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US 6,223,104 B1Granted
Fault tolerant architecture for a personal vehicle
AssigneeDEKA Products Limited Partnership
InventorsDean L. Kamen, Susan D. Dastous, Robert Duggan, G. Michael Guay
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A motorized vehicle capable of fault detection and of operation after a fault has been detected. The vehicle has a plurality of control components coupled to a motorized drive and a comparator for comparing the output of each of the control components with outputs of other control components so that failures may be identified. The vehicle may have multiple processors coupled to a plurality of control channels by means of a bus and a decision arrangement that suppresses the output of any processor for which a failure has been identified.
Claims15
A vehicle for locomotion over land, the vehicle comprising:
- a. a support structure for supporting a load;
- b. a ground-contacting module for providing motion capability to the support structure;
- c. a motorized drive for permitting controllable motion of the ground contacting module;
- d. a plurality of control components coupled to the motorized drive, each control component having an output;
- and
- e. a comparator for comparing the output of each of the control components with the output of another of the control components for identifying a failure of any of the control components.
3 more elements
A vehicle for locomotion over land, the vehicle capable of failure detection, the vehicle comprising:
- a. a support structure for supporting a load;
- b. a ground-contacting module for providing locomotion capability to the support structure;
- c. a motorized drive for permitting controllable motion of the ground contacting module;
- d. a sensor for sensing at least one of a position and an orientation of the vehicle;
- e. a plurality of control channels, each control channel capable of independently controlling the motorized drive;
- f. a plurality of processors coupled to the control channels by means of a system bus, each processor having an output, each processor capable of receiving input commands from a user, a signal from the sensor, and the output of each of the other processors;
- and
- g. a comparator for comparing the outputs of the processors for identifying a failure of any of the processors.
5 more elements
A vehicle comprising:
- a. a support structure for supporting a load;
- b. a ground-contacting element for providing locomotion capability to the support structure, the ground contacting element movable about an axle with respect to a local axis;
- c. a motorized drive for permitting controllable motion of the ground contacting element about the axle and for permitting motion of the axle such that the local axis is moved with respect to the support structure;
- d. a sensor for sensing at least one of a position and an orientation of the vehicle;
- e. a plurality of control channels, each control channel capable of independently controlling the motorized drive;
- f. a plurality of processors coupled to the control channels by means of a system bus, each processor having an output, each processor capable of receiving input commands from a user, a signal from the sensor, and the output of each of the other processors;
- and
- g. a comparator for intercomparing the output of the processors for identifying a failure of any of the processors.
5 more elements
A vehicle comprising:
- a. a support structure for supporting a load;
- b. a ground-contacting element for providing locomotion capability to the support structure, the ground contacting element movable about an axle with respect to a local axis;
- and
- c. a motorized drive having a plurality of redundant coils of electrical conductors for permitting controllable motion of the ground contacting element movable about the axle and motion of the axle such that the local axis is moved with respect to the support structure.
1 more element
A vehicle comprising:
- a. at least one ground contacting member for causing motion of the vehicle on the surface of the ground;
- b. a motorized drive permitting controllable motion of the at least one ground contacting element, the controllable motion characterized by a set of motion commands;
- c. a plurality of sensors for monitoring configurational variables and motion variables of the vehicle and generating sensor signals;
- d. a user input for receiving commands from a user for controlling motion of the vehicle;
- e. a plurality of power amplifier controllers, each power amplifier controller capable of controlling the entire set of controllable motion commands;
- f. a plurality of processors, each processor capable of receiving sensor signals from at least a subset of the plurality of sensors and the user input and sending processor commands to each power amplifier controller for controlling the motion of the vehicle in accordance with a system control law;
- and
- g. a decision arrangement for deciding which of the plurality of processors shall govern in the event that discrepant processor commands are sent to a power amplifier controller.
5 more elements
A method for controlling the locomotion of a vehicle, the method comprising:
- a. providing a plurality of control channels, each control channel capable of independently controlling a motorized drive that propels the vehicle;
- b. providing a plurality of processors, each processor supplying an output to each of the control channels by means of a system bus;
- c. comparing the outputs of the processors;
- d. identifying any defective processor;
- and
- e. controlling the vehicle on the basis of the outputs of the processors other than an identified defective processor.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.