Vehicle Tether with Two Dynamic Legs
AssigneeHPTechAi LLC
InventorsMichiel A. Ashley, III, Matthew W. Hancock, Austin Lee Carroll
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Physically tethered platooning with exact path following and decreased risk of jack-knifing can be achieved using a compliant vehicle tether including two damped dynamic legs each including a prismatic joint. The tether may have a generally triangular configuration, with legs extending between a single front-end connector configured to attach to a lead vehicle and two respective rear-end connectors configured to attach to the follow vehicle at two mount points by suitable joints. The prismatic joints may be implemented, in accordance with various embodiments, by double-acting hydraulic cylinders or rack-and-pinion systems, equipped with electrically controlled flow control valves for active damping.
Claims21
A vehicle tether for physically tethered vehicle platooning, the vehicle tether comprising:
- two dynamic legs each including a damped prismatic joint configurable to adjust a length of the dynamic leg between a front end and a rear end of the dynamic leg;
- a front-end connector connected to the front ends of the two dynamic legs and connectable to a lead vehicle by front-end joints configurable to adjust two relative angles in a tether plane defined by the two dynamic legs, the two relative angles selected among angles defined between the front-end connector, the two dynamic legs, and the lead vehicle;
- and
- two rear-end connectors each connected to a rear end of a respective one of the two dynamic legs and both connectable to a follow vehicle by rear-end joints configurable to adjust first and second relative angles defined between each of the two dynamic legs and the follow vehicle, the first angle being in the tether plane and the second angle being about an axis extending in the tether plane between the two rear-end connectors.
A vehicle tether for hard vehicle platooning, the vehicle tether comprising:
- first and second dynamic legs each including a prismatic joint configurable to adjust a length of the dynamic leg between a front end and a rear end of the dynamic leg;
- a front-end connector connected to the front ends of the first and second dynamic legs and connectable to a lead vehicle by front-end joints configurable to adjust two relative angles in a tether plane defined by the first and second dynamic legs, the two relative angles selected among an angle between the first dynamic leg and the front-end connector, an angle between second dynamic leg and the front-end connector, and an angle between the front-end connector and the lead vehicle;
- first and second rear-end connectors connected to a rear end of the first and second dynamic legs, respectively, and connectable to a follow vehicle by rear-end joints configurable to adjust relative angles defined between each of the first and second dynamic legs and the follow vehicle in the tether plane;
- and
- four embedded sensors configured to measure at least four parameters selected from the group consisting of:
- the length of the first dynamic leg, the length of the second dynamic leg, the angle between the first dynamic leg and the front-end connector, the angle between the second dynamic leg and the front-end connector, the angle between the front-end connector and the lead vehicle, the angle between the first dynamic leg and the follow vehicle, and the angle between the second dynamic leg and the follow vehicle.
A method for physically tethered vehicle platooning using a vehicle tether including two dynamic legs each including a damped prismatic joint and a front-end connector connected to front ends of the two dynamic legs, the method comprising:
- connecting rear ends of the two dynamic legs to a front of a follow vehicle at two respective points;
- connecting the front-end connector to a rear of a lead vehicle;
- sensing a number of adjustable parameters of the vehicle tether that collectively fully determine a relative position and orientation of the lead vehicle and the follow vehicle in a plane of the vehicle tether;
- and
- automatically controlling steering, braking, and throttle of the follow vehicle based on the relative position and orientation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.