Road travel vehicle comprising lifeguard

Abstract

To provide a road travel vehicle comprising a lifeguard which can prevent an obstacle removed by removing an obstacle on a road inside a vehicle, that is, below a vehicle body from striking against pedestrians or bus-waiting users.SOLUTION: In a road travel vehicle provided with lifeguards so that each may be positioned forward in a vehicle traveling direction of at least right and left front wheels, the lifeguards comprises life guard parts coming in contact with an obstacle to be constituted so that contact faces of the life guard parts of the right and left lifeguards may be shaped in a reverse truncated chevron shape toward the vehicle traveling direction in a plan view. Further, the lifeguard comprises: a plate-like life guard plate; and a mounting member for mounting the life guard plate at a predetermined portion of a body frame of the vehicle to be constituted so that the life guard plate may be attached using the mounting member so as to form a predetermined angle to the vehicle traveling direction.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a vehicle equipped with an obstacle eliminator for eliminating obstacles in the forward traveling direction, and particularly relates to a technology effective when applied to vehicles traveling on roads.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, in railway vehicles, in order to prevent obstacles such as earth and stones, fallen trees, and branches from hindering the running of the vehicle when they fall on the railway track, an obstacle eliminator for eliminating obstacles is provided at the lower front end of the leading vehicle. As an invention related to such an obstacle eliminator for railway vehicles, for example, there is one described in Patent Document 1. In addition, as an obstacle eliminator for railway vehicles, there is an invention in which a plate-shaped obstacle eliminating portion for eliminating obstacles on the rail and a support portion for attaching the obstacle eliminating portion to the vehicle body are provided in front of the wheels instead of at the lower front end of the leading vehicle (Patent Document 2).

[0003] On the other hand, in vehicles such as automobiles, trucks, and buses traveling on roads, bumpers are provided at the front end of the vehicle body mainly to reduce the impact when colliding with other vehicles, guardrails, etc. However, the bumper is provided at a relatively high position from the road surface and is not intended to eliminate obstacles on the road.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] In recent years, with global warming, disasters such as landslides caused by heavy rain have occurred frequently, and the frequency of obstacles such as earth and stone, fallen trees, and branches falling on roads has increased. When such an event occurs, there is a risk that a vehicle traveling on the road may run over an obstacle. In particular, large vehicles such as buses have a high vehicle height, so when the vehicle runs over an obstacle, there is a high risk of rolling over and injuring the passengers. Therefore, it is desired to provide a road clearing device in addition to the bumper for vehicles traveling on the road.

[0006] However, the road clearing device for railway vehicles described in Patent Document 2 is configured to exclude obstacles to the outside of the vehicle with a plate provided in front of the wheels. Also, the road clearing device at the lower front end of the leading vehicle described in Patent Document 1 has a central portion protruding forward and is configured to have a function of excluding obstacles to the outside of the vehicle. Therefore, when the inventions of Patent Documents 1 and 2 are applied to vehicles traveling on the road, there is a problem that the obstacles excluded by the road clearing device may hit pedestrians on the side of the road or users waiting for a bus at a bus stop.

[0007] The present invention has been made paying attention to the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a road vehicle equipped with a road clearing device that can avoid the excluded obstacles from hitting pedestrians or bus waiting users by excluding obstacles on the road inside the vehicle, that is, below the vehicle body. Another object of the present invention is to provide a road vehicle equipped with a road clearing device that can avoid the wheels from running over obstacles on the road.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0008] To achieve the above object, this invention is a road vehicle in which road clearing devices are respectively provided so as to be located in front of the vehicle traveling direction of at least the left and right front wheels, the road clearing device includes a road clearing portion that contacts an obstacle, and the contact surfaces of the road clearing portions of the left and right road clearing devices are configured to form an inverted "V" shape facing the vehicle traveling direction in plan view.

[0009] According to the road vehicle equipped with the obstacle eliminator having the above configuration, since a pair of obstacle eliminators are arranged in an inverted "H" shape facing the vehicle traveling direction in plan view in front of the left and right wheels, when there are obstacles such as falling rocks on the road, the obstacles can be excluded to the inside of the vehicle, that is, below the vehicle body, thereby avoiding the situation where the excluded obstacles hit pedestrians or users waiting for the bus. In addition, the risk of the wheels running over the obstacles on the road can be avoided.

[0010] Here, preferably, the obstacle eliminator includes an obstacle elimination plate constituting the obstacle elimination part and a mounting member for mounting the obstacle elimination plate to a predetermined part of the vehicle body frame of the vehicle. The obstacle elimination plate is mounted by the mounting member so as to form a predetermined angle with respect to the vehicle traveling direction, so that the left and right obstacle elimination plates are configured to be arranged in an inverted "H" shape facing the vehicle traveling direction in plan view. According to such a configuration, since the obstacle eliminator is composed of the obstacle elimination plate and the mounting member, even if the obstacle elimination plate is damaged by eliminating an obstacle, only the obstacle elimination plate needs to be replaced, so that the cost required for replacement can be suppressed.

[0011] Also, preferably, the predetermined part of the vehicle body frame is a support column for jacking up. The mounting member is fixed to the support column by welding, and the upper part of the obstacle elimination plate is fixed to the mounting member by bolts and nuts. According to such a configuration, the obstacle eliminator can be firmly fixed to a part of the vehicle body frame having particularly high strength, so that even if a large load acts when eliminating an obstacle, the obstacle can be surely eliminated without being destroyed.

[0012] Also, preferably, the obstacle elimination plate is formed so that the part except the part fixed to the mounting member forms an arcuate shape in side view, and the concave part is installed facing the vehicle traveling direction. According to such a configuration, when eliminating an obstacle, a force that lifts the obstacle acts, and the obstacle can be moved relatively easily.

[0013] Furthermore, preferably, a crease is formed at the boundary between the portion fixed to the mounting member of the obstacle removing plate and the arcuate portion. According to such a configuration, even if a load larger than expected acts when removing an obstacle, it is possible to prevent the vehicle body (jack-up support column) from being damaged by breaking along the crease.

[0014] Furthermore, preferably, it includes a storage device, vehicle position detection means for detecting the position of the vehicle, and an acceleration sensor provided on the vehicle body or obstacle detection means for detecting that an obstacle has contacted the obstacle removing portion. When an impact phenomenon on the vehicle body is detected by the acceleration sensor or an obstacle is detected by the obstacle detection means, the fact that the impact or the obstacle has been detected and the vehicle position information at the time of detecting the impact or the obstacle are stored in the storage device as a travel history. According to such a configuration, by reading and examining the stored history information, it is possible to know that there was an obstacle on the road and its position, so it can be used for road maintenance management, thereby ensuring safe driving of the vehicle.

Advantages of the Invention

[0015] According to the present invention, an obstacle on the road can be removed to the inside of the vehicle, that is, below the vehicle body, thereby avoiding the removed obstacle from hitting pedestrians or users waiting for a bus. In addition, there is an effect that it is possible to avoid the wheels from riding over an obstacle on the road.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0016]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Embodiments for Carrying out the Invention

[0017] Hereinafter, with reference to the drawings, an embodiment of a road vehicle equipped with a fender according to the present invention will be described in detail. Fig. 1(A) shows an example of a side view of a large bus equipped with the fender of the present invention, and Fig. 1(B) shows an example of its plan view. The bus on which the fender of the present invention is mounted may be an autonomous bus.

[0018] As shown in Fig. 1(A), the fender 20 according to the present invention is mounted at a predetermined location on the vehicle body frame so as to be located in front of the front wheel 11A of the large bus 10 traveling on the road. The front wheel 11A shown in Fig. 1(A) is the front wheel on the left side of the vehicle. Although not visible from Fig. 1(A), as shown in Fig. 1(B), a fender 20 is also provided in front of the front wheel 11B on the opposite side (right side of the vehicle) of the vehicle. Hereinafter, the fender on the left side of the vehicle will be denoted as 20A, and the fender on the right side will be denoted as 20B.

[0019] In addition, in the present embodiment, the left and right fenders 20A and 20B each include a plate-shaped fender plate 21 that hangs vertically downward from the lower part of the body of the large bus 10. As shown in Fig. 1(B), the fender plates 21 of the fenders 20A and 20B are provided in an inverted "H" shape facing the front direction. In addition, as the attachment locations of the fenders 20A and 20B, the jack-up struts constituting the vehicle body frame are selected. In addition, separately from the obstacle eliminators 20A and 20B, a bumper 12 is provided at the lower front part of the vehicle body, similar to a general large bus.

[0020] Also, in the present embodiment, an obstacle sensor 14 composed of a laser measuring instrument such as a LiDAR and a stereo camera is provided on the front surface of the vehicle body to grasp the distance to a front obstacle and the shape of the obstacle. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, a stereo camera 14A is disposed almost at the center of the front of the vehicle near the lower part of the windshield, and a pair of laser measuring instruments 14B that scan laser light in the horizontal direction are disposed at positions almost at the same height as the stereo camera 14A and close to both left and right sides of the vehicle, and also a single laser measuring instrument 14C that scans laser light in the vertical direction is disposed almost at the center of the upper part of the vehicle. Note that the obstacle sensor 14 is not limited to a combination of three LiDARs and a stereo camera, and may be provided with only any one type of sensor. In addition to these sensors, a monocular camera or an infrared camera for detecting people and animals may be provided.

[0021] Next, the detailed configuration of the obstacle eliminator 20 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5. Among FIGS. 3 to 5, FIG. 3 is a view of the obstacle eliminator 20B of FIG. 1 mounted on the vehicle body of the bus 10 as viewed from below, FIG. 4 is a view of the obstacle eliminator 20B of FIG. 3 as viewed from the rear side of the vehicle body, and FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a cross-section along line A-A in FIG. 4. As shown in FIG. 3, the obstacle eliminator 20 of the present embodiment is composed of an obstacle elimination plate 21 and a stay 22 for attaching the obstacle elimination plate 21 to the jack-up support column 15 on the vehicle body side.

[0022] The jack-up support column 15 has a rectangular cross-section, and the stay 22 includes two joint surfaces 22A and 22B that are in contact with the rear side surface and the inner side surface of the vehicle body among the four side surfaces of the support column 15, a horizontal wing portion 22C that protrudes rearward from the upper part of the joint surface 22A in contact with the rear side surface and forms a right-angled triangle shape in a bottom view, and an obstacle removal plate joint portion 22D that hangs down from the horizontal wing portion 22C. The obstacle removal plate joint portion 22D is formed to form an angle of approximately 70 degrees with the joint surface 22B in contact with the inner side surface of the vehicle body of the jack-up support column 15.

[0023] Also, a part of the joint surface 22B of the stay 22 is fixed to the side surface of the jack-up support column 15 by welding at a location indicated by the symbol W. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6(A), a rectangular opening 22a is formed in the joint surface 22B, and welding is performed along the edge of the opening 22a to fix it. As shown in FIG. 6(B), a notch 22b such as a rectangle may be formed in the joint surface 22B, and welding may be performed along the edge of the notch 22b. Further, this welding is preferably performed such that a welding material is filled in the edge of the opening 22a or the notch 22b.

[0024] On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, the upper part of the obstacle removal plate 21 is fixed to the obstacle removal plate joint portion 22C of the stay 22 by a plurality of (six in the figure) bolts and nuts 23. Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the lower half of the obstacle removal plate 21 is formed to be concave toward the front and convex toward the rear and to be arcuate in a side view. By adopting such a shape, when the obstacle removal plate 21 hits an obstacle such as a falling rock and removes it, a force that causes the lower end of the obstacle removal plate 21 to contact the lower part of the falling rock and lift it acts, making it easier to move the obstacle. In addition, a hanging piece portion is provided at the lower end of the obstacle removal plate 21 to prevent it from being damaged when it comes into contact with an obstacle or from damaging an article on the road when the obstacle is an article that has fallen from a preceding vehicle. Further, the obstacle removal plate 21 is formed of a material that is difficult to undergo elastic deformation, so that it can surely move an obstacle on the road.

[0025] In addition, the obstacle removing plate 21 has a length of about 20-odd cm in the height direction and a width of about 30 cm, and is fixed such that at least the lower half thereof protrudes downward from the lower side of the stay 22. The width of the obstacle removing plate 21 is about 30 cm, and as shown in FIG. 4, the width of the lower side, i.e., the curved portion forming an arc shape, is formed to be larger than the width of the stay 22. Further, the outer end of the obstacle removing plate 21 substantially coincides with the side end of the stay 22, and the inner end extends toward the center side of the vehicle body.

[0026] Also, the lower side of the obstacle removing plate 21 is set such that the height from the road surface, i.e., the distance between the obstacle removing plate 21 and the road surface, is lower than the height of the lower part of the bumper at the front end of the vehicle body, for example, 9-15 cm. If the height of the obstacle is 15 cm or less and the vehicle speed is low, even if the wheel rides over the obstacle, no problem that leads to an accident will occur. On the other hand, even when the vehicle is traveling at a relatively high speed, as will be described later, by performing a traveling control to reduce the speed in front of the obstacle, the risk of problems can be reduced even if the height of the obstacle is large.

[0027] Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 4, the obstacle removing plate 21 has a fold line FL formed parallel to the lower side of the stay 22, and when a load larger than expected acts, it can be broken along the fold line FL to prevent the vehicle body (jack-up support column) from being damaged. In addition, a groove-shaped reinforcing portion 21a is formed in the fixing portion of the upper half of the obstacle removing plate 21 to increase the lateral bending strength, and when an obstacle hits the obstacle removing plate 21 at a position deviated from the center thereof and a force that bends the obstacle removing plate 21 acts, the obstacle removing plate 21 is configured to be less likely to undergo plastic deformation.

[0028] As described above, in the road vehicle equipped with the obstacle remover 20 of the present embodiment, when there is an obstacle such as a falling rock on the road that is lower than the height of the bumper and is located on the traveling locus of the wheel, the obstacle is removed to the inside of the vehicle by the obstacle remover 20. Therefore, the risk of the wheel riding over the obstacle and causing an accident can be avoided. In addition, since the obstacle removal plate 21 is fixed to the stay 22 by bolts and nuts 23, when the obstacle removal plate 21 is damaged, only the obstacle removal plate can be easily replaced with a new one, and the cost required for replacement can be suppressed.

[0029] Next, an example of suitable driving control in an automated driving bus equipped with the obstacle remover 20 of the above-described embodiment will be described. In order to enable automated driving, as described above, an automated driving bus is provided with a total of four obstacle sensors 14A to 14C of two types for detecting obstacles ahead. The automated driving bus is also equipped with a control device, a brake control device, an automatic steering device, a wireless communication device, etc. that perform driving control based on signals from these obstacle sensors 14A to 14C.

[0030] Furthermore, the automated driving bus is equipped with a speed sensor for detecting the driving speed in the same manner as a normal vehicle, and a signal from the speed sensor is input to the driving control device. Also, in an automated driving bus traveling on a dedicated road such as a BRT (Bus Rapid Transit System), a magnetic sensor for detecting a magnetic marker buried along the center line of the dedicated road is installed at the bottom of the vehicle body as a position detection sensor, and a signal from the position detection sensor is also input to the driving control device of the vehicle.

[0031] When the driving control device mounted on the automated driving bus equipped with the obstacle remover 20 of the above-described embodiment determines that there is an obstacle ahead based on signals from the obstacle sensors 14A to 14C, if the driving speed is equal to or higher than a predetermined speed, it controls the brake control device to lower the speed of the vehicle so that it becomes lower than the predetermined speed. In addition, when the driving control device determines that the height of the obstacle ahead detected by the signals from the obstacle sensors 14A to 14C is equal to or higher than a predetermined height (for example, 30 cm), it stops the vehicle and notifies the information to a display device or an audio output device inside the vehicle. Alternatively, the vehicle may be stopped and information indicating that the vehicle has been stopped by the obstacle may be transmitted to a control device in the command room, etc. by the wireless communication device.

[0032] Further, when the travel control device determines (detects) that the height of an obstacle ahead is lower than a predetermined height (for example, 30 cm), it may decelerate the vehicle at the time of detection and pass over the obstacle as it is. At this time, if the obstacle is located in front of the front wheels 11A and 11B of the vehicle, the obstacle on the road will be excluded to the inside of the vehicle body by the obstacle eliminator 20 of the above embodiment. Note that the travel control device may store, as a travel history, the detection of the obstacle and the fact that it has passed because its height is low, together with the position data (distance from the starting point) of the vehicle at that time, in a storage device.

[0033] Furthermore, when a deceleration acceleration equal to or greater than a certain value is detected by an acceleration sensor mounted on the bus, it is considered that there has been an impact on the vehicle body, and it is recorded as an event in the storage device. Alternatively, a sensor capable of detecting that an obstacle has come into contact with or been excluded by the obstacle eliminator 20 may be provided, and when this sensor detects an obstacle, the detection of the obstacle and the position data (distance from the starting point) of the vehicle at that time may be stored in the storage device. Thereby, by later reading out the travel history data of the bus from the storage device, it can be used as information for the maintenance and management of the dedicated road. Note that as the above sensor, in addition to a sensor such as the obstacle sensor installed on the front surface of the vehicle, for example, a strain gauge may be attached to the surface of the upper part (near the fold FL) of the curved part of the obstacle removal plate 21 to indirectly detect the operation of removing the obstacle by detecting the deformation of the obstacle removal plate 21, or a pressure sensor or the like may be considered. Further, it may be composed of a camera that photographs the lower front surface of the obstacle removal plate 21 and an image processing device that performs image processing.

[0034] As described above, the present invention has been described based on the embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications and changes are possible. For example, in the above embodiment, the obstacle eliminator 20 is provided immediately in front of the front wheels 12 of the vehicle, and no obstacle eliminator is provided on the rear wheels 13, but an obstacle eliminator may also be provided in front of the rear wheels 13. Also, in the above-described embodiment, the jack-up strut 15 is selected as the location on the vehicle body frame to which the obstacle eliminator 20 is attached, but it is also possible to attach the obstacle eliminator 20 to other locations. Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to a large bus is shown, but the present invention is not limited thereto and can be used for general vehicles running on roads such as trucks.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0035] 10 Large bus (road vehicle) 11A, 11B Front wheels 12 Bumper 13A, 13B Rear wheels 14 Obstacle sensor 15 Jack-up strut 20 Obstacle eliminator 21 Obstacle elimination plate 22 Stay (mounting means) 23 Bolt and nut

Claims

1. A road vehicle having obstacle deflectors disposed at least in front of the left and right front wheels in the vehicle travel direction, This road-running vehicle is characterized in that the obstacle deflector is equipped with an obstacle deflector that comes into contact with an obstacle, and the contact surfaces of the obstacle deflectors of the left and right obstacle deflectors are configured so as to form an inverted ``U'' shape toward the vehicle's traveling direction when viewed in a plane.

2. The obstacle deflector includes an obstacle deflector plate constituting the obstacle deflector portion, and a mounting member for mounting the obstacle deflector plate to a predetermined portion of a body frame of a vehicle, 2. A road vehicle as described in claim 1, characterized in that the obstacle deflector is attached by the mounting member so as to form a predetermined angle with respect to the vehicle travel direction, so that the left and right obstacle deflectors are arranged in an inverted ``U'' shape toward the vehicle travel direction in a plan view.

3. the predetermined portion of the vehicle body frame is a support for jacking up, 3. A road vehicle according to claim 2, wherein the mounting member is fixed to the support by welding, and the upper portion of the obstacle deflector is fixed to the mounting member by bolts and nuts.

4. 4. The road vehicle according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the obstacle deflector is formed so that a portion thereof excluding a portion fixed to the mounting member is arch-shaped in a side view, and is installed so that a recess faces in the direction of vehicle travel.

5. 5. A road vehicle according to claim 4, wherein a crease is formed at a boundary between a portion of the obstacle deflector fixed to the mounting member and the bow-shaped portion.

6. a storage device, a vehicle position detection means for detecting a position of the vehicle, and an obstacle detection means for detecting an acceleration sensor provided on the vehicle body or an obstacle contacting the obstacle deflector, 4. A road traveling vehicle according to claim 1, characterized in that, when the acceleration sensor detects an impact phenomenon on the vehicle body or the obstacle detection means detects an obstacle, the detection of the impact or obstacle and information on the vehicle position at the time of the impact or obstacle detection are stored in the storage device as a traveling history.

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