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:
Sep. 05, 2000
Filed:
Aug. 31, 1998
David M Fricke, Howell, MI (US);
Fayyaz Saleem, Taylor, MI (US);
Lawrence A Mianzo, Plymouth, MI (US);
Rakan C Chabaan, Farmington Hills, MI (US);
Ford Global Technologies, Inc., Dearborn, MI (US);
Abstract
A method and system for controlling an automotive vehicle spindle-coupled road simulator with a predetermined effective road profile for a road surface uses tire loss-of-contact compensation to modify the tracking parameter in a control loop to avoid incorrectly loading a test vehicle. Tire deflection obtained during measurement of a vehicle's tire profile calculation is used to detect and flag regions where the tire profile is not a function of the road input so that the tire profile motion is governed only by the free dynamic response of the suspension. A tire model is first developed for a vehicle. The vehicle is then coupled to the spindle-coupled simulator, and a set of control signals is generated in a control loop. The control signals are used for driving the spindle-coupled simulator with the vehicle attached thereto so that a response generated by the simulator is consistent with the predetermined effective tire profile. Determination of the set of control signals includes selection of a composite tracking response from a generated output representing a tire in contact with the road surface and a tire deflection output representing a tire having lost contact with the road surface.