Active suspension for a marine platform
AssigneeVSSL Commercial, Inc.
InventorsMalcolm A. Swinbanks, David E. Simon
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An active suspension system is used to control the motion of a passenger seat in a high speed watercraft. A forward looking wave sensor is used in connection with a feed-forward wave impact shock predictor to determine characteristics of impending dynamic forces applied via the impact of the watercraft on waves. Information concerning the impending dynamic forces is used by a passenger seat suspension and control system to attenuate the shock effects on passengers, where such effects are characterized by large-amplitude, short-duration accelerations recurring at a low frequency and/or irregularly.
Claims44
An active support system, comprising:
- at least one forward looking sensor for generating output signals;
- a support device for supporting a passenger;
- and
- a controller, coupled to said support device and said at least one forward looking sensor, wherein said controller adjusts forces in said support device in response to said output signals generated by said at least one forward looking sensor.
An active control system, comprising:
- a plurality of sensors;
- a processing device, said processing device connected to said plurality of sensors;
- an active suspension system coupled to said processing device wherein said processing device applies a feed-forward model to said signals transmitted from said plurality of sensors and transmits counter-force signals to said active suspension to dampen a predetermined range of shock forces.
A method for dampening forces that are applied to a suspension, comprising:
- receiving a suspension displacement signal;
- receiving a suspension velocity signal;
- calculating a suspension restoration value from said displacement and velocity signal;
- combining the suspension restoration value with a seat acceleration value;
- summing the combined values with a hull acceleration signal;
- and
- filtering the summed signal to produce a force signal for minimizing a predetermined frequency.
A method of counteracting anticipated forces in a suspension system, comprising:
- receiving a suspension acceleration data signal;
- receiving a velocity data signal;
- receiving a look-ahead data signal;
- processing the velocity data signal and suspension acceleration data signal to generate a non-anticipatory acceleration data signal;
- processing the non-anticipatory acceleration data signal with the look-ahead data signal to generate a final demanded acceleration signal.
A method for controlling a system, comprising:
- providing a force to said system, said force being related to a force/velocity relationship of a component of said system, said force/velocity relationship having a high slope when an absolute value of said velocity is low, and said force/velocity relationship having a lower slope when the absolute value of said velocity is high;
- and
- applying said force to control a relative motion of a first object with respect to a second object within said system.
A method of anticipating a mechanical shock comprising:
- sensing a distance between an obstacle and a surface of a vehicle;
- sensing a gravitational acceleration of said vehicle;
- determining a time when said vehicle commences a downward motion based on said sensed gravitational acceleration;
- projecting a duration-of-fall based on said distance and said time;
- and
- projecting an anticipated mechanical shock, resulting from a collision between said surface and said obstacle, based on said duration-of-fall.
A method of attenuating a mechanical shock at a support within a vehicle comprising:
- sensing a distance between an obstacle and a surface of said vehicle;
- sensing a gravitational acceleration of said vehicle;
- determining a time when said vehicle commences a downward motion based on said sensed gravitational acceleration;
- projecting a duration-of-fall based on said distance and said time;
- projecting an anticipated mechanical shock, resulting from a collision between said surface and said obstacle, based on said duration-of-fall;
- and
- accelerating said support relative to said vehicle based on said anticipated mechanical shock so as to attenuate a component of said anticipated mechanical shock experienced by said support.
A shock attenuation system comprising:
- means for sensing a vertical distance between a moving structure and an obstacle;
- means for sensing an instant when said moving structure begins falling;
- means for calculating a duration-of-fall based on said distance and said instant;
- and
- means for counteracting a shock resulting from an impact between said moving structure and said obstacle, said impact corresponding to said calculated duration-of-fall.
A shock reduction system comprising:
- a downward-looking distance sensor adapted to sense a distance between said sensor and a physical interface;
- an accelerometer;
- a computing device adapted to receive a first signal from said downward-looking distance sensor and a second signal from said accelerometer and to compute a computed time until an impact between a structure coupled to said distance sensor and said physical interface, said computing device further adapted to produce a compensating signal;
- an actuator adapted to receive said compensating signal and to accelerate with respect to said structure a payload coupled to said structure whereby a mechanical shock experienced by said payload is diminished.
A shock reduction system comprising:
- a distance sensor adapted to sense a distance between said sensor and a physical interface;
- an accelerometer;
- a computing device adapted to receive a first signal from said distance sensor and a second signal from said accelerometer and to compute a computed time until an impact between a structure coupled to said distance sensor and said physical interface, said computing device further adapted to compute a mechanical shock expected to result from said impact and to produce a compensating signal;
- an actuator adapted to receive said compensating signal and to accelerate a payload coupled to said structure whereby mechanical shock experienced by said payload is diminished.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.