MOTOR-VEHICLE DRIVING SIMULATOR

Abstract: The invention relates to a motor-vehicle driving simula­ tor, particularly for teaching purposes, wherein a stationary frame (14) provided with a driver's seat (11) supports a motor-vehicle engine unit (30) including a crankcase of an internal combustion engine (31), a crankshaft (37) rotarily supported in the crankcase, a gearbox (32) controlled by a gearbox lever (13) placed in a position accessible from the driver's seat, a friction clutch (29) connected between the crankshaft and the gearbox and operable by a clutch pedal (15), and a differential gear (33a) driven by said gearbox and having output axle shafts (33, 34) provided with brakes (35, 36) that are operated by a brake pedal (16). The crankshaft is driven by electric motor (38, 40) energized by a supply unit (50, 51, 53, 57) that is speed regulated by an accelerator pedal (17). A road course is marked on a ribbon (18) unrolling in a position in front of the driver's seat, with a pointer (21) that can be displaced across the road course, under control of a steering wheel (12). Electronic control means (55) acting on the motor and driven by the clutch, accelerator and gearbox controls, simulate the reaction of a real motor-vehicle on the simulator's controls, disabling the supply to the motor in case of wrong manoeuvres.

Description: Motor-vehicle driving simulator This invention relates to a motor-vehicle driving simulator, particularly for teaching purposes. Driving simulators are known where some of the typical manoeuvres involved in driving a motor-vehicle are recreated by means of electrical and electronic devices receiving their inputs from controls operated by the learner. The apparatus known, beside being complex and expensive, have the further drawback of being unable to give a true replica of the actual conditions of operation of the controls, so that their effectiveness is small or nonexistent for the purposes of learning. More particularly, the old simulators are unable to give the learner an accurate feeling of the efforts and displacements required for operating the gearbox lever and the pedals for the clutch, the brake and the accelerator, or of the force required for turning the steering wheel. Consequently, when the learner starts taking practical motoring lessons aboard a real motorvehicle, he not only fails to take advantage of his previous experience at the simulator, but he generally turns out to have acquired wrong habits, which hamper learning and cause harmful stresses to the motor-vehicle. It is not practically feasible to improve the known simulators in order to more truly reproduce the behaviour of a real motorcar, because the sophistication involved would push design and manufacture costs to levels unaciceptable for a commercial production. The invention therefore has as its main object to provide a motorvehicle driving simulator where the main motoring controls are realistic in contrast to being reproduced with uncertain approximation, so that the learner will find, in actual motoring on a motorcar, an exact match with the manoeuvres that he has learnt at the simulator, while maintaining costs of design and manufacture that are moderate and even lower than for known simulators. A further object is to provide a simulator by which real traffic situations can be reproduced, the learner having to react with appropriate manoeuvers, without causing the simulator to stop. In order to achieve the above and other objects, such as will appear from the following detailed specification, this invention provides a motor-vehicle driving simulator, particularly for teaching purposes, with a stationary frame supporting a driver's seat, a rotary steering wheel, a gearbox lever, and accelerator, clutch and brake pedals, all mounted on the frame in typical positions of a real motor-vehicle with respect to the driver's seat, characterized in that the simulator further comprises: : a) a motor-vehicle engine unit including at least a crankcase of an internal combustion engine, a crankshaft rotarily supported in the crankcase, a gearbox controlled by said gearbox lever, a friction clutch connected between t crankshaft and the gearbox and controlled by said clutch pedal, and a differential gear driven from said gearbox and having output axle shafts provided with brakes that are operated by said brake pedal; b). electrlcal motor means connected to drive said crankshaft and energized by a supply unit including a speed regulator con trollable by said accelerator pedal and adapted to control the speed of said motor means; ; c) display means mounted on the frame, in front of said driver's seat, for displaying a changing road course, and provided with a pointer that can be displaced across the road course by means of said steering wheel, an alarm being activated if the pointer strays off said road course. Further features and advantages will appear from the following detailed disclosure, with reference to the attached drawings, given by way of non-limiting example, and wherein: - Fig. 1 is a perspective view, partly broken away, of a simulator according to the invention; - Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing a detail of an engine unit belonging to the simulator of Fig. 1 and of a driving electric motor therefor; - Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing another detail of the engine unit; - Fig. 4 is a mechanical diagram of the complete simulator; - Fig. 5 is an electrical block diagram of a controlled supply unit for the motor; - Fig. 6 is a detail of the diagram of Fig. 5; - Fig. 7 is a block diagram of a logic circuit controlling said supply unit; - Fig. 8 is a detailed electric diagram of said logic circuit. With reference to Flgg. 1 to 4, a simulator referenced with 10 comprises a1 stationary frame 14 in which a drivers seat 11 is provided. The stationary frame also supports a rotary steering wheel 12, a gearbox lever 13, and a set of pedals comprising: a clutch pedal 15, a brake pedal 16 and an accelerator pedal 17. A boot 20 mounted on the stationary frame in front of the driver's seat accommodates a pair of rollers (of which only roller 19 is visible in the Figures) around which a ribbon 18 is looped. The ribbon is placed for comfortable viewing through a window from the driver's seat. A road course. with possible obstacles, is marked in contrasting colours on the ribbon. A pointer 21, driven by the steering wheel 12, is displaceable across the ribbon In order to follow the road course as this winds before the driver while the ribbon unrolls, as it will be explained later. A light detector (not shown) is mounted on pointer 21 for sensing the course traced on the ribbon and for energizing a light or sound alarm whenever the learner. by incorrectly operating the steering wheel, allows the pointer to stray from the course. An engine unit 30 of a real motorcar is housed in the front boot 20 and comprises an internal combustion engine 31 (or at least its crankcase) with its crankshaft 37, a gearbox 32, a friction clutch 29 coupled between the engine and the gearbox, and a differential gear adapted to trasmit a rotary motion from the gearbox output to respective right-hand and left-hand axle shafts 33 and 34, including their brakes comprising disks 35 and hydraulic shoes 36. Engine unit 20 is preferably taken from a front-wheel drive motorcar, so that all or most of the above mechanical members are housed within a single block. The engine unit 30 is preferably recovered from damaged or unserviceable motorcars, and is stripped of any superfluous members such as cranks, pistons or valves, in order to reduce the power required for turning crankshaft 37, as explained below. As shown in the mechanical diagram of Fig. 4, crankshaft 37 has a pulley 37a that is driven by an electric motor 40, by means of a belt transmission 38. Another belt transmission 39 connects one of the axle shafts 33 with roller 19, in order to drive the ribbon synchronously with the output speed of the gearbox. Clutch pedal 15 is operatively connected to the control member of clutch 29, and brake pedal 16 is operatively connected to the braking system, by means of conventional couplings, substantially the same as in a real motorcar. The accelerator pedal 17 operates a rheostatic speed regulator 42, adapted to vary the supply voltage to motor 40. Regulator 42 could also be of any other type, depending on the motor chosen. The block diagram of Fig. 5 shows a supply unit for motor 40. The supply voltage at terminals V is applied, through a differential overload relay 50, to contacts 51 of a power relay R (also see Fig. 6), through which the rheostatic regulator 52 is energized Overload relay 50 also energizes a low-voltage, d. c. supply unit 57. The latter supplies: a lock-operated switching unit 53, trolling the energization of power relay R, and adapted to be operated by an ignition key CH; power relay R; a set of position detectors 54 for detecting the position of the controls; and a logic circuit 55 adapted to disable the supply according to the states of said position-detectors. Fig. 6 shows switching unit 53 in detail. A first (bistable) contact 60 connected in series with power relay R is closed by a first step of the ignition key CH; a second (monostable) series contact 61 is closed by the second step of said key (with spring back). Two series-connected contacts, i.e. a holding contact 62, and a blocking contact 63 controlled by logic circuit 55, are connected in parallel with contact 61. The simulator has a logic circuit 55 controlling the motor according to the following functions: - prevent motor 40 from being started while a gear is engaged in the gearbox and clutch 29 is engaged; - disable the supply to motor 40 if the gearbox lever is operated while the clutch is engaged; - disable the supply to motor 40 if the clutch pedal is released too quickly while a gear is engaged; - disable the supply to motor 40 if the crankshaft rotation speed falls below a predetermined threshold. Logic circuit 55 is shown in Fig. 7, and comprises: input stages 71 to 74, driven by respective detectors 51 to S4'of the set 54; a pair of flip-flops 75 and 76 for storing the states of detectors S1 to S4 and a logic gate 77 driven by said detector states for opening contact 63 and thereby de-ene izing power relay R (e. g. via an interface transistor and a corresponding block relay, not shown), when one of the conditions listed in the preceding paragraph becomes true. Detectors S1 to S4 have the following functions: - 51 detects the home position of clutch pedal 15; - S2 detects the depressed position of clutch pedal 15; - S3 detects the neutral position of the gearbox lever 13; - S4 detects the low speed threshold of motor 40. Fig. 8 is a detailed electric diagram of a preferred embodiment of logic circuit 55, which should be immediately intelligible to a person skilled in the art, based on the above explanation. Inputs 11 to 14 from detectors S1 to S4 are coupled to the rest of the circuit by means of optocouplers IC1 to 1C4. Outputs A are connected in parallel to the base of an interface transistor (not shown) for operation of the block relay. By way of example, the commercial identifications of most of the parts included in the circuit of Fig. 8 are given below: Part Commercial name 1C1 to IC4 Fairchild FCD 820 IC5 to IC8 Motorola MC 14584 IC9 to 1011 Motorola MC 14011. Of course, the circuit could be made with other, equivalent parts, possibly comprising chips of a higher integration level. The practical details of the simulator could be changed to a large extent with respect to the embodiment disclosed and shown in the drawings by way of non-limiting example, without departing from the score of the invention. In particular, the display means embodied in the ribbon might be replaced by a television monitor such a a cathode ray tube driven by a pre-recorded television signal, for displaying a desired road course.

Claims: Claims 1. Motor-vehicle driving simulator, particularly for teaching purposes, with a stationary frame (14) supporting a driver's seat (11), a rotary steering wheel (12), a gearbox lever (13), and accelerator (17), clutch (15) and brake (16) pedals, all mounted on the frame in typical positions of a real motor-vehicle with respect to the driver's seat, characterized in that the simulator further comprises: : a) a motor-vehicle engine unit (30) including at least a crankcase of an internal combustion engine (31), a crankshaft (37) rotarily supported in the crankcase, a gearbox (32) controlled by said gearbox lever, a friction clutch (29) connected between the crankshaft and the gearbox and controlled by said clutch pedal, and a differential gear (33a) driven from said gearbox and having output axle shafts (33, 34) provided with brakes (35, 36) that are operated by said brake pedal; b) electrical motor means (38, 40) connected to drive said crankshaft and energized by a supply unit (50, 51, 53, 57) including a speed regulator (52) controllable by said accelerator pedal and adapted to control the speed of said motor means; ; c) display means (18, 19) mounted on the frame, in front of said driver's seat, for displaying a changing road course, and provided with a pointer (21) that can be displaced across the road course by means of said steering wheel, an alarm being activated if the pointer strays off said road course. 2. The simulator of claim 1, characterized in that said crankcase, said gearbox and said differential gear are grouped in a single block. 3. The simulator of one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that said supply unit for the electric motor means include a power relay (R) and a set of contacts (60, 61, 62, 63) for energizing said relay, which are driven in part by a lock-operated switching unit (53), in part by a logic circuit (55) controlled by a plurality of detectors (S1 to S4) comprises detectors (S1 to S4) sensitive to desired positions of the clutch pedal and gearbox lever, and to a minimum threshold speed of said crankshaft, and adapted to disable said power relay for desired combinations of said poitions and crankshaft speed. 4. The simulator of claim 3, characterized in that said logic circuit is adapted to: - prevent the electrical motor means from being started while a speed is engaged in said gearbox and the clutch Is engaged; - disable the supply to the electrical motor means if the gearbox lever is operated while the clutch is engaged; - disable the supply to motor 40 if the clutch pedal is released too quickly while a gear is engaged; - disable the supply to the electrical motor means if the crankshaft rotation speed falls below a predetermined threshold. 5. The simulator of claim 4, characterized in that it comprises a first detector (S1) sensing the home position of the clutch pedal; a second detector (S2) sensing the depressed position of the clutch pedal; a third detector (S3) sensing the neutral position of the gearbox lever; and a fourth detector (54) sensing a low 25 speed threshold of the crankshaft. 6. The simulator of one of1 claims 3 to 5, characterized in that said logic circuit comprises a plurality of OR-connected blocking outputs controlling, via an interface, a blocking relay control ing one of said contacts (63) in series with the winding of the power relay, for de-energizing the latter when at least one of said blocking outputs is active. 7. The simulator of any of the preceding claims, characterized in that said display means comprise a continuous ribbon loop (18) bearing markings representing a road course, the ribbon unrolling beneath said pointer at a speed proportional to the speed of the motor means, the pointer having a road course detector adapted to generate an alarm whenever the pointer strays away from the course. 8. The simulator of claim 7, characterized in that the ribbon is looped around at least one roller (19) that is directly driven from one of said axle shafts. 9. The simulator of claim 7 or 8, characterized in that said road course detector is a light sensitive element adapted to perceive the color contrast of the road course on the ribbon. 10. The simulator of any of the preceding claims,.characterized in that said crankshaft is driven by said motor means through a belt and pulley transmission (37a, 38).

Inventors: BRADASCIO, GIACOMO
Applicants: BRADASCIO, GIACOMO
Application year: 1985
Main classification: G09B9
IPC codes: G09B9