Abstract:
A circuit configuration and method for a traction slip control system which evaluates the speed (v ER ) measured at a driven spare wheel with a correction factor K(t) in order to maintain or improve the control function even when a smaller size spare wheel has been mounted. This correction factor (K(t)) is determined by axlewise comparison of the rotating speeds (v na1 , v na2  ; v a , v ER ) of the wheels of one axle and by comparison of the speed differences measured on the driven and nondriven axles, with traction slip control being inactive. Upon transition from a very slippery road surface (μ low  homogeneous) to a dry road surface (μ high  homogeneous), without any prior determination of the correction factor, the slip threshold (S) is raised temporarily. When starting with different right/left friction coefficients (μ-split), with the spare wheel being mounted on the high friction coefficient side, a higher slip threshold (S ER ) will be effective for this spare wheel.

Description:
This application is the U.S. national-phase application of PCT International Application No. PCT/EP91/02108 filed Nov. 7, 1991. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to a circuit configuration and method for maintaining or improving the control function for a traction slip control system with brake and/or engine management for automotive vehicles when a smaller spare wheel has been mounted as a driven wheel instead of a normal size wheel. In the present invention, the rotating speed of the driven wheels is compared with the vehicle speed or with a corresponding measurement parameter for the purpose of detecting the traction slip. A correction factor is obtained from the rotating speeds measured with stable rotational behavior of the wheels. Traction slip control is triggered when wheel slip exceeds a predetermined limit value, namely the so-called slip threshold. 
     There are known circuit configurations for traction slip control systems. The information needed for control is obtained by means of wheel sensors, important information being developed from the comparison of the rotational behavior of the individual wheels and by distinguishing between the driven wheels and the non-driven wheels. 
     Replacing a normal wheel by an emergency wheel of the type in current use today, the dimensions of which often differ considerably from those of normal wheels, can lead to faulty information for traction slip control. 
     What, above all, is critical is the replacement of a driven wheel by an emergency wheel, the diameter of which is smaller than the diameter of the normal wheel. The traction slip control system identifies the higher rotating speed of the emergency wheel, caused by the smaller diameter, as &#34;traction slip&#34;, with the control system responding and metering braking pressure into the wheel brake of the emergency wheel. This metering-in of braking pressure may completely prevent the car from starting in some situations such as in case of different right/left friction coefficients when the emergency wheel is located on the higher friction coefficient side. Up to now, in order to avoid this situation, it was necessary to turn off the traction slip control when an emergency wheel has been mounted. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is thus an object of this invention to overcome these disadvantages linked with using emergency wheels in vehicles with a traction slip control system. 
     It has been found that this object can be achieved by a circuit configuration and method by which the correction factor is determined by axle-wise comparison of the rotating speeds of the two wheels of one axle and by comparing the speed differences measured on the driven axle and on the non-driven axle. The rotating speed measured at the spare wheel is evaluated by means of the correction factor and is thereby adapted to the measured value of the rotating speed of the second driven wheel of the same axle, so that the slip threshold, decisive for traction slip control, will become the same for the spare wheel as for a normal wheel. 
     Control will be improved in this way when, during the start or in a certain phase, traction slip control is not immediately activated. Thus the control system has sufficient time to determine the correction factor and effect a corresponding adaptation. If, however, traction slip control is activated at once when, for example, starting on a very slippery road surface, a variant of the inventive circuit configuration and method will become operative. In this arrangement of the invention, at first, the same slip threshold is decisive for the control of the two driven wheels upon the onset traction slip control whereupon the slip threshold is raised until pressure reduction comes about if, during a traction slip control operation, pressure reduction signals fail to appear after a predetermined period of time. If, during a period of time of the magnitude ranging from 200 to 500 msec, only braking pressure reduction takes place, this will be an indication of the completion of the traction slip control operation. Thereupon, the slip threshold will be lowered again stepwise or continuously to the normal slip threshold. At the same time, it will again be possible to determine a correction factor in the afore-described manner, which correction factor serves to evaluate the rotating speed of the faster smaller emergency wheel. 
     Finally, there is provided yet another variation of the inventive circuit configuration and method when different left/right friction coefficients exist during a starting operation, one wheel becoming unstable and the smaller spare wheel being located on the higher friction coefficient side. For the purpose of maintaining or improving the control function, according to this arrangement of the invention, the slip threshold, decisive for the spare wheel, is raised up to the amount of deviation of the rotating speed of this spare wheel from the rotating speed of the non-driven normal wheels. The rise takes place with a predetermined gradient limited to approximately 0.6 . . . 0.8 g. 
    
    
     Further characteristics, advantages and applications of the present invention will become evident from the following description, reference being made to the accompanying drawings. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 shows the speed variation, as a function of time, of the vehicle wheels during a starting operation, with traction slip control not being activated; 
     FIG. 2 shows the speed variation, as a function of time, of the vehicle wheels during a traction slip control operation and with a transition from low friction coefficients on both sides to high friction coefficients on both sides; 
     FIG. 3 shows the speed variation, as a function of time, of the vehicle wheels during a starting operation and with different left/right friction coefficients (μ-split); and 
     FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a circuit configuration constructed in accordance with the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     All the FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 are based on measurements taken in an automotive vehicle with a driven axle and a non-driven axle. Each wheel is equipped with an individual wheel sensor. In all cases, the control system is a traction slip control system with brake management which can be expanded by an engine management system if required. In all cases, a spare wheel is mounted instead of a driven normal wheel. The diameter of the spare wheel is only about 80% of the normal wheel diameter. In such cases, i.e., when a considerably smaller spare wheel is mounted on the driven axle, the result has had such grave implications for a traction slip control system that, up to now, the control had to be put out of operation. 
     FIG. 1, on the one hand, shows the speed of a non-driven wheel v na1  or v na  2. Upon starting, as slip is practically nil, this speed corresponds to the vehicle speed. On the other hand, there are shown the speed of the driven normal wheel v a  and the speed of the spare wheel v ER . Finally, the evaluated or, rather, the corrected speed of the spare wheel K(t)·v ER  is shown in FIG. 1. Besides these wheel speeds, FIG. 1 shows the variation of the correction factor K(t) during such a starting operation, with traction slip control not being activated. 
     In FIG. 1, a dash-dot line indicates the variation of the so-called &#34;slip threshold&#34; S which is defined by the spacing between the dash-dot line S and the vehicle speed represented by the speed of a non-driven wheel v na . For the sake of facilitating the start, in the present example, the slip threshold S begins at a relatively high slip value such as of 6 km/h, thereupon continuously decreasing to approximately 3 km/h. In this example, this value will be reached at time t 3  when the speed v na  of the vehicle will have gone up to about 20 km/h. Subsequently, the slip threshold will stay constant until time t 4 , when the vehicle speed will have reached 60 km/h, and thereafter increases further. The optimal variation of the slip threshold will depend on the respective vehicle type. 
     The process of adaptation or, rather, the correction of the speed v ER , measured at the spare wheel, will start at time [t] t 0  and will practically have been completed at time t 1  which, in the present example, will be after 1.4 seconds. The precondition of this &#34;learning process&#34; is that the traction slip control system will remain inactivated for a sufficient period of time during the starting operation. By means of axle-wise comparison of the speeds at the driven and non-driven wheels in accordance with the relationship: 
     
         Δ=(K×v.sub.ER -v.sub.a)-B(v.sub.na1 -v.sub.na2) 
    
     and by comparing the differences measured on the two axles, the correction factor K or, rather, K(t) is &#34;learned&#34; during the starting operation when there is no excessive slip putting traction slip control into operation. &#34;B&#34; is a constant whose value is &#34;1&#34; in this example. Generally, the value of &#34;B&#34; lies between 0.3 and 1.0. If the result of this formation of differences in accordance with relationship (1) respectively exceeds zero or equals zero, K(t 1 ) will be corrected by the factor k 1  after period of time T 1 . In other words, if: 
     Δ≧0, then K(t)=K(t-T 1 )-k 1 . 
     Correspondingly, if: 
     Δ&lt;0, then K(t)=K(t-T 2 )+k 2  will apply. 
     Expediently, identical correction intervals T=T 1  =T 2  and identical correction constants k=k 1  =k 2  are chosen. In one example, the correction interval T was chosen to be a period of time of 50 to 100 msec and the correction value k was selected to be a value ranging between k=0.005 and k=0.01. 
     From FIG. 1, it can be seen that, without any correction of the speed v ER , the spare wheel would reach the slip threshold S at time t 2 . Thus, the control logic would erroneously signal the existence of excessive traction slip at time t 2  and meter braking pressure into the wheel brake of the respective wheel so as to reduce this apparent traction slip. According to this invention, such an undesired reaction of the traction slip control system will be prevented by a circuit configuration and method which determines a correction factor K(t) and uses the same to evaluate the rotating speed, measured at the spare wheel, in accordance with the above relationship (1). As of time t 1 , at the latest, the excessive speed of the smaller spare wheel or emergency wheel will have been compensated to such an extent as to ensure that the slip threshold S will be suited without any alteration also for evaluating the rotational behavior of this spare wheel so that, at a later time, traction slip control at the spare wheel will, indeed, not come about before the desired time or only when a predetermined traction slip value will have been exceeded. 
     FIG. 2 illustrates a situation in which, before activating traction slip control, there is not sufficient time available for &#34;learning&#34; the correction factor K(t) or rather for adapting the circuitry to the spare wheel in the manner described with reference to FIG. 1. The slip threshold S (i.e. the spacing between the line S and the vehicle speed represented by the speed of a non-driven wheel v na ) may, for instance, be reached and exceeded very fast when starting on an icy road--μ low  homogeneous. This is indicated by the zone on the left of FIG. 2. The speed variation v a  of the driven normal wheel, as well as the speed variation v ER  of the spare wheel, show a typical control behavior, the diameter of the spare wheel of this example also being 80% of the normal wheel diameter. 
     The troublesome effect of control by the smaller diameter of the spare wheel will be felt, in the present example, after time t 6 . After time t 6 , the vehicle or, rather, the driven wheels will enter a high friction coefficient zone marked μ high  homogeneous in FIG. 2. The speed v a  of the driven normal wheel will go below the slip threshold at time t 6  and will subsequently remain in the stable zone. Speed v a  approaches speed v na  of the non-driven wheels. Because of the smaller diameter, the uncorrected speed v ER  of the spare wheel, however, will stabilize on a value above the slip threshold S determined for the normal wheel size. As a consequence, again, there would be an undesired metering-in of braking pressure. This condition will be recognized by the inventive circuit configuration and method because of the failure of braking pressure reduction signals to appear at the spare wheel. This situation will prevail after time period T A , i.e. after time t 7 . Time period T A , for example, will be approximately 1 sec. Consequently, as of time t 7 , the control unit will raise the slip threshold S until braking pressure reduction signals will appear at the spare wheel. This will be the case at time t 8  as shown in FIG. 2. After time t 8 , the slip threshold S&#39;, at first, will remain constant on the higher level and will again be lowered if no renewed pressure build-up will have become necessary after the expiration of a certain period of time T E , such as 200 to 400 msec, after the first onset of the pressure reduction pulses. After this period of time T E  or, rather, at time t 9 , the control unit will have determined that traction slip control will be over and will initiate a relatively slow downgrading of the slip threshold S&#39; to the original normal value S. Now follows a phase of inactivated traction slip control and the &#34;learning process&#34; will set in as described with reference to FIG. 1. The broken characteristic line v ER  represents this wheel variation. In this learning phase, as described, the speed v ER  of the spare wheel will be lowered by the correction factor K(t) so that the normal slip threshold S will become decisive for the spare wheel, too. 
     FIG. 3 relates to another situation in which, without the aid of the inventive circuit configuration and method, a smaller spare wheel would disturb the traction slip control system or put it out of operation. In this case, the friction coefficients at the two driven wheels of one axle are very different during the starting operation, i.e. the μ-split situation. The smaller diameter spare wheel is mounted on the higher friction coefficient side. FIG. 3 shows the speed v na  of the non-driven wheel which represents the vehicle speed, the speed v a  of the driven normal wheel which is influenced by traction slip control, the speed v ER  of the stable-running spare wheel and the slip threshold S. 
     At time t 10 , the speed v ER  of the spare wheel will exceed the slip threshold S. This would result in a metering-in of braking pressure into the wheel brake of the stable spare wheel running on a high friction coefficient. In such a case, however, according to the present invention, the normal slip threshold S will be raised to the slip threshold S ER  for the spare wheel running on the higher friction coefficient. The difference between the normal slip threshold S and the slip threshold S ER  of the spare wheel will compensate for the difference in the rotating speeds of the normal wheel and of the smaller spare wheel so that, in this situation, braking pressure will be prevented from being metered into the wheel brake of the spare wheel and traction slip control may be performed only on the wheel with speed v a  running on a low friction coefficient. 
     After the completion of traction slip control, in this case, there will also come about a correction by means of the circuit configuration and method described with reference to FIG. 1, whereupon, again, the same slip threshold may apply to the two driven wheels. 
     The circuit configuration illustrated in FIG. 4, which represents one form of an apparatus for carrying out the control method of the present invention just described, includes means for developing speed rotation signals representative of the rotational speeds of the wheels of an automotive vehicle. Such means are represented by blocks 10, 12, 14 and 16, each of which can include a sensor, of conventional construction and operation, which senses the rotational behavior (i.e. speed) of an associated wheel and processing circuitry which produces a signal representative of the rotational behavior of the associated wheel. Block 18 represents the speed sensor and processing circuitry associated with a spare wheel of smaller diameter than normal mounted on the driven axle of the automotive vehicle. Block 16 represents the speed sensor and processing circuitry associated with the other wheel mounted on the driven axle. Blocks 12 and 14 represent the speed sensor and processing circuitry associated with the two wheels mounted on the non-driven axle. 
     The circuit configuration illustrated in FIG. 4 also includes means for developing a correction factor, prior to traction slip control from the speed rotation signals. Such means include, for the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIG. 4, a first comparator 20 to which the speed rotation signals associated with the wheels on the non-driven axle are supplied and a second comparator 22 to which the speed rotation signals associated with the wheels of the driven axle are supplied. Comparator 20 develops a first difference signal representative of the difference in rotational speeds of the wheels mounted on the non-driven axle and comparator 22 develops a second difference signal representative of the difference in the rotational speeds of the wheels mounted on the driven axle. The difference signals developed by comparators 20 and 22 are supplied to a third comparator 24 which develops a correction factor signal representative of the difference between the difference in rotational speeds of the wheels mounted on the non-driven axle and the difference in the rotational speeds of the wheels mounted on the driven axle. 
     The circuit configuration illustrated in FIG. 4 further includes means for adapting the speed rotation signal representative of the rotational speed of the spare wheel by the correction factor signal to the rotational speed of the other wheel mounted on the driven axle. This is indicated by the connection from the output of the comparator 24 to block 18 at which the speed rotation signal, representative of the rotational speed of the spare wheel, is developed. The dashed line extending through block 18 to block 16 represents the mounting of the smaller than normal spare wheel on the driven axle to replace the other wheel mounted on the driven axle. 
     A first processing circuit 26 develops a vehicle speed signal, representative of the speed of the automotive vehicle, from the speed rotation signals in the usual manner. A second processing circuit 28 determines the onset of traction slip by comparing the rotational speeds of the wheels, represented by the speed rotation signals, including the adapted speed rotation signal of the spare wheel, with the vehicle speed, represented by the vehicle speed signal developed by processing circuit 26. 
     The circuit configuration illustrated in FIG. 4 finally includes means for establishing a slip threshold which must be exceeded before traction slip control can commence and means for comparing the output of processing circuit 28, representative of the onset of traction slip, with the slip threshold. Establishing the slip threshold is represented by a block 30 which can be any suitable means for setting a desired slip threshold in a comparator 32 to which the output from processing circuit 28 is supplied. When the output from processing circuit 28 exceeds the slip threshold, the output from comparator 32 permits slip control operation to commence.