Vehicle opening / closing body control device

Abstract

To provide an opening / closing body control device for vehicles capable of gently moving the opening / closing body in the open state to a balanced position regardless of the tilt angle of a parking lot of a vehicle.SOLUTION: In an opening / closing body control device for vehicle 100, a control unit 17 is configured to control a drive unit 5 to move an open / close body 3, and when it is determined that the open / close body 3 has reached a position where the predetermined open state is achieved based on the open / close position determined by a position detection unit 42, perform the brake control by controlling the drive unit 5 until the stop of the open / close body 3 is detected.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a control device for a vehicle opening / closing member. [Background technology]

[0002] A drive device that electrically opens and closes a vehicle's back door is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1). This drive device is disposed between the vehicle body and the back door, and opens and closes the back door by electrically driving a spindle drive unit provided within the drive device using a rotation drive device to extend and retract. More specifically, this drive device includes a housing tube and a cover tube that is slidably guided by the housing tube, and extends and retracts as the cover tube moves axially due to the rotational drive of the spindle of the spindle drive unit.

[0003] The drive unit also includes a compression coil spring disposed between the housing tube and the cover tube, which maintains the position of the cover tube after axial movement. After the vehicle's tailgate is moved to the fully open position by the drive unit, it gradually displaces to a position where the weight of the tailgate and the repulsive force of the compression coil spring are balanced. However, when the vehicle is parked on an incline, such as a slope, the force acting on the tailgate increases. As a result, the tailgate may suddenly displace to a position where the weight is balanced with the repulsive force of the compression coil spring, potentially causing a collision with the user. Measures to prevent such sudden tailgate displacement include increasing the repulsive force of the compression coil spring or adding a component that increases the holding force against the tailgate. However, these measures require greater force during manual operation and increase costs.

[0004] Patent Document 2 discloses that when it is determined that the tailgate has reached the fully open position, a regenerative braking force is generated in the electric motor of the drive unit until a certain time has passed, causing the door to move gently. However, because the force acting on an open tailgate varies depending on the inclination angle of a slope, if the regenerative braking time is constant, there is a possibility that the regenerative braking force will disappear before the tailgate has completely moved to a position where the repulsive force of the compression coil spring is balanced. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 4430044 [Patent Document 2] Patent Publication No. 2017-082421 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] The present invention aims to provide a vehicle opening / closing body control device that can gently displace an opening / closing body that opens and closes an opening in a vehicle body to a balanced position in an open state regardless of the inclination angle of the vehicle's parking location. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The present invention relates to an opening / closing body for opening and closing an opening in a vehicle body. a compression coil spring for biasing the opening / closing body to a fully open position, a position detection unit that detects the open / close position of the opening / closing body; and a control unit that controls the driving unit to move the opening / closing body in the open direction or the closed direction, and when the control unit determines that the opening / closing body has reached a position where it is in a predetermined open state based on the opening / closing position detected by the position detection unit, The aforementioned A brake control is executed to brake the drive unit, and the opening / closing body is at a position where the spring force of the compression coil spring and gravity are balanced. Stop What I did The brake control continues until When the stop of the opening / closing body is detected, the brake control is terminated. The present invention provides a vehicle opening / closing body control device.

[0008] After the opening / closing body reaches a position where it is in the predetermined open state, braking (brake control) of the drive unit is executed until the opening / closing body is detected as stopped, allowing the opening / closing body in the open state to be gently displaced to a balanced position regardless of the inclination angle of the parking space. Furthermore, since there is no need to set a large repulsive force for the compression coil spring of the drive unit (spindle drive mechanism), the need for a large force during manual operation can be avoided. Furthermore, since there is no need to add additional parts to maintain the opening / closing body in the open / closed position, costs can be reduced.

[0009] The control unit detects a change in the open / close position of the opening / closing body when the change in the open / close position of the opening / closing body continues for a predetermined time. stops at the balance position That's fine.

[0010] By determining that the opening / closing body has stopped when no change in the opening / closing position of the opening / closing body is detected for a predetermined period of time, brake control is reliably continued until the opening / closing body is displaced to a balanced position.

[0011] The drive unit may include an electric motor as a power source, and the control unit may brake the drive unit by short-circuiting both ends of the electric motor in the brake control.

[0012] By simply short-circuiting both ends of the electric motor, the drive unit can be braked to gently displace the opening / closing body, so there is no need for additional parts for brake control, and costs can be kept down.

[0013] In the brake control, the control unit may supply a pulse width modulation signal to the electric motor and set a duty ratio between a brake period in which both ends of the electric motor are short-circuited and a free period in which both ends of the electric motor are open.

[0014] The braking force can be easily changed simply by setting the duty ratio, so braking control can be performed with a braking force appropriate to the weight of the opening and closing body, which varies depending on the vehicle model. [Effects of the Invention]

[0015] According to the vehicle opening / closing body control device of the present invention, the opening / closing body in the open state can be gradually displaced to a balanced position regardless of the inclination angle of the parking space where the vehicle is parked. 。 [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0016] [Figure 1] 1 is a perspective view showing a rear portion of a vehicle equipped with a control device for a vehicle opening / closing member according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 2] 1 is a block diagram of a control device for a vehicle opening / closing member according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 3] FIG. [Figure 4A] Circuit diagram of an electric motor H-bridge circuit (free state). [Figure 4B] Circuit diagram of an H-bridge circuit for an electric motor (forward rotation mode). [Figure 5A] Circuit diagram of an H-bridge circuit for an electric motor (reverse rotation mode). [Figure 5B] Schematic diagram of an H-bridge circuit for an electric motor (braking mode). [Figure 6] 4 is a flowchart illustrating control of a back door by the control device for a vehicle opening / closing member according to the embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0017] Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0018] Fig. 1 shows a rear part of a vehicle body 1 of a vehicle (a passenger car in this embodiment) equipped with a vehicle opening / closing member control device 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a block diagram of the vehicle opening / closing member control device 100.

[0019] An opening 2 is formed in the rear of the vehicle body 1. The opening 2 is opened and closed by a back door 3 (opening / closing body), which is an opening / closing body. The back door 3 is provided so as to be rotatable about a rotation axis in its upper portion (not shown) between a fully open position where the opening 2 is fully opened and a fully closed position where the opening 2 is fully closed. The back door 3 is rotated by the drive of a spindle drive mechanism 5 (drive unit) in a direction toward the fully open position (opening direction) or in a direction toward the fully closed position (closing direction).

[0020] The spindle drive mechanism 5 is made up of a first spindle drive mechanism 5A and a second spindle drive mechanism 5B, which are provided on both sides of the back door 3. Each of the spindle drive mechanisms 5A and 5B is connected between the vehicle body 1 and the back door 3.

[0021] The spindle drive mechanism 5 will now be briefly described with reference to FIG. 3. The spindle drive mechanism 5 is composed of a first housing 7 that houses an electric motor 6 serving as a power source, and a second housing 8 that houses a spindle 10 and other components. One end of the first housing 7 is provided with a door-side connecting portion 7a to which a joint ball 3a provided on the back door 3 is rotatably connected. The rotary shaft 6a of the electric motor 6 is connected to a spindle 10 in the second housing 8 via a reduction gear mechanism 9. A spindle nut 11 is threadedly engaged with the spindle 10, and the rear end of a cylindrical push rod 12 is fixed to the outer periphery of the front portion of the spindle nut 11. The end of a cylindrical inner tube 14, which is arranged coaxially and radially spaced apart, is fixed to the tip of the push rod 12. The second housing 8 is provided with a guide tube portion 15a that guides the push rod 12 so that it can move back and forth, and an outer tube 15 that guides the inner tube 14 so that it can move back and forth. A compression coil spring 13 is arranged on the outer periphery of the guide tube portion 15a, and an inner tube 14 and an outer tube 15 are arranged in that order on the outer periphery of the compression coil spring 13. In the longitudinal direction, the compression coil spring 13 is arranged between the rear end portion of the second housing 8 and the front end portion of the inner tube 14. A vehicle body side connecting portion 12a is provided at the front end of the push rod 12, which is rotatably connected to a joint ball 1a provided on the vehicle body.

[0022] In the spindle drive mechanism 5, when the electric motor 6 is driven to rotate in the forward direction, the spindle 10 is rotated, and the spindle nut 11 is moved forward, the inner cylinder 14 protrudes forward from the outer cylinder 15 via the push rod 12. This causes the back door 3 to rotate in the opening direction. Conversely, when the electric motor 6 is driven to rotate in the reverse direction, and the spindle nut 11 is moved rearward, the inner cylinder 14 retracts into the outer cylinder 15. This causes the back door 3 to rotate in the closing direction.

[0023] On the other hand, when the electric motor 6 is not driven and the tailgate 3 is displaced in the opening or closing direction by an external force, the inner cylinder 14, the push rod 12, and the spindle nut 11 move back and forth within the outer cylinder 15, causing the spindle 10 to rotate and causing the rotating shaft 6a of the electric motor 6 to rotate.

[0024] In other words, since the forward and backward movement of the spindle drive mechanism 5 and the rotation of the electric motor 6 are linked, the forward and backward movement of the spindle drive mechanism 5 can be braked by performing brake control to suppress the rotational movement of the electric motor 6.

[0025] The rotation of the rotary shaft 6a of the electric motor 6 is detected by a rotation speed sensor 16 shown only in FIG.

[0026] An H-bridge circuit shown in Figures 4A to 5B is used to supply power to the electric motor 6. The H-bridge circuit includes an open-side high-side switch 18, a close-side low-side switch 19, a close-side high-side switch 20, and an open-side low-side switch 21. By setting these switches 18 to 21 to on or off, the motor can be switched between a free state, a forward rotation state, a reverse rotation state, and a brake state.

[0027] As shown in Figure 4A, in the free state, all switches 18 in the H-bridge circuit ~2 1 is set to off.

[0028] 4B, in the forward rotation state, the open-side high-side switch 18 and the close-side low-side switch 19 are set to ON, and the close-side high-side switch 20 and the open-side low-side switch 21 are set to OFF. When power is supplied in this state, the electric motor 6 rotates forward, and the back door 3 rotates in the opening direction.

[0029] 5A, in the reverse rotation state, the open-side high-side switch 18 and the close-side low-side switch 19 are set to OFF, and the close-side high-side switch 20 and the open-side low-side switch 21 are set to ON. When power is supplied in this state, the electric motor 6 rotates in the reverse direction, and the back door 3 rotates in the closing direction.

[0030] 5B, in the braking state, the open-side high-side switch 18 and the close-side high-side switch 20 are set to off, and the open-side low-side switch 21 and the close-side low-side switch 19 are set to on. The braking state can also be achieved by setting the open-side low-side switch 21 and the close-side low-side switch 19 to off, and the open-side high-side switch 18 and the close-side high-side switch 20 to on. In the braking state, the electric motor 6 is short-circuited, so when the rotating shaft 6a of the electric motor 6 rotates due to an external force, a short-brake state occurs.

[0031] The control device 17 (control unit) includes an authentication processing unit 41, a position detection unit 42, a speed detection unit 43, and a motor control unit 44. The control device 17 can be constructed by hardware including storage devices such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), RAM (Random Access Memory), and ROM (Read Only Memory), and software implemented therein.

[0032] The authentication processing unit 41 communicates with the electronic key 33 via a receiver ECU (Electronic Control Unit) 32 and executes authentication processing.

[0033] The position detection unit 42 calculates the rotation speed of the spindle 10 from the rotation speed of the rotating shaft 6a of the electric motor 6 input from the rotation speed sensor 16, and detects the relative position of the inner cylinder 14 (push rod 12) with respect to the outer cylinder 15, that is, the position (open / closed position) of the tailgate 3 between the fully open position and the fully closed position.

[0034] The speed detection unit 43 calculates the rotational speed of the spindle 10 based on the rotational speed of the rotating shaft 6a of the electric motor 6 input from the rotational speed sensor 16, and detects the forward / backward speed of the inner tube 14 (push rod 12) relative to the outer tube 15, i.e., the speed of rotation of the tailgate 3 in the opening or closing direction.

[0035] The motor control unit 44 drives the electric motor 6 of the spindle drive mechanism 5 based on an input signal from the door open switch 24 (provided on the back door 3 in this embodiment as shown in FIG. 1) to perform an opening operation that rotates the back door 3 in the opening direction. At this time, the motor control unit 44 sets the H-bridge circuit to the forward rotation state shown in FIG. 4B.

[0036] Furthermore, based on an input signal from the door close switch 23 (provided on the back door 3 in this embodiment as shown in FIG. 1), the motor control unit 44 drives the electric motor 6 of the spindle drive mechanism 5 to perform a closing operation that rotates the back door 3 in the closing direction. At this time, the motor control unit 44 sets the H-bridge circuit to the reverse rotation state shown in FIG. 5A.

[0037] Furthermore, as will be described later, the motor control unit 44 executes brake control to brake the spindle drive mechanism 5 by short-circuiting both ends of the electric motor 6, that is, by bringing the electric motor 6 into the brake state shown in FIG. 5B.

[0038] By alternately repeating the brake state shown in Fig. 5B and the free state shown in Fig. 4A, the brake force applied to the spindle drive mechanism 5 can be adjusted by the duty ratio between the brake state period (brake period) and the free state period (free period). The higher the duty ratio of the brake period, the stronger the brake force that can be applied to the spindle drive mechanism 5. More specifically, when the duty ratio of the brake period is 100%, the brake force applied to the spindle drive mechanism 5 is maximum, and when the duty ratio of the brake period is 0%, the brake force applied to the spindle drive mechanism 5 is minimum.

[0039] Hereinafter, the control of the spindle drive mechanism 5 executed by the control device 17 will be described with reference to FIG.

[0040] In step S1, when the door open switch 24 is set to ON, the motor control unit 44 controls the spindle drive mechanism 5, more specifically, drives the electric motor 6 to rotate in the forward direction to move the back door 3 in the opening direction.

[0041] Next, in step S2, when it is determined that the back door 3 has reached a position where it is in a predetermined open state based on the opening / closing position detected by the position detection unit 42, the process of step S3 is executed. .child Here, the "position at which the predetermined open state is achieved" may be the fully open position, or it may be a position at which the opening state is close to but does not reach the fully open position.

[0042] In step S3, the motor control unit 44 executes brake control of the electric motor 6. The duty ratio of the brake period and the free period during this brake control is set to a constant value. In step S4, the brake control in step S3 is continued until it is detected in step S4 that the open position of the back door 3 has not changed for a predetermined time based on the open / close position detected by the position detection unit 42. The predetermined time in step S4 is not particularly limited, but is set to, for example, about 100 to 3000 msec.

[0043] In step S4, if it is detected that the open position of the tailgate 3 does not change for a predetermined time based on the opening / closing position detected by the position detection unit 42, it is determined that the tailgate 3 has stopped, and in step S5, the brake control of the electric motor 6 is stopped, and the control ends.

[0044] According to the above control, after the tailgate 3 reaches a position where it is in a predetermined open state, braking of the spindle drive mechanism 5 is executed until the tailgate 3 is detected as having stopped, thereby gently displacing the open tailgate 3 to a balanced position regardless of the inclination angle of the parking space where the vehicle is parked. Furthermore, since there is no need to set a large repulsive force for the compression coil spring 13 of the spindle drive mechanism, the need for a large force during manual operation can be avoided. Furthermore, since there is no need to add components to hold the tailgate 3 in the open or closed position, cost increases can be suppressed.

[0045] In addition, by determining that the opening / closing body has stopped when no change in the opening / closing position of the tailgate 3 is detected for a predetermined period of time (step S4), brake control is reliably continued until the tailgate 3 is displaced to a position balanced with the spring force of the compression coil spring 13 and gravity.

[0046] Furthermore, since the spindle drive mechanism 5 can be braked to gently displace the back door 3 simply by short-circuiting both ends of the electric motor 6, no additional parts for brake control are required, and costs can be reduced.

[0047] Furthermore, since the braking force can be easily changed by simply setting the duty ratio, braking control can be performed with a braking force suited to the weight of the back door 3, which differs depending on the vehicle model. [Explanation of symbols]

[0048] 1. Body 2 Opening 3 Back door (opening and closing body) 5 Spindle drive mechanism (drive unit) 6 electric motor 7. First Housing 8 Second Housing 9 Reduction gear mechanism 10 spindles 11 Spindle nut 12 push rod 13 Compression coil spring 14 Inner cylinder 15 outer cylinder 16 RPM sensor 17 Control device (control unit) 18 Open side high side switch 19 Close side low side switch 20 Close side high side switch 21 Open side low side switch 23 Door close switch 24 Door open switch 32 Receiver ECU 33 Electronic Key 41 Authentication processing section 42 Position detection unit 43 Speed ​​detection unit 44 Motor control unit 100 Vehicle opening / closing body control device

Claims

1. a drive unit that includes a compression coil spring that biases an opening / closing body that opens and closes an opening in a vehicle body to a fully open position and drives the opening / closing body; a position detection unit that detects the open / close position of the opening / closing body; a control unit that controls the drive unit so as to move the opening / closing body in an opening direction or a closing direction; Equipped with The control unit controls the drive unit to move the opening / closing body in the opening direction, and when it determines that the opening / closing body has reached a position where it is in a predetermined open state based on the opening / closing position detected by the position detection unit, it executes brake control to brake the drive unit, continues the brake control until it detects that the opening / closing body has stopped at a position where the spring force of the compression coil spring and gravity are balanced, and terminates the brake control when it detects that the opening / closing body has stopped.

2. 2. The vehicle opening / closing body control device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit determines that the opening / closing body has stopped at the balanced position when a state in which no change in the opening / closing position of the opening / closing body is detected continues for a predetermined time.

3. the drive unit includes an electric motor as a power source, The control device for a vehicle opening / closing member according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the control unit brakes the drive unit by short-circuiting both ends of the electric motor in the brake control.

4. 4. The vehicle opening / closing body control device according to claim 3, wherein, in the brake control, the control unit supplies a pulse width modulation signal to the electric motor and sets a duty ratio between a brake period in which both ends of the electric motor are short-circuited and a free period in which both ends of the electric motor are open.

Images