This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2020-212167 filed on Dec. 22, 2020, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
One or more embodiments of the present invention relate to an apparatus that controls an opening and closing body which performs an opening and closing operation by driving a motor, and more particularly to a control technology of closing-up the opening and closing body.
For example, as an opening and closing body control apparatus mounted on a vehicle, there is a power window apparatus that controls an opening and closing operation of a window. In this apparatus, a motor is used as an actuator, and a window, which is an opening and closing body, is opened or closed by rotating the motor in a forward or reverse direction with a switch operation. Specifically, an opening and closing mechanism (regulator) that operates in conjunction with the motor is provided between the motor and the window, and when the motor rotates in the forward direction, the window rises via the opening and closing mechanism, and the window is closed. Further, when the motor rotates in the reverse direction, the window descends via the opening and closing mechanism, and the window is opened.
In order to reliably close the window in the closing operation of the window, even after an upper end portion of the window comes in contact with a rubber run channel provided in a window frame, the motor is continued to be driven, the window is completely pressed against the run channel, and the motor stalls and became locked, and the motor is stopped at that time. When a closing-up force of the window is small, a gap is created between the window and the window frame, and rainwater may enter the vehicle or wind noise may be generated from this gap.
JP-A-2007-270523, JP-A-2020-012279, and JP-A-2020-122317 disclose technologies of reliably closing-up windows. In JP-A-2007-270523 and JP-A-2020-012279, a window is completely closed by increasing an application voltage of a motor in a predetermined region in front of a full closing position of the window. According to JP-A-2020-122317, in a state in which the outside temperature deviates from room temperature, by making an application voltage of a motor higher than at room temperature, a decrease in a closing-up force of a window is suppressed.
Meanwhile, in order to reliably close-up the window, the application voltage of the motor is increased so that the window collides with the run channel at high speed, a strong reaction force from the run channel acts on the window. Further, in the power window apparatus, speed control of the motor is generally performed by feedback control. Therefore, when a speed of the motor falls below a target speed due to a friction or the like between the window and the run channel immediately before a closing-up position, feedback control for maintaining the speed works and the application voltage of the motor is increased, so that the speed of the motor increases. As a result, the window hits the run channel vigorously, and receives a strong reaction force from the run channel.
The reaction force as described above may be applied to a door from the window via the opening and closing mechanism as an excessive mechanical stress, and may cause the door to be deformed. In particular, the higher the temperature and the higher the application voltage of the motor, the greater the reaction force acting on the window, and the excessive stress is applied to the opening and closing mechanism. Therefore, the power window apparatus requires an opening and closing mechanism that can withstand such an excessive stress, which increases the cost.
An object according to one or more embodiments of the present invention is to provide an opening and closing body control apparatus capable of reliably closing-up an opening and closing body without generating an excessive mechanical stress.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an opening and closing body control apparatus including: a motor driving unit that drives a motor to open and close an opening and closing body; and a control unit that controls an operation of the motor driving unit. The motor driving unit outputs a predetermined application voltage to the motor, based on a control command from the control unit. The control unit is configured to, when the opening and closing body reaches a first position in front of a closing-up position, set a target speed of the motor to a closing-up time target speed at which a torque required for closing-up the opening and closing body is secured, and perform feedback control on the motor driving unit. The control unit is configured to, when the opening and closing body reaches a second position closer to the closing-up position than the first position, stop the feedback control, and control the motor driving unit so that the application voltage of the motor at the time of stopping the feedback control is held.
In this manner, between the first position and the second position, the target speed of the motor is set to the closing-up time target speed at which the torque required for closing-up the opening and closing body is secured, and feedback control is performed based on the target speed. Further, at the second position, the feedback control is stopped, and the application voltage held at this time causes the motor to rotate at a constant speed thereafter. As a result, the opening and closing body hits a run channel at the minimum necessary constant speed, and the speed of the motor does not increase immediately before the closing-up position by the feedback control being stopped, so that a reaction force acting on the opening and closing body from the run channel is suppressed. Meanwhile, since a force required to close the opening and closing body is secured, it is possible to reliably close the opening and closing body.
In the opening and closing body control apparatus according to the aspect of the present invention, in which the motor driving unit may be configured to output the held application voltage to the motor during a time from when the opening and closing body reaches the second position to when the opening and closing body reaches a stop position further on a closing side than the closing-up position, and when the opening and closing body reaches the stop position and stops, stop the output of the held application voltage.
In the opening and closing body control apparatus according to the aspect of the present invention, in which the control unit may be configured to while the opening and closing body is in a region in front of the first position, perform feedback control on the motor driving unit, based on a normal target speed larger than the closing-up time target speed.
In the opening and closing body control apparatus according to the aspect of the present invention, in which the control unit may be configured to while the opening and closing body is in a region in front of the first position, control the motor driving unit so that the application voltage of the motor becomes a maximum voltage.
The opening and closing body control apparatus according to the aspect of the present invention, may further include: a jam detection unit that detects that a foreign object is jammed during a closing operation of the opening and closing body, in which a prohibition region for prohibiting detection by the jam detection unit may be set in front of the closing-up position of the opening and closing body, and the second position may be a position of the opening and closing body when the opening and closing body reaches the prohibition region.
In the opening and closing body control apparatus according to the aspect of the present invention, in which the control unit may be configured to when the opening and closing body reaches the first position, gradually reduce the target speed of the motor until that time, and when the target speed drops to a certain value, set a target speed at that time as the closing-up time target speed.
According to one or more embodiments of the present invention, it is possible to provide an opening and closing body control apparatus that reliably closes an opening and closing body without generating an excessive mechanical stress.
In embodiments of the invention, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known features have not been described in detail to avoid obscuring the invention.
Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following, as an opening and closing body control apparatus, a power window apparatus mounted on a vehicle will be given as an example.
The control unit 1 includes, for example, a microcomputer, and includes a speed detection unit 11, a position detection unit 12, a target speed selection unit 13, a speed control unit 14, an application voltage holding unit 15, and a target speed storage unit 16. A function of each block is realized by software. Although various blocks other than the above are provided in the control unit 1, the blocks are not illustrated since the blocks are not directly related to the embodiment of the present invention.
The speed detection unit 11 is a block that detects a rotation speed of the motor 3 based on a pulse signal input from the sensor 4, which will be described below. The position detection unit 12 is a block that detects a position of the window W based on the pulse signal. The target speed selection unit 13 is a block that selects any one of target speeds V1 and V2, which will be described below, stored in the target speed storage unit 16. The speed control unit 14 is a block that performs feedback control so that the rotation speed of the motor 3 is the target speed, based on a deviation between the target speed selected by the target speed selection unit 13 and the rotation speed of the motor 3 detected by the speed detection unit 11. The application voltage holding unit 15 is a block that holds the application voltage to the motor 3 at a voltage at a time when the window W reaches immediately before a closing-up position. The target speed storage unit 16 is a block that stores the normal target speed V1 and the closing-up time target speed V2.
The motor driving unit 2 operates based on a control command from the control unit 1, and supplies a predetermined application voltage to the motor 3. The motor driving unit 2 is provided with a pulse width modulation (PWM) circuit 21, and a switching circuit 22 including four bridge-connected field effect transistors (FETs).
The motor 3 includes a DC motor, and rotates at a predetermined speed based on the application voltage supplied from the motor driving unit 2. The rotation speed of the motor 3 increases as the application voltage increases. The opening and closing mechanism 10, which will be described below, is connected to the motor 3.
The sensor 4 includes a rotary encoder, a potentiometer, and the like, and detects a rotation state of the motor 3. Specifically, the sensor 4 generates a pulse signal synchronized with a rotation of the motor 3, and outputs the pulse signal to the control unit 1. The speed detection unit 11 of the control unit 1 detects the rotation speed of the motor 3, based on a pulse interval and the like of the pulse signal. The position detection unit 12 of the control unit 1 counts the number of rising and falling edges of the pulse signal, and detects the position of the window W based on the counted numerical value.
The opening and closing mechanism 10 (regulator) operates in conjunction with the rotation of the motor 3 to open and close the window W. As illustrated in
For example, when the motor 3 rotates in a normal direction, the second drum 10b rotates counterclockwise, and the elevating member 10d rises via the wire 10c. As a result, the window W rises together with the elevating member 10d, and is closed (closing operation). Further, when the motor 3 rotates in a reverse direction, the second drum 10b rotates clockwise, and the elevating member 10d descends via the wire 10c. As a result, the window W descends together with the elevating member 10d, and is opened (opening operation).
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
When the excess force Fc is applied to the window W as described above, the excess force Fc is transmitted to a door via the window frame 40, the opening and closing mechanism 10, a connection unit between the opening and closing mechanism 10 and the door of the vehicle (not illustrated), or the like, and as described at the beginning, it may cause deformation of the door. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present invention, when the window W reaches a predetermined position in front of the closing-up position, the speed of the motor 3 is reduced, and then when the window W approaches the closing-up position, the feedback control of the motor speed is stopped, so that the excess force Fc applied to the window W is suppressed. Hereinafter, details will be described with reference to
The switch SW1 corresponds to the position detection unit 12 in
The switch SW2 corresponds to the target speed selection unit 13 in
Together with the switch SW1, the switch SW3 corresponds to the position detection unit 12 in
V1, and the switch SW3 is at an ON state. Therefore, the speed control unit 14 in
Specifically, the speed control unit 14 calculates a deviation between the normal target speed V1 and the rotation speed of the motor 3 detected by the speed detection unit 11, determines a duty of a PWM signal generated by the PWM circuit 21 of the motor driving unit 2 so that the deviation becomes zero (that is, the rotation speed of the motor 3 becomes the normal target speed V1), and outputs the duty to the motor driving unit 2 as a control command. The PWM circuit 21 of the motor driving unit 2 generates a PWM signal having a commanded duty to operate the switching circuit 22, and an application voltage having a predetermined value is output from the switching circuit 22 to the motor 3. In this case, the application voltage is not held by the application voltage holding unit 15 in
After that, when the window W rises and the upper end portion of the window W reaches the target speed switching position P1 in
When the window W further raises and the upper end portion of the window W reaches the speed control stop position P2 in
Specifically, the application voltage holding unit 15 continues to output the duty of the PWM signal corresponding to the motor application voltage at the time when the feedback control is stopped, to the motor driving unit 2 as a control command from the control unit 1. Therefore, the motor 3 is driven by the application voltage (holding voltage) having a certain value based on the duty, and rotates at a constant speed. Since the feedback control by the speed control unit 14 does not work while the application voltage is held, the rotation speed of the motor 3 does not increase due to the feedback control.
As described above, when the window W reaches the target speed switching position P1, the target speed is switched from V1 to V2 (that is, the target speed descends), and then when the window W reaches the speed control stop position P2, the feedback control is stopped and the motor application voltage at that time is held, so that it is possible to suppress the excess force Fc applied to the window W when the window W hits the upper run channel 50c as illustrated in
In
When the window W rises and reaches the target speed switching position P1, the target speed selection unit 13 in
When the window W further rises and reaches the speed control stop position P2, as described above, the speed control unit 14 stops the feedback control, and the application voltage holding unit 15 holds the application voltage to the motor 3 at this time. Therefore, after that, the motor 3 rotates at a constant speed, and the window W also rises at a constant speed. Further, even at this point, since a force acting on the window W is only the normal load force Fa, the motor output is not changed (motor output=normal load force Fa). The speed control stop position P2 corresponds to a “second position” according to the embodiment of the present invention.
Next, when the window W further rises and reaches a position P3 in contact with the upper run channel 50c, the rotation of the motor 3 is continued, and a frictional force due to the contact between the window W and the run channel 50c begins acting, so that thereafter, the motor speed gradually decreases, and the motor output (torque) increases according to the frictional force.
Next, when the window W reaches a closing-up position P4 (state in
Even after the window W reaches the closing-up position P4, the motor 3 rotates while the application voltage is held, so that the window W rises beyond the closing-up position
P4 to a stop position P5. When the window W reaches the stop position P5, the window W is pressed against the run channel 50c and cannot rise, so that the motor 3 stalls and stops (locked state). At the same time, the application voltage holding unit 15 stops holding the application voltage, and the voltage from the motor driving unit 2 is not supplied to the motor 3. As a result, the window W stops at the stop position P5 (state in
At the stop position P5, although the collision between the window W and the run channel 50c causes the excess force Fc, which is a reaction force, this excess force Fc is smaller than in the related art. That is, as illustrated by an alternate long and short dash line in
On the other hand, in a case of the embodiment of the present invention, as illustrated by a solid line, the target speed descends at the target speed switching position P1, so that the motor 3 stops at the stop position P5 before the stop position P6. Therefore, the excess force Fc at the stop position P5 is reduced by the amount indicated by a symbol y. Meanwhile, even when the window W stops at the stop position P5, a force required for closing-up (closing-up force Fb) is secured, so that the closing-up of the window W is not incomplete.
Further, in a case where the control according to the embodiment of the present invention is not performed, as described at the beginning, when the speed of the motor 3 falls below a target speed immediately before the closing-up position P4, the feedback control works and the application voltage of the motor 3 rises, so that the window W vigorously hits the run channel 50c. Therefore, although the door of the vehicle may be deformed by the strong excess force Fc, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the feedback control does not work from the speed control stop position P2, so that the speed of the motor 3 increases immediately before the closing-up position P4, and there is no possibility that the above-described malfunction will occur.
As described above, in the power window apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment, between the target speed switching position P1 and the speed control stop position P2, the target speed of the motor 3 is set to a speed (closing-up time target speed V2) at which a torque required for closing-up the window W can be secured, and feedback control is performed based on the target speed. Further, at the speed control stop position P2, the feedback control is stopped, and the motor 3 rotates at a constant speed due to the application voltage held at this time. As a result, the window W hits the run channel 50c at the minimum necessary speed, and the application voltage to the motor 3 does not increase immediately before the closing-up position P4, and the motor speed does not increase, by the feedback control being stopped, so that the excess force Fc acting on the window W from the run channel 50c is suppressed. Meanwhile, since a force required for closing-up the window W (closing-up force Fb) is secured, the window W can be reliably closed.
The jam detection unit 17 is a block that detects that a foreign object is jammed during a closing operation of the window W. Since a method of detecting the jam is well known, the description thereof is omitted here. The jam detection is not performed over the entire moving region of the window W, and a prohibition region for prohibiting detection by the jam detection unit 17 is set in front of the closing-up position P4 (
In this case, the application voltage holding unit 15 does not hold an application voltage of the motor 3.
After that, when the upper end portion of the window W reaches the target speed switching position P1 in
When the window W further raises and the upper end portion of the window W reaches the speed control stop position P2 in
In the same manner as the first embodiment, also in the power window apparatus 200 according to the second embodiment, the window W hits the run channel 50c at the minimum necessary speed, and the speed of the motor 3 does not increase immediately before the closing-up position P4, by the feedback control being stopped, so that the excess force Fc acting on the window W from the run channel 50c is suppressed. Meanwhile, since a force required for closing-up the window W (closing-up force Fb) is secured, the window W can be reliably closed.
In addition to the above-described embodiments, various embodiments such as the following can be adopted in the present invention.
In each of the above-described embodiments, the feedback control is performed based on the normal target speed V1 before the window W reaches the target speed switching position P1 in
In this case, as illustrated in
Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, the sensor 4 such as a rotary encoder or a potentiometer is used to detect the rotation speed of the motor 3 or the position of the window W, and instead of the sensor 4, a current detection circuit that detects a current flowing through the motor 3 may be provided. The motor speed and the window position may be detected based on the ripple current (pulsating current) detected by the current detection circuit.
Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, the motor driving unit 2 is provided separately from the control unit 1, and the motor driving unit 2 may be incorporated into the control unit 1.
Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, the example in which the motor 3 is provided in the power window apparatus 100 is given, and the motor 3 may be provided separately from the power window apparatus 100.
Further, in
Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, as an opening and closing body control apparatus, the power window apparatus for vehicle is given as an example, and the embodiment of the present invention can also be applied to an apparatus that controls opening and closing of a sunroof of a vehicle or the like. Further, the embodiment of the present invention can be applied to various control apparatuses for opening and closing bodies in fields other than vehicles.
While the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, those skilled in the art, having benefit of this disclosure, will appreciate that other embodiments can be devised which do not depart from the scope of the invention as disclosed herein. According, the scope of the invention should be limited only by the attached claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2020-212167 | Dec 2020 | JP | national |