Intelligent chassis mechanism capable of detecting strain

• US 20060282198A1
• Filed: 10/19/2005
• Published: 12/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Inventors: Gu, Huan-Lung
• Application Number:
  US11/252,756
• Publication Number:
  US 20060282198A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 19/08 for incorporation in vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 23/3728 with wireless means

Abstract

An intelligent chassis mechanism incorporated into a vehicle includes a plurality of stress-strain sensors installed in the chassis of the vehicle at different locations for detecting the direction and amount of any strain occurred thereon to enable the chassis mechanism to be a large strain-detecting unit. The intelligent chassis mechanism can be combined with microprocessor artificial intelligent technology to detect how much strain the vehicle takes and to provide the detected data to the microcomputer system of the vehicle.

Claims

1. An intelligent chassis mechanism incorporated into a vehicle, comprising:

a chassis body having at least one wheel bracket and at least one wheel rotatably fastened to said at least one wheel bracket for bearing the weight of the vehicle;

at least one stress-strain sensor installed in said at least one wheel bracket for detecting the amount and direction of a strain occurred thereon so as to produce a respective strain data indicative of the amount and direction of the strain detected.

2. The intelligent chassis mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein said at least one stress-strain sensor each is a strain meter.

3. The intelligent chassis mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein said at least one stress-strain sensor each is a piezo meter formed of a piezoelectric crystal.

4. The intelligent chassis mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein said at least one stress-strain sensor comprises a Wheatstone bridge circuit that comprises a variable resistor formed of a strain meter.

5. The intelligent chassis mechanism as claimed in claim 4, wherein said Wheatstone bridge circuit further comprises a variable resistor formed of a temperature compensation strain meter and installed in a detecting base that is made of same material as said chassis body.

6. The intelligent chassis mechanism as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a temperature-strain sensor mounted on a detecting base made of same material as said chassis body for providing a strain data for temperature compensation.

7. The intelligent chassis mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein said at least one wheel bracket each has at least one of said at least one stress-strain sensor installed therein.

8. The intelligent chassis mechanism as claimed in claim 7, wherein said at least one wheel bracket each has three said stress-strain sensors installed therein and arranged in X, Y and Z directions to form a Cartesian coordinate system.

9. A microprocessor-based intelligent vehicle comprising:

a chassis;

at least one wheel rotatably fastened to said chassis to bear the weight of the intelligent vehicle; and

at least one stress-strain sensor installed in said chassis corresponding to said at least one wheel for detecting the amount and direction of a strain occurred thereon so as to provide a respective strain data indicative of the amount and direction of the strain detected to a microprocessor of the microprocessor-based intelligent vehicle for processing and further display on a display monitor that is electrically connected to the microprocessor of the microprocessor-based intelligent vehicle.

10. The microprocessor-based intelligent vehicle as claimed in claim 9, wherein said at least one stress-strain sensor each is a strain meter.

11. The microprocessor-based intelligent vehicle as claimed in claim 9, wherein said at least one stress-strain sensor is a piezo meter formed of a piezoelectric crystal.

12. The microprocessor-based intelligent vehicle as claimed in claim 9, wherein said at least one stress-strain sensor comprises a Wheatstone bridge circuit that comprises a variable resistor formed of a strain meter.

13. The microprocessor-based intelligent vehicle as claimed in claim 12, wherein said Wheatstone bridge circuit further comprises a variable resistor formed of a temperature compensation strain meter and installed in a detecting base that is made of same material as said chassis.

14. The microprocessor-based intelligent vehicle as claimed in claim 9, further comprising a temperature-strain sensor mounted on a detecting base made of same material as said chassis body for providing a strain data for temperature compensation.

15. The microprocessor-based intelligent vehicle as claimed in claim 9, wherein the number of said at least one stress-strain sensor is equal to or greater than the number of said at least one wheel.

16. The microprocessor-based intelligent vehicle as claimed in claim 15, wherein said at least one wheel bracket each has three said stress-strain sensors installed therein and arranged in X, Y and Z directions to form a Cartesian coordinate system.

17. The microprocessor-based intelligent vehicle as claimed in claim 9, wherein said at least one stress-strain sensor provides the respective strain data to the microprocessor of the microprocessor-based intelligent vehicle by a wireless communication method.

18. The microprocessor-based intelligent vehicle as claimed in claim 9, wherein said at least one stress-strain sensor provides the respective strain data to the microprocessor of the microprocessor-based intelligent vehicle by a wired communication line.