Patent Application
20200156423
This application is based on and claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2018-0143553, filed on Nov. 20, 2018 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The present disclosure relates to a vehicle capable of providing optimum tire pressure information according to a weight of the vehicle, and a method of controlling the vehicle.
A vehicle has wheels in which a space formed between the circumferential surface of each of the wheels and the inner surface of a tire is filled with air at an appropriate pressure. The tire must maintain a proper air pressure for safe operation.
When a weight of the vehicle is increased due to the loading of a person or a load on the vehicle, a tire pressure needs to be adjusted. When the air pressure of the tire is not adjusted despite the increase of the weight of the vehicle, the stability of the vehicle may be deteriorated because the behavior of the vehicle becomes unstable or handling becomes unstable.
Conventionally, a sticker describing tire pressure information related to the weight of the vehicle has been attached to the bottom of a pillar of the vehicle or the inside of a vehicle door. However, since it is difficult for a user to recognize the sticker, it is difficult for the user to know the appropriate tire pressure information corresponding to the weight of the vehicle. Therefore, it is difficult to adjust the tire pressure appropriately.
An objective of the disclosure is to provide a vehicle capable of calculating a weight of the vehicle and intuitively providing optimum tire pressure information corresponding to the calculated weight of the vehicle and state information of a current tire pressure.
Additional aspects of the disclosure will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the disclosure.
In accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, a vehicle includes: a tire pressure sensor installed on a tire, configured to measure a tire pressure, and to transmit the tire pressure as an electrical signal; a storage configured to store optimum tire pressure data corresponding to a weight of the vehicle; a controller configured to calculate the weight of the vehicle, and to compare the tire pressure with the optimum tire pressure corresponding to the weight of the vehicle to generate state information of the tire pressure; and a user interface configured to output the state information of the tire pressure.
The controller may generate the state information of the tire pressure by determining whether a state of the measured tire pressure is in an insufficient state, an appropriate state, or a transient state.
The controller may determine that the state of the measured tire pressure is in the appropriate state when a difference value between the measured tire pressure and the optimum tire pressure is a value within a predetermined threshold range.
The controller may determine that the state of the measured tire pressure is in the insufficient state when a difference value between the measured tire pressure and the optimum tire pressure is a negative value outside a predetermined threshold range.
The controller may determine that the state of the measured tire pressure is in the transient state when a difference value between the measured tire pressure and the optimum tire pressure is a positive value outside a predetermined threshold range.
The controller may generate the state information of the tire pressure for each of a front left tire, a front right tire, a rear left tire, and a rear right tire.
The controller may control the user interface to selectively output the state information of the tire pressure for each of the front left tire, the front right tire, the rear left tire, and the rear right tire in response to a user's input.
The controller may calculate the weight of the vehicle using engine torque and acceleration.
The vehicle may further include a weight sensor configured to measure the weight of the vehicle and to transmit the measured the weight of the vehicle as the electrical signal. The controller may receive weight information of the vehicle from the weight sensor.
The vehicle may further include a tire pressure regulator configured to adjust the tire pressure based on the state information of the tire pressure.
In accordance with another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a method of controlling a vehicle includes: calculating, by a controller, a weight of the vehicle; retrieving, by the controller, optimum tire pressure data corresponding to the weight of the vehicle; measuring a tire pressure using a tire pressure sensor; generating, by the controller, state information of the tire pressure by comparing the optimum tire pressure with the tire pressure; and outputting the state information of the tire pressure through a user interface.
The generating of the state information of the tire pressure may include determining whether a state of the measured tire pressure is in an insufficient state, an appropriate state, or a transient state.
The generating of the state information of the tire pressure may include determining that the state of the measured tire pressure is in the appropriate state when a difference value between the measured tire pressure and the optimum tire pressure is a value within a predetermined threshold range.
The generating of the state information of the tire pressure may include determining that the state of the measured tire pressure is in the insufficient state when a difference value between the measured tire pressure and the optimum tire pressure is a negative value outside a predetermined threshold range.
The generating of the state information of the tire pressure may include determining that the state of the measured tire pressure is in the transient state when a difference value between the measured tire pressure and the optimum tire pressure is a positive value outside a predetermined threshold range.
The generating of the state information of the tire pressure may include generating the state information of the tire pressure for each of a front left tire, a front right tire, a rear left tire, and a rear right tire.
The outputting of the state information of the tire pressure may include selectively outputting the state information of the tire pressure for each of the front left tire, the front right tire, the rear left tire, and the rear right tire in response to a user's input.
The calculating of the weight of the vehicle may include calculating the weight of the vehicle using engine torque and acceleration.
The calculating of the weight of the vehicle may include receiving weight information of the vehicle measured by a weight sensor.
The method may further include adjusting, by a tire pressure regulator, the tire pressure based on the state information of the tire pressure.
These and/or other aspects of the disclosure will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:
Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout the specification. Not all elements of embodiments of the disclosure will be described, and description of what are commonly known in the art or what overlap each other in the embodiments will be omitted. The terms as used throughout the specification, such as “˜part,” “˜module,” “˜member,” “˜block,” etc., may be implemented in software and/or hardware, and a plurality of “˜parts,” “˜modules,” “˜members,” or “˜blocks” may be implemented in a single element, or a single “˜part,” “˜module,” “˜member,” or “˜block” may include a plurality of elements.
It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being “connected” to another element, it can be directly or indirectly connected to the other element, wherein the indirect connection includes “connection” via a wireless communication network.
When a part “includes” or “comprises” an element, unless there is a particular description contrary thereto, the part may further include other elements, not excluding the other elements.
It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, third, etc., may be used herein to describe various elements, it should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another element. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
As used herein, the terms “portion,” “unit,” “block,” “member,” or “module” refer to a unit that can perform at least one function or operation. For example, these terms may refer to at least one process which is performed by at least one piece of hardware such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) and an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), and at least one piece of software stored in a memory or a processor.
An identification code is used for the convenience of the description but is not intended to illustrate the order of each step. Each of the steps may be implemented in an order different from the illustrated order unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
The principle and embodiments of the disclosure will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
First, a vehicle 1 may include a body forming an appearance, a windscreen for allowing a driver to see a front view of the vehicle 1, side mirrors for allowing the driver to see a rear view of the vehicle 1, doors for shielding the inside of the vehicle 1 from the outside, a pillar for supporting a roof panel, the roof panel, a rear window glass, a turn signal indicator, front wheels located at the front of the vehicle 1, and rear wheels located at the rear of the vehicle 1. The front wheels and the rear wheels may be referred to as the front left wheel, the front right wheel, the rear left wheel, and the rear right wheel, respectively. Each of the wheels may be provided with a tire, and a tire pressure sensor 220 for measuring a tire pressure may be provided.
A chassis of the vehicle 1 may further include a power generating device, a power transmitting device, a driving device, a steering device, a braking device, an accelerating device, a suspension device, a transmission device, and a fuel device. Further, the vehicle 1 may further include various safety devices for safety of the driver and passengers. As an example of the braking device, a brake pedal may be provided inside the vehicle 1, and an acceleration pedal may be provided inside the vehicle 1 as an example of the accelerating device.
The various safety devices of the vehicle 1 may include an airbag control device for the purpose of passenger safety such as the driver in the event of a vehicle collision and an electronic stability control (ESC) for controlling the attitude during acceleration or cornering.
The vehicle 1 may include an electronic control unit (ECU) for controlling driving of the power generating device, the power transmitting device, the driving device, the steering device, the braking device, the suspension device, the transmission device, the fuel device, the safety devices, and various sensors.
Referring to
The weight sensor 210 may be provided on a body frame and may measure the weight of the vehicle 1. For example, the weight sensor 210 may measure a Complete Vehicle Weight (CVW), and may measure the weight of the vehicle 1 that is increased when a person is boarded or a load is loaded on the vehicle 1. The weight sensor 210 may transmit the measured weight of the vehicle 1 as an electrical signal. A controller 600 may receive a signal including weight information of the vehicle 1 from the weight sensor 210.
On the other hand, the CVW may refer to the weight of the vehicle 1 in a state that the vehicle 1 is loaded with fuel, cooling water, lubricant, etc. without loading the person or the load and equipped with the basic equipment (except spare tires, spare parts, tools, etc.).
A Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) may refer to the total weight of the vehicle 1 when loading a riding capacity and a maximum load. Under national safety standards, the GVW should not exceed 20 tons (10 tons per axis, 5 tons per wheel). However, the total weight of freight and special vehicles must not exceed 40 tons.
The tire pressure sensor 220 may be installed in the tire of the vehicle 1 to measure the tire pressure and transmit the measured tire pressure as the electrical signal or a radio wave signal. The controller 600 may receive a signal including tire pressure information from the tire pressure sensor 220. The tire pressure sensor 220 may transmit the measured tire pressure either by wire or wirelessly.
The vehicle 1 may also include a proximity sensor for detecting obstacles or other vehicles at the front, rear or sides of the vehicle 1, a rain sensor for detecting rainfall and precipitation, a speed sensor for detecting a speed of the wheels of the vehicle 1, a lateral acceleration sensor for detecting a lateral acceleration of the vehicle 1, a yaw rate sensor for detecting a change in an angular velocity of the vehicle 1, a gyro sensor, and a direction sensor for detecting a rotation of a steering wheel and a driving direction of the vehicle 1.
The various devices of the vehicle 1 may communicate with each other through a vehicle communication network NT. For example, the various devices of the vehicle 1 may receive and transmit data or the electrical signal through Ethernet, MOST (Media Oriented Systems Transport), Flexray, CAN (Controller Area Network), LIN (Local Interconnect Network), etc.
Referring to
The cluster 123 may include a tachometer, a speedometer, a water temperature gauge, a fuel gauge, a turn signal indicator, a head light indicator, a seat belt warning light, an odometer, a tachograph, a gearshift position indicator, a door open warning light, a low fuel warning light, a low oil pressure warning light, a tire pressure warning light, etc. In addition, the cluster 123 may be implemented in a digital manner. The cluster 123 of the digital manner may display vehicle information and driving information as images.
A user interface 300 is an input/output device for performing audio functions, video functions, navigation functions, and various functions of the vehicle 1. The user interface 300 may include an input device 310 for receiving an operation command of various functions and may include an output device 320 for outputting information about a function being executed and information input by a user.
The input device 310 may include at least one physical button such as an on/off button for various functions and an operation button for changing a set value of various functions, and may be provided in a head unit 126 and the center fascia 125. The input device 310 may transmit the input command to the controller 600. The input device 310 may be a touch panel integrally provided on a display of an audio video navigation (AVN) device 130. In addition, the input device 310 may further include a jog dial.
The output device 320 may include the cluster 123, the AVN device 130, and a display 129 of the head unit 126. The cluster 123 and the AVN device 130 may also each include a display for outputting a screen. The display may be a light emitting diode (LED) panel, an organic light emitting diode (OLED) panel, or a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel. In addition, the output device 320 may include a speaker 127 for outputting an audio signal.
A storage 400 may store various data related to the operation of the vehicle 1. The storage 400 may be implemented as at least one of a non-volatile memory device (for example, a cache, Read Only Memory (ROM), Programmable ROM (PROM), Erasable Programmable ROM (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM), and flash memory), a volatile memory device (for example, Random Access Memory (RAM)), or a storage medium (for example, Hard Disk Drive (HDD) and Compact Disc Read Only Memory (CD-ROM)), although not limited to these.
A tire pressure regulator 500 may adjust the tire pressure based on the state information of the tire pressure. The tire pressure regulator 500 may receive the state information of the tire pressure from the controller 600, and may inject air into the tire or discharge the air inside the tire to the outside according to the state information of the tire pressure. The tire pressure regulator 500 may include an air compression pump (not shown).
Hereinafter, the controller 600 will be described in detail.
The controller 600 may include at least one or more processors 610 and a memory 620. The memory 620 may store algorithm data or a program for controlling the vehicle 1 and the processor 610 may transmit a control signal for controlling various devices of the vehicle 1 according to the control algorithm. In addition, the processor 610 may execute a program for the operation of the vehicle 1. The processor 610 and the memory 620 included in the controller 600 may be integrated into one chip or may be physically separated.
The controller 600 may transmit control signals to devices in the vehicle 1 as well as signal distribution functions to various devices provided in the vehicle 1. The controller 600 may refer to an electronic control unit (ECU).
The controller 600 may calculate the weight of the vehicle 1. Particularly, the controller 600 may calculate the weight of the vehicle 1 using engine torque and acceleration. The controller 600 may obtain engine torque information from an engine control device (not shown) and a transmission control device (not shown) provided in the vehicle 1. Further, the controller 600 may obtain the acceleration of the vehicle 1 from an acceleration sensor (not shown) provided in the vehicle 1. The weight of the vehicle 1 may be calculated from an acceleration law. That is, the controller 600 may calculate the weight of the vehicle 1 according to the following Equation 1.
F (force)=m (mass)*a (acceleration)
Engine torque=vehicle weight*vehicle acceleration [Equation 1]
Meanwhile, the controller 600 may receive the weight information of the vehicle 1 from the weight sensor 210.
The controller 600 may retrieve an optimum tire pressure corresponding to the calculated weight of the vehicle 1 or the weight of the vehicle 1 received from the weight sensor 210.
Referring to
When the weight of the vehicle 1 changes, a front tire pressure and a rear tire pressure need to be adjusted differently. Referring to
For example, when both the front tire pressure and the rear tire pressure are equally set to 35 psi, the vehicle 1 takes 12.6 seconds to pass through a slalom course. However, when the front tire pressure is set to 35 psi and the rear tire pressure is set to 40 psi, the vehicle 1 takes 11.5 seconds to pass through the slalom course. That is, in the state in which the weight of the vehicle 1 is at the GVW, when the front tire pressure and the rear tire pressure are set different from each other, the performance of the vehicle 1 is improved. Here, the slalom course may refer to a continuous S-curve course, and may be a course where rubber cones are placed at regular intervals and a zigzag pattern passes through the rubber cones.
In the state in which the weight of the vehicle 1 is at the GVW, when the front tire pressure and the rear tire pressure are set equal to 35 psi, a vertical bounce of the vehicle 1 may become large, and the behavior of the vehicle 1 may be increased when passing through a barrier.
On the other hand, in the state in which the weight of the vehicle 1 is at the GVW, when the front pressure is set to 35 psi and the rear tire pressure is set to 40 psi, the vertical bounce of the vehicle 1 may be reduced and the ride comfort may be improved.
Thus, depending on the weight of the vehicle 1, the front tire pressure and the rear tire pressure need to be adjusted differently, and it is necessary to appropriately inform such information to the user.
To this end, as illustrated in
On the other hand, the optimum tire pressure data corresponding to the weight of the vehicle 1 may be collected through various experiments or evaluations, and is not limited to that illustrated in
The controller 600 may retrieve the optimum tire pressure corresponding to the calculated weight of the vehicle 1 or the weight of the vehicle 1 received from the weight sensor 210 from the storage 400, and the controller 600 may compare the optimum tire pressure and the tire pressure measured by the tire pressure sensor 220 to generate the state information of the tire pressure.
Particularly, the controller 600 may generate the state information of the tire pressure by determining whether the state of the tire pressure measured by the tire pressure sensor 220 is in an insufficient state, an appropriate state, or a transient state.
The controller 600 may determine that a state of the measured tire pressure is in the appropriate state when a difference value between the tire pressure measured by the tire pressure sensor 220 and the optimum tire pressure corresponding to the weight of the vehicle 1 retrieved from the storage 400 is a value within a predetermined threshold range.
The controller 600 may also determine that the state of the measured tire pressure is in the insufficient state when the difference value between the tire pressure measured by the tire pressure sensor 220 and the optimum tire pressure corresponding to the weight of the vehicle 1 retrieved from the storage 400 is a negative value outside the predetermined threshold range.
The controller 600 may also determine that the state of the measured tire pressure is in the transient state when the difference value between the tire pressure measured by the tire pressure sensor 220 and the optimum tire pressure corresponding to the weight of the vehicle 1 retrieved from the storage 400 is a positive value outside the predetermined threshold range.
The controller 600 may generate state information of the tire pressure for a front left tire, a front right tire, a rear left tire, and a rear right tire, respectively. The user may receive the state information of a specific tire by operating the user interface 300. The controller 600 may control the user interface 300 to selectively output state information of the tire pressure for each of the front left tire, the front right tire, the rear left tire, and the rear right tire in response to the user's input.
As described above, the optimum tire pressure corresponding to the weight of the vehicle 1 and the state information of the current tire pressure can be provided for each of the tires of the vehicle 1, so that the user may easily and accurately confirm the state of the tire pressure.
The controller 600 may control the cluster 123 such that the state information of the tires is displayed in the cluster 123. The controller 600 may control the device including the display such as the AVN device 130 as well as the cluster 123 to output the state information of the tire.
Referring to
When a current pressure of the front left tire is less than the optimum tire pressure corresponding to the weight of the vehicle 1, the controller 600 may display in the cluster 123 that an optimum pressure value of the front left tire and the current tire pressure are insufficient.
When the current pressure of the front left tire is equal to or within the predetermined range of the optimum tire pressure corresponding to the weight of the vehicle 1, the controller 600 may display in the cluster 123 that the optimum pressure value of the front left tire and the current tire pressure are proper.
When the current pressure of the front left tire is greater than the optimum tire pressure corresponding to the weight of the vehicle 1, the controller 600 may display in the cluster 123 that the optimum pressure value of the front left tire and the current tire pressure are in the transient state.
Referring to
The controller 600 may compare the optimum tire pressure corresponding to the weight of the vehicle 1 with the tire pressure measured by the tire pressure sensor 220 to generate the state information of the tire pressure. Particularly, the controller 600 may determine whether the difference value between the tire pressure measured by the tire pressure sensor 220 and the optimum tire pressure corresponding to the weight of the vehicle 1 is the value within the predetermined threshold range (840).
When the difference value between the tire pressure measured by the tire pressure sensor 220 and the optimum tire pressure corresponding to the weight of the vehicle 1 is the value within the predetermined threshold range, the controller 600 may determine that the measured state of the tire pressure is in the appropriate state. The controller 600 may generate the state information of the tire pressure including the optimum tire pressure value corresponding to the weight of the vehicle 1 and the state of the tire pressure in the appropriate state, and may control the user interface 300 to output the state information of the tire pressure (850).
When the difference value between the tire pressure measured by the tire pressure sensor 220 and the optimum tire pressure corresponding to the weight of the vehicle 1 is the negative value outside the predetermined threshold range, the controller 600 may determine that the measured state of the tire pressure is in the insufficient state. The controller 600 may generate the state information of the tire pressure including the optimum tire pressure value corresponding to the weight of the vehicle 1 and the state of the tire pressure in the insufficient state, and may control the user interface 300 to output the state information of the tire pressure (860, 870).
When the difference value between the tire pressure measured by the tire pressure sensor 220 and the optimum tire pressure corresponding to the weight of the vehicle 1 is the positive value outside the predetermined threshold range, the controller 600 may determine that the measured state of the tire pressure is in the transient state. The controller 600 may generate the state information of the tire pressure including the optimum tire pressure value corresponding to the weight of the vehicle 1 and the state of the tire pressure in the transient state, and may control the user interface 300 to output the state information of the tire pressure (860, 880).
Conventionally, a sticker describing tire pressure information related to the weight of the vehicle has been attached to the bottom of the pillar of the vehicle or the inside of the doors. However, since it is difficult for the user to recognize the sticker, it is difficult for the user to know the appropriate tire pressure information corresponding to the weight of the vehicle. Therefore, there is a problem that it is difficult to control the tire pressure appropriately.
According to the vehicle of an aspect and the method of controlling the vehicle as described above, it is possible to calculate the weight of the vehicle and intuitively provide the optimum tire pressure information corresponding to the calculated weight of the vehicle and the state information of the current tire pressure.
Further, according to the vehicle of another aspect and the method of controlling the vehicle, the tire pressure can be appropriately adjusted based on the state information of the tire pressure according to the weight of the vehicle, and thus the driving stability of the vehicle can be improved.
Meanwhile, the disclosed embodiments may be implemented in the form of a recording medium storing instructions that are executable by a computer. The instructions may be stored in the form of a program code, and when executed by a processor, the instructions may generate a program module to perform operations of the disclosed embodiments. The recording medium may be implemented as a computer-readable recording medium.
The computer-readable recording medium may include all kinds of recording media storing commands that can be interpreted by a computer. For example, the computer-readable recording medium may be ROM, RAM, a magnetic tape, a magnetic disc, flash memory, an optical data storage device, etc.
The exemplary embodiments of the disclosure have thus far been described with reference to the accompanying drawings. It will be obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art that the disclosure may be practiced in other forms than the exemplary embodiments as described above without changing the technical idea or essential features of the disclosure. The above exemplary embodiments are only by way of example, and should not be interpreted in a limited sense.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2018-0143553 | Nov 2018 | KR | national |
