JPH0823587B2 - Vehicle obstacle detection device - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle obstacle detection device.

2. Description of the Related Art In order to prevent a frontal collision of a vehicle or a rearward collision of a vehicle in reverse, an ultrasonic transmitter / receiver is fixed to the front or rear of the vehicle so that ultrasonic waves transmitted to the front or the rear can be transmitted. By receiving the reflected wave reflected by an obstacle in front or in the back, the distance to the obstacle is calculated from the transmission / reception interval, and an alarm is issued according to the distance to the obstacle to alert the driver. The obstacle detecting device thus configured has been already developed and is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-131351.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In the conventional obstacle detection device for an automobile as described above, for example, it is assumed that a total of four ultrasonic wave transmitters / receivers are provided on the left and right of the front end of the vehicle body and the left and right of the rear end of the vehicle body. Also, when moving forward, the presence of front obstacles is detected by the two left and right ultrasonic transceivers at the front end, and when moving backward, the presence of rear obstacles is detected by the left and right ultrasonic transceivers at the rear end. Is only detected.

In an automobile, when the vehicle is steered forward, the inner wheel on the rear wheel side takes a locus on the inner side (center side of turning) than the inner wheel on the front wheel side (hereinafter referred to as the inner ring difference), so the rear side surface of the vehicle body contacts an obstacle at the corner. The front wheel side outer wheel takes a locus that projects largely outward (opposite to the center of turning) with respect to the locus of the outer wheel on the rear wheel side (hereinafter referred to as the outer wheel difference) when the vehicle is steered backwards. It is often the case that the front side surface of the vehicle body is accidentally hit by an obstacle such as a fence when the rudder is turned, and such a judgment of the difference between the inner wheel and the outer wheel is based solely on the driver's intuition. This is the current situation, and it is not easy for an inexperienced driver to safely navigate a narrow corner.

The conventional obstacle detection device described above is completely useless for such a problem that the side surface of the vehicle body comes into contact with an obstacle due to the difference between the inner wheel and the outer wheel during turning.

Means for Solving the Problems In the present invention, ultrasonic waves are transmitted to the left and right portions of the front end of the vehicle body and the left and right portions of the rear end of the vehicle body, and the transmitted ultrasonic waves are reflected by obstacles. A front ultrasonic sensor and a rear ultrasonic sensor that receive a reflected wave, a distance calculator that calculates the distance between an obstacle and a vehicle body from the reflected waves received by the front and rear ultrasonic sensors, respectively, and the distance calculator. In an automobile provided with an obstacle detection device consisting of a display control circuit that gives a display warning according to the distance between the obstacle and the vehicle body obtained by the vehicle body, the front and rear ultrasonic sensors can be rotated in the left and right directions. The front ultrasonic sensor toward the front of the vehicle to detect front obstacles when moving forward, and the rear ultrasonic sensor toward the outside of the vehicle to detect obstacles on the rear side of the vehicle. Is after Actuated by a signal from the control device to direct the rear ultrasonic sensor to the rear of the vehicle body to detect obstacles and to direct the front ultrasonic sensor to the outer side of the vehicle body to detect obstacles on the front side of the vehicle An actuator is provided.

Operation Based on the above, when the vehicle is moving forward, the front left and right ultrasonic sensors face forward, detect front obstacles and give a warning to prevent a frontal collision, and the left and right ultrasonic sensors at the rear end of the vehicle body. The sensors face left and right, respectively, and detect when the rear side surface of the vehicle body approaches an obstacle at the corner due to the inner wheel difference during forward turning, and give a warning to prevent the obstacle from contacting the rear side surface of the vehicle body.

When moving backward, the ultrasonic sensors on the left and right of the rear end face backwards,
A rear obstacle is detected and a warning is given to prevent a rear-end collision, and the left and right ultrasonic sensors at the front end of the vehicle face left and right, respectively, and the front side surface of the vehicle becomes an obstacle due to the outer wheel difference during reverse turning. When approaching, it is detected and a warning is given to prevent the front side surface of the vehicle body from hitting the obstacle.

Embodiment One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral A denotes a vehicle body of an automobile, B is a front ultrasonic sensor provided at each of left and right portions of a front end of the vehicle body A, and C is a rear ultrasonic sensor provided at each of left and right portions of a rear end of the vehicle body A. Yes, the front ultrasonic sensor B and the rear ultrasonic sensor C are attached to the vehicle body A so as to be able to rotate and change their directions respectively, and the directions of the respective ultrasonic sensors B and C are not shown in FIG. It is controlled by an actuator such as an electric motor or a hydraulic device.

In each ultrasonic sensor, as shown in FIG. 2, the ultrasonic wave generated by the ultrasonic wave generation unit 1 is divided into pulses of a certain time interval at the transmission interval generation unit 2, and the transmission circuit 3 is divided. The ultrasonic wave sensor 4 has a function of transmitting the reflected wave at predetermined time intervals and a function of receiving the reflected wave reflected by the ultrasonic wave transmitted from the obstacle. When the ultrasonic sensor 4 receives the reflected wave, the receiving circuit receives the reflected wave. After entering the distance calculation unit 6 through 5, the distance from the vehicle body to the obstacle is calculated based on the time Td from the transmission of the ultrasonic wave to the reception of the reflected wave, and the display control circuit 7 is calculated according to the calculation result. A display (for example, a lamp or a buzzer) corresponding to the above distance is displayed on the display unit 8 via the above.

The ultrasonic sensor indicated by reference numeral 4 in FIG. 2 includes four ultrasonic sensors, that is, two front ultrasonic sensors B and two rear ultrasonic sensors C in FIG.

The four ultrasonic sensors 4 are provided before and after the shift position sensor 9 for detecting whether the shift position of the transmission is the forward gear or the reverse gear and the forward / backward movement of the vehicle are judged by the signals of the shift position sensor 9. Control device 11 consisting of the progress discriminator 10
The angular position of each actuator is controlled by the actuator 12 which is operated by the signal.

That is, when moving forward, the front ultrasonic sensor B faces forward to detect a front obstacle, and the rear ultrasonic sensors C respectively face outward of the vehicle body to detect obstacles on the side surface of the vehicle body. The sound wave sensor C faces rearward to detect a rear obstacle, and the front ultrasonic sensor B faces outward of the vehicle body and is controlled by the actuator 12 so as to detect an obstacle on the side surface of the vehicle body.

According to the above, a frontal collision can be prevented by detecting a front obstacle by the front ultrasonic sensor B when the vehicle is traveling forward and displaying a warning on the display unit 8, and at the time of forward steering, for example, if it is left steering, it is left side. The rear ultrasonic sensor C detects a corner obstacle, and when the corner obstacle approaches the rear side surface of the vehicle body, a warning is issued on the display unit 8 to prevent contact with the corner obstacle on the rear side surface of the vehicle body based on the inner ring difference. To prevent.

When the vehicle is moving backward, a rear ultrasonic sensor C detects a rear obstacle and a warning is displayed on the display unit 8 to prevent a rear collision. At the time of turning the vehicle backward, for example, when the vehicle is turned left, the front ultrasonic sensor on the right side is used. When B detects an obstacle on the front side surface of the vehicle body, and the front side surface of the vehicle body approaches the obstacle, a warning is issued on the display unit 8 to prevent the front side surface of the vehicle body from hitting the obstacle based on the outer ring difference.

The rotation angles of the front and rear ultrasonic sensors B and C are about 135 ° as shown in FIG. 1, and when the vehicle is moving backward, the front ultrasonic sensor B faces obliquely rearward and outward and the front part of the vehicle body. Detects an obstacle in the range from the side to the diagonal rear, and at the time of forward movement, the rear ultrasonic sensor C faces the diagonal outward in the lateral direction and detects an obstacle in the range from the side to the diagonal front of the rear part of the vehicle body. It is desirable to configure it.

As described above, according to the present invention, front and rear collisions can be prevented only by the four ultrasonic sensors provided at the left and right portions of the front end of the vehicle body and the left and right portions of the rear end of the vehicle body. Instead, it is possible to prevent contact with obstacles on the side surface of the vehicle body due to the difference between the inner wheel and the outer wheel at the time of steering in forward and reverse directions, and it is possible to significantly improve the running safety of the vehicle and to improve the driving operation. It is very easy and can be extremely valuable, especially for beginners unfamiliar with driving.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of an automobile to which the present invention is applied, and is a diagram for explaining an example of an obstacle detection area of an ultrasonic sensor.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. B: front ultrasonic sensor, C: rear ultrasonic sensor, 1
...... Ultrasonic wave generation unit, 2 ...... Transmission interval generation unit, 4 ...... Ultrasonic sensor, 6 ...... Distance calculation unit, 8 ...... Display unit, 11 ...... Control device, 12 ...... Actuator.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A front ultrasonic device which is provided on each of the left and right portions of a front end of a vehicle body and on the left and right portions of a rear end of the vehicle body and which emits ultrasonic waves and receives the reflected waves reflected by the obstacles. A sound wave sensor and a rear ultrasonic wave sensor, a distance calculation unit that calculates a distance between an obstacle and a vehicle body from reflected waves received by the front and rear ultrasonic wave sensors, and an obstacle and a vehicle body that are calculated by the distance calculation unit. In an automobile provided with an obstacle detection device consisting of a display control circuit for giving a display warning according to the distance to the vehicle, the front and rear ultrasonic sensors are mounted on the vehicle body so as to be rotatable in the left and right directions, and when the vehicle is moving forward. Directs the front ultrasonic sensor toward the front of the vehicle to detect front obstacles and the rear ultrasonic sensor toward the outside of the vehicle to detect obstacles on the rear side of the vehicle. Stuff An actuator that operates by the signal of the control device is provided so that the rear ultrasonic sensor is directed to the rear of the vehicle body for detection and the front ultrasonic sensor is directed to the outer side of the vehicle body to detect obstacles on the front side of the vehicle body. An obstacle detection device for an automobile, which is characterized in that 2. The front ultrasonic sensor faces diagonally rearward and outward when the vehicle is moving backward, and detects an obstacle in the range from the front side of the vehicle body to diagonally rearward. When the vehicle is moving forward, the angle is controlled by an actuator so as to face the diagonally forward side outward and detect an obstacle in the range from the lateral side of the vehicle body to the diagonally forward direction. The obstacle detection device for an automobile according to item 1.