Automatic leveling system for vehicles

A system for automatically leveling a vehicle, comprising:

• a plurality of leveling jacks that are hydraulically actuated and that are coupled to a vehicle chassis, the vehicle chassis defining a plane;
• a hydraulic pump coupled to a source of fluid;
• a manifold coupled in fluid communication with the leveling jacks and with the hydraulic pump;
• a plurality of solenoid valves coupled to the manifold, the solenoid valves selectively allowing fluid to flow to and from the leveling jacks;
• a control panel coupled to an electronic motor/pump controller and to a central processing unit, the solenoid valves being electronically coupled to the electronic motor/pump controller, to the central processing unit, and to a digital level sensor, the digital level sensor determining the location of the plane defined by the vehicle chassis and comparing the location of the plane defined by the vehicle chassis to a location of a level base plane that is stored in the digital level sensor;
• and
• wherein each of the solenoid valves operates at a frequency selected by the central processing unit to allow fluid to flow from the manifold to each of the leveling jacks at a rate selected to actuate the leveling jacks for a time interval and in such a manner that the leveling jacks reach their selected positions substantially simultaneously.

A method of automatically leveling a vehicle comprising:

• ensuring that a plurality of leveling jacks coupled to a vehicle are in contact with the ground;
• determining a location of a plane defined by a chassis of the vehicle;
• comparing the location of the plane defined by the chassis to a location of a level base plane;
• determining a distance each of the leveling jacks must be moved relative to the other leveling jacks to cause the plane defined by the chassis to be in the location of the level base plane;
• determining a frequency at which each of a plurality of solenoid valves coupled to an associated leveling jack and to a source of pressurized fluid must be actuated in order to move an associated leveling jack by the determined distance;
• and
• actuating the solenoid valves simultaneously at the determined frequencies.