System and method for detecting an impending tip over of a vehicle

• US 10,507,826 B2
• Filed: 03/23/2016
• Issued: 12/17/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dana Italia S.R.L.
• Original Assignee: Dana Italia S.R.L.
• Inventors: Giorgio Bort, Carlos Maximiliano, Maffei, Claudio, Massei, Alessandro, Ornella, Giulio, Serrao, Lorenzo
• Primary Examiner(s): Oh, Harry Y
• Application Number:
  US15/560,511
• Publication Number:
  US 20180111606A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,364 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/143 Alarm means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2420/22 Strain gauge
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/16 Pitch
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/18 Roll
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/04 related to roll-over prevention
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/12 Limiting control by the driver depending on vehicle state, e.g. interlocking means for the control input for preventing unsafe operation
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: B66F 17/003 for fork-lift trucks

Abstract

A method and system of detecting an impending tip over of a vehicle with the following steps and apparatus. Acquiring first measurement data, the first measurement data having strain data and at least one of attitude data and acceleration data. Acquiring second measurement data, the second measurement data having strain data and at least one of attitude data and acceleration data. Determining, based on the first measurement data and based on the second measurement data, if the second measurement data is indicative of an impending tip over of the vehicle. Only if it is determined that the second measurement data is indicative of an impending tip over of the vehicle, triggering an alarm signal, overriding a control command or overwriting a control command.

Claims

1. A method of detecting an impending tip over of a vehicle, in particular for identifying false positives during tip over detection, the method comprising the steps:

acquiring first measurement data using at least one first sensor, the first measurement data comprising vehicle axle strain data, and at least one of attitude data and acceleration data;

acquiring second measurement data using at least one second sensor, the second measurement data comprising vehicle axle strain data, and at least one of attitude data and acceleration data;

using an electronic control unit to determine, based on the first measurement data and based on the second measurement data, if the second measurement data is indicative of an impending tip over of the vehicle; and

only when the electronic control unit determines that the second measurement data is indicative of an impending tip over of the vehicle, using the electronic control unit to trigger an alarm signal, to override a control command or to overwrite a control command.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of acquiring the first measurement data using the at least one first sensor comprises using the at least one first sensor to acquire a plurality of first data sets, wherein for each of the first data sets acquiring the first data set comprises acquiring, at the same point in time, vehicle axle strain data, and at least one of attitude data and acceleration data;

wherein the electronic control unit saves those first data sets of the plurality of first data sets which are indicative of an impending tip over of the vehicle in a database and marks them with a first label; and

wherein the electronic control unit determines if the second measurement data is indicative of an impending tip over based on the second measurement data and at least on the first data sets marked with the first label.

3. The method of claim 2, the electronic control unit identifies a first data set of the plurality of first data sets as being indicative of an impending tip over and marks it with the first label based on an input command provided by an operator.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the electronic control unit automatically identifies a first data set of the plurality of first data sets as being indicative of an impending tip over and wherein the electronic control unit automatically marks said first data set with the first label when at least one the values, measured by the at least one first sensor and comprised in said first data set falls outside a predetermined range.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the electronic control unit saves the first data sets which are not indicative of an impending tip over in the database and marks them with a second label;

and

wherein the electronic control unit determines if the second measurement data is indicative of an impending tip over based on the second measurement data, on the first data sets, and on the labels assigned to the first data sets.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of acquiring the second measurement data using the at least one second sensor comprises using the at least one second sensor to acquire a second data set, wherein acquiring the second data set comprises acquiring, at the same point in time, vehicle axle strain data, and at least one of attitude data and acceleration data;

and

wherein the step of the electronic control unit determining if the second measurement data is indicative of an impending tip over comprises;

using the electronic control unit to determine, based on the first data sets marked with the first label, at least one continuous subset of a measurement data space, the measurement data space comprising the first data sets and the second data set, wherein the electronic control unit determines the continuous subset such that the continuous subset does not comprise the data sets labeled with the first label; and

using the electronic control unit to identify the second data set as being indicative of an impending tip over if the second data set falls outside the continuous subset, and using the electronic control unit to identify the second data set as not being indicative of an impending tip over when the second data set falls within the continuous subset.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of acquiring the second measurement data using the at least one second sensor comprises using the at least one second sensor to acquire a second data set, wherein acquiring the second data set comprises acquiring, at the same point in time, vehicle axle strain data, and at least one of attitude data and acceleration data;

and

wherein, when the electronic control unit determines that the second data set is indicative of an impending tip over and when the electronic control unit determines that the second data set does not fall within a neighborhood of any of the data sets labeled with the first label, the electronic control unit updates the database by saving the second data set in the database and by labeling the newly saved second data set with the first label.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of acquiring the second measurement data using the at least one second sensor comprises using the at least one second sensor to acquire a second data set, wherein acquiring the second data set comprises acquiring, at the same point in time, vehicle axle strain data, and at least one of attitude data and acceleration data;

and

wherein,

when the electronic control unit determines that the second data set is indicative of an impending tip over,

when the electronic control unit determines that the second data set falls within a neighborhood of a data set X saved in the database and labeled with the first label, and

when the electronic control unit determines that a frequency of the event that a second data set falls within the neighborhood of the data set X is above a threshold frequency,

the electronic control unit updates the database by re-labeling the data set X with the second label.

9. The method of claim 6, further including the step of:

using the electronic control unit to update the continuous subset such that the updated continuous subset does not comprise the data sets labeled with the first label.

10. A sensor system for detecting an impending tip over of a vehicle, and in particular for identifying false positives during tip over detection, the sensor system comprising:

at least one strain sensor for acquiring vehicle axle strain data;

at least one further sensor, the further sensor comprising at least one of a gyrometer for acquiring attitude data and an accelerometer for acquiring acceleration data; and

a control unit;

wherein the sensors are configured to acquire first measurement data and second measurement data, the first measurement data and the second measurement data each including vehicle axle strain data, and at least one of attitude data and acceleration data; and

wherein the control unit is configured to control the strain sensor and the at least one further sensor.

11. The sensor system of claim 10, further comprising at least one of:

one or more steering sensors for acquiring vehicle steering data;

one or more speed sensors for acquiring vehicle speed data;

one or more tire pressure sensors for acquiring tire pressure data; and

an input device for controlling a working implement of the vehicle;

wherein the first and the second measurement data include at least one of vehicle steering data, vehicle speed data, tire pressure data and working implement control data.

12. The sensor system of claim 10, wherein the strain sensor includes at least two strain gauges disposed on a common mechanical support, wherein the strain gauges are spaced apart from each other so that the strain gauges are configured to simultaneously acquire vehicle axle strain data at different positions on a vehicle axle.

13. The sensor system of claim 12, wherein the strain sensor, the at least one further sensor and the control unit are disposed on the common mechanical support, thereby forming a sensor platform.

14. The sensor system of claim 13, comprising two or more sensor platforms of the aforementioned type, the sensor platforms being configured to exchange data with each other, thereby forming a distributed sensor network.

15. The sensor system of claim 14, further comprising a central vehicle control unit and a CAN bus, wherein one of the sensor platform control units is configured to function as a master control unit of the sensor network, wherein the master control unit is configured to communicate with the central vehicle control unit via the CAN bus.