Method for removing snow from the surface of a vehicle, active suspension system for a vehicle, and vehicle

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for removing snow from the surface (2) of a vehicle (1). According to the invention, after the activation of a snow removal function of the vehicle (1), an active chassis system (3) of the vehicle (1) initiates a two-stage movement sequence for the body (4) of the vehicle (1), with a snow collection phase (5) as the first movement phase and a snow shaking phase (6) as the subsequent second movement phase.

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a method for removing snow from the surface of a vehicle and to an active chassis system for a vehicle and a vehicle.

[0002] In vehicles, assistance systems are increasingly used to control the vehicle's driving operation, in order to support or relieve the driver in certain driving situations or during certain vehicle movements.

[0003] Similarly, active suspension systems in a wide variety of designs are now used in vehicles, proactively reacting to road conditions and the driver's driving behavior. This allows certain suspension components, such as vehicle height and shock absorber damping, to be adjusted and automatically adapted to improve ride comfort and / or increase driving safety.

[0004] The active chassis systems used to control driving operations in vehicles can also be used for other applications.

[0005] It is known from US patent 2024 / 0181827A1 that the active suspension system of a vehicle can be used to alleviate motion sickness in vehicle occupants, to induce movement within the vehicle, to enhance video and / or audio enjoyment for vehicle occupants, or to generate haptic warnings for vehicle occupants in response to specific traffic situations. The active suspension system can also be used to shake snow off the vehicle, employing jerky or shaking movements at various frequencies. Specifically, a slow movement of the entire body can be induced first, followed by a higher frequency with a smaller amplitude.

[0006] Furthermore, CN 115 723 707 A discloses a method for the automatic removal of snow from a vehicle. In this method, the vehicle's transmission parameters are determined, and a spectral sensitivity analysis of a transfer function containing these parameters is performed. Based on the transfer function, the appropriate change in a torque frequency for the required snow removal performance is determined, and the snow removal from the vehicle is carried out accordingly.

[0007] The invention is based on the objective of providing a method for removing snow from the surface of a vehicle, in which the snow can be removed from the surface of the vehicle in a simple, effective and reliable manner while adhering to safety aspects.

[0008] This problem is solved according to the invention by a method for removing snow from the surface of a vehicle with the features listed in claim 1.

[0009] Advantageous further developments of the inventive method, an active chassis system for a vehicle for carrying out the method and a vehicle with an active chassis system are part of the further patent claims.

[0010] In the inventive method for removing snow from the surface of a vehicle, after activation of a snow removal function of the vehicle, which is either carried out manually by an operator or automatically by a sensor system of the vehicle, the vehicle body, and thus the vehicle structure, is moved for a specific period of time with a predetermined sequence of movements. For this purpose, an active chassis system of the vehicle predetermines a two-stage movement sequence for the vehicle body, and thus for the vehicle structure, with a snow collection phase as the first movement phase and thus as the initial phase, followed by a snow shaking phase (or "snow-shedding phase") as the second movement phase.This snow removal function of the vehicle enables efficient removal of snow from the surface of the vehicle by having the active chassis system first move the vehicle body or vehicle structure in a targeted manner in the first movement phase of the two-stage movement sequence and then shake it accordingly in a second movement phase of the two-stage movement sequence.

[0011] According to the invention, the vehicle's body is controlled by the vehicle's active suspension system during the snow accumulation phase to perform a roll or pitching motion ("waving" in English) and during the snow shaking phase to perform a superimposed motion consisting of several movement modes of the vehicle body. For the movement of the vehicle body during the snow shaking phase, and thus for realizing the superimposed motion, three directions of movement are available, or in particular, three movement modes of the vehicle body are used: a lifting motion, a roll or pitching motion, and a pitching motion.During the roll motion of the vehicle body, a larger wheelbase compared to the track width allows for a greater roll angle than the pitch angle at the same wheel travel, resulting in a higher roll rate than the pitch rate. Consequently, snow on the vehicle's surface experiences a higher velocity during roll motion than during pitch motion. When a lifting motion is combined with a roll motion, the lifting vibration is imparted with a higher frequency, reducing the snow's adhesion to the vehicle's surface.

[0012] According to the invention, the vehicle body is further controlled by the vehicle's active suspension system during the snow accumulation phase by means of the body's roll movement in several successive periodic phase segments. In a first sub-phase of each phase segment, a rapid roll movement of the vehicle body is initiated as an alternating unidirectional vertical movement of the body in one direction with a non-linear motion profile up to a specific roll angle, for example, with an exponential or quadratic motion profile. In a second sub-phase of each phase segment, a slow roll movement of the body in the opposite direction with a linear motion profile up to the same roll angle is initiated.During the snow shaking phase, the vehicle's body is controlled by the vehicle's active suspension system using a superposition of excitation waves with a predetermined waveform.

[0013] During the snow collection phase, the first phase of the two-stage movement sequence, the snow on the vehicle's surface, and especially larger masses of snow, are accelerated in one direction. Since a certain breakaway force is required to convert the snow on the vehicle's surface from static to sliding friction, the necessary jerky movements are initiated at the beginning and end of each phase segment of the first movement phase. This occurs either at the start of the movement or at the end of a phase segment of the first movement phase.In particular, during the initial phase of movement, the snow is accelerated by the rapid, accelerated roll or pitch motion in the first sub-phase of each phase segment, and this motion is then abruptly terminated at the end of the first sub-phase of each phase segment. The inertia of the snow then causes the static friction to be overcome, and the snow slides on the vehicle's surface. To prevent the snow from simply sliding back and forth on the vehicle's surface during the initial phase of movement and remaining largely in the same position, the accelerated roll or pitch motion of the vehicle's body is performed only in one direction, while in the other direction, the vehicle's body is slowly moved backward in a reverse motion.This causes the snow on the surface of the vehicle to be moved piecemeal to one side of the vehicle in each phase of the first movement phase.

[0014] Preferably, in the snow collection phase, the vehicle body is controlled by the vehicle's active suspension system in 4 to 6 successive phase sections with a total duration of 15 s to 20 s, wherein in the first sub-phase of each phase section a rapid accelerated roll movement of the body is specified for a duration of 0.5 s to 1 s up to a roll angle of 3 degrees to 4 degrees, and in the second sub-phase of each phase section a slow roll movement of the body as a backward movement in the opposite direction is specified for a duration of 2 s to 4 s up to the roll angle of 3 degrees to 4 degrees.During the snow collection phase, the first phase of movement, only a rolling motion of the vehicle body is performed, up to a roll angle of 3 to 4 degrees. This is initially a fast, accelerated movement in one direction of movement of the body, followed by a slow movement in the other direction of movement of the body, which corresponds to a height difference of the vehicle body in the vertical direction of approximately 40 mm to 70 mm.

[0015] Preferably, during the snow shaking phase, as the second movement phase, the vehicle's body is controlled by the vehicle's active chassis system for a total duration of 30 s to 80 s.

[0016] In a further preferred embodiment of the invention, the body of the vehicle is controlled by the vehicle's active chassis system in the snow shaking phase as the second movement phase with a superposition of sinusoidal waves and / or triangular waves and / or rectangular waves as excitation waves.

[0017] The excitation waves used in the snow-shaking phase, the second phase of the movement, are sinusoidal waves (either in phase or out of phase), triangular waves, rectangular waves, or a combination thereof. For each corner of the vehicle, the most suitable waveforms for the excitation waves are determined to effectively remove snow from the vehicle's surface while simultaneously preventing the removal of snow into the surrounding area. For example, the snow removal should not impede other road users or affect objects in the immediate vicinity of the vehicle, such as parked vehicles, cleared sidewalks, or streets.

[0018] Preferably, sinusoidal waves are used as excitation waves in the snow shaking phase as the second movement phase, since these most closely correspond to the natural movement of the vehicle structure or the vehicle body, whereby high speeds can be achieved on the surface of the vehicle for the snow particles already detached from the surface of the vehicle due to resonance effects when the vehicle body is excited.

[0019] By superimposing different sinusoidal excitation waves during the snow-shaking phase (the second phase of movement), and thus sinusoidal movements in the lifting, pitching, and rolling motions of the vehicle body, optimal snow removal efficiency can be achieved at the respective corners of the vehicle. This is accomplished by varying the amplitudes and frequencies of the excitation waves, particularly with regard to varying snow densities and / or amounts on the vehicle's surface. The resulting superimposed wave is specifically adapted to the vehicle's body shape and provides effective excitation for the angles and corners of the vehicle's body.

[0020] Thus, in a further preferred embodiment of the invention, when controlling the vehicle body by the vehicle's active chassis system with different sinusoidal waves as excitation waves, the amplitude and frequency of the respective sinusoidal waves are specified in such a way that a superposition wave is created for the optimal and effective removal of snow from the surface of the vehicle.

[0021] The vehicle's snow removal function can be manually activated by a user activity of the vehicle and / or automatically activated by the sensor signal of at least one sensor system of the vehicle.

[0022] Manual activation of the snow removal function by a vehicle user can occur, in particular, when the user approaches a snow-covered vehicle and detects snow on its surface, optionally after the vehicle has previously notified the user of the presence of snow. Manual activation of the snow removal function is preferably achieved by pressing a button or entering a key combination on a mobile electronic device carried by the vehicle user, such as an electronic key, a remote control, or a smartphone.Additionally or alternatively, the manual activation of the snow removal function can also be carried out by gesture control by a user of the vehicle and / or by voice control by a user of the vehicle and / or by touching the vehicle door handle of a vehicle door by a user of the vehicle or by operating an HMI interface from the vehicle interior by a user of the vehicle.

[0023] The snow removal function can be automatically activated when snow is detected by at least one sensor system of the vehicle, but possibly only when the user approaches the snow-covered vehicle.

[0024] By using at least one sensor system on the vehicle, the presence of snow on the vehicle's surface can be detected early, and the snow removal function can be activated automatically at an early stage, thus allowing the snow to be removed from the vehicle's surface at an early stage.A vehicle sensor system used to detect the presence of snow on the vehicle's surface can include a rain sensor, which detects snowfall, especially prolonged snowfall; a vehicle parking sensor, where its snow-covered sensor surface serves to detect snowfall; an optical sensor, such as a vehicle camera, which optically detects snowfall, especially prolonged snowfall, or where its snow-covered sensor surface serves to detect snowfall; a vehicle weight sensor, which detects an increased vehicle weight due to snowfall; or a vehicle pressure sensor, which detects additional pressure caused by snowfall, for example, in the air springs of a vehicle's damping system.

[0025] In particular, while the activation of the snow removal function can be pre-conditioned by a vehicle sensor system, the snow removal function itself is only definitively started by an operator action, i.e., by user activity from a user located near the vehicle, or by a user entering an activation zone around the vehicle, which can be detected, for example, via the vehicle's keyless entry system. This also serves, in particular, to consider safety aspects during the execution of the snow removal function and to largely prevent false activations.The snow removal function can be deactivated by the vehicle's occupant, who is located near the vehicle. This can be done, for example, by pressing a button or key combination on a mobile electronic device carried by the occupant, such as an electronic key, remote control, or smartphone. Additionally or alternatively, the snow removal function can also be deactivated by the occupant using gesture control, voice control, or by opening a vehicle door.

[0026] The activation of the snow removal function can preferably only take place when certain activation criteria are met, in particular when permissible environmental conditions are present in the traffic area around the vehicle and / or when permissible occupancy conditions are present in the interior of the vehicle and / or when a specific activation scheme is present.

[0027] A primary activation criterion for the permissible activation of the snow removal function can be the absence of otherwise obstructed objects and / or persons on the side of the vehicle where the snow is preferentially shaken off, such as the absence of parked vehicles and / or the absence of objects and / or persons potentially endangered or obstructed by the snow. Appropriate sensor systems on the vehicle can be used to detect these objects and / or persons in the immediate vicinity, for example, blind spot detection systems and / or sensor systems with parking sensors and / or optical sensors such as cameras.

[0028] Another activation criterion for permissible activation of the snow removal function may be the absence of vehicle occupants inside the vehicle who could otherwise be physically affected during the procedure due to the movements of the vehicle's body.

[0029] Another activation criterion for permissible activation of the snow removal function can be the presence of automatic detection of snow on the surface of the vehicle before manual activation of the snow removal function can take place, thus preventing misuse of the snow removal function.

[0030] The method according to the invention is used in particular with the aid of at least one active chassis system of a vehicle. The active chassis system of the vehicle controls, in particular, the desired independent movement of the vehicle body during the snow removal function.

[0031] Such an active chassis system can, for example, be an Active Damper Control System of the vehicle, known as an ADR system, in which an actuator located in the damper strut is controlled as an active component of the active chassis system.

[0032] Furthermore, a vehicle having at least one such active suspension system is also claimed. The invention thus also includes a vehicle with a corresponding active suspension system, wherein the vehicle with the active suspension system can be designed in particular as a motor vehicle or motor car, especially as a passenger car, or as a truck or as a passenger bus.

[0033] The method according to the invention advantageously allows snow located on the surface of a vehicle to be removed from the vehicle's surface in a simple, effective and timely manner while adhering to safety aspects.

[0034] The following describes exemplary embodiments of the invention. To this end, we will show: Fig. 1 a representation of different movement patterns of the body of a vehicle realized by controlling an active chassis system; Fig. 2 a representation of the temporal sequence of procedures of the snow removal function; Fig. 3 a partial representation of the temporal sequence of the first movement phase of the snow removal function and Fig. 4 a representation of the excitation waves used for the different movement patterns of the vehicle body in the second movement phase of the snow removal function and the resulting superposition wave.

[0035] The embodiments described below are preferred embodiments of the invention.

[0036] In the figures, identical reference symbols denote functionally equivalent elements.

[0037] In the Fig. Figure 1 shows a vehicle 1 whose body 4 can be controlled in different forms of movement by an active chassis system 3 of the vehicle 1.

[0038] This is shown in the two illustrations above. Fig. 1 a rolling motion of the body 4 of the vehicle 1 can be seen, in which the body 4 of the vehicle 1 is moved alternately on one side by the active chassis system 3 up to a certain roll angle 16.

[0039] In the lower representation of the Fig. Figure 1 shows on the left side a lifting movement of the body 4 of the vehicle 1, in which the body 4 of the vehicle 1 is raised by the active chassis system 3 to a certain lifting height.

[0040] In the lower representation of the Fig. Figure 1 shows a pitching movement of the body 4 of the vehicle 1 on the right side, in which the body 4 of the vehicle 1 is moved by the active chassis system 3 in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle 1 alternately on the front of the vehicle 1 and on the rear of the vehicle 1.

[0041] In the Fig. Figure 2 shows that the movement sequence of the snow removal function for the movement of the body 4 of the vehicle 1 is designed in two stages, namely with a first movement phase 5 for the body 4 of the vehicle 1 as a snow collection phase and with a subsequent second movement phase 6 for the body 4 of the vehicle 1 as a snow shaking phase.

[0042] As also shown in the detailed presentation of the Fig. As can be seen in Figure 3, the snow accumulation phase 5 is divided into several successive phase sections 10, for example, into five successive phase sections 10. Each phase section 10 of the snow accumulation phase 5 is further subdivided into a first sub-phase 11 and a second sub-phase 12. In the first sub-phase 11 of each phase section 10 of the snow accumulation phase 5, a roll angle of, for example, 4° is reached after 0.5 s due to a rapid, accelerated rolling motion of the vehicle body 4 in a direction of movement, resulting from a non-linear, accelerated motion of the vehicle body 4 with, for example, a quadratic slope.In the second sub-phase 12 of each phase segment 10 of the snow collection phase 5, a slow rocking motion of the vehicle body 4 in the opposite direction of movement results in a roll angle of, for example, 4° after 2 s as a result of a linear motion sequence. This allows the snow located on the surface 2 of the vehicle 1 to be first detached from the surface 2 of the vehicle 1 during the snow collection phase 5 and then successively moved in one direction on the surface 2 of the vehicle 1. With five consecutive phase segments 10 of the snow collection phase 5, each lasting 2.5 s, the total duration of the snow collection phase 5 is therefore approximately 12.5 s.

[0043] In snow shaking phase 6, according to the Fig. 2. Excitation of the body 4 of the vehicle 1 by the active chassis system 3 is carried out by means of a superposition wave 17. This, for example, sinusoidal superposition wave 17 is generated by a superposition of various sinusoidal excitation waves, in particular by the superposition of the in the Fig. 4 depicted sinusoidal excitation wave 14 for the lifting or retracting movement of the body 4 of the vehicle 1 with the in the Fig. 4 depicted sinusoidal excitation wave 13 for the roll motion or pitch motion of the body 4 of the vehicle 1 and with the in the Fig.4 shown sinusoidal excitation wave 15 for the pitching movement of the body 4 of the vehicle 1. The amplitudes and frequencies of the sinusoidal excitation waves 13, 14 and 15 are chosen such that the waveform and the amplitude profile of the superposition wave 17 is optimally adapted to the body shape of the body 4 of the vehicle 1.

[0044] For example, for the sinusoidal excitation wave 14 for the lifting or lifting movement of the body 4 of the vehicle 1, a frequency of 4 Hz and an amplitude for the lifting height of 40 mm are specified, for the sinusoidal excitation wave 13 for the roll or pitching movement of the body 4 of the vehicle 1, a frequency of 2 Hz and a maximum roll angle 16 of 5° are specified, and for the sinusoidal excitation wave 15 for the pitching movement of the body 4 of the vehicle 1, a frequency of 3.5 Hz and a maximum pitch angle of 0.1° are specified.

[0045] This allows the snow, which is moved in one direction on the surface 2 of the vehicle 1 during the snow collection phase 5, to be shaken off the surface 2 of the vehicle 1 by the shaking motion of the body 4 during the snow shaking phase 6. For example, a total duration of approximately 60 s is specified for the snow shaking phase 6, during which the superimposed wave 17 acts on the body 4 of the vehicle 1.

Claims

[1] Method for removing snow from the surface (2) of a vehicle (1), characterized by , that after the activation of a snow removal function of the vehicle (1), an active chassis system (3) of the vehicle (1) specifies a two-stage movement sequence for the body (4) of the vehicle (1), in which, in a snow collection phase (5) as the first movement phase of the two-stage movement sequence, the body (4) of the vehicle (1) is controlled by the active chassis system (3) of the vehicle (1) in several successive periodic phase sections (10) to perform a roll movement (7) of the body (4) of the vehicle (1),that in a first sub-phase (11) of a respective phase section (10) a rapid accelerated roll movement (7) of the body (4) of the vehicle (1) in one direction of movement with a non-linear motion profile up to a certain roll angle (16) is specified, and in a second sub-phase (12) of a respective phase section (10) a slow roll movement (7) of the body (4) of the vehicle (1) in the other direction of movement with a linear motion profile up to the roll angle (16) is specified, and in which, during a snow-shaking phase (6) as the subsequent second movement phase of the two-stage movement sequence, the body (4) of the vehicle (1) is controlled by the active chassis system (3) of the vehicle (1) to perform a superposition movement from a roll movement (7) of the body (4) of the vehicle (1), from a lifting movement (8) of the body (4) of the vehicle (1) and from a pitching movement (9) of the body (4) of the vehicle (1) with a superposition wave (17) as a superposition of excitation waves (13, 14, 15) with a predetermined wave shape. [2] Method according to claim 1, characterized by, that the body (4) of the vehicle (1) is controlled by the active chassis system (3) of the vehicle (1) in the snow collection phase (5) in 4 to 6 periodic phase sections (10) with a total duration of 15 s to 20 s, that in the first sub-phase (11) of a respective phase section (10) a fast accelerated roll movement (7) of the body (4) of the vehicle (1) is specified in a time period of 0.5 s to 1 s up to a roll angle (16) of 3 degrees to 4 degrees, and that in the second sub-phase (11) of a respective phase section (10) a slow roll movement (7) of the body (4) of the vehicle (1) is specified in a time period of 2 s to 4 s up to the roll angle (16) of 3 degrees to 4 degrees. [3] Method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by , that the body (4) of the vehicle (1) is controlled by the active chassis system (3) of the vehicle (1) during the snow shaking phase (6) with a total duration of 30 s to 80 s. [4] Method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized by , that the body (4) of the vehicle (1) is controlled by the active chassis system (3) of the vehicle (1) in the snow shaking phase (6) with a superposition of sinusoidal waves (13, 14, 15) and / or of triangular waves and / or of rectangular waves as excitation waves. [5] Method according to claim 4, characterized by , that the body (4) of the vehicle (1) is controlled by the active chassis system (3) of the vehicle (1) in the snow shaking phase (6) with a superposition of different sinusoidal waves (13, 14, 15) adapted to the body shape of the vehicle (1) as excitation waves. [6] Method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized by, that the snow removal function of the vehicle (1) can be manually activated by a user activity of a user of the vehicle (1) and / or can be automatically activated by the sensor signal of at least one sensor system of the vehicle (1). [7] Active chassis system (3) for a vehicle (1) for carrying out a method according to any one of claims 1 to 6. [8] Vehicle (1) comprising at least one active chassis system (3) for carrying out a method according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

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