AUTOMATIC MITIGATION OF VEHICLE WIND BUFFETING

• US 20160221420A1
• Filed: 02/04/2015
• Published: 08/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Bloss, Brandon C., Fulton, Christopher L.
• Granted Patent: US 9,568,920 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60J 1/12 adjustable
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 3/10 without using feedback

Abstract

A vehicle includes a body defining a vehicle interior, doors attached to the body and providing access to the vehicle interior, windows, sensors, and a controller. The windows are disposed in a respective one of the doors, and each includes a window actuator. The sensors include a speed sensor operable for determining a speed of the vehicle and position sensors each operable for detecting a position of a respective one of the windows. The controller programmed to execute a method by receiving input signals from the set of sensors, including the speed of the vehicle and the detected position from each of the position sensors, and transmitting a control signal to at least one of the window actuators to cause one of the windows to move to a predetermined partially-opened position above a calibrated threshold vehicle speed. This action automatically mitigates effects of wind buffeting in the vehicle interior.

Claims

1. A vehicle comprising:

a body defining a vehicle interior;

a plurality of doors attached to the body and providing access to the vehicle interior;

a plurality of windows, each of which is disposed in a respective one of the doors;

a plurality of window actuators, each of which is operable for translating a respective one of the windows anywhere between and inclusive of a fully-opened and a fully-closed position;

a set of sensors, including a speed sensor operable for determining a speed of the vehicle and a plurality of window position sensors each operable for detecting a position of a respective one of the windows; and

a controller programmed to receive input signals from the set of sensors, including the speed of the vehicle and the detected position from each of the window position sensors, and to transmit a control signal to at least one of the window actuators to cause one of the windows to translate, above a calibrated threshold vehicle speed, to a predetermined partially-opened position and thereby automatically mitigate effects of wind buffeting in the vehicle interior.

2. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the vehicle includes a road wheel, and wherein the speed sensor is a wheel speed sensor operable to measure a rotational speed of the road wheel as the speed of the vehicle.

3. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the plurality of windows includes a front window and a rear window, and the controller is programmed to transmit the control signal to the window actuator of the rear window to lower the rear window when the position sensors detect that the front window is open, and to the window actuator of the front window to lower the front window when the position sensors detect that the rear window is open.

4. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the predetermined partially-opened position is in the range of between 30 mm and 50 mm.

5. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the calibrated threshold vehicle speed is greater than 30 MPH.

6. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the controller is programmed to cause the respective window to move to the fully-closed position when the speed of the vehicle slows below the calibrated threshold vehicle speed for a calibrated duration.

7. A method for automatically mitigating effects of wind buffeting in a vehicle interior of a vehicle having windows, the method comprising:

receiving, via a controller, input signals from a set of sensors, including a speed of the vehicle from a vehicle speed sensor and detected positions of the windows from a set of window position sensors; and

transmitting a control signal via the controller, when the detected speed is above a calibrated threshold vehicle speed and one of the windows is open a calibrated amount, to a window actuator of a predetermined one of the windows to thereby cause the predetermined window to move to a calibrated partially-opened position, and to thereby automatically mitigate the effects of wind buffeting.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the vehicle speed sensor is a wheel speed sensor operable for measuring a rotational speed of a road wheel of the vehicle, further comprising:

detecting a speed of the vehicle via the wheel speed sensor.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

detecting the positions of the windows via a respective one of the window position sensors.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the plurality of windows includes a front window and a rear window, and wherein transmitting the control signal includes transmitting the control signals to the window actuator of the rear window to lower the rear window when one of the window position sensors detects that the front window is open, and to the window actuator of the front window to lower the front window when another one of the window position sensors detects that the rear window is open.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the predetermined partially-opened position is in a range of between 30 mm and 50 mm.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the calibrated threshold vehicle speed is greater than 30 MPH.

13. The method of claim 7, further comprising moving the respective window to a fully-closed position when the speed of the vehicle slows below the calibrated threshold vehicle speed for a calibrated duration.

14. A vehicle comprising:

a body defining a vehicle interior;

a road wheel;

a plurality of doors attached to the body and providing access to the vehicle interior;

a plurality of windows, each of which is disposed in a respective one of the doors, and each of which includes a window actuator, wherein the plurality of windows includes a front window and a rear window;

a plurality of window actuators, each of which is operable for translating a respective one of the windows with respect to a respective one of the doors anywhere between and inclusive of a fully-opened and a fully-closed position;

a set of sensors, including a wheel speed sensor positioned with respect to the road wheel and operable for determining a speed of the vehicle, and a plurality of window position sensors each operable for detecting a position of a respective one of the windows; and

a controller programmed to receive input signals from the set of sensors, including the speed of the vehicle and the detected position from each of the position sensors, and to transmit a control signal to the window actuator of the rear window to lower the rear window by at least 30 mm when the speed of the vehicle exceeds 30 MPH and the position sensor for the front window detects that the front window is open, and to the window actuator for the front window to thereby lower the front window by a calibrated amount of travel of at least 30 mm when the position sensors detect that the rear window is open for a calibrated duration.

15. The vehicle of claim 14, wherein the controller is programmed to command the respective front and rear window to move to a fully-closed position when the speed of the vehicle slows below 30 MPH for a calibrated duration.

16. The vehicle of claim 14, wherein the controller includes a lookup table indexed by the speed of the vehicle, and is programmed to extract the calibrated amount of travel from the lookup table using the speed of the vehicle.