Systems and methods for road disturbance detection and torque vectoring control
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsBrendan Diamond, Keith Weston, Aaron L. Mills, Jordan Barrett
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and methods for road disturbance detection and torque vectoring control. A vehicle may comprise: a torque vectoring system for independently varying torque to a plurality of wheels, an external sensor suite, and an electronic control unit. The control unit may comprise one or more processors and memory storing executable instructions that, as a result of execution by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to implement an appropriate torque vectoring strategy. The torque vectoring strategy may comprise biasing torque towards or away from a wheel/motor/axle.
Claims20
A vehicle, comprising:
- a torque vectoring system for independently varying torque to a plurality of wheels;
- an external sensor suite;
- a control unit comprising:
- one or more processors;
- and
- memory storing executable instructions that, as a result of execution by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
- determine that the vehicle is approaching a road disturbance;
- calculate a first time when first one or more wheels of a front axle of the vehicle are expected to traverse the road disturbance;
- calculate a second time when second one or more wheels of a rear axle of the vehicle are expected to traverse the road disturbance;
- determine a first torque split for the vehicle to apply at the first time, wherein the first torque split biases torque away from the front axle and toward the rear axle;
- at the first time, cause the first torque split to be implemented;
- determine a second torque split for the vehicle to apply at the second time, wherein the second torque split biases torque away from the rear axle and toward the front axle;
- and
- at the second time, cause the second torque split to be implemented.
A method, comprising:
- determining, by one or more processors of a vehicle, that the vehicle is approaching a road disturbance;
- calculating, by the one or more processors of the vehicle, a first time when first one or more wheels of a front axle of the vehicle are expected to traverse the road disturbance;
- calculating, by the one or more processors of the vehicle, a second time when second one or more wheels of a rear axle of the vehicle are expected to traverse the road disturbance;
- determining, by the one or more processors of the vehicle, a first torque split for the vehicle to apply at the first time, wherein the first torque split biases torque away from the front axle and toward the rear axle;
- at the first time, causing, by the one or more processors of the vehicle, the first torque split to be implemented;
- determining, by the one or more processors of the vehicle, a second torque split for the vehicle to apply at the second time, wherein the second torque split biases torque away from the rear axle and toward the front axle;
- and
- at the second time, causing, by the one or more processors of the vehicle, the second torque split to be implemented.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a plurality of computer-readable instructions executable by one or more processors that, as a result of execution, cause the one or more processors to:
- determine that a vehicle is approaching a road disturbance;
- calculate a first time when first one or more wheels of a front axle of the vehicle are expected to traverse the road disturbance;
- calculate a second time when second one or more wheels of a rear axle of the vehicle are expected to traverse the road disturbance;
- determine a first torque split for the vehicle to apply at the first time, wherein the first torque split biases torque away from the front axle and toward the rear axle;
- at the first time, cause the first torque split to be implemented;
- determine a second torque split for the vehicle to apply at the second time, wherein the second torque split biases torque away from the rear axle and toward the front axle;
- and
- at the second time, cause the second torque split to be implemented.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.