F1 and S F2 The design employs redundancy, allowing both sensors to detect the same control parameter, such as the displacement of the accelerator pedal 6. Optionally, a third sensor S... F3 It is also designed to detect the same manipulation parameter. Alternatively, sensor S F3 Detect another operating parameter, such as the force applied to the accelerator pedal 6.

[0021] Optionally, the accelerator pedal 6 also features a fourth sensor S. F4 ,like Figure 3 As shown, this fourth sensor is particularly related to sensor S. F3 Monitoring or detecting the same operating parameter. In this regard, on the one hand, sensor S F1 and S F2 On the other hand, sensor S F3 and S F4 Each is designed in a redundant manner. According to another embodiment, sensor S... F1 To S F4 They are designed to detect the same, or more precisely, the same operating parameters of the accelerator pedal 6.

[0022] Sensor S F1 To S B2 Each is connected to a controller 8, which is, for example, a central controller and is part of the vehicle 1 or the foot pedal device 5, and is integrated therein. The controller 8 receives signals from the sensor S. F1 To S B2The sensor signals are provided and evaluated to determine the driver's intention of the driver of vehicle 1. Therefore, controller 8 is specifically designed to detect, based on the detected signals, the driver's intention to decelerate and accelerate. Based on the detected driver intention, controller 8 operates the braking system 3 and / or the drive system 2, or transmits the driver intention to a higher-level vehicle controller (e.g., the central controller of vehicle 1), which then implements the driver's intention by operating the braking system 3 and / or the drive system 2.

[0023] Figure 2 The design of the foot pedal device 5 according to the first embodiment is shown schematically. Sensor S F1 To S F3 and S B1 and S B2 Each sensor signal is sent to controller 8 (central controller).

[0024] Figure 3 A second embodiment is illustrated in another schematic diagram, according to which the accelerator pedal 6 has four sensors S F1 To S F4 .

[0025] The corresponding foot pedals or pedals 6, 7 have, for example, conventional, movable, especially swingable pedal elements, or pedal elements that are only slightly movable or completely immovable, especially force-sensitive pedal elements.

[0026] With the advantageous design of the foot pedal device 5, the brake pedal 7 only needs to meet reduced safety requirements, with the safety objective being "reliable identification of its own malfunction." This is achieved using two sensors S... B1 and S B2 This ensures that the signal provided by the brake pedal 7 is correct. For this purpose, sensor S... B1 and S B2 The redundant design is advantageous. In contrast, the accelerator pedal 6 offers improved safety because it incorporates three or four sensors. This is achieved by increasing the number of sensors S... F1 To S F4 The accelerator pedal 6 can continue to operate even after the first fault is detected, provided that the number of faults detected by the controller 8 is known. F1 To S F3 One of or S F1 To S F4 If one of the sensors malfunctions, the accelerator pedal 6 can still function as a normal accelerator pedal 6 because the validity of the signals from the remaining two sensors will be verified. Therefore, the failure safety of the accelerator pedal 6 is improved compared to the failure safety of the brake pedal 7.

[0027] The controllability, driving comfort, and overall safety of motor vehicle 1, or the overall operational safety of the foot pedal device 5, are improved by the following means: the driver can use a single-pedal driving backup. The operational safety of the brake pedal 7 is affected by sensor S. F1 To S F3 One of or S F1 To S F4 In the event of failure of one of the brake pedals or other malfunctions that render the guarantee unavailable, the controller 8 is designed to ignore the signal from the brake pedal 7 and instead set the accelerator pedal 6 as a single-pedal driving element, allowing the driver to preset acceleration and deceleration intentions simply by operating the accelerator pedal 6. For this purpose, the characteristic curve of the accelerator pedal 6 is altered, for example, so that the zero point of the accelerator pedal 6 is not located at its original position, but rather at an operating position between the original and maximum positions. In this case, the zero point of the accelerator pedal 6 can optionally be changed based on the driving speed or the last requested torque or deceleration torque. This is achieved by equipping the accelerator pedal 6 with two or more sensors S. F1 To S F4 (Currently, there are three or four sensors) The failure safety of the accelerator pedal 6 is improved compared to the brake pedal 7, thus ensuring safe driving operation through the accelerator pedal 6 even if the brake pedal 7 fails. This is achieved by having three or four sensors S F1 To S F3 or S F1 To S F4 This ensures particularly accurate detection of the operation of the accelerator pedal 6, thereby enabling, for example, advantageous energy recovery during the operation of the generator in the drive motor 2, in which case the drive motor is advantageously designed as an electric motor.

[0028] Therefore, through the sensing mechanism of the accelerator pedal 6, not only is the initial fault identified, but also tolerance of the fault is achieved, even if the sensor S of the accelerator pedal 6 is not detected. F1 To S F4 It will continue to operate even if one of the faults occurs.

[0029] By equipping the brake pedal 7 with only two sensors S B1 and S B2 The advantage is that the overall manufacturing cost of the foot pedal device 5 remains low. In this case, a malfunction of the brake pedal 7 is more tolerable compared to the accelerator pedal 6, in order to provide the driver with optimal driving comfort and driving safety. Since drivers of electric vehicles are accustomed to using the accelerator pedal 6 to request deceleration and acceleration, switching to single-pedal driving operation using the accelerator pedal 6 is intuitive.

[0030] As a result, more than two sensors S are installed on the accelerator pedal 6.F1 To S F4 Alternatively, or as an addition, it is conceivable to use a physical model of the accelerator pedal 6 to better identify faulty sensors. This would improve the diagnosability of fault reports.

Claims

1. A foot pedal device (5) having an accelerator pedal (6) and a brake pedal (7), wherein, Each of the pedals (6, 7) is equipped with multiple sensors (S) for detecting the operation of the corresponding pedal (6, 7). F1 -S F4 S B1 -S B2 ), and the foot pedal device has at least one controller (8) designed to determine, on the one hand, the driver's acceleration intention or deceleration intention based on the detected manipulation, and on the other hand, to monitor whether the foot pedal device (5) is malfunctioning, and to detect at least one sensor (S) associated with the brake pedal (7). B1 -S B2 When a malfunction occurs, the accelerator pedal (6) is set to be used for one-pedal driving, characterized in that the accelerator pedal (6) is equipped with three or more sensors (S F1 -S F4 ).

2. The foot pedal device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The brake pedal (7) is equipped with exactly two sensors (S B1 -S B2 ).

3. The foot pedal device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, Two sensors (S) associated with the brake pedal (7) B1 -S B2 It is designed to detect the same or different manipulation parameters.

4. The foot pedal device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, Sensors (S) associated with the accelerator pedal (6) F1 -S F4 At least two of them are designed to detect the same or different manipulation parameters.

5. The foot pedal device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, The accelerator pedal (6) is equipped with exactly four sensors (S F1 -S F4 ), wherein the sensor (S) F1 -S F4 The two in the ) are designed to detect the same manipulation parameter.

6. The foot pedal device according to claim 5, characterized in that, The four sensors (S) F1 -S F4 It can detect the same control parameter or two different control parameters.

7. The foot pedal device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, The brake pedal (7) is equipped with exactly two sensors (S B1 -S B2 ), and the accelerator pedal (6) is equipped with exactly three or four sensors (S F1 -S F4 ).

8. A motor vehicle (1) having a drive system (2) and a braking system (3), characterized in that The foot pedal device (5) according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

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