IP Library Granted Patent US 9,358,853
Granted Patent B2
US 9,358,853 · App. 14/492,568 · Granted Jun 7, 2016

Vehicle height adjusting device, control device for vehicle height adjusting device, and non-transitory computer readable medium

Inventor: Fumiaki Ishikawa (Haga-gun, JP)
Assignee: SHOWA CORPORATION
B60G17/0165B60G15/065B60G17/016B60G17/019B60G17/0152B60G17/0272B60G17/0565B62K25/00B60G2202/154B60G2300/12B60G2400/0511B60G2400/0512B60G2400/204B60G2400/252B60G2400/824B60G2500/30B60G2800/014B60G2800/0122B60G2800/912B60G2800/914B62K2025/045B62K2025/048
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,358,853
App. No.
14/492,568
Granted
Jun 7, 2016
Kind
B2
Abstract

A vehicle height adjusting device includes a front fork and a rear suspension capable of changing a relative position between a vehicle body frame and wheels (front wheel, rear wheel) of a motorcycle, and a control device for controlling the front fork and the rear suspension. The control device includes a driving scene determination unit that determines a driving scene of the motorcycle on the basis of driving information, and a control unit that controls the front fork and the rear suspension in response to the determined driving scene.

Claims (38)

1. A vehicle height adjusting device, comprising:

a changing unit capable of changing a relative position between a vehicle body of a vehicle and wheels of the vehicle; and

a control device that controls the changing unit, said control device including:

a driving scene determination unit that determines a driving scene of the vehicle on the basis of driving information; and

a control unit that controls the relative position in response to the determined driving scene, wherein:

the vehicle height on a front wheel side and the vehicle height on a rear wheel side can be set in three stages of high, medium, and low,

the driving scene is selected from the group consisting of city street, winding road and expressway,

when city street is selected, the vehicle heights on both the front and rear wheel sides are set to be medium,

when winding road is selected, the vehicle height on the front wheel side is set to be medium and the vehicle height on the rear wheel side is set to be high, and

when expressway is selected, the vehicle height on the front wheel side is set to be high and the vehicle height on the rear wheel side is set to be medium.

2. The vehicle height adjusting device according to claim 1 ,

wherein the changing unit includes a front wheel side changing unit changing a front wheel side relative position, which is a relative position between the vehicle body and a front wheel, and a rear wheel side changing unit changing a rear wheel side relative position, which is a relative position between the vehicle body and a rear wheel, and

the control unit performs control of changing at least one of the front wheel side relative position and the rear wheel side relative position in response to the determined driving scene.

3. The vehicle height adjusting device according to claim 1 ,

wherein the driving scene determination unit determines the driving scene on the basis of a vehicle speed, which is a moving velocity of the vehicle, and an angle of inclination of the vehicle body in a horizontal direction.

4. The vehicle height adjusting device according to claim 1 ,

wherein the changing unit includes a solenoid valve which is provided in a fluid distribution channel and an opening of which is controlled according to a supplied power, and

the control unit controls the relative position of the changing unit by controlling the opening of the solenoid valve.

5. A control device for a vehicle height adjusting device, comprising:

a driving scene determination unit that determines a driving scene of a vehicle on the basis of driving information; and

a control unit that controls a changing unit changing a relative position between a vehicle body of the vehicle and wheels of the vehicle in response to the determined driving scene, wherein

a vehicle height on a front wheel side and a vehicle height on a rear wheel side can be set in three stages of high, medium, and low,

the driving scene is selected from the group consisting of city street, winding road and expressway,

when city street is selected, the vehicle heights on both the front and rear wheel sides are set to be medium,

when winding road is selected, the vehicle height on the front wheel side is set to be medium and the vehicle height on the rear wheel side is set to be high, and

when expressway is selected, the vehicle height on the front wheel side is set to be high and the vehicle height on the rear wheel side is set to be medium.

6. The control device for the vehicle height adjusting device according to claim 5 ,

wherein the control unit performs control of changing at least one of a front wheel side relative position, which is a relative position between the vehicle body and a front wheel, and a rear wheel side relative position, which is a relative position between the vehicle body and a rear wheel, on the basis of a front wheel side target moving distance and a rear wheel side target moving distance,

the front wheel side target moving distance is a target moving distance of the front wheel side relative position,

the rear wheel side target moving distance is a target moving distance of the rear wheel side relative position, and

the front wheel side target moving distance and the rear wheel side target moving distance are determined according to the driving scene.

7. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program for causing a computer used in a vehicle height adjusting device to execute a process for adjusting a vehicle height of a vehicle, the process comprising the steps of:

determining a driving scene of a vehicle on the basis of driving information, said driving scene selected from the group consisting of city street, winding road and expressway;

controlling a changing unit changing a relative position between a vehicle body of the vehicle and wheels of the vehicle in response to the determined driving scene:

setting the vehicle height on a front wheel side and the vehicle height on a rear wheel side in three stages of high, medium, and low;

setting the vehicle heights on both the front and rear wheel sides to be medium, when city street is selected;

setting the vehicle height on the front wheel side to be medium and the vehicle height on the rear wheel side to be high, when winding road is selected; and

setting the vehicle height on the front wheel side to be high and the vehicle height on the rear wheel side to be medium, when expressway is selected.

Assignments (2)
MERGER Recorded Feb 2, 2022
From: SHOWA CORPORATION
To: HITACHI ASTEMO, LTD.
Reel/Frame 059682/0321 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 22, 2014
From: ISHIKAWA, FUMIAKI
To: SHOWA CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 033787/0919 →
Priority Claims (1)
JP 2014-070421 · Mar 28, 2014 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20150273970A1 · Oct 1, 2015