Railway vehicle vibration control device

Abstract

To provide a railway vehicle vibration control device that can accurately determine the soundness of control.SOLUTION: A railway vehicle vibration control device 1 for a railway vehicle V comprises: actuators Af and Ar, which are mounted between a vehicle body B and bogies Tf and Tr, for being able to generate thrusts for suppressing a vibration in the lateral direction of the vehicle body B; sensors 2f and 2r for detecting the vibration in the lateral direction of the vehicle body B; and a controller C for controlling the actuators Af and Ar in search of a yaw control force fy for suppressing the vibration of at least the vehicle body B based on the vibration detected by the sensors 2f and 2r. The controller C comprises a determination unit 12 that determines that the control of the actuators Af and Ar is unsound when the yaw control force fy is consecutively saturated more than a specific number of times.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an improvement of a vibration damping device for a railway vehicle. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, this type of vibration damping device for railway vehicles has been equipped, for example, with an actuator that suppresses left-right vibrations relative to the direction of travel of the railway vehicle body, an acceleration sensor that detects the lateral acceleration of the car body, and a controller that determines a control force that suppresses vibrations in the sway and yaw directions of the car body from the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor, and controls the actuator to exert thrust in accordance with the determined control force.

[0003] In a railway vehicle vibration control device configured in this manner, even though the actuators are controlled to suppress vibration of the car body, if the vibration of the car body tends to oscillate, it is determined that the control integrity has been compromised and the control is stopped, thereby preventing vibration oscillation (see, for example, Patent Document 1). [Patent Document 1] JP 2018-026038 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In conventional railway vehicle vibration control devices, the control soundness is judged using a soundness index obtained by multiplying the control input to the actuator and the derivative of the acceleration of the car body, so that any impairment of control soundness can be quickly determined. However, random vibrations input while the railway vehicle is traveling can cause the control input to the actuator and the derivative of the acceleration to happen to take large values. In such cases, the actuator may be judged to be abnormal even though it is being controlled properly.

[0005] SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT DISCLOSURE An object of the present invention is to provide a vibration damping device for railway vehicles that can accurately determine the soundness of control. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the vibration damping device for railway vehicles of the present invention comprises an actuator that is interposed between the carbody and bogie of the railway vehicle and is capable of generating thrust that suppresses lateral vibration of the carbody, a sensor that detects lateral vibration of the carbody, and a controller that controls the actuator to determine a yaw control force that suppresses at least the vibration of the carbody based on the vibration detected by the sensor, and the controller has a judgment unit that judges that the control of the actuator is unsound when the yaw control force is saturated a predetermined number of times or more in succession.

[0007] Another railway vehicle vibration damping device of the present invention comprises an actuator that is interposed between the carbody and bogie of the railway vehicle and is capable of generating thrust to suppress lateral vibration of the carbody, a sensor that detects the lateral acceleration of the carbody, and a controller that determines yaw acceleration, which is the acceleration of the carbody in the yaw direction, based on the lateral acceleration detected by the sensor and controls the actuator, and the controller has a judgment unit that judges that the control of the actuator is unsound when the yaw acceleration of the carbody reaches a predetermined threshold value a predetermined number of times or more in succession.

[0008] With the railway vehicle vibration control device configured in this manner, the yaw control force or yaw acceleration, which have the characteristic that the amplitude of the waveform increases when the actuator oscillates, is used to determine that the control of the actuator is unhealthy if the yaw control force saturates a predetermined number of times in succession or the yaw acceleration reaches a predetermined threshold value a predetermined number of times in succession. This makes it possible to accurately detect oscillation of the actuator while excluding situations in which the yaw control force or yaw acceleration accidentally increases due to vibration input.

[0009] Furthermore, the judgment unit in the railway vehicle vibration damping device may judge that the yaw control force is saturated when the yaw control force alternately reaches the yaw upper limit value for a predetermined time and then reaches the yaw lower limit value for a predetermined time. With the railway vehicle vibration damping device configured in this way, it is possible to exclude cases in which the yaw control force exhibits a waveform that accidentally crosses only one of the yaw upper limit value or the yaw lower limit value due to vibration input to the railway vehicle, or cases in which the yaw control force remains at the yaw upper limit value or the yaw lower limit value for an extremely short time, and so it is possible to more accurately detect oscillation of the actuator and improve the accuracy of the judgment result of the soundness of the control.

[0010] The controller in the railway vehicle vibration damping device may have a yaw control force limiter that clamps the yaw control force to the upper yaw limit and the lower yaw limit when the yaw control force reaches or exceeds the upper yaw limit and the lower yaw limit. With the railway vehicle vibration damping device configured in this way, it is possible to eliminate cases where the yaw control force exhibits a waveform that accidentally crosses only one of the upper yaw limit or the lower yaw limit due to vibration input to the railway vehicle, or where the yaw control force remains at the upper yaw limit or the lower yaw limit for an extremely short period of time, and the waveform of the yaw control force when saturated becomes a flat waveform that does not change from the upper yaw limit or the lower yaw limit, so that oscillation of the actuator can be detected more accurately and easily, and the accuracy of the judgment result of the soundness of the control can be improved.

[0011] Furthermore, the judgment unit in the railway vehicle vibration damping device may judge that the control of the actuator is unsound when the yaw acceleration alternately reaches the positive threshold and the negative threshold in succession a predetermined number of times or more. With the railway vehicle vibration damping device configured in this way, cases in which the yaw acceleration exhibits a waveform that accidentally crosses only one of the positive threshold or the negative threshold due to vibration input to the railway vehicle can be excluded, so that the oscillation of the actuator can be detected more accurately and the accuracy of the judgment result of the soundness of the control can be improved. Effect of the Invention

[0012] According to the control soundness determination device of the present invention, the control soundness can be accurately determined. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0013] [Figure 1] 1 is a cross-sectional view of a railway vehicle equipped with a railway vehicle vibration damping device in one embodiment. [Diagram 2] 1 is a plan view of a railway vehicle equipped with a railway vehicle vibration damping device according to an embodiment. [Diagram 3] 2 is a control block diagram of a controller of the railway vehicle vibration damping device according to the embodiment. FIG. [Figure 4] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a waveform of a yaw control force and a waveform of a yaw acceleration after being processed by a yaw control force limiter. [Diagram 5] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of a determination unit in the controller. [Figure 6] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing another example of a flowchart illustrating the processing procedure of the determination unit in the controller. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0014] The present invention will be described below based on the embodiment shown in the drawings. As shown in Figs. 1 to 3, a railway vehicle vibration damping device 1 in one embodiment includes actuators Af, Ar that are interposed between a car body B and front and rear bogies Tf, Tr of a railway vehicle V and can generate thrust to suppress lateral vibration of the car body B, acceleration sensors 2f, 2r as sensors that detect lateral vibration of the car body B, and a controller C that determines a sway control force fs and a yaw control force fy that suppress vibration of the car body B based on the vibration detected by the acceleration sensors 2f, 2r and controls the actuators Af, Ar, thereby suppressing vibration of the car body B. Note that, among the subscripts of the acceleration sensors 2f, 2r, the bogies Tf, Tr, the actuators Af, Ar, and other symbols, f indicates that they are related to the front side of the car body B, and r indicates that they are related to the rear side of the car body B.

[0015] Below, a detailed description is given of each component of the railway vehicle vibration damping device 1. As shown in Fig. 1, a railway vehicle V to which the railway vehicle vibration damping device 1 is applied includes bogies Tf, Tr that hold wheels W that run on a track, and a car body B that is elastically supported relative to the bogies Tf, Tr via springs S. Since the car body B is elastically supported via the springs S, it is allowed to move relative to the bogies Tf, Tr in all directions in Fig. 2, up and down, and left and right.

[0016] As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the actuators Af and Ar are configured as a single-rod actuator, for example, including a cylinder 3, a piston (not shown) slidably inserted into the cylinder 3, and a rod 4 inserted into the cylinder and connected to the piston, although not shown in detail. The actuators Af and Ar may be configured as a double-rod actuator. The actuators Af and Ar are also provided with a pump that supplies a working fluid into the cylinder 3, and a fluid pressure circuit having a control valve, a switching valve, and the like, and can perform an expansion / contraction operation by driving the pump, the control valve, and the switching valve. The actuators Af and Ar drive the pump and the control valve and the switching valve provided in the fluid pressure circuit according to the control forces Ff and Fr calculated by the controller C, and exert a thrust as instructed by the control forces Ff and Fr. The actuators Af and Ar function as a passive damper that exerts a damping force that impedes the expansion / contraction of the actuators when no current is applied.

[0017] In both actuators Af, Ar configured in this manner, the cylinder 3 is connected to a pin P suspended below the carbody B of the railway vehicle V, and the rod 4 is connected to the bogies Tf, Tr, and the actuators are installed between the carbody B and the bogies Tf, Tr. When the front and rear actuators Af, Ar both extend, they yaw rotate the carbody B clockwise in FIG. 2 around the carbody center G as the center of rotation, and when they both contract, they yaw rotate the carbody B counterclockwise in FIG. 2 around the carbody center G as the center of rotation. Furthermore, when the front actuator Af is extended and the rear actuator Ar is contracted, the carbody B sways to the right in FIG. 2, and when the front actuator Af is contracted and the rear actuator Ar is extended, the carbody B sways to the left in FIG. 2.

[0018] The railway vehicle vibration damping device 1 of this embodiment is equipped with acceleration sensors 2f, 2r that detect the lateral acceleration of the car body B as the vibration of the car body B. The acceleration sensor 2f is installed at the front of the car body B and detects the lateral acceleration αf of the front part of the car body, and the acceleration sensor 2r is installed at the rear of the car body B and detects the lateral acceleration αr of the rear part of the car body. The front acceleration sensor 2f and the rear acceleration sensor 2r detect the lateral acceleration αf, αr in the direction toward the right in FIG. 2 as a positive value, and conversely detect the lateral acceleration αf, αr in the direction toward the left in FIG. 2 as a negative value. Note that the displacement of the car body B relative to the bogies Tf, Tr may be detected as the vibration of the car body B.

[0019] In this embodiment, the controller C includes a control calculation unit 11 that determines control forces Ff, Fr that indicate the thrust to be output by the front and rear actuators Af, Ar based on the lateral acceleration αf detected by the acceleration sensor 2f and the lateral acceleration αr detected by the acceleration sensor 2r when performing control to suppress vibration of the vehicle body B, a judgment unit 12 that judges the soundness of the control of the actuators Af, Ar, and a drive unit 13 that drives the actuators Af, Ar in accordance with the control forces Ff, Fr. In addition, the controller C may be configured to include, as hardware resources except for the drive unit 13, for example, an A / D converter for capturing signals output by the acceleration sensors 2f, 2r (not shown), a storage device such as a ROM (Read Only Memory) in which programs used for processing required for controlling the actuators Af, Ar and for determining the soundness of control are stored, a calculation device such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) that executes processing based on the programs, and a storage device such as a RAM (Random Access Memory) that provides memory space for the calculation device, and each part in the control calculation unit 11 and the judgment unit 12 is realized by execution of the programs by the CPU.

[0020] As shown in FIG. 3, the control calculation unit 11 includes a yaw control force calculation unit 20 which determines a yaw control force fy for suppressing vibration of the vehicle body B in the yaw direction, a sway control force calculation unit 21 which determines a sway control force fs for suppressing vibration of the vehicle body B in the sway direction, a yaw control force limiter 22 which clamps the yaw control force fy to a yaw upper limit value fyu and a yaw lower limit value fyl when the yaw control force fy becomes equal to or greater than a yaw upper limit value fyu or equal to or less than a yaw lower limit value fyl, a sway control force limiter 23 which clamps the sway control force fs to the sway upper limit value and the sway lower limit value when the sway control force fs becomes equal to or greater than the sway upper limit value or equal to or greater than the sway lower limit value, and a control force calculation unit 24 which determines control forces Ff, Fr which indicate the thrust to be exerted by each actuator Af, Ar.

[0021] As shown in Fig. 3, the yaw control force calculation unit 20 calculates the yaw acceleration αy from the lateral accelerations αf and αr, extracts the component of the resonance frequency band of the vehicle body B from the calculated yaw acceleration αy, and calculates the yaw control force fy from the resonance frequency component of the yaw acceleration αy. In detail, the yaw control force calculation unit 20 calculates αy = (αf - αr) / (Lf + Lr) to calculate the yaw acceleration αy, where Lf is the longitudinal distance between the front acceleration sensor 2f and the vehicle body center G of the vehicle body B, and Lr is the longitudinal distance between the rear acceleration sensor 2r and the vehicle body center G of the vehicle body B. Note that in this example, the yaw acceleration αy is calculated by detecting the acceleration using the front acceleration sensor 2f and the rear acceleration sensor 2r, but it may be detected using a yaw acceleration sensor.

[0022] Furthermore, since the resonance frequency of the vehicle body B is between 1 Hz and 1.5 Hz, the yaw control force calculation unit 20 filters the yaw acceleration αy and extracts the components in the frequency band from 1 Hz to 1.5 Hz contained in the yaw acceleration αy.

[0023] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the yaw control force calculation unit 20 is an H∞ controller, and determines the yaw control force fy by weighting the resonance frequency component of the yaw acceleration αy using a weighting function that weights the frequency.

[0024] 3, the sway control force calculation unit 21 calculates the sway acceleration αs from the lateral accelerations αf and αr, extracts the components of the calculated sway acceleration αs in the resonance frequency band of the vehicle body B, and calculates the sway control force fs from the resonance frequency components of the sway acceleration αs. In detail, the sway control force calculation unit 21 calculates the sway acceleration αs of the vehicle body center G of the vehicle body B by dividing the sum of the lateral acceleration αf and the lateral acceleration αr by 2.

[0025] Furthermore, since the resonance frequency of the vehicle body B is between 1 Hz and 1.5 Hz, the sway control force calculation unit 21 filters the sway acceleration αs and extracts the components in the frequency band from 1 Hz to 1.5 Hz contained in the sway acceleration αs.

[0026] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the sway control force calculation unit 21 is an H∞ controller, and determines the sway control force fs by weighting the resonance frequency component of the sway acceleration αs using a weighting function that weights the frequency.

[0027] The yaw control force fy is a thrust that the actuators Af, Ar should output to suppress vibration of the vehicle body B in the yaw direction, and takes a positive or negative value, with the value indicating the magnitude of the thrust of the actuators Af, Ar and the sign indicating the direction of the thrust of the actuators Af, Ar. The sway control force fs is a thrust that the actuators Af, Ar should output to suppress vibration of the vehicle body B in the sway direction, and takes a positive or negative value, with the value indicating the magnitude of the thrust of the actuators Af, Ar and the sign indicating the direction of the thrust of the actuators Af, Ar. The yaw control force calculation unit 20 and the sway control force calculation unit 21 may calculate the control force by multiplying the yaw acceleration αy and the sway acceleration αs by a skyhook damping coefficient, respectively, based on the skyhook control law.

[0028] When the value of the yaw control force fy reaches the yaw upper limit value fyu or the yaw lower limit value fyl set for the yaw control force fy, the yaw control force limiter 22 limits the value of the yaw control force fy to the yaw upper limit value fyu or the yaw lower limit value fyl. Thus, when the yaw control force fy is a positive value and is equal to or greater than the yaw upper limit value fyu, the yaw control force limiter 22 outputs the value of the yaw control force fy as the yaw upper limit value fyu, and when the yaw control force fy is a negative value and is equal to or less than the yaw lower limit value fyl, the yaw control force limiter 22 outputs the value of the yaw control force fy as the yaw lower limit value fyl.

[0029] When the value of the sway control force fs reaches a sway upper limit value or a sway lower limit value set for the sway control force fs, the sway control force limiter 23 limits the value of the sway control force fs to the sway upper limit value or the sway lower limit value. Therefore, when the sway control force fs is a positive value and is equal to or greater than the sway upper limit value, the sway control force limiter 23 outputs the value of the sway control force fs as the sway upper limit value, and when the sway control force fs is a negative value and is equal to or less than the sway lower limit value, the sway control force limiter 23 outputs the value of the sway control force fs as the sway lower limit value.

[0030] 3, the control force calculation unit 24 calculates control forces Ff, Fr for the front actuator Af and the rear actuator Ar from the yaw control force fy processed by the yaw control force limiter 22 and the sway control force fs processed by the sway control force limiter 23. The control force calculation unit 24 calculates the control force Ff for the front actuator Af by dividing the sum of the yaw control force fy and the sway control force fs by 2, and calculates the control force Fr for the rear actuator Ar by dividing the sum of the yaw control force fy from the sway control force fs by 2.

[0031] The drive unit 13 includes a driver circuit for driving the pumps, control valves, switching valves, etc. of the actuators Af, Ar, and causes the actuators Af, Ar to exert thrust in accordance with the control forces Ff, Fr.

[0032] As described above, in the railway vehicle vibration damping device 1, the control forces Ff, Fr are obtained from the yaw control force fy corresponding to the suppression of the yaw vibration of the car body B of the railway vehicle V and the sway control force fs corresponding to the suppression of the vibration of the car body B in the sway direction, so that the control forces Ff, Fr that are optimal for suppressing the vibration of the car body B can be obtained.

[0033] Next, the judgment unit 12 that judges the soundness of the control of the actuators Af, Ar will be described. In the railway vehicle vibration damping device 1 of this embodiment, since the actuators Af, Ar can actively vibrate the car body B, the control of the actuators Af, Ar by the controller C may not be performed properly for some reason while the railway vehicle V is traveling, and even though the actuators Af, Ar are controlled to generate thrust so as to suppress the vibration of the car body B, there is a possibility that the thrust of the actuators Af, Ar may cause oscillation that amplifies the vibration of the car body B. If the control of the actuators Af, Ar is continued when oscillation occurs in this way, the vibration of the car body B will gradually increase, and the ride comfort of the vehicle will be impaired. The yaw control force fy is an instruction for the thrust of the actuators Af, Ar to rotate the car body B around the car body center G. Therefore, unlike the sway control force fs that is likely to become a random command due to the vibration input to the railway vehicle V, when the actuators Af, Ar oscillate, the waveform of the yaw control force fy is likely to become a waveform that oscillates around the origin. The inventors focused on the nature of this yaw control force fy and discovered that when the oscillation occurs, the waveform of the yaw control force fy in particular reaches the yaw upper limit value fyu and the yaw lower limit value fyl alternately and consecutively, and reached the insight that it is possible to determine whether or not the actuators Af, Ar are oscillating by monitoring the progress of the yaw control force fy.

[0034] Therefore, the judgment unit 12 in the railway vehicle vibration damping device 1 of this embodiment judges that the control of each actuator Af, Ar is unsound when the yaw control force fy calculated by the yaw control force calculation unit 20 in the control calculation unit 11 becomes saturated a predetermined number of times or more in succession, and judges that the control of each actuator Af, Ar is sound when the above condition is not met. Specifically, the judgment unit 12 judges that the control is unsound when the yaw control force fy calculated by the yaw control force calculation unit 20 reaches the yaw upper limit value fyu and the yaw lower limit value fyl by the yaw control force limiter 22 a predetermined number of times or more in succession.

[0035] When the actuators Af, Ar oscillate, the yaw control force fy calculated by the yaw control force calculation unit 20 gradually increases in amplitude, and eventually becomes equal to or greater than the yaw upper limit value fyu and equal to or less than the yaw lower limit value fyl, and the vibration of the vehicle body B also increases due to the oscillation of the actuators Af, Ar. When the actuators Af, Ar oscillate, the waveform of the yaw control force fy processed by the yaw control force limiter 22 becomes, as shown by the solid line in Fig. 4, a waveform in which a part on the positive side is equal to or greater than the yaw upper limit value fyu and a part on the negative side is equal to or less than the yaw lower limit value fyl in one cycle. Therefore, when a part on the positive side of the waveform of the yaw control force fy in one cycle becomes equal to or greater than the yaw upper limit value fyu and a part on the negative side is equal to or less than the yaw lower limit value fyl, the determination unit 12 determines that the actuators Af, Ar are oscillating and the soundness of the control is impaired, that is, the actuators are unsound.

[0036] The yaw upper limit value fyu and the yaw lower limit value fyl are the upper limit value and the lower limit value of the yaw control force fy that are permitted as a command, and when the yaw control force fy alternately becomes equal to or greater than the yaw upper limit value fyu and the yaw lower limit value fyl in succession, the command becomes saturated. The yaw upper limit value fyu and the yaw lower limit value fyl are set according to the thrust that the actuators Af and Ar can generate. As described above, in this embodiment, when the yaw control force fy takes a value equal to or greater than the yaw upper limit value fyu and a value equal to or less than the yaw lower limit value fyl in one cycle, the yaw control force fy is deemed to be saturated, and when the number of consecutive saturations reaches a predetermined number of times or more, that is, five times, the control is deemed to be unsound. The predetermined number can be set arbitrarily, but if it is set to a too large value, the timing of determining that the control is unsound becomes late. Also, when it is set to one time, the control is deemed to be unsound even when the yaw control force fy happens to be saturated, so it is preferable to set it to at least two times.

[0037] If the determination unit 12 determines that the control of the actuators Af, Ar is unsound, the controller C stops the control of the actuators Af, Ar and makes the actuators Af, Ar function as passive dampers. Possible situations in which oscillation occurs include a malfunction of the acceleration sensors 2f, 2r, or when one of the acceleration sensors 2f, 2r is installed so as to detect a direction in which it normally detects acceleration as positive as negative, and the determination unit 12 can detect the oscillation of the actuators Af, Ar at an early stage by monitoring the yaw control force fy.

[0038] A specific process of the determination unit 12 will be described. The controller C monitors the yaw control force fy obtained by the yaw control force calculation unit 20 after the yaw control force fy is processed by the yaw control force limiter 22, and performs the process of the determination unit 12. The process of the yaw control force limiter 22 is a process of limiting the yaw control force fy to the yaw upper limit value fyu when the value of the yaw control force fy is equal to or greater than the yaw upper limit value fyu, and limiting the yaw control force fy to the yaw lower limit value fyl when the value of the yaw control force fy is equal to or less than the yaw lower limit value fyl. Since the resonance frequency of the railway vehicle V is known, it is possible to easily determine whether the yaw control force fy is saturated by determining whether the yaw control force fy after the process by the yaw control force limiter 22 is the yaw upper limit value fyu or the yaw lower limit value fyl at regular intervals. In the process of the determination unit 12, the controller C may monitor the yaw control force fy output by the yaw control force calculation unit 20 before the process by the yaw control force limiter 22, that is, before the process by the yaw control force limiter 22, to determine whether the yaw control force fy is saturated.

[0039] To determine the soundness of the control, the controller C specifically executes the process shown in Fig. 5. As described above, the controller C executes the process by monitoring the yaw control force fy after processing by the yaw control force limiter 22. First, the controller C judges whether the yaw control force fy is equal to the yaw upper limit value fyu for a predetermined time or more (step F1). If the yaw control force fy is not the yaw upper limit value fyu in the judgment of step F1, the controller C resets the counter and returns to the judgment of step F1 (step F10). The counter is a counter that counts the number of times the limit cycle state continues, and is provided in the judgment unit 12. The initial value of the counter is 0, and when the counter is reset, the numerical value is set to the initial value 0.

[0040] In the judgment of step F1, it is judged that the yaw control force fy continues to be the yaw upper limit value fyu for a predetermined time or more. This is because, when the yaw control force fy is the yaw upper limit value fyu for only a very short time, the actuators Af, Ar are not oscillating but the yaw control force fy happens to be equal to or greater than the yaw upper limit value fyu due to vibration input to the railway vehicle V, and the value of the yaw control force fy may not be equal to or greater than the yaw upper limit value fyu due to the oscillation of the actuators Af, Ar. Therefore, in this embodiment, in order to eliminate a state in which the yaw control force fy becomes equal to or greater than the yaw upper limit value fyu due to the input of vibration, the judgment of step F1 is set as a condition for the possibility of unsoundness of the control that the yaw control force fy continues to be the yaw upper limit value fyu for a predetermined time or more. Specifically, in the judgment of step F1, as shown in FIG. 4, it is sufficient to judge whether the time T1 during which the yaw control force fy is equal to the yaw upper limit value fyu is equal to or greater than the predetermined time. The predetermined time may be set to a time during which the value of the yaw control force fy will continue to be equal to or greater than the yaw upper limit value fyu when the actuators Af, Ar oscillate.

[0041] If the result of the judgment in step F1 is that the yaw control force fy continues to be the yaw upper limit value fyu for a predetermined time or more, the process proceeds to step F2, where the controller C waits for a certain waiting time to elapse. When the actuators Af, Ar oscillate, the value of the yaw control force fy alternates between the yaw upper limit value fyu and the yaw lower limit value fyl as shown by the solid line in FIG. 4, but it takes time for the value to switch between the yaw upper limit value fyu and the yaw lower limit value fyl. The waiting time may be set to the time when the value of the yaw control force fy switches from the yaw upper limit value fyu to the yaw lower limit value fyl when the actuators Af, Ar oscillate, and since the period of the yaw control force fy is approximately equal to the natural period of the railway vehicle V, the waiting time may be set according to the natural period. Specifically, in the process of step F2, the waiting time is set to the time T2 required for the yaw control force fy to change from the yaw upper limit value fyu to the yaw lower limit value fyl as shown in FIG. 4.

[0042] Next, the controller C judges whether the yaw control force fy is at the yaw lower limit value fyl for a predetermined time or more (step F3). If the yaw control force fy is not at the yaw lower limit value fyl in the judgment of step F3, the counter is reset and the process returns to the judgment of step F1 (step F10). In the judgment of step F3, it is judged that the yaw control force fy continues to be at the yaw lower limit value fyl for a predetermined time or more. This is because, as in the judgment of step F1, by setting the condition that the yaw control force fy continues to be at the yaw lower limit value fyl for a predetermined time or more, it is possible to eliminate a state in which the yaw control force fy becomes equal to or greater than the yaw lower limit value fyl due to the input of vibration. Specifically, in the judgment of step F3, as shown in FIG. 4, it is sufficient to judge whether the time T1 during which the yaw control force fy is at the yaw lower limit value fyl is equal to or greater than the predetermined time.

[0043] If the result of the judgment in step F3 is that the yaw control force fy continues to be the yaw lower limit value fyl for a predetermined time or more, the process proceeds to step F4, where the controller C waits for a certain waiting time to elapse. The reason why the controller C waits for the waiting time to elapse in step F4 is to wait for the time for the value of the yaw control force fy to switch from the yaw lower limit value fyl to the yaw upper limit value fyu to elapse, as in step F2. Specifically, in the process of step F2, as shown in Fig. 4, the waiting time is the time T2 required for the yaw control force fy to change from the yaw lower limit value fyl to the yaw upper limit value fyu.

[0044] Furthermore, the controller C judges whether the yaw control force fy is equal to the yaw upper limit value fyu (step F5). If the yaw control force fy is equal to the yaw upper limit value fyu after the waiting time has elapsed, the controller C regards the state as being in a limit cycle and proceeds to the process of step F6. On the other hand, if the yaw control force fy is not equal to the yaw upper limit value fyu after the waiting time has elapsed, the controller C proceeds to the process of step F1.

[0045] In step F6, since it is determined in step F5 that the yaw control force fy has entered a limit cycle state, the controller C performs an increment process by adding 1 to the current value of the counter that counts the number of times the limit cycle state has occurred, and then proceeds to step F7.

[0046] The controller C judges whether the counter value is 5 or more (step F7). If the counter value is 4 or less, the controller C returns to the process of step F1. On the other hand, if the counter value is 5 or more, the controller C judges that the limit cycle state has continued for 5 times or more and therefore the control of the actuators Af, Ar is unsound (step F8), and stops the control of the actuators Af, Ar (step F9).

[0047] During control of the actuators Af, Ar, the controller C continues to perform the above process and monitors the yaw control force fy until it determines that the control is unsound and stops the control.

[0048] As described above, the railway vehicle vibration damping device 1 of this embodiment comprises actuators Af, Ar that are interposed between the car body B and the bogies Tf, Tr of the railway vehicle V and are capable of generating thrust that suppresses lateral vibration of the car body B, acceleration sensors (sensors) 2f, 2r that detect lateral vibration of the car body B, and a controller C that controls the actuators Af, Ar to determine a yaw control force fy that suppresses at least the vibration of the car body B based on the vibration detected by the acceleration sensors (sensors) 2f, 2r, and the controller C comprises a judgment unit 12 that judges that the control of the actuators Af, Ar is unsound when the yaw control force fy is saturated a predetermined number of times or more in succession.

[0049] According to the railway vehicle vibration control device 1 configured in this manner, the yaw control force fy, which has the characteristic that the amplitude of its waveform increases when the actuators Af, Ar oscillate, is used, and if the yaw control force fy saturates a predetermined number of times in succession, it is determined that the control of the actuators Af, Ar is unsound.Therefore, it is possible to accurately detect the oscillation of the actuators Af, Ar while excluding situations in which the vibration of the car body B accidentally increases due to the input of vibration, and to accurately determine the soundness of the control.

[0050] Moreover, the judgment unit 12 in the controller C of the railway vehicle vibration damping device 1 of this embodiment judges that the yaw control force fy is saturated when the yaw control force fy alternately reaches the yaw upper limit value fyu for a predetermined time and also reaches the yaw lower limit value fyl for a predetermined time. According to the railway vehicle vibration damping device 1 configured in this way, the yaw control force fy is judged to be saturated on the condition that the yaw control force fy alternately reaches the yaw upper limit value fyu and the yaw lower limit value fyl. Therefore, it is possible to exclude cases where the yaw control force fy exhibits a waveform that accidentally crosses only one of the yaw upper limit value fyu or the yaw lower limit value fyl due to vibration input to the railway vehicle V, or cases where the yaw control force fy is the yaw upper limit value fyu or the yaw lower limit value fyl for an extremely short time, and the like. Therefore, it is possible to more accurately detect the oscillation of the actuators Af, Ar, and improve the accuracy of the judgment result of the soundness of the control.

[0051] Furthermore, the controller C of the railway vehicle vibration damping device 1 of this embodiment includes a yaw control force limiter 22 that clamps the yaw control force fy to the yaw upper limit value fyu and the yaw lower limit value fyl when the yaw control force fy becomes equal to or greater than the yaw upper limit value fyu and the yaw lower limit value fyl. According to the railway vehicle vibration damping device 1 configured in this manner, it is possible to eliminate cases in which the yaw control force fy exhibits a waveform that accidentally crosses only one of the yaw upper limit value fyu and the yaw lower limit value fyl due to vibration input to the railway vehicle V, or cases in which the yaw control force fy remains at the yaw upper limit value fyu or the yaw lower limit value fyl for an extremely short period of time, and also, since the waveform of the yaw control force fy at the time of saturation becomes a flat waveform that does not change and remains at the yaw upper limit value fyu or the yaw lower limit value fyl, it is possible to more accurately and easily detect the oscillation of the actuators Af, Ar, and improve the accuracy of the judgment result of the soundness of the control.

[0052] When the absolute value of the yaw control force fy reaches limit values ​​corresponding to the upper yaw limit value fyu and the lower yaw limit value fyl, it may be considered that the yaw control force fy is saturated. However, in this case, it is unclear whether the yaw control force fy is alternately reaching the positive yaw upper limit value fyu and the negative yaw lower limit value fyl. Therefore, in terms of the accuracy of judging the soundness of control, it is more advantageous to judge that the yaw control force fy is saturated when it alternately reaches the upper yaw limit value fyu and the lower yaw limit value fyl.

[0053] Furthermore, in the above description, the saturation of the yaw control force fy is used as a condition to determine whether the control of the actuators Af, Ar is unsound, but the yaw control force fy is calculated based on the yaw acceleration αy. If the yaw acceleration αy becomes large, the controller C outputs the yaw control force fy in a direction that cancels the yaw acceleration αy to the actuators Af, Ar to reduce the vibration of the vehicle body B. Therefore, like the yaw control force fy, if the soundness of the control of the actuators Af, Ar is impaired and the actuators Af, Ar oscillate, the amplitude of the waveform of the yaw acceleration αy also becomes large. Therefore, the controller C may monitor the yaw acceleration αy instead of the yaw control force fy, and as shown in FIG. 4, set a predetermined positive side threshold value βu and a negative side threshold value βl for the yaw acceleration αy shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 4, and determine that the control of the actuators Af, Ar is unsound when the yaw acceleration αy reaches the predetermined positive side threshold value βu and the negative side threshold value βl a predetermined number of times or more in succession. However, since the yaw control force fy directly indicates the thrust to be generated by the actuators Af, Ar, it is preferable to judge the soundness of control using the yaw control force fy compared to judging the soundness of control using the yaw acceleration αy of the vehicle body B, as this allows for more accurate judgment of the oscillation condition of the actuators Af, Ar.

[0054] In addition, when the controller C determines that the value of the yaw acceleration αy alternately reaches the plus-side threshold value βu and the minus-side threshold value βl, it is possible to exclude cases where the yaw acceleration αy exhibits a waveform that accidentally crosses only one of the plus-side threshold value βu or the minus-side threshold value βl due to vibration input to the railway vehicle V, so that it is possible to more accurately detect the oscillation of the actuators Af, Ar and improve the accuracy of the determination result of the soundness of the control. When the controller C determines whether the control of the actuators Af, Ar is unsound by comparing the absolute value of the yaw acceleration αy with a threshold value set for the absolute value of the yaw acceleration αy, it is unclear whether the yaw acceleration αy alternately reaches the plus-side threshold value βu and the minus-side threshold value βl, so in terms of the accuracy of the determination of the soundness of the control, it is more advantageous to determine that the soundness of the control is impaired when the yaw acceleration αy alternately reaches the plus-side threshold value βu and the minus-side threshold value βl. The predetermined thresholds set for the yaw acceleration αy, in this embodiment, the positive side threshold βu and the negative side threshold βl, are set to values ​​of the yaw acceleration that can be attained when the actuators Af, Ar oscillate.

[0055] In this embodiment, the controller C controls the actuator Af provided at the front side of the vehicle body B and the actuator Ar provided at the rear side, but the actuator Af and the actuator Ar may be controlled by separate controllers C, in which case the controller C controlling the front actuator Af may determine the soundness of the control of the actuator Af, and the controller C controlling the rear actuator Ar may determine the soundness of the control of the actuator Ar. Note that the controller C is configured by a single piece of hardware including the determination unit 12, but the hardware constituting the determination unit 12 and the hardware constituting the control calculation unit 11 may be independent of each other.

[0056] As described above, the judgment unit 12 judges that the control of the actuators Af, Ar is unsound when the yaw control force fy is saturated for a predetermined number of consecutive times or more, or the yaw acceleration αy reaches a predetermined threshold value for a predetermined number of consecutive times or more. In addition to this process, the judgment unit 12 may perform the process shown in FIG. 6 to judge the soundness of the control of the actuators Af, Ar.

[0057] In this manner, when the process shown in Fig. 6 is performed, if the controller C determines in the process of step F7 in the process shown in Fig. 5 that the limit cycle state has occurred five times or more, the controller C performs the process shown in step F11 in Fig. 6 instead of steps F8 and F9 in Fig. 5. The process in Fig. 6 is performed independently to determine the soundness of control for each of the front actuator Af and the rear actuator Ar.

[0058] In step F11, the controller C calculates a soundness index If of the front actuator Af. When determining whether the control of the rear actuator Ar is unsound, the controller C calculates a soundness index Ir of the rear actuator Ar in step F11.

[0059] The health index If of the front actuator Af is a value obtained by multiplying the acceleration differential value dαf / dt obtained by differentiating the lateral acceleration αf detected by the acceleration sensor 2f by the control force Ff, and the health index Ir of the rear actuator Ar is a value obtained by multiplying the acceleration differential value dαr / dt obtained by differentiating the lateral acceleration αr detected by the acceleration sensor 2r by the control force Fr.

[0060] Next, the controller C judges whether the absolute values ​​of the soundness indexes If are equal to or greater than the threshold value Iref (step F12). When judging whether the control of the rear actuator Ar is unsound, the controller C judges in step F12 whether the absolute values ​​of the soundness indexes Ir are equal to or greater than the threshold value Iref. As a result, if the absolute value of the soundness index If(Ir) is less than the threshold value Iref, it is judged that there is no abnormality in the control of the actuator Af (step F16).

[0061] If it is determined in step F12 that the absolute value of the soundness index If(Ir) is equal to or greater than the threshold Iref, the process proceeds to step F13, where the controller C determines whether or not the cumulative number of times that the absolute value of the soundness index If(Ir) is equal to or greater than the threshold Iref within a predetermined sampling time is equal to or greater than a predetermined abnormal value. If the cumulative number of times that the absolute value of the soundness index If(Ir) is equal to or greater than the threshold Iref within a predetermined sampling time is less than the predetermined abnormal value, it is determined that there is no abnormality in the control of the actuator Af(Ar) (step F16). Note that the abnormal value can be set arbitrarily, but if it is set to a too small value, it will be determined that an abnormality exists even if the absolute value of the soundness index If(Ir) accidentally becomes equal to or greater than the threshold Iref, and if it is set to a too large value, detection of the unsoundness of the control will be delayed, so it is set to an appropriate value taking into consideration the control period, etc.

[0062] On the other hand, if it is determined in step F13 that the cumulative number of times that the absolute value of the health index If(Ir) is equal to or greater than the threshold Iref within the specified sampling time is equal to or greater than the abnormal value, the controller C increments the value of an abnormality counter that counts the number of abnormalities, and then performs the process of step F14. The initial value of the abnormality counter is 0, but it is not reset while the actuators Af, Ar are being controlled.

[0063] In step F14, the controller C judges whether the number of abnormalities is three or more, and if the number of abnormalities is less than three, it is judged that there is no abnormality in the control of the actuator Af (Ar) (step F16). On the other hand, if the number of abnormalities is three or more, the controller C proceeds to step F15, judges that the control of the actuator Af (Ar) is unsound, and stops the control of the actuator Af (Ar) (step F17).

[0064] If the control is unsound and the actuators Af, Ar oscillate and vibrate the vehicle body B, the vibration of the vehicle body B is not suppressed and the lateral accelerations αf, αr become larger and larger. The controller C exerts thrust on the actuators Af, Ar to reduce the lateral accelerations αf, αr, but as the lateral accelerations αf, αr increase, the control forces Ff, Fr required by the controller C also increase. In other words, when the control becomes unsound, the lateral accelerations αf, αr and the control forces Ff, Fr gradually increase. The differential values ​​dαf / dt, dαr / dt of the lateral accelerations αf, αr indicate the future tendency of the lateral accelerations αf, αr to increase or decrease. Therefore, the soundness indices If, Ir are indices that take into account whether the vibration of the vehicle body B is increasing or decreasing, and are indices that can predict and judge the deterioration of controllability. In addition, since the soundness indices If, Ir are obtained by multiplying the control forces Ff, Fr by the differential values ​​dαf / dt, dαr / dt of the lateral acceleration αf, αr, the soundness indices If, Ir become large when the differential values ​​dαf / dt, dαr / dt of the lateral acceleration αf, αr become large, even if the control forces Ff, Fr are small, the soundness indices If, Ir become large, and therefore the deterioration of controllability can be accurately determined even in such situations.

[0065] In this way, when the judgment unit 12 judges that the control of the actuators Af, Ar is unsound if the yaw control force fy is saturated for a predetermined number of consecutive times or the yaw acceleration αy reaches a predetermined threshold value for a predetermined number of consecutive times, and the absolute value of the soundness indexes If, Ir is equal to or greater than the threshold value Iref, the judgment unit 12 can more accurately judge whether there is an abnormality in the control of the actuators Af, Ar.

[0066] Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above, modifications, variations and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the appended claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0067] 1... Vibration control device for railway vehicles, 2f, 2r... Acceleration sensor (sensor), 12... Judgment unit, 22... Yaw control force limiter, Af, Ar... Actuator, B... Car body, C... Controller, T... Bogie, V... Railway vehicle

Claims

1. an actuator that is interposed between a car body and a bogie of a railway vehicle and is capable of generating a thrust force that suppresses lateral vibration of the car body; A sensor for detecting lateral vibration of the vehicle body; a controller for determining a yaw control force for suppressing at least vibration of the vehicle body based on the vibration detected by the sensor and controlling the actuator; The controller has a determination unit that determines that control of the actuator is unsound when the yaw control force is saturated a predetermined number of times or more in succession. A vibration damping device for a railway vehicle.

2. an actuator that is interposed between a car body and a bogie of a railway vehicle and is capable of generating a thrust force that suppresses lateral vibration of the car body; A sensor for detecting lateral acceleration of the vehicle body; a controller for determining a yaw acceleration, which is an acceleration in a yaw direction of the vehicle body, based on the lateral acceleration detected by the sensor, and controlling the actuator; The controller has a determination unit that determines that control of the actuator is unsound when the yaw acceleration reaches a predetermined threshold value a predetermined number of times or more in succession. A vibration damping device for a railway vehicle.

3. The determination unit determines that the yaw control force is saturated when the yaw control force alternately reaches a yaw upper limit value for a predetermined period of time and reaches a yaw lower limit value for a predetermined period of time.

2. The vibration damping device for a railway vehicle according to claim 1.

4. The controller has a yaw control force limiter that clamps the yaw control force to the yaw upper limit value and the yaw lower limit value when the yaw control force is equal to or greater than the yaw upper limit value and the yaw lower limit value.

4. The vibration damping device for a railway vehicle according to claim 3.

5. The determination unit determines that control of the actuator is unsound when the yaw acceleration alternately reaches a positive threshold value and a negative threshold value a predetermined number of times or more in succession.

3. The vibration damping device for a railway vehicle according to claim 2.

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