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EP0428096A1 Expired / Lapsed EP ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Suspension control apparatus

Assignee: Panasonic Holdings Corp
•
Filing: 1990-11-12
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2010-11-12
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Abstract

Abstract Pitching motion of bouncing, bottoming, bumpy-­road driving and braking of a vehicle (11) during driving is correctly grasped by computing and map-retrieving from output signal (V) of a vehicle speed sensor (1), output signal (S) of a brake switch (5) and output signal (ωp) of a pitch angular velocity sensor (2) for detecting angular velocity about a pitch axis (B) of the vehicle (11); and pitching motion of the vehicle (11) is restrained by the adjusting damping force of shock­absorbers (3) of the suspension control apparatus.

Inventors

  • 👤 Eiichiro Okuda
  • 👤 Masuo Takigawa

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction EP
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-09 08:50
CPC Classifications
B; B60; B60G; B60G17/00; B60G17/06; B60G17/015; B60G17/016; B60G17/0165; B60G2400/00; B60G2400/10; B60G2400/106; B60G2400/20; B60G2400/204; B60G2500/00; B60G2500/10; B60G2600/00; B60G2600/02; B60G2600/70; B60G2800/00; B60G2800/01; B60G2800/014; B60G2800/22

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 12
Claim 1
Independent Claim 212 words
A suspension control apparatus comprising: a vehicle speed sensor (1) for detecting speed of a vehicle (11), a pitch angular velocity sensor (2) for detecting angular velocity about a pitch axis of said vehicle (11), bouncing detection means (7) which detects bouncing of said vehicle by an output signal (V) of said vehicle speed sensor (1) and an output signal (ωp) of said pitch angular velocity sensor (2), bottoming detection means (8) which detects bottoming of said vehicle (11) by the output signal (V) of said vehicle speed sensor (1) and said output signal (ωp) of said pitch angular velocity sensor (2), bumpy-road drive detection means (10) which detects bumpy-road driving of said vehicle (11) by said output signal (ωp) of said pitch angular velocity sensor (2), a brake switch (5) which detects whether a brake pedal is depressed or not, braking detection means (9) which detects braking of said vehicle (11) by an output signal (S) of said brake switch (5) and said output signal (ωp) of said pitch angular velocity sensor (2), and shockabsorber means (3, 4) whereof damping force is adjusted in response to output signal from said bouncing detection means (7), said bottoming detection means (8), said bumpy-road drive detection means (10) or said braking detection means (9).
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 212 words
A suspension control apparatus comprising: a vehicle speed sensor (1) for detecting speed of a vehicle (11), a pitch angular velocity sensor (2) for detecting angular velocity about a pitch axis of said vehicle (11), bouncing detection means (7) which detects bouncing of said vehicle by an output signal (V) of said vehicle speed sensor (1) and an output signal (ωp) of said pitch angular velocity sensor (2), bottoming detection means (8) which detects bottoming of said vehicle (11) by the output signal (V) of said vehicle speed sensor (1) and said output signal (ωp) of said pitch angular velocity sensor (2), bumpy-road drive detection means (10) which detects bumpy-road driving of said vehicle (11) by said output signal (ωp) of said pitch angular velocity sensor (2), a brake switch (5) which detects whether a brake pedal is depressed or not, braking detection means (9) which detects braking of said vehicle (11) by an output signal (S) of said brake switch (5) and said output signal (ωp) of said pitch angular velocity sensor (2), and shockabsorber means (3, 4) whereof damping force is adjusted in response to output signal from said bouncing detection means (7), said bottoming detection means (8), said bumpy-road drive detection means (10) or said braking detection means (9).
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 60 words
A suspension control apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein said bouncing detection means (7) judges that said vehicle (11) is in bouncing when said output signal (ωp) reaching or exceeding a predetermined value is periodically produced from said pitch angular velocity sensor (2) and produces an output signal for adjusting the damping force of said shockabsorber means (3, 4).
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 41 words
A suspension control apparatus in accordance with claim 1 or 2, wherein said bouncing detection means (7) changes a reference value to be compared with the output signal (ωp) of said pitch angular velocity sensor (2) in response to vehicle speed.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 37 words
A suspension control apparatus in accordance with claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein said bouncing detection means (7) produces an output signal for increasing the damping force of said shockabsorber means (3, 4) when bouncing is detected.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 45 words
A suspension control apparatus in accordance with claim 1, 2, 3 or 4, wherein said bouncing detection means (7) produces an output signal for holding the adjusted damping force of said shockabsorber means (3, 4) for a predetermined time (T) after finish of said bouncing.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 33 words
A suspension control apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein said bottoming detection means (8) produces an output signal for increasing said damping force of shockabsorber means (3, 4) when bottoming is detected.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 42 words
A suspension control apparatus in accordance with claim 1 or 6, wherein said bottoming detection means (8) produces an output signal for holding the adjusted damping force of said shockabsorber means (3, 4) for a predetermined time (T) after bottoming is finished.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 34 words
A suspension control apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein said braking detection means (9) produces an output signal for increasing the damping force of said shockabsorber means (3, 4) when braking is detected.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 42 words
A suspension control apparatus in accordance with claim 1 or 8, wherein said braking detection means (9) produces an output signal for holding the adjusted damping force of said shockabsorber means (3, 4) for a predetermined time (T) after finish of braking.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim 79 words
A suspension control apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein said bumpy-road drive detection means (10) judges that said vehicle (11) is in bumpy-road driving when said output signal (ωp) reaching or exceeding a predetermined value is produced from said pitch angular velocity sensor (2) over the predetermined constant time (tBMP) during a constant time period (Ta), and also said bumpy-road drive detection means (10) produces an output signal for adjusting the damping force of shockabsorber means (3, 4).
Claim 12
Dependent Claim 45 words
A suspension control apparatus in accordance with claim 1 or 10, wherein said bumpy-road drive detection means (10) produces an output signal for holding the adjusted damping force of said shockabsorber means (3, 4) for a prede­termined time (T) after finish of a bumpy-road driving.

References Cited (Backward Citations)

EP0166313A2 Cited
GB2215287A Cited

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