Aerodynamic deployable dive planes
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsMatthew Titus, Brett Peters
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An aerodynamics control system for a vehicle may include a dive plane assembly operably coupled to a front portion of a vehicle body, an actuator assembly operable to transition the dive plane assembly between a deployed state and a retracted state, and a controller operably coupled to the actuator to provide automatic control of the dive plane assembly via the actuator based on a selectable control mode. The selectable control mode defines a position of the dive plane assembly based on vehicle parameters measured while driving the vehicle.
Claims20
An aerodynamics control system for a vehicle, the system comprising:
- a dive plane assembly operably coupled to a front portion of a vehicle body;
- an actuator assembly operable by a driver of the vehicle while driving to transition the dive plane assembly between a deployed state and a retracted state;
- and
- a controller operably coupled to the actuator to provide automatic control of the dive plane assembly via the actuator based on a selectable control mode,
- wherein the selectable control mode defines a position of the dive plane assembly based on measured vehicle parameters.
A method of providing vehicle stability control to a vehicle having a dive plane assembly disposed on an external surface of the vehicle, the method comprising:
- receiving status information from components or a sensor network of the vehicle while the vehicle is operating;
- determining, via a selected control algorithm of a controller, whether to transition the dive plane assembly between a retracted state and a deployed state based on the status information;
- and
- operating an actuator operably coupled to the dive plane assembly to transition the dive plane assembly when the status information indicates that a deployment trigger or a retraction trigger is detected.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.