Accelerometer leveling in an actively controlled vehicle suspension

A computer-readable medium having encoded thereon instructions for causing a data processing system to compensate for a misalignment characteristic of one or more acceleration sensors fixed to a sprung mass of a vehicle, each acceleration sensor having a location on the vehicle and a desired orientation relative to the vehicle, the compensating comprising:

• for each acceleration sensor of the one or more acceleration sensors,
• receiving by a controller data characterizing misalignment of the acceleration sensor from the desired orientation of the acceleration sensor;
• receiving by the controller a signal from the acceleration sensor representing an acceleration acting on the acceleration sensor, the signal including components representing acceleration in a direction other than the desired orientation of the acceleration sensor related to a misalignment of the acceleration sensor;
• receiving by the controller signals representing inertial measurements from one or more inertial sensors in the vehicle;
• and
• combining the signals from the inertial sensors and the signal from the acceleration sensor based on the data characterizing misalignment of the acceleration sensor to form a corrected acceleration signal substantially representing the acceleration in the desired orientation at the location of the acceleration sensor, forming a control signal based on the corrected acceleration signal;
• and
• providing the control signal to an active suspension element associated with the acceleration sensor.

A system comprising:

• one or more acceleration sensors, each fixed to a location on a sprung mass of a vehicle and having a desired orientation relative to the vehicle;
• one or more inertial sensors for generating signals representing inertial measurements;
• a controller configured to receive data characterizing misalignment of the acceleration sensor from the desired orientation of the acceleration sensor, to receive signals from the one or more inertial sensors, and to receive signals from the one or more acceleration sensors representing accelerations acting on the one or more acceleration sensors, the acceleration signals including components representing acceleration in a direction other than the desired orientation of the one or more acceleration sensors related to a misalignment of the one or more acceleration sensor,
• wherein the controller is further configured to combine the signals from the inertial sensors and the signals from the acceleration sensors based on the data characterizing misalignment of the one or more acceleration sensors to form corrected acceleration signals substantially representing the accelerations in the desired orientation at the locations of the one or more acceleration sensors, form a control signal based on the corrected acceleration signal, and provide the control signal to an active suspension element associated with the acceleration sensor.

A system for compensating for a misalignment characteristic of one or more acceleration sensors fixed to a sprung mass of a vehicle, each acceleration sensor having a location on the vehicle and a desired orientation relative to the vehicle, the system comprising:

• a controller, wherein for each acceleration sensor of the one or more acceleration sensors the controller comprises:
• a first input for receiving data characterizing misalignment of the acceleration sensor from the desired orientation of the acceleration sensor;
• a second input for receiving a signal from the acceleration sensor representing an acceleration acting on the acceleration sensor, the signal including components representing acceleration in a direction other than the desired orientation of the acceleration sensor related to a misalignment of the acceleration sensor;
• a third input for receiving signals representing inertial measurements from one or more inertial sensors in the vehicle;
• and
• wherein the controller combines the signals from the inertial sensors and the signal from the acceleration sensor based on the data characterizing misalignment of the acceleration sensor to form a corrected acceleration signal substantially representing the acceleration in the desired orientation at the location of the acceleration sensor.