The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 07, 2000
Filed:
Jan. 13, 1998
Norbert Fischer, Sehnde, DE;
Roland Altsinger, Burgdorf, DE;
Contitech Luftfedersystem GmbH, Hannover, DE;
Abstract
The invention is directed to an arrangement for making contactless distance and pressure measurements within an air spring. With a single arrangement, the exact elevation of the spring as well as the spring pressure can be determined. This permits optimal utilization of the axle loads of a multi-axle vehicle and permits adjustment of the distance between the chassis and the axle. In the arrangement, an ultrasonic configuration makes contactless distance measurements in accordance with the pulse/echo method. The arrangement includes a transmitter/receiver component (4) mounted on the chassis and a first reflector (24) defining a first reference distance (16) therebetween. The component (4) and a reflector (6) define a measuring distance (30). The reflector (6) is fixedly mounted to the axle. The transmitter/receiver component (4) is elastically supported by a suspension (10) in a pipe stub (8) fixedly mounted to the chassis. A second reflector (28) is fixedly mounted on the pipe stub (8) and defines a second reference distance (18) to the component (4). The displacement of the elastically-supported component (4), which is caused by the internal pressure, is given by a comparison of the propagation times assigned to the two reference distances (16 and 18). In this way, the internal pressure of the air spring is determined.