Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

Ford Motor Company Limited

Michael Barry Goran

Benjamin I Bachrach

John Allen Oliver

John E Nametz

Joel A Levitt

James D Grenda

Steven John Ferrari

A method of enhancing vehicle stability and response in a vehicle having an active roll control system with front and rear suspensions each including an anti-roll bar, and the control system including a hydraulic system for providing an anti-roll moment which acts on the vehicle by means of hydraulic cylinders connected to the anti-roll bars, includes the following steps: a) determining the vehicle speed; b) determining the steering wheel angle; c) calculating the desired vehicle yaw rate based upon the determined speed and steering wheel angle; d) sensing the actual yaw rate; e) comparing the desired yaw rate to the actual yaw rate; f) increasing the percentage of the anti-roll moment provided to the rear anti-roll bar if the actual yaw rate is less than the desired yaw rate, thereby decreasing understeer, increasing yaw rate, and enhancing vehicle response; and g) increasing the percentage of the anti-roll moment provided to the front anti-roll bar if the actual yaw rate is greater than the desired yaw rate, thereby increasing understeer, decreasing yaw rate, and enhancing vehicle stability. The anti-roll moment distribution is further adjusted for steering precision enhancement.

Method for enhancing vehicle stability

An active suspension system for a vehicle employing fluid powered force exertion units between the wheels and the vehicle body. The vehicle's engine operates a pump which provides pressurized fluid to operate the force exertion units under the control of a processing unit which monitors the rate of change of the power being consumed by the force exerting units and stores demand data indicative of the prior history of power demands placed on the engine by the suspension system. The processor calculates an autoregression moving average of the stored past demand values to form a prediction of future demand, thereby controlling the amount of power delivered by the engine in anticipation of the predicted needs of the force exertion units.

Powered active suspension system responsive to anticipated power demand

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Bloomfield Hills, MI, United States of America

Michael Barry Goran