Vehicle turning behavior control apparatus

Claim 1

An apparatus for controlling turning behavior of a multi-wheeled automotive vehicle supported on a plurality of pairs of wheels, the apparatus comprising: braking means for applying braking forces to the respective wheels; first sensor means sensitive to a vehicle steering angle for producing a first signal indicative of a sensed vehicle steering angle; second sensor means sensitive to a vehicle steering speed for producing a second signal indicative of a sensed vehicle steering speed; and a control unit coupled to the first and second sensor means, the control unit including, means for calculating a basic value ΔP1 as a function of the sensed vehicle steering angle to increase the basic value as the sensed vehicle steering angle increases when the sensed vehicle steering angle increases when the sensed vehicle steering angle exceeds a predetermined value, means for calculating a first correction factor K1 as a function of the sensed vehicle steering speed and to increase the first correction factor as the sensed vehicle steering speed increases, means for calculating a second correction factor K2 as a function of vehicle speed and to decrease the second correction factor as the vehicle speed increases, means for calculating the difference ΔP as ΔP=ΔP1×K1×K2, thereby reducing the difference ΔP between the nearside and offside wheels as the vehicle speed increases, and means for setting the braking means to provide the calculated difference ΔP between the braking forces applied to nearside and offside wheels of at least one of the pairs of wheels so that the braking force applied to the offside wheel is smaller than the braking force applied to the nearside wheel.

Claim 2

An apparatus for controlling turning behavior of a multi-wheeled automotive vehicle supported on a plurality of pairs of wheels, the apparatus comprising: braking means for applying braking forces to the respective wheels; first sensor means sensitive to a vehicle steering angle for producing a first signal indicative of a sensed vehicle steering angle; second sensor means sensitive to a vehicle steering speed for producing a second signal indicative of a sensed vehicle steering speed; and a control unit coupled to the first and second sensor means, the control unit including, means for calculating a basic value ΔP1 as a function of the sensed vehicle steering angle to increase the basic value as the sensed vehicle steering angle increases when the sensed vehicle steering angle increases when the sensed vehicle steering angle exceeds a predetermined value, means for calculating a first correction factor K1 as a function of the sensed vehicle steering speed and to increase the first correction factor as the sensed vehicle steering speed increases, means for calculating a second correction factor K2 as a function of vehicle speed and to decrease the second correction factor as the vehicle speed increases, means for calculating the difference ΔP as ΔP=ΔP1×K1×K2, thereby reducing the difference ΔP between the nearside and offside wheels as the vehicle speed increases, and means for setting the braking means to provide the calculated difference ΔP between the braking forces applied to nearside and offside wheels of at least one of the pairs of wheels so that the braking force applied to the offside wheel is smaller than the braking force applied to the nearside wheel.