System and method for estimating vehicle mass
First Claim
1. A system for estimating vehicle mass comprising:
- a speed sensor producing a vehicle speed signal indicative of road speed of a vehicle carrying an internal combustion engine having a transmission coupled thereto;
means for determining a gear ratio of said transmission; and
a control circuit determining a vehicle driving force, computing a vehicle acceleration as a function of said vehicle speed signal and estimating a mass of said vehicle as a function of said vehicle driving force and said vehicle acceleration only if said gear ratio is between predefined high and low gear ratio values.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system for estimating vehicle mass includes a control circuit determining an instantaneous vehicle acceleration signal (VA) and an instantaneous vehicle drive force (FDW). As long as a number of preconditions are met, such as vehicle speed within speed range, fueling command above a fueling threshold, gear ratio within a predefined range and VA above an acceleration threshold, the control circuit computes a number of instantaneous vehicle mass estimates (VM) as a function of the VA and FDW values. When any one of the preconditions is no longer met, the control circuit computes a vehicle speed change during the next gear shift and disregards the number of vehicle mass estimates if this vehicle speed change is outside predefined boundaries. Otherwise, the control computer processes the number of vehicle mass estimates to form an updated vehicle mass estimate.
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Citations
96 Claims
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1. A system for estimating vehicle mass comprising:
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a speed sensor producing a vehicle speed signal indicative of road speed of a vehicle carrying an internal combustion engine having a transmission coupled thereto;
means for determining a gear ratio of said transmission; and
a control circuit determining a vehicle driving force, computing a vehicle acceleration as a function of said vehicle speed signal and estimating a mass of said vehicle as a function of said vehicle driving force and said vehicle acceleration only if said gear ratio is between predefined high and low gear ratio values. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of estimating vehicle mass comprising:
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determining a road speed of a vehicle carrying an internal combustion engine coupled to a transmission;
determining a gear ratio of said transmission;
determining a vehicle driving force;
computing a vehicle acceleration value as a function of said road speed; and
estimating a mass of said vehicle as a function of said vehicle driving force and said vehicle acceleration value only if said gear ratio is between first and second predefined gear ratio values. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13)
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14. A system for estimating vehicle mass comprising:
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a first sensor producing a vehicle speed signal indicative of road speed of a vehicle carrying an internal combustion engine;
a second sensor producing an engine speed signal indicative of rotational speed of said engine;
a fuel system responsive to a fueling signal to supply fuel to said engine; and
a control circuit producing said fueling signal and computing an engine driving force as a function thereof, said control circuit responsive to said engine speed signal to determine a first resistance force associated with at least one accessory driven by said engine and to compute a net driving force as a function of said engine driving force and said first resistance force, said control circuit determining a vehicle acceleration value as a function of said vehicle speed signal and estimating a mass of said vehicle as a function of said vehicle acceleration value and said net driving force. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A method of estimating vehicle mass comprising:
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determining a road speed of a vehicle carrying an internal combustion engine;
determining a rotational speed of said engine;
computing a vehicle acceleration value as a function of said road speed;
determining an engine driving force;
determining a first resistance force as a function of said rotational speed, said first resistance force corresponding to a force required to overcome a load resistance of at least one accessory driven by said engine;
computing a net driving force as a function of said engine driving force and said first resistance force; and
estimating a mass of said vehicle as a function of said vehicle acceleration value and said net driving force. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A system for estimating vehicle mass comprising:
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a speed sensor producing a vehicle speed signal indicative of road speed of a vehicle carrying an internal combustion engine; and
a control circuit responsive to said vehicle speed signal to compute a vehicle acceleration value, said control circuit responsive to said vehicle acceleration value exceeding an acceleration threshold to execute a data collection sequence by periodically computing instantaneous vehicle mass values as functions of instantaneous vehicle driving force and vehicle acceleration value pairs, and to said vehicle acceleration value dropping below said acceleration threshold to terminate said data collection sequence, said control circuit estimating a vehicle mass value as a function of only instantaneous vehicle mass values computed near termination of said data collection sequence. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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39. A method of estimating vehicle mass comprising:
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determining a road speed of a vehicle carrying an internal combustion engine;
computing a vehicle acceleration value as a function of said road speed;
executing a data collection sequence by periodically computing instantaneous vehicle mass values as functions of instantaneous vehicle driving force and vehicle acceleration pairs if said vehicle acceleration value exceeds a vehicle acceleration threshold;
terminating said data collection sequence if said vehicle acceleration value drops below said vehicle acceleration threshold; and
estimating a vehicle mass value as a function of only a subset of said instantaneous vehicle mass values computed near termination of said data collection sequence. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. A system for estimating vehicle mass comprising:
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a sensor producing a vehicle speed signal indicative of road speed of a vehicle carrying an internal combustion engine having a transmission coupled thereto; and
a control circuit determining a vehicle driving force, computing a vehicle acceleration as a function of said vehicle speed signal and computing an instantaneous vehicle mass value as a function of said vehicle drive force and said vehicle acceleration, said control circuit monitoring said vehicle speed signal and said transmission and estimating a vehicle mass value as a function of said instantaneous vehicle mass value only if said road speed changes less than a road speed change amount during a subsequent transmission gear shift. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56)
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57. A system for estimating vehicle mass comprising:
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a sensor producing a vehicle speed signal indicative of road speed of a vehicle carrying an internal combustion engine having a transmission coupled thereto; and
a control circuit determining a vehicle driving force, computing a vehicle acceleration as a function of said vehicle speed signal and estimating a vehicle mass value as a function of said vehicle driving force and said vehicle acceleration, said control circuit monitoring said vehicle speed signal and said transmission and disregarding said vehicle mass value if said road speed changes more than a road speed change amount during a subsequent transmission gear shift. - View Dependent Claims (58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66)
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67. A method of estimating vehicle mass comprising:
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sensing road speed of a vehicle carrying an internal combustion engine having a transmission coupled thereto;
determining a vehicle driving force;
computing a vehicle acceleration value as a function of said road speed;
computing an instantaneous vehicle mass value as a function of said vehicle driving force and said vehicle acceleration value;
monitoring said road speed during a gear shift of said transmission subsequent to computing said instantaneous vehicle mass value; and
estimating a vehicle mass value as a function of said instantaneous vehicle mass value if said road speed changes less than a road speed change amount during said gear shift. - View Dependent Claims (68, 69, 70)
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71. A method of estimating vehicle mass comprising:
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sensing road speed of a vehicle carrying an internal combustion engine having a transmission coupled thereto;
determining a vehicle driving force;
computing a vehicle acceleration value as a function of said road speed;
estimating a vehicle mass value as a function of said vehicle driving force and said vehicle acceleration value;
monitoring said road speed during a gear shift of said transmission subsequent to estimating said vehicle mass value; and
disregarding said vehicle mass value if said road speed changes more than a road speed change amount during said gear shift. - View Dependent Claims (72, 73, 74)
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75. A system for estimating vehicle mass comprising:
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a speed sensor producing a vehicle speed signal indicative of a road speed of a vehicle carrying an internal combustion engine; and
a control circuit determining a vehicle driving force, computing a vehicle acceleration as a function of said vehicle speed signal and estimating a vehicle mass value as a function of said vehicle driving force and said vehicle acceleration, said control circuit combining said vehicle mass value with an existing vehicle mass estimate if a difference therebetween is less than a difference value. - View Dependent Claims (76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85)
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86. A system for estimating vehicle mass comprising:
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a speed sensor producing a vehicle speed signal indicative of a road speed of a vehicle carrying an internal combustion engine; and
a control circuit determining a plurality of vehicle driving force values, computing a corresponding plurality of vehicle acceleration values as a function of said vehicle speed signal and estimating a corresponding plurality of vehicle mass values as functions of said plurality of vehicle driving force and vehicle acceleration values, said control circuit establishing an updated vehicle mass estimate if differences between a consecutive number of said plurality of vehicle mass values and an existing vehicle mass estimate exceed a difference value. - View Dependent Claims (87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94)
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95. A method of estimating vehicle mass comprising:
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sensing a plurality of road speed values of a vehicle carrying an internal combustion engine;
computing a corresponding plurality of vehicle acceleration values as functions of said plurality of road speed values;
determining a corresponding plurality of vehicle drive force values;
estimating a corresponding plurality of vehicle mass values each as a function of corresponding ones of said plurality of vehicle acceleration and vehicle drive force values;
comparing said plurality of vehicle mass values with an existing vehicle mass estimate; and
combining said plurality of vehicle mass values with said existing vehicle mass estimate if differences between said plurality of vehicle mass values and said existing vehicle mass estimate are less than a difference value.
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96. A method of estimating vehicle mass comprising:
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sensing a plurality of road speed values of a vehicle carrying an internal combustion engine;
computing a corresponding plurality of vehicle acceleration values as functions of said plurality of road speed values;
determining a corresponding plurality of vehicle drive force values;
estimating a corresponding plurality of vehicle mass values each as a function of corresponding ones of said plurality of vehicle acceleration and vehicle drive force values;
comparing said plurality of vehicle mass values with an existing vehicle mass estimate; and
replacing said existing vehicle mass estimate with an updated vehicle mass estimate if differences between a number of said plurality of vehicle mass values and said existing vehicle mass estimate are greater than a difference value.
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Specification