VEHICLE BEHAVIOR CONTROL APPARATUS

摘要

An electronic control unit determines driving force that is generated on wheels and has an identical absolute value and opposite directions to each other in order to suppress pitch behavior and/or heave behavior occurring on a vehicle body in association with travelling of a vehicle. Then, the unit controls the drive of in-wheel motors through an inverter based on the driving force. On the other hand, electronic control unit changes the damping forces of shock absorbers constituting suspension mechanisms in response to the pitch behavior and/or the heave behavior occurring on the vehicle body. In this way, by controlling one of the pitch behavior and the heave behavior that may occur in combination, enhancing of the occurrence of the other one that is not intended can be prevented effectively, and the occurrence of intended behavior on the vehicle body can be controlled independently.

主权项

1. A vehicle behavior control apparatus comprising:
braking and driving force generating mechanisms that generate driving force or braking force independently on at least a front wheel and a rear wheel of a vehicle; suspension mechanisms that respectively connect the front wheel and the rear wheel disposed under springs of the vehicle to a vehicle body disposed above the springs of the vehicle; and a control portion that controls the braking and driving force generating mechanisms in response to behavior occurring on the vehicle body to generate specified driving force or braking force independently on the front wheel and the rear wheel, wherein the suspension mechanisms include: shock absorbers that damp vibrations transmitted from a road surface to the vehicle body through the front wheel and the rear wheel; and damping force changing portion that change damping force of the shock absorbers, and the control portion: controls the braking and driving force generating mechanisms in response to the behavior occurring on the vehicle body and generates the specified driving force or braking force independently on the front wheel and the rear wheel, controls the damping force changing portion in response to the behavior occurring on the vehicle body and changes the damping force of the shock absorbers to specified damping force, controls the damping force changing portion in accordance with the magnitude of vertical forces in vehicle vertical directions acting on the vehicle body through the suspension mechanisms as components of the specified driving force or braking force generated on the front wheels and the rear wheels by controlling the braking and driving force generating mechanisms; and changes the damping force of the shock absorbers to the specified damping force, controls the braking and driving force generating mechanisms in order to suppress pitch behavior that is the behavior with vertical motion occurring on the vehicle body and in which the direction of vertical displacement of the vehicle body on the side of the front wheels and the direction of vertical displacement on the side of the rear wheels are opposite to each other; and, when the specified driving force or braking force is generated independently on the front wheels and the rear wheels, controls the damping force changing portion so as to increase the damping force of the shock absorber in the suspension mechanism transmitting the vertical force having relatively small magnitude and controls the damping force changing portion so as to reduce the damping force of the shock absorber in the suspension mechanism transmitting the vertical force having relatively large magnitude, among the suspension mechanisms transmitting the vertical force acting on the vehicle body.