Method and system for aligning a stationary vehicle with an artificial horizon

A method of aligning a vehicle with respect to a reference plane, the vehicle including an electronic controller operatively connected to a plurality of fluid suspension members, the plurality of fluid suspension members disposed between at least one axle associated with the vehicle and at least one chassis component associated with the vehicle, the method comprising:

• a) measuring the angular orientation of the vehicle relative to the reference plane;
• and
• b) the electronic controller, controlling one or more of the fluid suspension members to align the vehicle with the reference plane until the angular orientation of the vehicle is at least approximately aligned with respect to the reference plane,
• wherein the reference plane is associated with a targeted angular orientation of the vehicle, and an alignment sensor associated with the vehicle provides at least a one-axis measurement of the vehicle angular orientation.

A vehicle alignment system comprising:

• a plurality of fluid suspension members adapted to be disposed between one or more associated axles and one or more associated chassis components, wherein the plurality of fluid suspension members are adapted to be selectively operated to raise and lower the one or more associated chassis components;
• an alignment sensor configured to provide at least a one-axis measurement of the alignment of an associated vehicle;
• and
• an electronic controller configured to selectively control the plurality of fluid suspension members to align the angular orientation of the associated vehicle with a reference plane.

A method of aligning a vehicle including an electronic height control system in communication with a plurality of fluid suspension members disposed between at least one axle and at least one chassis component, the method comprising:

• measuring a two-axes angular orientation of a vehicle relative to a substantially horizontal plane;
• communicating the two-axes angular orientation information to an electronic controller;
• processing the two-axes angular orientation information with the electronic controller to generate vehicle alignment program instructions to be executed by the electronic controller;
• and
• the electronic controller, selectively controlling at least one of the plurality of fluid suspension members, based on the vehicle alignment program instructions, to change the distance between the at least one axle and the at least one chassis component, wherein the two-axes angular orientation of the vehicle is changed, and the electronic controller selectively controls one or more of the plurality of fluid suspension members to only exhaust fluid to at least one of substantially align the two-axes angular orientation of the vehicle relative to the substantially horizontal plane, and partially align the two-axes angular orientation of the vehicle relative to the substantially horizontal plane.

A system for aligning a vehicle having an existing electronic ride height control system in communication with a plurality of fluid suspension members, at least one fluid suspension member disposed between at least one axle and at least one chassis component comprising:

• a sensor that measures at least a two-axes orientation relative to a horizontal plane;
• and
• a controller in communication with the sensor, the controller processing the at least two-axes orientation information and generating vehicle alignment program instructions based on the two-axes orientation information,
• wherein the controller is selectively operable in an alignment mode to automatically control, via substantially only exhaustion of fluid from at least one of the fluid suspension members via the existing electronic ride height control system based on the vehicle alignment program instructions, a change of at least one of the at least two-axes orientations relative to a horizontal plane, and a disengaged alignment mode to prevent the controller from automatically controlling at least one of the plurality of fluid suspension members via the electronic ride height control, so that the electronic ride height control can operate without being automatically controlled by the controller in the alignment mode.