US 8,798,887 B2Granted

System and method for estimating the mass of a vehicle

AssigneeGM Global Technology Operations LLC

InventorsJames N. Nickolaou, Leonard J. Leshinsky, Jr.

Life of this patent

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Abstract

A vehicle system and method that estimates or approximates the mass of a vehicle so that a more accurate vehicle mass estimate can be made available to other vehicle systems, such as an adaptive cruise control (ACC) system or an automated lane change (LCX) system. In an exemplary embodiment, the method compares an actual acceleration of the vehicle to an expected acceleration while the vehicle is under the control of an automated acceleration event. The difference between these two acceleration values, along with other potential input, may then be used to approximate the actual mass of the vehicle in a way that takes into account items such as passengers, cargo, fuel, etc. Once an accurate vehicle mass estimate is generated, the method may make this estimate available to other vehicle components, devices, modules, systems, etc. so that their performance can be improved.

Claims18

Dependent claims

A method for estimating a vehicle mass, comprising the steps of:

(a) when a vehicle is under the control of an autonomous acceleration event during which vehicle acceleration is expected to be controlled and consistent, determining an expected acceleration of the vehicle for the autonomous acceleration event wherein the expected acceleration corresponds to vehicle propulsion in a longitudinal direction;
(b) determining an actual acceleration of the vehicle during the autonomous acceleration event wherein the actual acceleration corresponds to vehicle propulsion in the longitudinal direction;
(c) comparing the expected acceleration of the vehicle in the longitudinal direction for the autonomous acceleration event to the actual acceleration of the vehicle in the longitudinal direction during the autonomous acceleration event with a control module, and
(d) using the comparison of the expected acceleration of the vehicle in the longitudinal direction for the autonomous acceleration event to the actual acceleration of the vehicle in the longitudinal direction during the autonomous acceleration event to determine a vehicle mass estimate with the control module.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 13/307,460Filed 30 Nov 2011
Published: US 2013/0138288 A130 May 2013
Granted: 5 Aug 2014
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification5 codes

B60W 40/13
Related to parameters of the vehicle itself , e.g. tyre models: load or weight
B60W 2510/0657
Combustion engines, Gas turbines: engine torque
B60W 2520/105
Longitudinal speed: longitudinal acceleration
B60W 2552/15
Input parameters relating to infrastructure: road slope, i.e. the inclination of a road segment in the longitudinal direction