Vehicle hood moving device
View Patent ↗There is provided a vehicle hood moving device for a vehicle having a hood movably supported at a vehicle body front. The hood moving device includes a first magnet disposed in the hood, a second magnet provided to the inside of an engine room and disposed so as to face the first magnet, a collision detecting sensor to detect that a pedestrian collides with the vehicle, and a collision predicting device to detect whether or not a pedestrian has a danger of colliding with the vehicle. When detection is made with these sensors and predicting device that a pedestrian has collided with the vehicle or has a danger of colliding with the vehicle, the hood is moved as to the vehicle body by magnetic force of the first magnet and second magnet. The second magnet is an electromagnet, and the first magnet is a permanent magnet.
1. A vehicle hood moving device for a vehicle hood movably supported at a vehicle body front, comprising:
two or more first magnets disposed on each side of the vehicle hood in a vehicle-width direction, with the two or more first magnets on each side separated from one another by a predetermined length in a vehicle front-back direction;
two or more second magnets disposed on each side of an engine room in the vehicle-width direction, with the two or more second magnets on each side separated from one another by the predetermined length in the vehicle front-back direction at positions facing the first magnets;
a pedestrian collision detector configured to detect whether a pedestrian has collided with the vehicle or has a danger of colliding with the vehicle; and
a hood movement controller configured to move the vehicle hood in the event that a detection is made by the pedestrian collision detector that a pedestrian has collided with the vehicle or has a danger of colliding with the vehicle, wherein
in corresponding pairs of first magnets and second magnets, at least one of the first magnet and the second magnet is an electromagnet, and the hood movement controller is configured to move the vehicle hood by controlling a supply of electrical power to the electromagnet, such that the vehicle hood moving device moves the vehicle hood relative to the vehicle body by a magnetic force controlled by the hood movement controller.
2. The vehicle hood moving device according to claim 1 , wherein
a linear motor is configured of the first magnets and the second magnets; and
the hood movement controller controls, in the event that a detection is made by the pedestrian collision detector that a pedestrian has collided with the vehicle or has a danger of colliding with the vehicle, a switching of excitation of the electromagnet of the first magnets and the second magnets to move the vehicle hood relative to the vehicle body.
3. The vehicle hood moving device according to claim 1 , wherein
a rear side of the vehicle hood is rotatably supported in the vertical direction relative to a front side of the vehicle hood via a hinge mechanism included in a vehicle body front;
at least one of either a first magnet or a second magnet is provided to the hinge mechanism, and at least one of the other of a first magnet and a second magnet is provided to the vehicle body front; and
the hood movement controller excites, in the event that a detection is made by the pedestrian collision detector that a pedestrian has collided with the vehicle or has a danger of colliding with the vehicle, the electromagnet of the first magnet and the second magnet to move the rear side of the vehicle hood upward relative to the front side of the vehicle hood along with the hinge mechanism.
4. The vehicle hood moving device according to claim 1 , wherein
the hood movement controller is configured to move the vehicle hood in a manner that at least one of a front side and a rear side of the vehicle hood is moved in an upward direction in the event that a detection is made by the pedestrian collision detector that a pedestrian has collided with the vehicle or has a danger of colliding with the vehicle.
5. The vehicle hood moving device according to claim 4 , wherein
the hood movement controller is configured to move the vehicle hood in a manner that both the front side and the rear side of the vehicle hood are moved in an upward direction in the event that a detection is made by the pedestrian collision detector that a pedestrian has collided with the vehicle or has a danger of colliding with the vehicle.
6. The vehicle hood moving device according to claim 1 , wherein
the hood movement controller is configured to move the vehicle hood in a manner that at least one of a front side and a rear side of the vehicle hood is moved in a downward direction in the event that a detection is made by the pedestrian collision detector that a pedestrian has collided with the vehicle or has a danger of colliding with the vehicle.
7. The vehicle hood moving device according to claim 6 , wherein
the hood movement controller is configured to move the vehicle hood in a manner that both the front side and the rear side of the vehicle hood are moved in a downward direction in the event that a detection is made by the pedestrian collision detector that a pedestrian has collided with the vehicle or has a danger of colliding with the vehicle.
8. The vehicle hood moving device according to claim 1 , wherein
the hood movement controller is configured to move the vehicle hood in a manner that at least one of a front side and a rear side of the vehicle hood is moved in an upward direction, and the other of the front side and the rear side of the vehicle hood is moved in a downward direction, in the event that a detection is made by the pedestrian collision detector that a pedestrian has collided with the vehicle or has a danger of colliding with the vehicle.
9. The vehicle hood moving device according to claim 1 , wherein
the hood movement controller is configured to control the supply of electrical power to the electromagnet in a pair of a first magnet and a corresponding second magnet by permitting the supply of electrical power to the electromagnet in the event that a detection is made by the pedestrian collision detector that a pedestrian has collided with the vehicle or has a danger of colliding with the vehicle.
10. The vehicle hood moving device according to claim 1 , wherein
the hood movement controller is configured to control the supply of electrical power to the electromagnet in a pair of a first magnet and a corresponding second magnet by blocking the supply of electrical power to the electromagnet in the event that a detection is made by the pedestrian collision detector that a pedestrian has collided with the vehicle or has a danger of colliding with the vehicle.
11. The vehicle hood moving device according to claim 1 , wherein
the hood movement controller is configured to control movement of the vehicle hood, in the event that a detection is made by the pedestrian collision detector that a pedestrian has collided with the vehicle or has a danger of colliding with the vehicle, by: controlling a first supply of electrical power to a first pair of a first magnet and a corresponding second magnet, and controlling a second supply of electrical power to a second pair of a first magnet and a corresponding second magnet
the first pair of a first magnet and a corresponding second magnet being spaced from the second pair of a first magnet and a corresponding second magnet in a front-back direction of the vehicle, and
the second supply of electrical power having a reverse current relative to a current of the first supply of electrical power.
12. The vehicle hood moving device according to claim 1 , wherein
the hood movement controller is configured to control movement of the vehicle hood in a manner to adjust the angle of the vehicle hood based on the magnitude of a detected collision load or the magnitude of a predicted collision load.
13. A vehicle hood moving device for a vehicle hood movably supported at a vehicle body front, comprising:
a plurality of first magnets disposed in the vehicle hood, the plurality of first magnets including a corner magnet for each corner of the vehicle hood, with each corner magnet being positioned closer to a respective corner of the vehicle hood than to the other corners of the vehicle hood;
a plurality of second magnets disposed in the vehicle body at positions facing the first magnets; and
a pedestrian collision detector configured to detect whether a pedestrian has collided with the vehicle or has a danger of colliding with the vehicle; wherein
the vehicle hood moving device moves the vehicle hood relative to the vehicle body by magnetic force of at least one first magnet and one second magnet in the event that a detection is made by the pedestrian collision detector that a pedestrian has collided with the vehicle or has a danger of colliding with the vehicle.
14. The vehicle hood moving device according to claim 13 , further comprising
an electromagnetic field suppression member disposed so as to cover, in a corresponding pair of first and second magnets, at least one of the first magnet and the second magnet; and
the electromagnetic field suppression member covers a portion excluding a surface where the first magnet and the second magnet face.
15. The vehicle hood moving device according to claim 13 , wherein
the plurality of first magnets further includes magnets positioned at intermediate positions between the corner magnets.
16. The vehicle hood moving device according to claim 15 , wherein
the magnets positioned at intermediate positions are positioned at center positions between the corner magnets.
17. The vehicle hood moving device according to claim 13 , wherein
the plurality of first magnets includes a right-front magnet, a right-rear magnet, a left-front magnet, and a left-rear magnet.
18. The vehicle hood moving device according to claim 17 , wherein
the plurality of first magnets further includes a right-center magnet and a left-center magnet.
19. A pedestrian protection apparatus for a vehicle comprising:
a vehicle hood held in the inner side of a pair of fenders disposed on both sides in the vehicle-width direction on a vehicle body front side of a vehicle;
a plurality of moving units configured to move the vehicle hood;
a pedestrian collision detector configured to detect whether a pedestrian has collided with the vehicle or has a danger of colliding with the vehicle; and
a hood movement controller configured to control operation of the moving units according to a detection signal from the pedestrian collision detector; wherein
the hood movement controller controls, in the event that a detection is made by the pedestrian collision detector that a pedestrian has collided with the vehicle or has a danger of colliding with the vehicle, operation of the moving units to actively move the vehicle hood closer to an inner side of the vehicle body than a state of the vehicle hood before the detection, with at least part of the vehicle hood moved to a position that is further downward than the pair of fenders.