STATIC ROAD GRADIENT ESTIMATION

• US 20140067240A1
• Filed: 01/07/2013
• Published: 03/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Yu, Hai
• Granted Patent: US 9,517,774 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/112
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/06 Road conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/076 Slope angle of the road
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/13 Load or weight
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00

Abstract

A vehicle and a vehicle system are provided with a controller that is configured to generate output indicative of a static road gradient estimation based on a filtered longitudinal acceleration. The filtered longitudinal acceleration is dependent upon a derivative of a longitudinal acceleration. An initial value of the static road gradient estimation corresponds to at least one of a kinematic road gradient estimation and a dynamic road gradient estimation.

Claims

1. A vehicle comprising:

a controller configured to generate output indicative of a static road gradient estimation based on a filtered longitudinal acceleration, the filtered longitudinal acceleration being dependent upon a derivative of a longitudinal acceleration;

wherein an initial value of the static road gradient estimation corresponds to at least one of a kinematic road gradient estimation and a dynamic road gradient estimation.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 further comprising:

an inertial sensor for providing a signal indicative of the longitudinal acceleration;

wherein the derivative comprises a first order derivative of the longitudinal acceleration corresponding to a longitudinal jerk, and wherein the controller is further configured to filter the longitudinal acceleration using a low pass filter having a narrow bandwidth when the longitudinal jerk is greater than a jerk threshold.

3. The vehicle of claim 2 wherein the controller is further configured to:

filter the longitudinal acceleration using a low pass filter having a wide bandwidth when the longitudinal jerk is less than the jerk threshold.

4. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the derivative comprises a second order derivative of the longitudinal acceleration, and wherein the controller is further configured to:

filter the longitudinal acceleration using a low pass filter having a bandwidth selected from a plurality of bandwidths based on the derivative.

5. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein each road gradient estimation corresponds to an estimation quality factor;

wherein the initial value of the static road gradient estimation corresponds to the kinematic road gradient estimation when a kinematic quality factor is greater than a dynamic quality factor;

wherein the initial value of the static road gradient estimation corresponds to the dynamic road gradient estimation when the dynamic quality factor is greater than the kinematic quality factor.

6. The vehicle of claim 5 wherein the initial value of the static road gradient estimation corresponds to a default value when the kinematic quality factor and the dynamic quality factor are each less than a threshold quality value.

7. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the controller is further configured to:

generate output indicative of a static quality factor based on the derivative of the longitudinal acceleration.

8. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the controller is further configured to:

generate output indicative of a static quality factor based on a comparison of the derivative of the longitudinal acceleration to a first threshold and a second threshold, wherein the second threshold is greater than the first threshold.

9. The vehicle of claim 8 wherein the controller is further configured to:

generate output indicative of a static quality factor corresponding to high quality, when the derivative of the longitudinal acceleration is less than the first threshold for longer than a time threshold; and

generate output indicative of a static quality factor corresponding to intermediate quality, when the derivative of the longitudinal acceleration is greater than the first threshold and less than the second threshold.

10. The vehicle of claim 8 wherein the controller is further configured to:

generate output indicative of a static quality factor corresponding to low quality, when the derivative of the longitudinal acceleration is greater than the second threshold.

11. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the static road gradient is independent of a vehicle pitch angle.

12. The vehicle of claim 1 further comprising:

an engine configured for automatic shutdown and restart;

wherein the controller is further configured to shutdown and restart the engine based on the static road gradient estimation.

13. The vehicle of claim 12 further comprising:

a brake system for providing wheel torque;

wherein the controller is further configured to adjust the wheel torque based on the static road gradient estimation.

14. A vehicle system comprising:

a controller configured to;

filter a longitudinal acceleration based on a derivative of the longitudinal acceleration corresponding to a longitudinal jerk,

generate output indicative of a static road gradient estimation based on the filtered longitudinal acceleration, and

generate output indicative of a static quality factor based on the longitudinal jerk.

15. The vehicle system of claim 14 wherein the controller is further configured to:

generate output indicative of a static quality factor corresponding to full quality, when the longitudinal jerk is less than a stabilizing threshold for longer than a stabilizing time threshold.

16. The vehicle of claim 14 wherein the controller is further configured to:

generate output indicative of a static quality factor corresponding to degraded quality, when the longitudinal jerk is less than a converging threshold and greater than a stabilizing threshold;

wherein the converging threshold is greater than the stabilizing threshold; and

generate output indicative of a static quality factor corresponding to non-qualified, when the longitudinal jerk is greater than the converging threshold.

17. The vehicle system of claim 14 wherein an initial value of the static road gradient estimation corresponds to at least one of a kinematic road gradient estimation and a dynamic road gradient estimation.

18. A method for estimating a static road gradient comprising:

filtering input indicative of a longitudinal acceleration based on a derivative of the longitudinal acceleration;

generating output indicative of a static road gradient estimation based on the filtered longitudinal acceleration; and

generating output indicative of a static quality factor based on the derivative.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

providing an initial static road gradient estimation corresponding to at least one of a kinematic road gradient estimation and a dynamic road gradient estimation.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

controlling shutdown of an engine based on the static road gradient estimation.