Hybrid leveling system
AssigneeBarksdale, Inc.
InventorsTom Amlie, Angel Ching
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A large vehicle with air bags and a leveling system that controls air flow into and out of an air spring (also known as an “air bag”) to maintain the air spring height close to the optimum level. The system is altered at minimum cost to further minimize the repeated flow of air into and out of the air spring, to thereby save fuel. A mechanical-to-electrical converter (50) is mounted on the air spring height sensor to generate an electrical signal indicating vehicle ride height, and the electrical output is connected to a computer (62) on the vehicle. The computer is programmed to control the flow of pressured air through a blocking valve (60) to a leveling valve (22) that flows air into and out of the air spring, according to the outputs of a plurality of sensors on the vehicle.
Claims9
A method for establishing a vehicle leveling system on a vehicle that has an air spring (12) and a leveling assembly connected to the air spring, where said leveling assembly includes a leveling valve (22) and a height sensor that has a mechanical height-indicating part (30) that moves in first and second directions as the height of the air spring increases and decreases away from a predetermined first desired height, where the leveling valve mechanically controls air flow into and out of said air spring in accordance with movement of said mechanical height-indicating part, a pressured air source (20), and a blocking valve (60) that is controllable to block or allow the flow of air from said source to said leveling valve, where said vehicle includes an electrical system and a computer (62) with a plurality of computer inputs and at least one output and a plurality of vehicle parameter sensors that are each connected to said computer and that each senses a characteristic of the vehicle, including a vehicle speed parameter sensor (64) that senses vehicle speed, said computer being energized by said electrical system, comprising:
- mounting a mechanical-to-electrical sensor (50) on said leveling assembly wherein said mechanical-to-electrical sensor generates an electrical signal output indicating the height of said air spring according to the position of said mechanical height-detecting part, and electrically connecting said mechanical-to-electrical sensor output to one of said computer inputs;
- connecting said speed parameter sensor (64) to one of said computer inputs;
- connecting a first of said computer outputs to said blocking valve (60);
- programming said computer to deliver a signal on said at least one computer output, to said blocking valve according to inputs from said mechanical-to-electrical sensor and from said speed parameter sensor.
A vehicle leveling system for a vehicle with an air spring (12), which includes a leveling assembly mounted on said vehicle for controlling the flow of air into and out of said air spring, where said leveling assembly includes a leveling valve (22) that controls air flow into and out of said air spring, a height sensor (30) that senses the air spring height and that is mechanically coupled to said leveling valve to control its operation, and a pressured air source (20) that supplies pressured air, said vehicle leveling system including a blocking valve (60) that controls the flow of air from said pressured air source to said leveling valve, comprising:
- an electronic computer (62) mounted on said vehicle, and a plurality of sensors mounted on said vehicle that sense conditions of operation of the vehicle and that have electrical outputs connected to said computer, said computer having an output connected to said blocking valve to control the blocking valve according to at least one electrical output of said sensors;
- a first of said sensors includes said height sensor and a mechanical-to-electrical converter (50) that generates an electrical signal output that indicates the height of said air spring, said electrical signal output being connected to said computer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.