Vehicle mass computation

• US 10,166,980 B2
• Filed: 02/28/2013
• Issued: 01/01/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Fujii, Yuji, Kapas, Nimrod, Kucharski, Joseph F., Yanakiev, Diana, Tseng, Eric Hongtei, Lu, Jianbo, Pietron, Gregory Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas G
• Assistant Examiner(s): Louie, Wae L
• Application Number:
  US13/780,948
• Publication Number:
  US 20140244120A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,133 Days
• Field of Search: 701 311, 701 51, 701 64, 701 70, 702142, 702173, 702175
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/06 including control of combustion engines
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/11 Stepped gearings
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0088 Adaptive recalibration
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2400/00 Indexing codes relating to detected, measured or calculated conditions or factors
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2420/22 Strain gauge
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2510/0657 Engine torque
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/105 Longitudinal acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/30 Wheel torque
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2530/10 Weight
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/801 Lateral distance
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/08 Active safety systems predicting or avoiding probable or impending collision or attempting to minimise its consequences
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/09 Taking automatic action to avoid collision, e.g. braking and steering
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/13 Load or weight
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention

Abstract

A vehicle having a drivetrain is controlled based on a difference between a torque transmitted by the drivetrain when the vehicle has constant non-zero speed and the torque transmitted by the drivetrain when the vehicle is accelerating. The drivetrain torque may be measured by a drivetrain torque sensor. The effective vehicle mass is computed from the torque difference. The computed mass of the vehicle is used to adjust the activation of a collision warning system or a collision avoidance system. A method of operating a vehicle where the activation of a collision avoidance system is adjusted based on a difference between a torque transmitted by a drivetrain when the vehicle has constant non-zero speed and the torque transmitted by the drivetrain when the vehicle is accelerating is disclosed. The torque difference is used to compute a vehicle mass that is used to adjust a collision warning distance.

Claims

1. A vehicle comprising:

a drivetrain;

a collision avoidance system; and

a controller programmed to adjust activation of the collision avoidance system according to a mass of the vehicle computed from a value of torque transmitted by the drivetrain measured at a first instant when the vehicle has constant speed greater than a threshold and no acceleration, and the value of torque transmitted by, the drivetrain measured at a second instant when the vehicle is accelerating.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the mass of the vehicle is computed from a difference between the value of the torque transmitted by the drivetrain measured at the first instant and the value of the torque transmitted by the drivetrain measured at the second instant.

3. The vehicle of claim 1 further comprising a collision warning system, wherein the controller is further programmed to adjust activation of the collision warning system according to the mass of the vehicle.

4. A method for operating a vehicle comprising:

by a controller, adjusting activation of a collision avoidance system according to a mass of the vehicle computed from a value of torque transmitted by a drivetrain measured at a first instant when the vehicle has constant speed greater than a threshold and no acceleration, and the value of torque transmitted by the drivetrain measured at a second instant when the vehicle is accelerating.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the mass of the vehicle is computed from a value of a torque transmitted by the drivetrain measured at the first instant and the value of torque transmitted by the drivetrain measured at the second instant.

6. The method of claim 4 further comprising adjusting a collision warning distance according to the mass of the vehicle.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising generating a driver warning responsive to an actual distance to an obstacle being less than the collision warning distance.

8. The method of claim 6 further comprising decelerating the vehicle responsive to an actual distance to an obstacle being less than the collision warning distance.