Accelerometer calibration

• US 20030061859A1
• Filed: 01/29/2002
• Published: 04/03/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Rothoff, Marcus
• Application Number:
  US09/683,640
• Publication Number:
  US 20030061859A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 73/1.37
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 17/01908 Acceleration or inclination sensors characterised by the use of gyroscopes B60G21/08
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2400/10 Acceleration; Deceleration
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2400/102 vertical
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2800/7022 Calibration of a sensor, e.g. automatically
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 21/00 Testing or calibrating of apparatus or devices covered by the preceding groups

Abstract

The invention relates to a calibration method for a system with at least two accelerometers (5), comprising the steps of arranging said accelerometers fixed on a vehicle (1), connecting said accelerometers (5) to a control unit and providing said vehicle (1) on a reference plane (11). The reference plane (11) has a known propagation angle to be used as a reference relative to which an offset value of each accelerometer (5) is established. Said offset value of each accelerometer is stored in said control unit. The invention also relates to a calibrated accelerometer system and a vehicle (1) provided with said system.

Claims

1. A calibration method for a measuring system having at least two accelerometers, comprising:

arranging the accelerometers fixedly on a vehicle;

connecting the accelerometers to a control unit;

providing a reference plane having a determined propagation angle;

arranging the vehicle on the reference plane, using the reference plane as a reference relative to which an offset value of each of the accelerometers is established; and

storing the offset value of each of the accelerometers in the control unit.

2. The method in according to claim 1, wherein said reference plane propagates in a horizontal direction.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the system comprises at least three accelerometers (5) and said method further comprises the step determining a first local reference plane of the vehicle.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said accelerometers are capacitive accelerometers.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein a position of each of the accelerometers is determined in an x-, y-, and z-direction.

6. The accelerometer system calibrated according to the method of claim 1, wherein the accelerometer system determines a first reference plane of the vehicle.

7. The accelerometer system according to claim 6, wherein said accelerometer system is arranged on a wheel suspension of the vehicle and wherein the system determines the first reference plane for at least one suspended wheel of the vehicle.

8. The accelerometer system according to claim 6, said accelerometer system further comprising a measuring system arranged on a body of the vehicle to determine a body angle reference plane of the vehicle, a control unit for actively controlling the distance between the body and at least one suspended wheel of the vehicle.