Patent ID: 8255119

Claim:
A vehicle body slip angle-estimating device comprising: vehicle speed-detecting means for detecting a speed of a vehicle as a vehicle speed; lateral acceleration-detecting means for detecting a lateral acceleration of the vehicle as a lateral acceleration; yaw rate-detecting means for detecting a yaw rate of the vehicle; estimated value-calculating means for calculating an estimated value of a vehicle body slip angle with an algorithm that uses a predetermined nonlinear model indicative of a relationship between the vehicle speed, the lateral acceleration, the yaw rate, and the vehicle body slip angle; correction means for calculating a correction value with an algorithm that uses a predetermined linear model indicative of the relationship between the vehicle speed, the lateral acceleration, the yaw rate, and the vehicle body slip angle, and correcting the estimated value by the calculated correction value; determination means for determining whether or not the vehicle is in a predetermined limit turning traveling state but not in a normal turning traveling state, wherein the normal turning traveling state is a turning traveling state in which the absolute value of a vehicle body slip angle, if it is generated, is relatively small to fall within a predetermined range, and the predetermined limit turning traveling state is a state in which the vehicle is not in the normal turning traveling state but in a state in which a vehicle body slip angle exceeding the predetermined range is temporarily generated during turning traveling; and selection means for selecting the estimated value as the vehicle body slip angle when said determination means has determined that the vehicle is in the normal turning traveling state, and selecting the estimated value corrected by the correction value as the vehicle body slip angle when said determination means has determined that the vehicle is in the predetermined limit turning traveling state.