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DE-102018219139-B4 - System and procedure for automatic steering wheel adjustment

DE102018219139B4DE 102018219139 B4DE102018219139 B4DE 102018219139B4DE-102018219139-B4

Abstract

Disclosed is an automatic steering wheel adjustment system for use in a production line to assist in the wheel alignment process of a vehicle equipped with an OBD (On-Board Diagnostics) system, comprising a scanner for recognizing a vehicle identification number entered into the production line; an antenna connecting the vehicle's OBD to wireless diagnostic communication for sending and receiving data; a robot moving an image capture sensor located at its front end section to the recording position for the steering wheel in the vehicle when the vehicle is in a centered position, using position control; and a control device analyzing the image captured by the image capture sensor to calculate the current steering wheel rotation angle and initializing it by inputting the current steering wheel rotation angle into the steering angle sensor via the diagnostic communication connected to the vehicle's OBD.

Inventors

  • Su Jin YOUN

Assignees

  • HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY
  • KIA MOTORS CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20181109
Priority Date
20180302

Claims (18)

  1. Automatic steering wheel adjustment system (100) for use in a production line to support a wheel alignment process of a vehicle (10) equipped with an on-board diagnostics (OBD) system (11), comprising: a scanner (110) configured to recognize a vehicle identification number entered in the production line; an antenna (120) configured to connect the OBD system (11) to wireless diagnostic communication for sending and receiving data; a robot (130) configured to move an image acquisition sensor (140) to a recording position for the steering wheel by means of position control when the vehicle (10) is in a centered position; and a control device (150) configured to: analyze a recording image from the image acquisition sensor (140) to calculate the current rotation angle of the steering wheel; and Correcting a steering angle sensor (13) by inputting the currently rotated angle of the steering wheel into the steering angle sensor (13) via wireless diagnostic communication.
  2. System (100) according to Claim 1 , wherein the control device (150) is configured to: generate a correction angle of the currently rotated angle; and rotate the steering wheel by means of a control (154) of a motor-driven power steering system (MDPS) (14); and center the steering wheel in a zero position.
  3. System (100) according to Claim 2 , wherein the control device (150) is configured to lock the MDPS control (154) during the wheel alignment process of the vehicle (10) in order to maintain the centered steering wheel.
  4. System (100) according to Claim 1 , wherein the control device (150) comprises: a communicator (151) configured to perform wireless diagnostic communication with the OBD (11) to connect via the antenna (120); a robot controller (152) configured to move the image acquisition sensor (140) to the steering wheel recording position via a robot kinematic position control (130) or to move the image acquisition sensor (140) to a standby position outside the vehicle (10); an image processing processor configured to: analyze the image captured by the image acquisition sensor (140); and calculate the current angle of rotation relative to a horizontal line (L2, L1); a controller (154) configured to: detect the vehicle (10) entering the production line when the vehicle identification number is received; verify vehicle type information and an OBD ID that matches the vehicle identification number; and connect the wireless diagnostic communication to the OBD (11); and a database (155) which is set up to store a program and data for the automatic adjustment of the vehicle's steering wheel (10).
  5. System (100) according to Claim 4 , wherein the image processing processor is configured to: compare a second horizontal line (L2) with a first horizontal line (L1) in the image captured by the image capture sensor, the second horizontal line being analyzed using a steering wheel pattern; and detect the currently rotated angle of the steering wheel.
  6. System (100) according to Claim 5 , wherein the image processing processor is configured to: detect the currently rotated angle of the steering wheel by intersecting the second horizontal line (L1) with the first horizontal line (L2) located on a dashboard or device group shape in the image captured by the image acquisition sensor (140).
  7. System (100) according to Claim 5 , wherein the image processing processor is configured to detect the currently rotated angle of the steering wheel by crossing the second horizontal line (L2) against the first horizontal line (L1) formed in the recording image of the image acquisition sensor (140).
  8. System (100) according to Claim 7 , wherein the robot control (152) is configured to: position the image acquisition sensor (140) horizontally relative to the recording position; and set kinematic position information to generate the first virtual horizontal line in the recording image of the image acquisition sensor (140).
  9. System (100) according to Claim 4 , wherein the control (154) is configured to: re-analyze the image of the steering wheel captured by the image acquisition sensor (140) after centering the steering wheel using the control (154) of the MDPS (14); and determine whether the first horizontal line (L1) and the second horizontal line (L2) are identical, with the first horizontal line (L1) set as the reference line.
  10. System (100) according to Claim 9 , wherein the control (154) is set up to input the currently rotated angle again into the steering angle sensor (13) if the determination shows that the first horizontal line (L1) and the second horizontal line (L2) do not match.
  11. An automatic steering wheel adjustment procedure for a production line intended to support a wheel alignment process of a vehicle (10) equipped with an on-board diagnostics (OBD) system (11), comprising: Connecting to the OBD system (11) via wireless diagnostic communication when the vehicle (10) enters the production line; Moving an image acquisition sensor (140) into a scanning position for the steering wheel by means of a robot position control system when the vehicle (10) is in a centered position; Analyzing a scanned image from the image acquisition sensor (140) to calculate the current steering wheel rotation angle from a horizontal reference line (L2, L1); and Inputting the current steering wheel rotation angle via wireless diagnostic communication into a steering angle sensor (13) to initialize the steering angle sensor (13) as the current steering angle.
  12. Procedure according to Claim 11 , wherein connecting to the OBD (11) via wireless diagnostic communication includes: detecting the entry of the vehicle (10) into the production line; when a scanner (110) detects a vehicle identification number; verifying vehicle type information and an OBD ID that matches the vehicle identification number; and connecting the wireless diagnostic communication to the OBD (11) based on the OBD ID.
  13. Procedure according to Claim 11 , wherein analyzing the captured image from the image acquisition sensor (140) includes: comparing a second horizontal line (L2) with a first horizontal line (L1) in the image captured by the image capture sensor (140), wherein the second horizontal line (L2) is analyzed with a steering wheel pattern; and capturing the currently rotated angle of the steering wheel.
  14. Procedure according to Claim 11 , wherein the method further comprises: generating a correction angle of the currently twisted angle in order to rotate the currently twisted angle of the steering wheel to a zero position; and centering the steering wheel to the zero position by transmitting a steering wheel control signal which provides the correction angle of the currently twisted angle to a motor-driven power steering system (MDPS) (14) of the vehicle (10).
  15. Procedure according to Claim 14 , wherein centering the steering wheel comprises: assessing successful centering by re-analyzing the image captured by the image capture sensor (140) after receiving a completeness response from the vehicle (10) regarding centering.
  16. Procedure according to Claim 15 , wherein the success assessment of the centering comprises: determining that the centering has failed if the first horizontal line (L1) does not match the second horizontal line (L2) in the captured image when compared; and reinserting the currently rotated angle between the first horizontal line (L1) and the second horizontal line (L2) into the steering angle sensor (13) and reinitializing the steering angle sensor (13).
  17. Procedure according to Claim 14 , wherein the method further comprises: maintaining a centered state by means of an MDPS locking of the vehicle (10) during the axle alignment process by means of a centering maintenance request to the vehicle (10) after the steering wheel has been centered.
  18. Procedure according to Claim 17 , wherein maintaining the centered alignment state includes: releasing the MDPS lock of the vehicle (10) by transmitting a centering release request to the vehicle (10) when the wheel alignment process is complete.

Description

AREA The present invention relates to a system and a method for automatically adjusting a steering wheel, in particular the present invention relates to a system and a method for automatically adjusting a steering wheel, which makes it possible to automatically adjust a steering angle position and centering of a steering wheel in the manufacturing process of a vehicle. BACKGROUND The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present invention and are not intended to represent prior art. Generally, wheel alignment is performed on the vehicle as it was originally assembled at the factory. This begins with a steering wheel leveling procedure, in which the steering angle of the steering wheel is set to a zero position to align the center of the steering wheel. 1 For example, it shows the process flow for a conventional axle measurement. With reference to the 1 Conventional wheel alignment procedures include steering leveling work, including the steps of vehicle entry into the production line (step S1), installation of a wheel straightening machine for angle measurement on the steering wheel (step S2), manual centering and locking of the steering wheel in the zero position (step S3), and initialization of the steering angle sensor in the centered state (step S4). Following this, with the wheel straightening machine still in place, the steps of adjusting the toe and camber angles of each wheel (step S5) and removing the wheel straightening machine to remove the vehicle (step S6) may be performed. However, since conventional wheel alignment requires a process of mounting and dismounting the wheel straightening machine on the steering wheel for each vehicle in order to measure the current steering angle of the vehicle's steering wheel, there are disadvantages that increase working time, workload and costs. Since a worker is supposed to manually align the steering wheel to its zero position while viewing the angle display screen connected to the wheel alignment machine, and the initialization process of entering the reference (zero position) of the steering angle sensor also depends on the worker, there is also the problem that the quality of the vehicle's wheel alignment is affected by human error. The information disclosed above in this background section serves only to improve the background understanding with regard to the invention and may therefore contain information that does not constitute prior art which might already be known to people with ordinary technical skills in this country. From the US 2012 / 0 143 373 A1 is an automatic steering wheel adjustment system provided in a production line to support a vehicle wheel alignment process, a robot configured to move an image capture sensor to a recording position for the steering wheel by means of position control when the vehicle is in a centered position; and a control device known that is configured to: analyze a recording image from the image capture sensor to calculate a currently rotated angle of the steering wheel; and correct a steering angle sensor. The JP H10 - 157 653 A Disclosing an automatic steering wheel adjustment system for use in a production line to support a vehicle wheel alignment process, a scanner configured to recognize a vehicle identification number entered in the production line, a measuring device configured to move an image capture sensor to a recording position for the steering wheel by means of position control when the vehicle is in a centered position; and a control device configured to: analyze a recording image from the image capture sensor to calculate a currently rotated angle of the steering wheel; and correct a steering angle sensor. OVERVIEW The object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for automatically adjusting a steering wheel in order to directly input a twisted angle of a steering wheel, detected by an image acquisition sensor section of a robot tip, into a steering angle sensor and to correct the steering angle sensor. Another aspect of the present invention is a system and method for automatically adjusting a steering wheel to maintain centering during chassis measurement by rotating the steering wheel. to provide the twisted angle using the control of the MDPS. The problem is solved by an automatic adjustment system for a steering wheel, which is provided in a production line to support an axle measurement process of a vehicle, with the features of claim 1, and an automatic adjustment method for a steering wheel with the features of claim 11. An automatic steering wheel adjustment system, provided in a production line to support the wheel alignment operation of a vehicle equipped with an OBD (On-Board Diagnostics) system, may, according to one aspect of the present invention, include a scanner for recognizing a vehicle identification number entered into the production line; an antenna connecting the vehicle's OBD to the wireless diagnostic communica